(photo source) Hi everybody,
This time I’ll delight you with a post about…YOUTUBE!!! By the way, before speaking about how it can be exploited for language learning, I’d like to share with you some data I gathered both from rev2.org and from a video on YouTube. Founded by three young PayPal employees in February 2005, YouTube is a free service that lets users upload, share, and view video clips. The first video ever was published in April 2005, and now there are, on average, more than 65,000 uploads and 100 million videos being watched daily; with 30 million visitors per month, it is the fourth most visited website in the world!
Hence, there’s clear evidence that YouTube is one of the greatest things Web 2.0 is offering us: YouTube is changing, or rather increasing, the ways we experience the world! Geographical, social, cultural boundaries have been knocked out and, thanks to YouTube, you can easily upload videos and let anyone in the world know something about you. Moreover, you can watch videos about things, events, places, TV programmes, conferences, ads, people from any country, comment them, or even start discussions about any topic: from politics to gossip, from sports to music, from religion to education,…It’s so amazing, nearly unbelievable! What’s even more startling is that it’s entirely generated by users! It’s us who decide what YouTube looks like, i.e. its content!
I was wondering if ‘Its Majesty YouTube’ :-) can be of help for language learners and education in general. Since I’m a bit sceptical, my answer is: “Yes, but with some restrictions!”. Let’s begin saying why YouTube can be an educational tool: in YouTube (mainly under categories like ‘Howto & Style’, ‘News & Politics’, or in TeacherTube) you can find a lot of videos, presentations, lectures, and tutorials useful in order to learn more about a subject (maths, science, geometry, IT, social sciences, etc.) or how to do something, such as creating a blog with Blogger or uploading a YouTube video.
As far as language learning is concerned, YouTube is an unlimited resource for language acquisition; i.e. you can listen to all kinds of spoken language (formal, neutral, informal) and genres (comic sketches, songs, parodies, debates, political speeches, talk shows, lectures, everyday dialogues,...) and, thus, learn a lot of vocabulary too. I assume, however, that the main and only edge of YouTube over podcasts is that you can watch (and not only listen to) clips; this helps memorize and hold your attention high. In addition, YouTube offers quite a lot of authoritative presentations about Web 2.0 tools applied to education and language learning, or video lessons to learn English, such as EF PodEnglish videos. I also think that creating a discussion group around a video (see the one I did in my English course this week) is a good and fresh way to practice English since students have to develop skills such as arguing in a public context that goes beyond class boundaries.
However, exploring YouTube allowed me to know its negative aspects as well. I found out very vulgar, filthy, or simply stupid videos, and this made me cut back my trust in it as an educational tool. As an English teacher, either of a primary school or high school, I’d never suggest my students to use it freely for their self-learning. It’s too dangerous! The best way a teacher can use it is to download a given video and propose it to students in order to start discussions. Anyway, I quite agree on using it freely for students at university level since it’s assumed they’re critical enough to choose what videos can be helpful or not for their language learning. What do you think?
Bye,
Elena
This time I’ll delight you with a post about…YOUTUBE!!! By the way, before speaking about how it can be exploited for language learning, I’d like to share with you some data I gathered both from rev2.org and from a video on YouTube. Founded by three young PayPal employees in February 2005, YouTube is a free service that lets users upload, share, and view video clips. The first video ever was published in April 2005, and now there are, on average, more than 65,000 uploads and 100 million videos being watched daily; with 30 million visitors per month, it is the fourth most visited website in the world!
Hence, there’s clear evidence that YouTube is one of the greatest things Web 2.0 is offering us: YouTube is changing, or rather increasing, the ways we experience the world! Geographical, social, cultural boundaries have been knocked out and, thanks to YouTube, you can easily upload videos and let anyone in the world know something about you. Moreover, you can watch videos about things, events, places, TV programmes, conferences, ads, people from any country, comment them, or even start discussions about any topic: from politics to gossip, from sports to music, from religion to education,…It’s so amazing, nearly unbelievable! What’s even more startling is that it’s entirely generated by users! It’s us who decide what YouTube looks like, i.e. its content!
I was wondering if ‘Its Majesty YouTube’ :-) can be of help for language learners and education in general. Since I’m a bit sceptical, my answer is: “Yes, but with some restrictions!”. Let’s begin saying why YouTube can be an educational tool: in YouTube (mainly under categories like ‘Howto & Style’, ‘News & Politics’, or in TeacherTube) you can find a lot of videos, presentations, lectures, and tutorials useful in order to learn more about a subject (maths, science, geometry, IT, social sciences, etc.) or how to do something, such as creating a blog with Blogger or uploading a YouTube video.
As far as language learning is concerned, YouTube is an unlimited resource for language acquisition; i.e. you can listen to all kinds of spoken language (formal, neutral, informal) and genres (comic sketches, songs, parodies, debates, political speeches, talk shows, lectures, everyday dialogues,...) and, thus, learn a lot of vocabulary too. I assume, however, that the main and only edge of YouTube over podcasts is that you can watch (and not only listen to) clips; this helps memorize and hold your attention high. In addition, YouTube offers quite a lot of authoritative presentations about Web 2.0 tools applied to education and language learning, or video lessons to learn English, such as EF PodEnglish videos. I also think that creating a discussion group around a video (see the one I did in my English course this week) is a good and fresh way to practice English since students have to develop skills such as arguing in a public context that goes beyond class boundaries.
