http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H73Nya4cAZ8

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Better late than never!

This was fun. I have never had the opportunity to teach 15 world cup winners the day after their victory. Although there were a few sore heads in the class, there was nothing wrong with their artistic abilities.

Each student illustrated a piece of commentary that I took from the Guardian World Cup Final as it happened page. To make the clip, I stole the audio from this video:

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1. The clip may be removed from YouTube and therefore unavailable at later dates.
2. Your classroom may not have Internet connection.
3. Even with a good connection, downstreaming may be slow or unpredictable.
4. The red slider beneath the video screen is notoriously sluggish to use. It can be very awkward to find the specific part of the video that you want to play (this is demonstrated in this clip).
5. When you download a clip, you save it as a video file - an MP4, for example. Video files can be renamed and this can be essential to the teaching idea. For example, a clip titled ‘Baby panda sneezes and mummy panda gets a fright‘ could not be used for a ‘What happens next?‘ activity.
6. The very presence of the YouTube website can be disruptive in class. Many of us will be familiar with students attempting to persuade the teacher to play their favourite clips rather then focus on the video task in hand. This can be particularly problematic at the end of a video when suggested links to other clips pop up.
7. By eliminating YouTube from the classroom, we also eliminate the adverts and potentially obscene comments that accompany the videos. Sometimes adverts verge on the idiotic. For example, one recent pop-up advert on YouTube is for a website that allows users to find out how long they will live. There are worse ones than that. Note, however, that QuietTube can be used to strip the site of ads and comments.
8. Downloaded video clips can be organised on a media player. This makes them easy to locate and manage (this is also discussed in the clip mentioned in point 4 - see above).
9. You may want to download a clip so that you can edit it - for example, to remove any parts that are not suitable for your students. Nicky Whitley wrote a blog post on this subject a while back.

There are, of course, reasons not to download video clips from YouTube.

1. By downloading a video clip you will be breaking YouTube’s Terms of Use.
2. Usually, the content is not yours to download. And it may have been posted illegally in the first place (see previous posting).
3. Many content owners share revenue with YouTube which is generated from the advertising space beside their clips. Each time someone watches one of their videos on YouTube, they will receive a small payment. A downloaded clip will generate no such income.

YouTube’s position

YouTube’s Terms of Use clearly state that ‘YouTube Content may not be downloaded‘.

YouTube’s situation is that it has to include this clause in its terms of services. Quite simply, YouTube does not own the video content that it hosts. It cannot allow users to download video content any more than a library can allow users to take away photocopied pages of books.

YouTube is also active in making things difficult for those who wish to download. Recently, a number people complained that the Savevid site was not working. After an email exchange, Savevid told me that this was due to attempts on YouTube’s part to make technical changes to code that would make it difficult for the downloading process to function. Since then, however, Savevid has managed to get around the problem.

YouTube is absolutely right to get involved in such games of chess. Even if sites like Savevid prevail again and again, YouTube cannot afford an image that is anything but a serious protector of its users’ content.

The content owner’s position

As mentioned above, many content owners will not be happy to have their content downloaded and YouTube is right to include a no-download clause in its terms of services.

However, there are situations in which it would otherwise be fine to download videos. For example:

1. I have contacted a number of content owners to ask if they object to my recommendations on teflclips that teachers download their clips to use in class. Many have told me that they are happy for me to do so. For those who object, I have removed the ‘downloading clips’ suggestion box from the PDF lesson plan.
2. Many videos on YouTube will be in the public domain. This will apply to the Roundhay Garden Scene, the earliest surving motion picture. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1i40rnpOsA
3. Although it can’t be assumed, I would imagine that the creators of most adverts and campaign videos would prefer users to download them if it means reaching a wider audience. For example, this may apply to any of the water clips that I referred to in the Pearson event (see previous posting):

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The teacher’s position

During the last 3 years, I have given many talks and workshops on the use of online video in the classroom. The ‘Should I or should I not download?‘question is probably the most frequently asked.

