Digital Video in the MFL Classroom

Structure of the project
Project descriptions
Key findings
Student film competitions
Further information

Digital video in the MFL classroom is an initiative from CILT, the National Centre for Languages, in collaboration with the BBC 21CC (21st Century Classroom), to promote innovation in language teaching. Using DfES funding for research and development in Specialist Language Colleges (including those with languages as a second specialism), the project was set up to explore the potential for introducing target language film-making into the MFL curriculum, with the focus on pupils taking creative ownership of the film they are producing.

Structure of the project

Each project is launched with a two-day residential course in London, followed by a dissemination conference approximately 12-14 school weeks later. Approximately 20 teachers from 10 schools are accepted into each project run.

Day 1 at CILT focuses on existing practice in MFL and other curriculum areas, including evidence to date and guidance from Becta and other organisations. As keynote speaker, Mark Pentleton from Partners in Excellence introduces lessons and outcomes from the highly successful ‘Film-making weekends’ offered to 15-18 year olds learning languages in western Scotland. A number of practising MFL teachers and former project participants also talk through their developing experiences with the technology. Then participating teachers work on their own film scripts in preparation for Day 2.

On Day 2 at the BBC 21CC centre, now based in west London, the teachers focus on practical filming and editing skills, through the development of a polished one-minute film per group. It is an intensive day but an incredible learning experience and a lot of fun!

Throughout the in-school development period, participating teachers complete a log to record progress and keep in touch with the team at CILT, who visit each of the schools during the project. Day 3 gives schools an opportunity to talk about progress so far with project colleagues and share ideas and solutions.

Back to top

Project Descriptions

Brookvale High School

A lunchtime Digital Video Club was offered to Year 8 top sets in French and German. Using a single digital video camera and computer with Pinnacle Studio software, they worked to develop a French and a German teaching resource for their peers. Before starting filming, the group analysed video footage in Spanish to explore the impact of different shot types and the power of the visual image to communicate. They developed scripts on the theme of 'Fortune-telling', using the future tense of the verb 'to be' as the grammar focus of the resource. Pupils developed significant linguistic skills, the potential audience meaning they had to work within existing language knowledge. The planning-scripting-filming-editing process took 3 x 45 mins sessions, including some lesson time off-timetable, with teacher and technician support. The school plans to extend the use of digital video to other classes and languages.

Coombe Girls’ School

Working with Year 8 French beginners in lesson time, this project involved the creation of a news programme for presentation at an end-of-year 'Performance Day'. Initially, the class analysed existing footage to develop their understanding of film and then got into groups and assigned roles to work on separate news items, which revised topics from the scheme of work. 3 lessons of planning, storyboarding, script-writing and dress rehearsals were followed by 1 lesson of filming around school. The pupils then edited their section using iMovie software on iMac laptops over 2 lessons, before bringing the final news programme together in the final lesson. They also created ‘worksheets’ for their audience to complete during the performance. The department hopes to work more closely with the Media Studies in future on this kind of project.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School

Three Year 8 and three Year 9 girls were chosen from a large number of volunteers to take part in a Film Club pilot in lunchtime and after school. The pupils watched the films created by project teachers at the BBC and talked about how the different effects were achieved. Given free choice on focus, they decided to write and film a role-play in a shop, although they struggled to find an establishment which would allow filming. They worked on the script for homework, practised first in the classroom and then went out of school to film, which they really enjoyed. A second project focused on poetry, combining illustrations, voiceover of the poem and hand-level footage of the writer penning the poem.

Ian Ramsey CE School

Working with equipment loaned by a local City Learning Centre, a German class filmed footage over the period of a week, recording key moments during an exchange visit by a German group to their school. The footage included interviews in both languages about what the children had purchased and their attempts at cooking. Bilingual subtitles were then added to the film, which will be used as a souvenir of the trip and for promoting the school locally. In future, the school hopes that pupils will develop video scripts in lessons and complete filming at lunchtimes and after school with the help of the CLC. Footage would then be edited by pupils in the ‘Digital Video Club’, an extra-curricular club set up for this purpose.

