Thanks to the internet it is now easy to find authentic resources to practise dialogues or reinforce vocabulary in the classroom, be it weather forecasts, train timetables shopping for clothes or furniture.
Le casse-croûte is a homemade French website which contains video recipes lovingly prepared by Vincent, the resident cook in what I presume is his own kitchen. These video podcasts or vodcasts can be watched on the site or downloaded and played using Quicktime.
For each recipe, Vincent first explains what ingredients he will be using and then creates the given dish in a clear and straightforward way. The ingredients for each recipe are displayed on the page and also appear at the end of each clip.
The recipes he has filmed so far include:
The videos could be used in class for listening comprehension purposes although they are quite long at about 10-15 minutes each. So it may be better to concentrate on a section at a time rather than working on the whole clip in its entirety. They could also act as models for your pupils to make their own video recipes using a digital video camera and a program like MovieMaker which comes free with Windows.
Videojug has more examples of video recipes (in English this time) as well as a whole range of other instructional videos some of which could be the inspiration for making a video describing someone's daily routine or asking directions in town. Pupils could:
- storyboard their ideas
- film each stage
- edit the footage together
- add narration and subtitles as appropriate
- render the final version
These sorts of video projects combine a whole range of different skills and pupils seem to find them very motivating. Why not try some of the ideas out and see how your pupils react? You could produce some tasty results.
I love this site and the Vincent and Pascal duo. I would recommend anyone to have a quick look at a recipe and then vote for them as they are short-listed for an internet award!
Posted by: kerenan | 05/01/2007 at 18:27