CATHY+B.

media type="youtube" key="pJa7eHoLB8U"

media type="youtube" key="bMvwhfQRIAc"

Neither of these were written for ESL originally. They were written for third graders, but the ESL students enjoyed them (especially those who aren't shocked by my corniness). The ones I put together for ESL can't be posted here because I grabbed what I could regardless of copywright. You can check out the web page I made for our program volunteers for those. http://usefulstring.gjbgraphics.com/ESLfolder/ESL_IBC.html

//Where you teach, and what level and age group youre teaching//

Currently I'm not teaching ESL at all. I had been teaching for several years as a volunteer, learning as I went, at my church. I started in order to help adults who were taking a hard-to-understand citizenship class. What an eye-opener! Then folks wanted the class to expand and I became the coordinator of the program. I have a lot to learn about coordinating volunteers. This fall we downsized somewhat and I announced I'd be taking "sabbatical" time this year ... at least until the 2007-2008 school year. My resume is at http://www.gjbgraphics.com/usefulstring/wsn514C.html

I'm trying to put together a very basic course of at least 26 classes and post these on the web. An old unfinished effort is at http://usefulstring.gjbgraphics.com/ESLfolder/ESL_IBC.html (please don't make links to this page) What I completed there I did when I was bedridden this summer after surgery. Once I went back to work AND started teaching ESL on Monday and Thursday nights, I didn't have time to work on the website. Now I've got a bit more time (just a bit) and I'm using iWeb to start again. The iWeb is a leap since you'll see that my old web pages use pretty basic html. I like the basic, simple stuff because I can edit it easily. Well, also because that's all I've learned.

Our class seems to have run through language group seasons. We started with Haitian, Chinese, and Korean. This past spring with the larger program we had 7 language groups. This fall we had Spanish, Portugese, and Korean students only. The demand for very basic English seems to be so strong I don't know if I will ever be teaching advanced English.

//What your students would like about class-video projects// At the public school where I work as an assistant, I've often covered the computer lab. Their teacher has the seventh graders make powerpoint presentations which seems to be quite an engrossing activity for them. The internet connection is not too speedy (it's a rural school) and access to YouTube is blocked by the county school board (probably a good thing), but, working around that, I think the computer teacher could become interested. Our resident techie is a science teacher and I can imagine he'll be interested, too.

short answer: What's not to like?

//Your past experiences with video and/or class-video projects// //(include links to examples if possible)//

My ESL classes always had a song or two. That's when I got into special media. I just learned how to use PowerPoint this spring and went right into iMovie and Quicktime Pro after that. My "videos" are more slideshowish, but there's stuff you can do with iMovie that is more that slide shows. My videos (of varying quality!!) are on YouTube. Do a search for cathysfiddle

//Any video production literature you might be using//

If you mean applications, I use PowerPoint, Quicktime Pro, iMovie, Audio x (to record myself), Amazing Slowdowner (to change pitch and speed of sounds)

//Some of subjects and topics you'd like to learn more about during// //this session//

I'm sure I'll be thinking of them as we go along. Meanwhile, I'm looking for all the ESL stuff I can use when I go back to doing it again.