Jug, jug, jug, Videojug

With http://www.youtube.com/ blocked in Turkey, teachers are left with a minimal number of websites offering videos to use in their classrooms.



There is one website, however, that I am particularly fond of. Having come across it by chance, http://www.videojug.com/ turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.


There are ten thematically organised categories (Beauty&Style, Creative&Culture, Family&Education, Food&Drink, Health&Wellbeing, Lifestyle&Home, Love&Dating, Money&Careers, Sports&Outdoors, Technology&Cars) each including a vast amount of videos.


Most of them are pretty short, ranging from 1 to 5 minutes and some are clearly inappropriate for kids. That is why make sure that you watch a video before showing it to your students.


What are the advantages of using www.videojug.com in the ESL classroom?

• Videos collected there are an inexhaustible source of authentic language use provided in a compact, concise form

• It is a chance to introduce new, interesting vocabulary or phrases

• Because the videos are short, students are left with no time to get bored while watching them

• The website contains videos to match almost any topic you discuss in the classroom

• Bearing the Multiple Intelligences theory in mind, a video watched in the classroom increases the learning abilities of Visual and Auditory students


How can we make use of the videos in the classroom?

• Let students simply watch. It might be a great opportunity to introduce a topic and set up a context relevant to the lesson you are planning to teach

• Watching something controversial or surprising might be a starting point for a productive discussion

• They may watch and simply answer some questions provided by the teacher

• Students might take notes and later compare them with a partner

• Use it as a dictogloss – the students first watch and listen, then listen and take notes, after that compare with a partner and produce a final version of what was being told

• Students can write a summary of what they have seen

• You may choose two similar videos and ask students to pinpoint similarities and differences

• Try to play only the sound, the students have to imagine and visualise what takes place in the video (what the speaker looks like, what the location and time of the day are); allow time for checking if their guesses were correct

I used http://www.videojug.com/ with my 4th graders last year when we were talking about cooking and practised writing recipes. Having watched quite a lot of videos, they were supposed to write about and present an interesting recipe of a dish they like. The outcome was amazing!