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Description

In this task an experienced generalist primary school teacher collaborated with a doctoral student working on technology-mediated classroom interaction in a task-based language teaching environment. The objective was to investigate the language learning opportunities afforded by a story retell task leading to the creation of an ebook on tablets.

The task sequence began with the story “The wolf who wanted to change his colour” (Orianne Lallemand and Éléonore Thuillier). Learners created a storyboard to be scanned with an iPad. Using the app Book Creator, they used the audio recording functionality to add a soundtrack where they recounted their story. The final ebooks were shared with a partner class in Germany.

The final outcome, the ebook, constituted a reason to memorise vocabulary and rehearse a fixed language structure, and provided multiple opportunities for learners to practice and receive individual form-focused feedback.

Clips

In the second video, we see the Cat story presented as an e-book. The pupils’ drawings were scanned into an iPad, imported into the app BookCreator, and then the learners added audio recordings for each part of the story. Since the ebook format (epub, on iBooks) is not openly accessible, it was converted to a video file for this website (using the open source software Sigil). Preparatory activities to practice the original story, devise new versions, and practice these stories are described as a separate task (Primary EFL story retell).
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Details

Pedagog Collaborative learning (collaboration);Real-world outcome
Target Language English
Technology iPads/Tablets
Area Oral Presentation Vocabulary
Age 7-11
Level A1 Beginner
Education Sector Primary

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