The reasons for any teacher to download clips from YouTube are apparent enough. In some cases, a teacher’s decision not to download a YouTube clip could completely eliminate YouTube videos from his or her teaching. That is a shame when you consider that YouTube is the greatest source of material the classroom has ever see.

However, there is no answer to this question - only the individual teachers can decide whether or not to break YouTube’s terms of use and whether or not to deny content users of the income that they would otherwise receive.

As was mentioned before, the individual should develop a personal code based on what is sensible.

1. Using video content from YouTube that has been uploaded illegally
2. Uploading video content that you do not own yourself
3. Downloading video clips from YouTube using sites such as SaveVid.com

Let’s start with the first point:

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Using illegally-uploaded video content

Here we are considering video content that has been uploaded illegally by an unknown third party. Compare the following clips, for example:

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This is the opening scene of the BBC series: The Blue Planet. The legal difference between the two clips is that the first one one was uploaded by BBC Worldwide - the rightful owner of the content - while the second was uploaded illegally by user aman05 in Hong Kong. On YouTube, you can see who uploaded a clip by looking at the top left hand side of the window.

You would expect this to be a open and closed case: Since the second video was uploaded by the rightful owner, that is the one that we should choose to use in class.

But what if teachers are more attracted to the illegally uploaded clip? There would be a very good reason: The legal version stops short of telling us about the blue whale’s diet and breeding habits - two fundamental pieces of information about any species.

Luckily, there is no legal or moral problem associated with the illegally-posted version. If you look at the screen cast again, you will see three adverts, all circled in red:

YouTube works with major content owners to advertise on and around their videos. The fact that the illegally-posted blue whale clip contains advertising this way is an indication that YouTube is collaborating with the owners of the clip, in this case BBC Worldwide. What has happened is that although the clip was uploaded illegally, it has since been claimed by BBC Worldwide. In doing so, it has become legitimised.

I experienced this practice myself when I created and uploaded the following collage of my students’ artwork which included the song California Dreaming as a backing track:

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A few days after uploading the video, I received an ominous-looking email from YouTube. The subject read: Copyrighted Content Identified in one of your YouTube Videos. Here is what it said:

As far as I can see, the BBC seems to understand how to embrace this new medium. It gets the best of both worlds: That is, it makes money from its content on YouTube (although I would imagine that we are considering a negligible amount) and its videos serve to promote its brand.

Other content owners make use of YouTube in the same way. The NBA, for example, upload their own branded clips (see here for example). Frustratingly, the International Olympic Committee and FIFA do not. Throughout Beijing 2008, I noticed that clips of Olympic moments that were being posted onto YouTube were beingh torn down at a rate that I have never seen before. The same goes for the weekend’s goals (talking soccer here) which are usually removed from YouTube by around Tuesday afternoon. FIFA and the IOC will have their reasons for not embracing and benefiting from this new medium but whatever they are, they are beyond me. And this takes me to the main point of this posting.

The social media allows the modern teacher to share his or her lesson plans. For many of us, this is a big part of the process. Because of this, I wouldn’t consider using an illegally posted clip if I thought that it was going to be removed. This would result in a dead end as far as my hard lesson planning work goes. So in this case, my reason for not using illegally-posted video material is partly a practical one.

But my reasons may also be moral.

Consider the centipede video below which has recently been uploaded illegally (it wasn’t me I promise.) So far, it has not been claimed by the BBC through the YouTube Content Identification Programme mentioned above. You can tell by the lack of advertising. So far, it has only been viewed 350 times (compare this with the illegal blue whale which has clearly gone viral with almost 1.5 million views). Perhaps the BBC is not yet aware of the clip.

I would like to use the clip as the basis of a lesson plan on TEFLclips. If I thought that in doing so, I might harm the BBC’s agenda in some way or another, I would make a decision not to use it. But I believe that by linking to it from TEFLclips, the BBC will benefit, especially if I also link to the Life in the Undergrowth series from which the clip is taken.

