Wetherby High School, Wetherby
Rachel Yates and Foreign Language Assistant Michaela Drost
Germany
Year 13 students of Wetherby High School produced a news broadcast in conjunction with Year 12 students of the VGK in Bottrop (Germany). The language of presentation is German (for English students) and English (for German students). The news broadcasts included different sections including life/culture/weather/local news/national news and their local area. Students collaborated and participated fully in this project, with support from teachers, using a variety of different multi-media techniques to produce a series of effective broadcasts while also developing friendships and improving their language skills. The project was also supported by the UK-German Connection Project for schools.
The project has motivated the students to creatively make use of ICT tools and different media, i.e. blogs, filming techniques and production of Voki characters/use of Audacity. It included all parts of language learning (reading, writing, listening and speaking) but has presented these components in a modern way using innovative ICT tools. The teachers and students experimented with different styles of news production such as interviewing and presenting, which the students could apply easily.
It was a highly creative project which meant that the project and activities did not feel like traditional learning although the students learnt continuously! The English students used the German Foreign Language Assistant (FLA) as a personal “Santa Clause” to deliver English delicacies to their partner class at the VGK in person. This definitely added to their motivation and made the bond between the schools closer. This was a new and innovative partnership for the schools; for example; it was the first time that VGK had participated in an eTwinning project while for language department at Wetherby producing and exchanging film clips/tv broadcasts was new!
The FLA led the project at Wetherby with support from her teaching colleague. The main objective of students’ lessons with the FLA is to develop confidence in speaking. The project helped to achieve this and gave the students a ‘real’ context for their learning and to practise their German. It was an enjoyable way to prepare for the A2 exams. The partnership inspired the class to study Nordrhein-Westfalen as an A2 cultural topic. Information was exchanged to develop a better understanding of the region (through the Wetherby/Kirchellen project). The films were discussed with the whole English class at VGK. The partnership was much stronger as a result of the news project. The project also involved working in cross-curricular contexts e.g. languages and cookery/multi-media. The MFL department at Wetherby hopes to further develop this type of teaching in the future.
A wide variety of ICT tools were used to complete the project and both the students and German FLA developed their use of ICT including innovative Web 2.0 tools. The eTwinning Twinspace was used to record and exchange information. (eTwinning Twinspace Guidelines are available). Rachel Yates, the German Teacher at Wetherby, trained Michaela Drost (the FLA) how to use this, who then trained the students. The project moved beyond e-mail and included the use of more advanced ICT tools including blogs, live chat and powerpoint. The FLA was trained in Audacity and how to create Voki characters and the students at WHS were taught by the FLA how to create these. Students improvised with different angles and positions when filming. Further skills were developed by both schools when cutting and editing films produced and uploading them to the Twinspace. The IT department at Wetherby also supported these efforts.
The finished project is the result of hard work over several months and has been highly collaborative and innovative. All those involved have developed new skills and a variety of different media/ICT used. The students have developed their German language skills and their cultural knowledge and this has been very beneficial preparation for their A2 German exams. The organisation and commitment of the students has been very impressive. This project has helped to raise the profile of MFL at Wetherby High School and further develop the international dimension within school. Michaela Drost, the FLA, is also an Ambassador with the UK-German Connection and the project was run as part of this scheme. It was highly commended at the recent end of year review meeting. This project received a Quality Label from the UK eTwinning team and was recently high commended for developing a student centred approach to learning at the UK National eTwinning Awards 2011 in June.
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