Video conferencing task in a German secondary school

Description

In this task, two remote secondary classrooms, one in Germany and one in France engage in a video-conferencing session, using the IWB, camera and microphones. The teachers of both classes, after an in-class discussion, decided that the topic of the videoconferencing sessions would be ‘phubbing,’ . This is a relatively new concept in the English language (and by extension, other languages) which means ‘to ignore (a person or one’s surroundings) when in a social situation by busying oneself with a phone or other mobile device’ (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/phubbing). After conducting a class survey on the topic, both classes made creative video messages using iPads, which were then uploaded to Google Drive. Having watched each other’s videos, the learners created a list of questions to ask the other students and then the two classes engaged in a video conference using the IWB. They first asked more general questions, such as ‘Have you ever been in France?’ or ‘Do you like German food?’ and then the students started asking question about phubbing. The project allowed the students to contextualize the research, gave them a real goal and a chance to use the foreign language in a real life situation.

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