Assignment 4: Using video

Lesson topic: Leadership and responsibility

Lesson time: 60 minutes

Target: The target is a small group of Korean university faculty whom I tutor twice a week, we primarily focus on conversation and discussion skills.

Materials

               

• Edited Video on Dropbox (downloaded and clipped shorter using Virtualdub)
• Script with blanks
• Discussion questions with complete script
• Original, full length source video at Washington Post

Procedures

Pre-viewing warm-up (5 minutes)

1. Introduce the video using the description on the handout. (link above)
2. Discuss the following questions: (also on handout)

• What advice would you give to a person entering college? What advice did you receive?
• How would you describe a great leader?
• What do you feel is your responsibility to society?

Initial viewing and comprehension check (5-10 minutes)

1. Play the video without the script.
2. Discuss the following questions: (also on handout)

• What is Jim Young Kim's job according to the video? What work has he done in the past?
• In your opinion, what kind of a person is he? How would you describe his attitude?
• In the clip, Mr. Kim mentions that in Haiti, he and Paul farmer, a Caucasian man, were mistaken for brothers. Why was this?

Second viewing and vocabulary check (10 minutes)

1. Play the video with the script containing blanks.
2. Pause after the blanked out words are spoken.
3. Students attempt to fill in the blanks.
4. Confirm answers.

Third viewing (0-5 minutes)

1. Play video a third time to show vocabulary in context. (optional)

Discussion (30 minutes)

1. Discuss the following questions: (also on handout)

• In the clip, Mr. Kim’s father says that before he can study philosophy, he needs to get a skill. Why does he say this? Do you agree? On what factors did you base your decisions about what to study?
• Mr. Kim says that he is extremely privileged because of his education. Why is this? How has your education helped you?
• Mr. Kim also says that you can almost smell a good leader. What does he mean by this? In your opinion, what makes a good leader? Have you met anyone that you consider to be a great leader? Why do you think this?

Lesson review/analysis

How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?

This lesson will continue a discussion on the topic of leadership. The video will be used to teach some vocabulary and listening skills as well as to inspire discussion.

Why is this topic, information or content appropriate for the lesson you to create? (e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, interest level, and motivation)?

The target group are professors and administrators who are in a position similar to that of the video subject and hopefully can relate to what he is saying. I think they will be motivated also, by the fact that the subject is Korean-American and by the fact that he is a very well-known individual as the current president of the World Bank. I tried to choose language that I thought would be unknown yet possibly able to get from context and that the professors could use.

What are the potential problems, either language based or technical, that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

I never like to trust online video in class. I have no wired internet connection in my classroom and the wifi can be spotty so I will make sure to have the video saved locally in case there are any issues. I will also have two devices to play the video on (notebook computer and phone) in case any issues come up.

What technical problems did you encounter while preparing the A/V?

There were a number of issues that came up.

1. I had trouble downloading the video from the Washington Post site. I tried a few sites without success but in the end I was able to use an open source program called Stream Transport to do it.
2. I had a bit of trouble editing the video because of some codec issues. I thought about just keeping it full length but I wanted it to be on the short end of 3-5 minutes so I used a program called Virtualdub to cut the video shorter but had to download plugins to make it work. (This may have contributed to my next issue.)
3. I had trouble (and failed in) uploading the video to the BlackBoard site. In the end I used Dropbox to host the video instead because I've used it before and know how to do it. (In the end I was able to post the video straight to blogger!)