Context
Billingham Campus School and Arts College is an 11-16 mixed comprehensive of approximately 900 students. There are 180 networked computers. Additionally, the school hosts Stockton’s City Learning Centre (CLC) which gives students and teachers access to high quality ICT provision and technical expertise and support.

What is the project?
A small group of Year 10 GCSE German students worked in pairs to plan and create a short target language video film of approximately 90-120 seconds duration. They selected from a list of three themes, all of which had been covered in class. They were responsible for deciding the storyline, linguistic content, shooting and editing of the film. They were encouraged to extend their range of language beyond what they already knew. This was achieved in consultation with the teacher and by research. Students demonstrated their final products for peer evaluation.

Key objectives

• To produce a short video in the target language on a theme from a given list
• To develop memorisation skills
• To develop speaking skills: confidence, range and attention to accuracy and pronunciation
• To enable students to work creatively and independently using ICT
• To develop learning skills and to foster differing learning styles
• To develop planning and technical skills
• To develop a sense of ownership of learning and thereby increase motivation

How activities are organised
The project was outlined to the students, who were to work in groups of three. The idea of creating a DVD about their school instantly captured the imagination of the group. The students completed a pre-project assessment on the topic which had already been taught in class. This gave the teacher a baseline idea of their linguistic competence and range before the project. The teacher and students all spent some time getting to know the camera and its workings before looking around the school to decide and plan shots and a story line.

In the classroom the students worked in small groups to create a storyboard: deciding the sequence of shots and creating a script in German. While this stage was done independently, with students researching terminology and grammar, the Foreign Language Assistant and teacher were on hand to advise and check, especially regarding accuracy in the target language. When each group was satisfied with their storyboard, and their script, the filming took place. This was completed by the students relatively quickly.  The really creative work began in the next phase, when students edited their film. They had to reduce some 10 minutes of shots to about 3 minutes and still retain continuity, coherence and fitness for purpose. Team spirit was evident as decisions were arrived at according to linguistic and aesthetic criteria, and appropriateness to the task.

Some time was spent acquiring editing skills as only a range of very basic skills had been shown to the students. As their enthusiasm grew, the ambitions of the students grew too and they gave much of their own time after school to create the video they felt best met their needs. In this phase they also included animations, backing music (bundled with the editing software), fades and voice-overs at points where wind noise had ruined shots. Each group completed a video of about 3 minutes which they burnt on to a DVD. The resulting level of German was good, with a range of tenses used, good pronunciation, and a wide range of vocabulary. The videos were very effective in communicating positive and informative messages about the school. 

Evidence of success

• Students developed memorisation skills, a key objective of this project
• Students demonstrated a capacity to re-draft, plan, and script
• Students focused on pronunciation, accuracy and range and learnt to appreciate the value of these for communicative effectiveness
• Students refined their critical judgements at all stages of the project: planning, scripting, filming and editing
• Students developed collaborative and investigative skills
• Students’ technical skills improved demonstrably.

Next steps

• Develop similar projects with other groups
• Work with other departments on a cross-curricular video project
• Investigate the possibility of producing a similar video with a partner school in Germany but with subtitles on the video