NewsBroadcast

=Student News Broadcast=

Create a news broadcast made up of individual stories and ads
 * Description:**

Practice pronunciation (and grammar to some extent)
 * Pedagogical Goals:**

Advanced (Oral Skills class)
 * Level:**

Demo Segments: HYPERLINK: [|http://web.li.gatech.edu/~rdrury/700/oral/broadcasts/index.html]
 * Examples:**

In Progress Broadcast: HYPERLINK: [|http://web.li.gatech.edu/~rdrury/700/oral/cur_work/index.html]

DV Camera Computer Editing software
 * Materials and technology:**

1. I introduce project, and we watch a recording of a local news show. 2. Students volunteer ideas for news segments. 3. Each student produces an ad. 4. Each student participates in making a news segment. 5. We assemble all the ads and segments and watch the news broadcast.
 * Overview:**

1. I give an overview of the broadcast. For a class of 15, it consists of fifteen ads, two news stories, a weather segment, sports and anchor intros. We then watch a recording of a local news broadcast, making notes on techniques, subjects, transitions and length of the different segments.
 * Procedure:**

2. Students select the segment they want to work on, and I show them my evaluation forms. (**NOTE:** You can find these forms in our Files Section of the YG: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EVOvideo07/files/ ) I have at least three people for each segment and require that each student has a speaking part on camera. In addition, each student must do an advertisement.

3. Students have about a week to do their ads; I find they tend to work on the ads with people from their group. They can use one of the Language Institute cameras, check one out from the university library, or use their own. I offer to coach their pronunciation from their ad scripts, but I don’t require it.

Ideally, a student would do an ad like “Buford Farmer’s Market” on the Demo page; however, some prefer to limit their pronunciation, as in “Taiwan Instant Noodles” on that same page. I’m not strict about requiring speech at this point because a big part of doing the ad is learning how to use the camera and the software (I don’t tell them this, though.) I post the ads on the class web site (in .wmv format) as students finish them. The ad work is done out of class while we’re doing pronunciation in class.

(I require students to work in .avi because of our software, though I sometimes have to take .mpg. I do not help with this part at all, either in production or post-production. For posting on the Internet, I convert the files to .wmv. I’m lucky enough to have a lab that has 20 workstations with editing software, and there’s a student assistant who works in the lab.)

4. After finishing the ad, students move on to their stories and segments. I give them a couple of classes to work on scripts, and I require that students rehearse their stories with me so I can coach their pronunciation. Students film and edit their stories in about a week. The news anchors generally coordinate the broadcast since they have to know the stories and content for their intros.

5. I and the anchors collect all the files, and the anchors are responsible for splicing the broadcast together (with help from the lab). I put the complete broadcast on the Language Institute shared drive so class members can access and copy it for themselves onto CD. (Before we had the shared drive, I made two CDs of the broadcast and loaned them to students for copying.)

6. We watch the broadcast on the last day of class and tell stories about making it.

I see my role in this project as that of a language coach only; I avoid creating the expectation that I will help students with technology. I think this stance encourages students to a more open, authentic expression, and they gain not only language but also problem-solving experience. Of course, I’m fortunate to have resources here that enable students to do their projects independent of my technical help.
 * Teacher’s Role:**