Let's try: Youtube

Teaching Area : Listening

Platform/ Program: Youtube

What is Youtube? 

Youtube is an online platform where people upload videos or even music for different purposes, from entertainment to educational ones.

Youtube have strict age restrictions to avoid the exposure to inappropriate content for younger minds. It also have content for all ages, from very basic and family friendly content like chapters from Peppa Pig, to gory scenes from a horror video game, all with age restrictions so no damage is done without the parents or teachers knowledge. 

Although videos may have other purposes, one can repurpose them, from an English chapter from an old cartoon, to a fan animation, even a video game song with lyrics, can be used to reinforce the English listening, by making use of those videos and helping to practice listening by trying to understand the songs, rewrite what they could understand, by listening and trying to make sense from the context and in the process, entertain the students while learning making their learning process an enjoyable experience.

Some of the examples that can be found:

SONIC MANIA SONG ▶ "The Speed In My Soul | CG5 & Hyper Potions 

HELLUVA BOSS - The Harvest Moon Festival // S1: Episode 5

The first video is more of an example of a more open public for all ages while the second is more suited for teenagers or young adults.

Since Youtube content is so wide and constantly growing, one can find a video for every purpose or even every group to use in classes and in the most improbable situation where you can’t find a specific theme for a video, for example some sort of tutorial, you as teacher can record yourself or record just the screen and make the video to fulfill what you need to showcase.

The IJAHSP (Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice) gives Youtube credibility as a learning tool for more online based students who are more accustomed to social media who will feel more comfortable with tools like this while the old learners will have a chance to learn a new way of teaching.

While there are not official studies that can prove or negate that Youtube is a good learning tool, it is demonstrated that in actuality, students are exposed to the internet and social media from their young days, which means that they are more experience and comfortable working with computers rather than writing in a book, this also means that online platforms should be incorporated into the learning process as they represent now an internal part of the daily life of students making it more suitable to use for classes.

Reference:

Burke, S., Snyder, S., Rager, RC. An assessment of faculty usage of YouTube as a teaching resource. The Internet

Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. Jan 2009, Volume 7 Number 1.