A good video shoot by your learner will allow you to find out a lot about their life, their values and their experiences. Here are tips on how to teach your learner to shoot a good video of their home.
In a previous post I presented you the topic of funds of knowledge. One way to learn what your learner knows and values, and to gain insights into their lives and culture, is to ask them to shoot a simple two- or three-minute video of their home.
For this task, your learner will need a video camera or a smartphone. You will tell to your learner that there are certain steps to shooting a useful video.
First your learner needs to decide which items they want to present. Your learner should choose those items which can yield a bunch of information about them.
For example, a regular ordinary tea-pot does not tell a lot about your learner.You can see teapots like these in plenty of households. But let's say the teapot is very unusual. Maybe it's an antique, or has an unusual design. Now that says something about your learner. Maybe they have taste for fine old things, or they have a deep sentimental attachment to a family heirloom.
On the other hand, a map of the world might tell about broad-mindedness of your learner and their love for traveling. Or it can reveal that your learner is trying to learn world geography in their new target language, English.
While making a video shoot your learner needs to focus on the item chosen, hold the camera steady and count to 6 by mouthing the words one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand. Counting internally like this will yield a nice six-second shot of what your learner wants you to see. Normally six seconds are enough for making a complete observation of a certain item in the household. Before counting the learner should introduce the subject they are videoing; for example
This is our refrigerator
or
This is my kitchen
After finishing counting to six-one-thousand, your learner can direct the camera slowly to the different focus, and present the next object again, while counting 6 times to themselves.
Here is an example of the video shoot which I made in my apartment:
I chose to focus on the wall and refrigerator in the kitchen. The wall tells about my roommates Olga's and Eugena's and my interests (learning Spanish, travel, and studying for a bachelor's degree in nursing), the interior of the refrigerator reveals our eating habits and how organized we are as three young women living together.
Watching my video, you'll notice note that on the wall we have a map, a receipt from Costco, small papers with quotes on them in Spanish, and some school papers with theoretical material from biology. You might wonder: why I have focused namely on the wall?
Now I will reveal my motives.
I chose to focus on the world map to show that my roommates and I like to travel, and that we always refer to the map when we start discussing different places all over the world. The receipt from the Costco store shows that my roommates and I like to shop together for food and share our expenses. Moreover, the receipt shows that we are aware that in the U.S. it is more economical to buy goods a in wholesale stores like Costco.
The quotes in Spanish reveal that someone in our household is learning Spanish, and likes to be inspired by someone's wisdom. Actually, all three of us are learning Spanish We all have linguistics backgrounds. Unfortunately, in our country we did not have exposure to the Spanish language. It is not popular in Russia. Here there are lots of opportunities to learn and practice it, and we take advantage of them.
The papers with terms from biology can tell that someone in our household is studying Social Science or Nursing, and is a very hardworking and conscientious student. Nursing is Eugena's major, and she finds it easier to memorize certain things while looking at them on the wall.
Then I moved my camera to the fridge. I moved my camera slowly, giving time to the observer to see an overall space in my kitchen. Six seconds gives you the chance to see that on the fridge we have photos, fruit magnets, magnets from different travels, a white board with notes, and ticket from the tango concert.
I am sure you want to know why I shot these objects.
Now I will tell you.
The photos and the magnets on the fridge will tell that someone in our household cherishes certain moments reflected on the photos and magnets. On the photos you can see Olga with her friends, whom she misses a lot. On the magnets you can see scenes from Puerto Rico, which remind Eugena and me of our vacation. I have also a balalaika magnet. Balalaika is traditional Russian instrument.
My friend Kristina bought this magnet on her last trip to Russia and decided to give it to me because I am a big fan of Russian folk heritage.
The ticket from the tango concert will tell about someone's love for dance. Actually, Olga used to dance tango, and is a big fan of this dance.
Fruit magnets are regular attributes of the Russian fridges. You can see them in every fridge in Russia. I was so happy that I found them in the U.S.
The white board with notes, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in English, reveal that we like to remind to each other of certain things bothering us at the moment - and that we can do this in two languages. At the moment we are concerned about our vacation, and Eugena presented a list of possible destinations to vote.
I opened the fridge and inside the fridge you'll see condensed milk, organic whole milk, and regular one percent milk. Moreover, you'll see different kinds of homus, bags of fruits and vegetables, a glass container with a tuna fish caviar. You could also see a plastic container with cookies, three plastic jars with mayo, a can with garbanzos fritos,bottles with ketchup and a raspberry vinaigrette sauce.
These products reveal our eating habits. You can get mixed feelings about them. The mayo and ketchup can tell that we are not concerned about healthy eating. The fruits, vegetables and homus will prove you different. Actually mayo is an indispensable ingredient of Russian cuisine, and we add it not only to salads, but mostly to all the dishes.
Olga is a vegetarian. She eats only homus, fruits and vegetables. The different types of milk tell about our different preferences too. I can drink any type of milk. Eugena drinks only whole milk. Condensed milk as well as caviar are favorite indulgences of every single person in Russia.
A similar analysis of the items in your learner's household will provide you with valuable information about your learner's home, occupation, interests, habits, motives, and preferences. If certain things in your learner's household cause doubts, you can always scatter them initiating a dialog with your learner.
