Breda Banovšek, Osnovna šola Toma Brejca, Kamnik
Pupils like to try out new and unusual things and what they like even more is to connect them with their talents and interests. I wanted to encourage pupils to create their own materials and, by doing so, they would recognize the importance of discussed topic and at the same time use their already existent knowledge or upgrade it. I want to present three activities created by students of different ages. 1st group: fourth graders – beginners in learning German Pupils acquired their knowledge on how to describe themselves throughout the whole year. They created their own film at school with the help of a simple application Dvolver. I presented the application to the pupils beforehand by creating a short film (dialog) with their help and I showed them how the Dvolver works. Goals or advantages: Revising a certain topic and forming simple dialogs that pupils can use in everyday situations. Upgrade: Dubbing short films (since the dialogs in the Dvolver are only written, not spoken) Disadvantages: Time consuming (it takes a lot of time for pupils to type) 2nd group: seventh graders – beginners in learning German Pupils had to describe their pet. They could do that with the help of posters, power point or program Notebook for interactive boards. The latter has already been explained to some pupils at computer science. A pupil created the presentation and activities in Notebook and presented them in front of the class. Goals or advantages: A pupil, who has lower self- esteem, did a great job in presenting the material and schoolmates listened to her with interest. Pupils revised their knowledge and got excited about the program. Upgrade: Peer teaching 3rd group: ninth graders – learning German for three years It is difficult to motivate pupils to learn German or to even keep the motivation, especially when the theme is not interesting and they cannot find purpose in it. I proposed pupils, who already had the knowledge of making short videos, to do something about a certain topic that would motivate pupils and at the same time revise or explain a topic. The script and execution were up to them. Students made two very good videos and posted them on You Tube. Goals or advantages: Pupils learnt a lot while preparing the video and their classmates revised the topic and at the same time saw that learning German is fun. Upgrade: Peer teaching and presenting other topics with the help of self-made videos.