Kings Norton Girls’ School

A collaboration between the MFL and PE departments saw 8 pupils taken out of lessons for 2 hours a week over the half-term. The project, aimed at improving motivation, started with physical team-building activities led by the PE teacher. Having brainstormed ideas around the ’Health and fitness’ topic, the team built up the storyboard for their French film with the help of the FLA and other teachers. The pupils also recorded their progress in structured individual project diaries. The resulting footage included shots of PE activities with pupil voiceovers and brief interviews with staff members around the school in the target language. Other subject areas are now interested and a Film Club is planned.

Prince Henry’s Grammar School

Working with a Year 8 top set, the project aimed to create a teaching resource for other KS3 classes on the topic of daily routine. Having identified 10 key actions, pupils developed storyboards in preparation for filming. They also wrote scripts for the voiceovers, which would be added at a later date. The planning, filming, voice recording and editing took place over 6 x 45 mins lessons and pupils used Pinnacle Studio 8 software. Future plans include the development and exchange of digital video-based resources with their partner school in Nicaragua.

Purbrook Park School

This project focused on a large mixed ability Year 8 class and was aimed at improving motivation and classroom dynamics through the introduction of group working. Focusing on the topic of ordering food and drink in a café or restaurant, pupils worked collaboratively, with individuals having clear roles from the start. The project stretched over 6 lessons (2 each for planning, filming and editing), but it is hoped that as pupils become more familiar with this style of working, project time can be reduced. It is intended that completed footage will be used as a teaching resource with other classes and that this type of working can be extended throughout the department, including a project in Activities Week.

Queen Mary’s High School

Two projects were developed, the first for a volunteer group of 6 Year 8 gifted and talented girls, all studying different languages. With the aim of introducing the school to new Year 7 pupils and various exchange schools, a flexible film with the potential for multilingual voiceover was envisaged. The girls worked mainly in their own time on scripts and storyboards for different sub-topics, with occasional meetings as a group and some off-timetable time for filming. A Year 9 Japanese class took part in the second project, using the last 10 minutes of lessons supplemented by free time in school. Working in groups within the topic of education, they devised creative scripts and storyboards, such as ‘ A day in the life of a lost textbook’ and a ‘Blair Witch’-style sequence. A Film Club, sixth form film-making modules and annual Film Awards are among the school’s plans.

Royal Grammar School

A Year 9 German class of 12 boys developed the scenario dialogue, whereby one boy lost his glasses and went around the school looking for them. The joint writing exercise in class was supplemented by lunchtime planning for a half-day off timetable for filming around school. Scenes were filmed in the school playground, swimming pool, library and canteen and several members of staff were ‘interviewed’ in German as the boy searched for his glasses (which were on his head all the time!) Volunteers completed the editing process at one boy’s home, with significant teacher input. This successful first project has led to numerous digital video activities, large and small, spanning Year 8 to Year 13 and a wide range of curriculum topics.

South Wolds School

A Year 7 fast-track French and a Year 8 German class selected key figures from French/German life and/or history through a whole-class brainstorm, followed by Internet-based research. Characters ranged from Astérix, Patrick Vieira, Brigitte Bardot and Napoleon for French to Carl Benz, Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler for German. Pupils worked in small groups to devise questions and answers and practise an interview, to be performed in front of the class, complete with props and costumes. Pupils agreed on evaluation criteria for choosing the best efforts. These were then performed again in front of the video camera in a subsequent lesson and volunteers completed editing in lunch times. The school is now considering cross-curricular initiatives with ICT and other departments and an after-school film club.

St Julie’s Catholic High School

A Year 10 Spanish Set 2 used lessons and lunchtimes to develop a film introducing their school, working in groups to research and develop scripts focusing on different aspects of school life. Armed with permission slips, pupils visited classrooms and buildings around the school to create generic footage. They then worked on editing the clips into a coherent film complete with voiceover in Spanish, using Movie Maker software in Windows XP. The intention is for other groups to record voiceovers in their target languages too, for presentation at parents’ evenings and a local festival. There are plans to investigate ‘blue-screen’ technology and 3D environments such as Creative VR Picture Galleries to enhance the video work.