Every case has to be taken on its own merit. And when areas are grey (like the centipede), every teacher should develop his or her own personal code of conduct according to what is moral, practical and educational.

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Some notes:

1. There is a fairly basic standard procedure that content owners can use if they wish to have their illegally-posted video content removed from YouTube.
2. Another option would be to claim it and share advertising income generated from adverts that are placed beside it although this may only be a possibility for the bigger players.
3. A content user may inadvertently benefit from brand strengthening or self-publicity through clips that are posted without their permission.
4. As far as I am aware, by linking to an illegally-uploaded clip, we are not actually breaking any laws or terms of use. Responsibility lies with the individual that posted it in the first place.
5. In grey areas, teachers’ should develop their own personal codes of conduct according to what is moral, practical and educational.

It’s IATEFL time again - the biggest ELT conference in Europe which is taking place in Harrogate this year.

On Friday (9th April 2010) I will be involved in the Pearson Longman signature event which is titled: Responding to the needs of Generation Y (more information here). The other panelists are Jill Hadfield, Steve Oakes and Simon Buckland and it is being hosted by Nicky Hockly.

Earlier this week, I was kidnapped by Emma Torjussen who asked me a bit about the title:

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Anyway, during the event we want to address issues that involve teenagers, young learners and technology - especially online video. Issues could include any of the following:

• Video content for the classroom: What type of video material can we use in the classroom and how should we use it?
• Video content from the classroom: What do video recording devices in the classroom have to offer?
• Student privacy: Should we be sharing video content from the classroom on YouTube and other video-sharing sites?
• Live video streaming: Is this the next big thing for language learners?

The event is going to be interactive - and you don’t have to be there to get involved. The event will be filmed and downstreamed on the Harrogate Online site (you will have to register). Points can be made/questions can be asked before or during the event by Twitter (@Cheimi10). Hoping to see you there!

I demonstrated this activity a couple of weeks ago at TESOL-Spain in Lleida. It’s very similar to a standard picture dictation.

During a standard picture dictation, the teacher describes an image to the students who then attempt to draw it based on the teacher’s description. During the description, the teacher will probably be looking at the image but, of course, it is essential that the students can’t see it. For this reason, books work perfectly for this type of activity. Imagine the teacher standing at the front of the class holding a book open so that the students can only see the front and back covers.

Anyway, the difference between a standard picture dictation and a mental image dictation is that the latter doesn’t involve students drawing.

At TESOL-Spain, I used a newspaper article rather than a book. Here is how I described the image:

1. I call this activity a mental image dictation because although there is no drawing involved, there is a serious image construction going on inside the students’ heads. Tell students that their minds are the canvasses. Tell them to make sure that they are completely clean before you start the description (this prepares them for listening).
2. As mentioned above, this activity works well for text reconstructions. Before you show the image to your students, ask them to write out the description as accurately as they can.
3. Repeat the description as many times as necessary. Make use of standard teacher talk techniques and considerations such as those in the word cloud below.
4. Finally, the important part that I didn’t have time to mention in my talk: Prepare your descriptions before you go into class. Look at the picture and decide exactly what language you would like to come from it. Write your description on a piece of paper. Now here is the trick: Place the text beside the image in the book/newspaper/etc. Remember, students won’t see what you are looking at. This way you can repeat your description, almost identically, each time you recite it. But make sure it doesn’t sound as if you are reading from a text. That is the trick to the success of this activity.

