Webinar #6, Long Story Short : How to make your first ESL video lesson.

 Webinar #6 -  Long Story Short : How to make your first ESL video lesson. 

This webinar was entitled “Long Story Short” – the host was Ms. Malgorzata Gaca. The aim of this webinar was to provide useful tips and ideas on how to record our first ESL video lesson. As many language teachers are adapting their lessons to be virtual – Malgorzata provides us novel educators with ways to go about it. 

She claimed that making ESL videos isn’t rocket science but there are a few key things that teachers should consider. To make a good video there are some basic things to think about such as a good camera (video quality), a good microphone, good lighting, and a non-distracting background. It’s crucial that students are able to see what the teacher does and hear what he/she is saying. These elements could be overwhelming for a language teacher, as they are not video-editors, but they are important elements to keep in mind. 

I enjoyed that she took the time to explain how different camera angles create. The camera often sees the world much differently than we would expect.  

• Long shot – closer and closer to the character, shows more details 

• Full shot – concentrates on movements or used as a shot transition

• Medium long shot (3/4 shot) – can show emotion on the face, hands (show activities e.g. Simon says), can be used with storytelling (reading a storybook) show something or to show body language 

• Medium shot – shows the environment e.g. shows flashcards, but be careful with your background as they are more likely to focus on it 

• Medium close-up – eliminates the distance between the teacher and students (avoid this barrier), show emotions, mouth – pronunciation 

• Extreme close up – this is sometimes used as it is good for showing body parts, hands, or even an object 

This webinar was interesting to learn about the effects of the different camera shots and camera angles – as it creates a point of view and allows to focus the attention on what you want learners to see. This was the most interesting part for me as I was unaware of its effects. 

There was so much information in this webinar, so please leave a comment about your favourite part, 

Sara