Wirral Grammar School for Girls

This project built on an existing link with a local special school, whereby Year 7/8 boys coming the school to learn Spanish were brought together with able Year 10 girls who would act as peer mentors. Working in lunchtimes, they planned scripts together in English for their version of ‘Ghostbusters’, which were voted on to select the overall favourite. The girls then worked to translate different sections of the script into Spanish. The teacher suggested corrections and recorded a model reading to support the girls in coaching the boys. The Art and Technology departments helped to develop costumes, logos and ‘equipment’ for the filming and 4 girls with good technical skills completed the editing. Following the project, a Year 8 French class filmed their version of ‘Blind Date’ and visited the local CLC for editing. A German group filmed different stages of the school building programme, which will be sent to partner schools with a voiceover in German. A Film Club is also planned.

Key Findings

The ambitions, experiences and outcomes of schools varied widely, but all teachers reported significant benefits from setting up a project, such as:

greater focus on pronunciation
opportunities for memorisation
increase in pupil motivation
improved class dynamics
development of collaborative skills
better understanding of film language and audience
higher status for MFL in school

Key points and issues were identified by the teachers, which would usefully be considered by other schools embarking on similar MFL projects:

Project design: Short and simple projects, with a small group where possible, are the best starting point. Ensure that individuals are given roles within groups. Give pupils as many options to work creatively and independently of the teacher as possible.
Planning: Provide pupils with a storyboard template and a list of filming dos and don’ts. Invest time in planning, refinement of target language and rehearsal.
Film literacy: Projects which dedicated time to analysing the language of film through discussion of existing footage were particularly successful.
Duty of care: Unless the school has an appropriate policy already in place, parental permissions should be obtained for pupils appearing in video footage in the project, even if it is not published.
Technical issues: Teachers and technical support staff should ensure that both filming/sound equipment and editing software is functional in the context in which it will be used by pupils before a project is started. Inability to save edited footage onto the network, insufficient network capacity, lack of appropriate firewire ports or video cards and non-functioning microphones were all technical problems faced by participating schools.
Support from colleagues: Good technical support is crucial. Assistance from FLAs and other departmental colleagues can make a huge difference, as can support from other departments who may have high levels of technical expertise and curriculum time to share! City Learning Centres can be very useful if there is one nearby.
Completing projects: Editing can be incredibly time-consuming. Set strict parameters for filming, such as a maximum of 5-10 minutes footage for a 1 minute film and agree on an efficient editing strategy from the start, which is likely to include pupils volunteering their free time.

Please also see the information on the other project in this series, Digital Voices.

Student film competitions

LAFTA Awards
Listing from Oscar Stringer

Further Information

Project dissemination

The team at CILT, led by Language Teaching Adviser Claire Dugard, have been disseminating the outcomes of this project through various channels. Further events will be announced as they are planned.

July 2004 – Project dissemination conference, London;
Oct 2004 - DfES Embedding ICT @ Secondary MFL Roadshow, Nottingham;
Feb 2005 - CILT Flying High conference, Loughborough;
July 2005 – ALL Language World conference and exhibition, Canterbury;

March 2006 - Project dissemination conference, London;
April 2006 – Pilot network project, Leicester;
Feb 2007 – CILT Flying High conference, Loughborough;
March 2007 – Digital video in action network project, Leicester
November 2007 – Lights, camera, action - New Pathfinder 6 publication by Ruth Bailey and Claire Dugard;
January 2008 – BETT Show, London
February 2008 - Active teaching and learning: Practical ideas for the community languages classroom, Wolverhampton
March 2008 - Communicate 08,
May 2008: Kreativitet, profesjonalitet og forskning i språklærerutdanningen, Trondheim, Norway

General advice and guidance

Becta: Research > Reports and publications: Digital video
Becta: Digital Media Community
British Film Institute: Education
Digital video in education website
MediaEd website