ENGLISH AT LARGE
Literacy and Learning for Life
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In a previous post I presented you the topic of funds of knowledge. One way to learn what your learner knows and values, and to gain insights into their lives and culture, is to ask them to shoot a simple two- or three-minute video of their home.
For this task, your learner will need a video camera or a smartphone. You will tell to your learner that there are certain steps to shooting a useful video.
First your learner needs to decide which items they want to present. Your learner should choose those items which can yield a bunch of information about them.
For example, a regular ordinary tea-pot does not tell a lot about your learner.You can see teapots like these in plenty of households. But let's say the teapot is very unusual. Maybe it's an antique, or has an unusual design. Now that says something about your learner. Maybe they have taste for fine old things, or they have a deep sentimental attachment to a family heirloom.
On the other hand, a map of the world might tell about broad-mindedness of your learner and their love for traveling. Or it can reveal that your learner is trying to learn world geography in their new target language, English.
While making a video shoot your learner needs to focus on the item chosen, hold the camera steady and count to 6 by mouthing the words one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand. Counting internally like this will yield a nice six-second shot of what your learner wants you to see. Normally six seconds are enough for making a complete observation of a certain item in the household. Before counting the learner should introduce the subject they are videoing; for example
This is our refrigerator
or
This is my kitchen
After finishing counting to six-one-thousand, your learner can direct the camera slowly to the different focus, and present the next object again, while counting 6 times to themselves.
Here is an example of the video shoot which I made in my apartment:
The Video Shoot in my Apartment
Watching my video, you'll notice note that on the wall we have a map, a receipt from Costco, small papers with quotes on them in Spanish, and some school papers with theoretical material from biology. You might wonder: why I have focused namely on the wall?
Now I will reveal my motives.
I chose to focus on the world map to show that my roommates and I like to travel, and that we always refer to the map when we start discussing different places all over the world. The receipt from the Costco store shows that my roommates and I like to shop together for food and share our expenses. Moreover, the receipt shows that we are aware that in the U.S. it is more economical to buy goods a in wholesale stores like Costco.
The quotes in Spanish reveal that someone in our household is learning Spanish, and likes to be inspired by someone's wisdom. Actually, all three of us are learning Spanish We all have linguistics backgrounds. Unfortunately, in our country we did not have exposure to the Spanish language. It is not popular in Russia. Here there are lots of opportunities to learn and practice it, and we take advantage of them.
The papers with terms from biology can tell that someone in our household is studying Social Science or Nursing, and is a very hardworking and conscientious student. Nursing is Eugena's major, and she finds it easier to memorize certain things while looking at them on the wall.
Then I moved my camera to the fridge. I moved my camera slowly, giving time to the observer to see an overall space in my kitchen. Six seconds gives you the chance to see that on the fridge we have photos, fruit magnets, magnets from different travels, a white board with notes, and ticket from the tango concert.
I am sure you want to know why I shot these objects.
Now I will tell you.
The photos and the magnets on the fridge will tell that someone in our household cherishes certain moments reflected on the photos and magnets. On the photos you can see Olga with her friends, whom she misses a lot. On the magnets you can see scenes from Puerto Rico, which remind Eugena and me of our vacation. I have also a balalaika magnet. Balalaika is traditional Russian instrument.
My friend Kristina bought this magnet on her last trip to Russia and decided to give it to me because I am a big fan of Russian folk heritage.
The ticket from the tango concert will tell about someone's love for dance. Actually, Olga used to dance tango, and is a big fan of this dance.
Fruit magnets are regular attributes of the Russian fridges. You can see them in every fridge in Russia. I was so happy that I found them in the U.S.
The white board with notes, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in English, reveal that we like to remind to each other of certain things bothering us at the moment - and that we can do this in two languages. At the moment we are concerned about our vacation, and Eugena presented a list of possible destinations to vote.
I opened the fridge and inside the fridge you'll see condensed milk, organic whole milk, and regular one percent milk. Moreover, you'll see different kinds of homus, bags of fruits and vegetables, a glass container with a tuna fish caviar. You could also see a plastic container with cookies, three plastic jars with mayo, a can with garbanzos fritos,bottles with ketchup and a raspberry vinaigrette sauce.
These products reveal our eating habits. You can get mixed feelings about them. The mayo and ketchup can tell that we are not concerned about healthy eating. The fruits, vegetables and homus will prove you different. Actually mayo is an indispensable ingredient of Russian cuisine, and we add it not only to salads, but mostly to all the dishes.
Olga is a vegetarian. She eats only homus, fruits and vegetables. The different types of milk tell about our different preferences too. I can drink any type of milk. Eugena drinks only whole milk. Condensed milk as well as caviar are favorite indulgences of every single person in Russia.
A similar analysis of the items in your learner's household will provide you with valuable information about your learner's home, occupation, interests, habits, motives, and preferences. If certain things in your learner's household cause doubts, you can always scatter them initiating a dialog with your learner.
You can present this video shoot to your learner as an example. Your learner can choose their own approaches to creating a video shoot. They can assume the role of a reporter, a guide, a host, an investigator,or a narrator while making a video presentation of their household, making sure they keep in mind the six-count rule while holding their camera steady.
Happy tutoring!
Happy tutoring!
Tatyana Pavlova
Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics/ Bashkir State University
MA Education/ESL 2014, Cambridge College
Literacy and Learning for Life
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