Adventures in Digital Storytelling with ELSA

LearnersELSANet Conference Workshop – October 17, 2011

Presenter: Sara Yuen

Why?

M.Ed (TESL) U of Cpracticum

component – ELSA program at Collingwood

Neighbourhood House

technology & language learning;

exploring identity through

expressivist writing

share my experiences with creating digital stories with ELSA 3

learners

explore potential uses of digital

storytelling with ESL learners

What is Digital Storytelling? “the practice of using

computer-based tools to tell stories” (University of Houston)

text, images, recorded narration, music, video clips

personal stories that we want to share

using our own voice, thoughtful & expressive story creation

Talk to your neighbours and share your thoughts about what digital storytelling is (might be, could be….).

Come up with a group definition!

If you’ve made a digital story (personally or with your class), please talk about that, too!

Digital Stories…are short (2 to 4 minutes long)

are interesting & meaningful to the storyteller

are clearly narrated

have interesting pictures that match the story

are ‘from the heart’ “What’s your

story?”

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples:

http://www.l2digitalstorytelling.blogspot.com/

How?Timeline: one month

Monthly theme: Housing

Sponsor teacher + as many volunteers as possible

Equipment: laptop(s), projector, internet access, scanner, digital voice recorders, microphones, powerpoint and handouts

12 visits, ~27 contact hours with the students (including the screening party)

13 students (of a class of 16) completed individual digital stories

www.cnhelsadsp.weebly.com

Within that month…

sessions 3 - 7

first 2 sessions

sessions 7 - 12

Steps to Making a Digital Story

A clear end point as motivation?

When the digital stories are done, we will have a ‘screening party’ and watch our videos as a whole

group!

Digital Storytelling = Project-based Language

LearningWriting: brainstorming, outlining, drafting

Expressivist writing: finding YOUR (English) voice

Speaking

Listening

Pronunciation

Vocabulary

Editing: peer/self/instructor

Purposeful language use, with an audience in mind

Trust & Openness

“Who am I/who are you?”“These stories are too personal.” “Does personal = meaningful?”

‘my meaningful item’ activity

5 senses writing trigger

my own digital story

‘what’s my story’ – brainstorming + choice in deciding a topic/what to write about

self-assessment checklists, peer feedback

“What’s Your Story?”

stinky tofumy life in Vancouver

a place in my

hometown

my son/daughter/childr

en

my plans for the future

a memorable

day

The biggest headache…

Enough equipment?

The right tools? Space?

PC? Mac? Both?

Ss’ digital literacy skills

Copyright issues

…technology!www.creativecommons.org

Make sure…you have enough support in the classroom depending on your Ss’ technological skill level (thank you, volunteers!)

shorter stories = an easier (to make) digital story (see Kirsty McGeoch’s ‘1-minute stories)

the equipment you need is available and plentiful, and that you’re comfortable using it.

make your own digital

story

create a digital story as a whole

class

use your tech-savvy Ss as

helpers/resources

Project Highlightshigh level of student engagement

collaboration

tangible achievement

meaningful opportunities for language learning/practice

digital literacy skills development: “I can do this!”

Lessons Learnedratio of instructors – students: the higher, the better!

know which Ss are tech-savvy and could help others in the group

find ways to get the learners involved in the overall project: set-up for the movie screening, etc.

time for Ss to get acquainted with software & equipment beforehand

How else can digital storytelling be used with ESL learners?

narrow the focus/topic: an end of term project (‘what I’ve learned this term’),

whole class or small groups: create a digital story based on a common experience (party/celebration, field trip)

students can create a ‘commercial’ to advertise a product, or their class…(see the VCC ELSA Youth coffee commercial!)

using written journal entries as a springboard to a digital story

syuen@vcc.ca

Twitter: TESOLTech

(pdf of the ‘student workbook’ and powerpoint presentation have been

uploaded to www.sarayuen.weebly.com )

Questions? Comments?

Thank you for•coming•participating•sharing!!

Please feel free to stay and play with iMovie & recording equipment

Resource/Reference ListCentre for Digital Storytelling: www.storycenter.org

University of Houston. The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling. http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

Kirsty McGeoch’s blog: http://www.l2digitalstorytelling.blogspot.com/

The site for the CNH ELSA 3 Digital Storytelling Project: www.cnhelsadsp.weebly.com

My e-portfolio (project PPTs, lesson plans, some materials): www.sarayuen.weebly.com

BBC – A Guide to Digital Storytelling: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/audiovideo/sites/yourvideo/pdf/aguidetodigitalstorytelling-bbc.pdf

Skinner, E. N., & Hagood, M. C. (2008). Developing literate identities with English language learners through digital storytelling. The Reading Matrix, 8(2), 12-38. Retrieved from http://www.readingmatrix.com/archives/archives_vol8_no2.html

Image Credits

headache: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheffieldmickey/504565963/