Using videos to introduce reading - Stephen Colbert

For classes traditionally less confident studying the reading element of F3GB 10 and F3GB 11 (levels 4 and 5 Core Skills Communication), Stephen introduces the topic by using videos.

He shows a brief two to three-minute clip of a sector relevant video and ask the class what they notice about it.

Then he circulates prompts and sometimes a worksheet depending on the class level and competence. They watch the video as a group and Stephen asks them to work in pairs to write down some of the main things that they noticed (key points).

This makes it easy to introduce the more formal approach of Summarising a piece of writing.

Counter-intuitively this works better for the Evaluation as it allows students to express their opinions on the piece thereby building confidence. Stephen then asks questions about how visually appealing the video is, who is it aimed at and finally ask them would the intended viewed find it useful? This leads to discussion and allows him to ‘plant’ terminology and explanations that he reintroduces when teaching the formal reading element.

To finish the lesson, Stephen shows a glossary of words and terms that could be applied to the video and which also could be used when summarising and evaluating pieces of writing.

There is no doubt that this is an excellent and well thought out, cogent strategy which helps learners to make obvious connections to the analytical exercise at hand.