Inspirational English, June 2017 Inspirational English, June 2017 | Page 6

Hi Magdalena, thank you for being my next
guest at Teachers Talk. You run a successful blog
in which you show teachers how to use visuals in
class effectively. How do you think images could
inspire the 21st-century students?
Thank you for inviting me for this interview in the first place. Well, there is no doubt that the
generation of students that we teach nowadays is the most visually oriented generation ever. They are
often called Sreenagers or Generation Like since their eyes are almost constantly glued to the screens
of various types and sizes. We can say that our students live and breathe images – it’s their life. Why
not to use it in a class then? Thanks to a creative use of images in the class we learn to speak our
students’ language and their motivation increases significantly.
I love using inspirational videos in class which not only create an emotional response
but my students say that they are also very grateful for the added dimension the
videos bring to the lesson. I know you love using such motivational videos as well.
What advice would you give teachers who intend to create a lesson plan around a
video? How would they choose the best one?
It’s true that videos should have some kind of a message – they should inspire, teach, force to reflection,
and on the top of all, they should encourage students to talk. That is my prime aim when choosing a
video. It often happens that while watching a certain video I can see the whole lesson plan in my head.
Teachers who are just starting their adventure with videos should look at their own reaction while
watching. If it makes you laugh or cry or maybe it’s a type of a video that you want to talk about
immediately, then you can apply it in the class, for sure.
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