Great conference as always. Thanks to TESOL-Spain for the invite and to NILE for the sponsor. And thanks to eeryone who came to my talks. Here are the links that I promised:

Teacher Talk: Quality not quantity

If you came to this talk, you might remember (or you might not!) that we didn’t get all the way through to the end. I think we all just having too much fun. In the next few days, I will be uploading a post titled Mental Image Dictation. That should conclude the talk. A few links:

• Sara Hannam’s blog posting
• The story about the toddler chained to the lamppost
• Wordle (site for making word clouds)
• Music video: Faith no more: I started a joke

Also, two more activities that make use of teacher talk:

• Cat and goldfish surprise
• Dream sequence

The baby gorilla joke is from my book ‘Images’

CLIL and the YouTube generation

The activities that we looked at will be appearing on teflclips in the  next few weeks. Here are the clips:

• Water
• Centipede from the BBC ‘Life in the undergrowth’
• Hammer and feather on the moon

Also, we mentioned some video technoskills (how to download clips, screen capture, etc). I have linked to a number of useful sites at the ‘How to’ page on teflclips.com. Click here.

Finally, I did a course on YouTube last month at SEETA (South Eastern Europe Teacher Association). A lot of useful discussions on technological matters and more came from the forums. It can still be accessed - you just have to register with the site (it’s free).

Thanks again!
Jamie

Had a fun weekend in Zagreb last weekend. As promised, here are the links to the activities we looked at together:

Grammar Drawings

1. Mexican doodles
2. Passive flashcards (full lesson plan to onto teflclips.com soon). Handout here: passive-noun-phrases.pdf

• Grammar to draw: Noun phrases; Sentences or structures from the course book (third conditionals, for example); Question forms; Prepositional phrases; etc
• Ways to present grammar drawings: Laminate them; Photocopy them: Scan them and make PDF slideshows or video clips like this one
• Grammar drawing activities: Show to students and elicit the language; Quiz; Gallery; Standard flash card games

How do YouTube?

1. Cat and goldfish surprise
2. Dream sequence clip 1
3. Dream sequence clip 2
4. Road runner and Coyote
5. Western spaghetti

• How to use Wordle
• How to screen capture
• How to capture / download clips

Thank you very much to Profil for inviting me to Zagreb and thank you for being great conference participants! Any questions or queries, please leave a comment below

Surely one of the most fascinating subjects for the language classroom is the subject of language itself. By that, I’m not referring to those all-too-familiar grammar explanations in which the teacher uses images of winning the lottery to explain the second conditional (we’ve all done it!) I am referring to the topics that might be found within the subject of linguistics itself. This could be any of the following:

• Variation in language
• Evolution of language
• Prescriptive versus descriptive approaches towards language
• English as a lingua franca
• Word borrowing

These are some of the things that poet Dizraeli explores in this performance that was commissioned by Macmillan dictionary:

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If you are interested in using the poem in the classroom, I have created three worksheets to accompany the video. They can be downloaded from the Macmillan dictionary site. Would love to know how you get on.

My new Onestopenglish series on using art in the language classroom starts today. The first part is free to non-subscribers.

This is the starting point for a lesson plan on the third conditional.

third-conditional.pdf

In the activity, students are given a homework task in which they have to use a search engine to find other examples of sentences that start with the words, “If God had wanted …“. Here are a few examples that were found earlier:

• If God had wanted us to fly, he would have given us wings.
• If God had wanted us to enjoy Mondays, he wouldn’t have given us weekends.
•  If God had wanted us to run around naked, we would have been born that way.
• If God had wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them on my knees.
• If God had wanted us to think for ourselves, he wouldn’t have invented television.
• If God had wanted journalists to get everything right the first time, he wouldn’t have given us copy editors.
• If God had wanted us to learn about science stuff, he would have made it easier to understand.
  
• If God had wanted the Scots to rule the world, he would never have given them whisky.
  

And now, a disclaimer: Apart from the fact that some students may feel that such a lesson plan presents trivialises religion, the example sentences that students bring back to the classroom may be sexist, homophobic, religious and anti-religious not to mention anti-vegetarianist. Only you can judge whether or not an activity is suitable. As always, teachers should:

• Get to know their students.
• Make professional decisions about classroom content.
• Not hold me responsible when things go horribly wrong.

A part of this posting was going to be taken up with a discussion on the merits of teaching the third conditional. Any comments on that?