Using video to simulate a real life situation : chairing a meeting in English
Setting of the subject: Conduire une réunion en anglais
Online English language course in oral comprehension at Université Nancy 2, France.
Added value of ICT
The students have access to all media in one integrated environment: video, text, audio and interactive exercises.
This serves to meet the needs of different learning styles and supports the process of language acquisition through different presentation modes.
The only thing that could be considered lacking here is the ability for students to record their own voice, though this could be catered for in a blended course, with actual meeting simulations carried out during the face to face sessions.
Learning objectives and learning methods
- Introduce students to the language of meetings
- Give students the opportunity to encounter the language in context
- Providing learners with alternative expressions for a given linguistic function
Learners are invited to first watch the various video sequences without the transcription, to work on their oral comprehension. They can interact with the video by 'rewinding' back to the beginning, by pausing to make notes etc.
They are then advised to watch a second time after activating the transcription, which can be masked or displayed as they wish.
A variety of interactive exercises (gap fill, crossword, multiple-choice, matching) give further opportunity for interaction to support learning. Certain exercises have different levels of difficulty to further personalise the learning experience.
A glossary provides French-English and English-French translation.
Tools ('outils'): here, very short extracts are provided as audio files, to introduce learners to the wide variety of expressions that can be used for a particular linguisitic function, such as giving the floor, reformulating, concluding.
Motivation and Creativity
The video provides a realistic simulation of a real life event. The teachers play the role of meeting participants in a very convincing manner. This is a result of a significant amount of preparation, including writing the scenario and the script and rehearsing before filming.
A further step, for students in blended learning who actually get the chance to meet, would be for them to design and film their own meeting simulation.
Relation with VideoAktiv
The pedagogical design process as well as the end result have been used as examples of good practice in the French Face to Face workshops, and the coordinating teacher attended our first workshop in Nov 2005.
See for yourself!
www.univ-nancy2.fr/CTU/mirabelles/index.htm