However, exploring YouTube allowed me to know its negative aspects as well. I found out very vulgar, filthy, or simply stupid videos, and this made me cut back my trust in it as an educational tool. As an English teacher, either of a primary school or high school, I’d never suggest my students to use it freely for their self-learning. It’s too dangerous! The best way a teacher can use it is to download a given video and propose it to students in order to start discussions. Anyway, I quite agree on using it freely for students at university level since it’s assumed they’re critical enough to choose what videos can be helpful or not for their language learning. What do you think?
Bye,
Elena
7 commenti:
Hi Elena,
I find your post very interesting because you did manage to analyse the problem in a very critical way. I do agree with you for most of the things you said.
When you reflect on something, you clearly express your ideas providing so many helpful examples that in the end you always manage to persuade me.
Before reading through your post, I read and replied to our peers expressing myself as a supporter of YouTube available for everyone.
After reflecting on your opinions, I changed my mind and I deeply understand how dangerous can be YouTube for children or your students!
You really managed to persuade me (and I must say that it’s not so easy that someone manages to change my mind!).
Anyway, many compliments for your effective post and for your good contribution!
See you
Hi Elena,
Good job! I love reading your posts... they're always well-written and exhaustive. You highlighted both the positive and the negative aspects of YouTube as a learning tool. Your post was so effective that you managed to convince Martina,too! I didn't manage to do it as you can see reading the comment she left on my post!
I completely agree with you when you say "I found out very vulgar, filthy, or simply stupid videos, and this made me cut back my trust in it as an educational tool". This was my impression, too! Even adults run the risk of getting lost.. imagine what can happen to children!
see you then,
Silvia
Hi Elena!
Your post is definitely the best I've been reading so far!
Good job!
It's well-written (in fact, I pointed out only a little spelling mistake), clear, exhaustive, interesting but most of all well-structured! You built your post in a very good way, making a short presentation about YouTube (which I really liked, because you didn't explain what YouTube is, which everybody else did, but you tried to present it through some statistics, and then you discussed some arguments both for and against YouTube!
Great peace of writing Elena!
I should learn to be so "professional" as you are when I write in my blog, because I'm a bit too "informal" both in style and in structure: I write what I think, without paying too much attention to the building of a well-structured post!
What can I say?
I agree with everything you stated, and I think YouTube would not be a good tool for ESL younger students, because they would only watch funny videos without even listening to them!
On the contrary, it is a great tool for advanced learners in order to do listening training and have fun at the same time!
I believe that we can improve our English each time we surf the net or each time we listen to something in English...that's great!
As for peer-reviewing, I've just checked using GoogleFight (I love it!) and this spelling of "TV programmes" is wrong, you should write "TV programs"!
See you soon!
Camilla
Ah...I forgot...
I love the fact that you put all the links to the websites you talk about...I'll manage to do the same in my next post as you suggested me to do!
Thanks!
Camilla
Hi Elena!
I didn't know that the first video ever published in YouTube was in April 2005. I thought it was much older than 2 years. This means that it began to have success from the very beginning! :-)
I was sceptical too when I was asked to think of YouTube as a language learning tool. However, it is so huge that, in the end, you can use it for almost every purpose! It is for this reason that I would suggest YouTube only for advanced learners, because, as you said, "It's assumed they're critical enough to choose what videos can be helpful or not for their language learning".
You wrote that the main and only edge of YouTube over podcasts is that "you can watch (and not only listen to) clips". Although the great part of podcasts are mp3 files, you can also find videos. I suggested one web site in my blog that showed videos and there were explanations about vocabulary or forms that the speakers used. It's no doubt that in YouTube the number of videos is much higher, but if you wish to learn English, you have to search a lot to find a useful one.
As for peer reviewing, I have nothing to say.:-) Your post is almost perfect and I agree with Camilla when she says that it's a good choice to put the links.
That's all!;-)
Marina
Hi Elena!
I loved your post! As always, you perfectly managed to express your ideas and opinions in a persuasive way; you succeeded in convincing Martina that YouTube could be dangerous for children or young students!
You explained in a clear and exhaustive way the strong and weak points of YouTube, providing examples to support your ideas. Good job!
I agree with Marina and Camilla when they wrote that it’s a good choice to put the links. As far as the grammar is concerned, I found no mistakes. Well done!
Like Marina, I didn’t know that the first video published in YouTube was in 2005; I thought YouTube was created several years ago… The huge number of videos available on this website makes me think that people really love this tool!I am one of them! ;-)
Job very well done!
See you soon!
Veronica
Dear Elena,
Thanks for the post. I was considering the same issues as you, the merits and demerits of Youtube as a learning tool (for language but also other types of training). You have a very fresh approach to your case.
I reckon the best use of youtube is as a resource in the context of a teacher-led discussion, with pre-selected examples to work on.
Another dimension would be to have students create and post their own videos,or to be filmed in action carrying out tasks or role-plays in English.
Thanks,
James, Australia
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