Video-conference to enhance students’ motivation
by Paolo Badiali paulbad@libero.it

Introduction
Some time ago[1] appeared in this journal an article on videoconferencing as a practical and effective teaching tool for the language teacher especially suitable to support EFL teachers in the challenging task of providing interesting material and stimulating ideas to the students in order to improve their language learning skills. The present article is mainly concerned with pointing at the wide range of possible applications of video-conference to the syllabus and typical curriculum of Italian schools.

Speaking Latin
Rosanna Morlino, Italian and Latin teacher, spearheaded in our school[2] Hans H. Ørberg’s [3]method for a communicative approach to the teaching of Latin. This approach, which, I am told, is slowly spreading among Latin teachers even in the sober and conservative halls of the licei classici, claims to appeal more to the students as it enhances the most lively and communicative features of living languages without neglecting the thorough acquisition of the usual conjugations and declensions endings typical of the inflective classical idiom. Through international VC directories[4] meant to put in contact schools around the world, we got in touch with 2 schools in Chicago IL Usa. These American schools already used VC on a regular basis for their Latin lessons with their shared teacher Valerie Gemskie [5].
After a regular and somewhat prolonged e-mail exchange to plan future VC meetings, we came to schedule a test call [6]both to make sure that picture and sound were good and to further define the first VC meeting with the students. On our side we first let the students introduce themselves in latin and then perform the song “l’italiano” by Toto Cutugno popular in the early 80’s in Italy and a good concoction of all the stereotypes that pop up abroad when speaking about Italy and about Italians. The song was introduced first in English and then it was sung in the Latin translation entitled “sinete me canere” by the Italian students with the background support of a midi karaoke base downloaded from the internet. The two Chicago schools after having the students introduce themselves in Latin entertained us with a sort of “guess who” game whereby students in one school gave definitions of mythological or historical characters of ancient Greece and Rome and some other students in the other connected school in Chicago gave clues about famous contemporary people. Our students had to guess the mysterious character after the definition given. Other interesting activities on the American side included a Simpson-based puppet show [7]in Latin, a slideshow of Chicago highlights and schools’ pictures with Latin captions and a really well made video dubbed in Latin of a day in the life of one of the students (fancy name Proximo). On our side we provided an object camera puppet show (cfr note 7 below) of Dedalus and Icarus story, an object camera description show of Italy in Roman times with reference to major cities rivers and streets and a Powerpoint presentation via PC of Florence from Roman times to the Renaissance (captions and live audio comments in Latin) and a very well prepared “Taberna Iulii” show where students dressed in Roman costumes took up the roles of shop assistants, shop owners and customers and acted out what must have been common shopping situations in ancient Rome.
Videoconferencing with Chicago is still regularly running at a rate of about 4 links plus a couple of test calls every school year. Speaking Latin with American peers has become a standard syllabus feature for Latin students in Rosanna’s classes in the biennio. The experience so far has been greatly motivating for the students[8] and has hugely added to the already strong communicative slant of Ørberg’s textbook and method. [9]
There have been loads of positive side effects to this experience. From what I could more directly see, besides the highly motivating way of tackling a tough subject, our students particularly appreciated a more direct, even if limited, insight into American culture for example just by noticing the various ethnic composition of a typical class in a common secondary school in Chicago (about 30% were Blacks plus several Hispanics and Asians). As a follow-up activity to VC, some students got to know one another also through e-mails written in English and some of them are even making plans to visit their e-pal partner some time during the Summer.

Food for thought
Another interesting videoconferencing activity carried out in the English language and which has been running regularly for a couple of years is a multi point cross-Atlantic high school panel focusing on current affairs and global issues.
Eastchester High School, NY, USA in the person of John Blaser, head of ICT, carries out the most clerical tasks: it keeps track of participants, reminds them to choose a topic to present to the other sites for discussion and prompts them to decide a common test call. It is John too that eventually sets the agenda for the day sending copies to all sites. In this kind of activity each school has to pinpoint a topic and prepare it beforehand with the group of students who will be present on VC day. When working with 4/5 different sites we usually allow each school up to 5 minutes to introduce the chosen topic and 3 minutes to the other schools to give their viewpoint. In our case, being most of the time the only non-English speaking school, we have always to plan a couple of supplementary meetings with the students in order to brainstorm them on possible issues[10] and brush them in their use of English. I am lucky enough though to have two colleagues in the collegio dei docenti Alberto and Augusto Cacopardo [11]teachers of political economy but also keen anthropologists, talented translators and proficient speakers of the English language which have been of material help in helping the students come to grips with the difficult task of debating in English about issues which might even be considered challenging for mother tongue speakers. Mike Griffith director of the London-based video-conference portal Global Leap[12] acted as panel moderator introducing the guests, switching from one site to another and also asking questions to the students to make the discussion in the panel more active and lively.
The other schools regularly featuring in the event are Edgewood HS, Trenton, Ohio, USA and Thomas Lord Audley School, Colchester, Essex, UK. As this kind of video conference is targeted more to individual students with a strong interest in politics, current affairs and social issues, we try to advertise the event long before it is supposed to take place through a “circolare” signed by the headmaster and occasional catchy notices pasted on the walls of the coolest hangout corners of the school. There has been a general consensus among the students for this kind of video conference link, deemed highly positive both to enhance their oral skills in a real communicative situation and to highlight their opinions, giving them credit not just as passive recipients of messages[13] but as mature young citizens starting to open up their minds and to take a stand on what matters most in the world today.

---

[1] Si dovrà mettere il numero della rivista in cui sarà apparso il mio precedente articolo dal titolo “selling English by video.conference. In the text the most common acronym for video conference VC will be used

[2] Liceo scientifico Giotto Ulivi, Borgo san Lorenzo, Firenze. www.giottoulivi.it

[3] Ørberg’s method is based on the gradual and spontaneous acquisition of the Latin language, through its constant and direct use as it were to some extent still a living and spoken language

[4] These are a few sites providing directories where partners with VC equipment could be found: www.epals.com www.global-leap.com , www.wotw.org.uk ,http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/directory.cfm

[5] The teacher Valerie Gemskie was sitting in the VC lunge in Walter Payton High School with a group of students and connected with Van Steuben HS to have a joint Latin session with another group of students from that school which was located a few miles away in greater Chicago

[6] Some teachers tend to skip test calls thinking they are useless. They are on the contrary of paramount importance for the success of the

[7] students got a painted background typical of the Simpsons saga and then made small pictures of the various members of the family (Homer, Bart etc) glued them on sticks and with the help of an object camera were shown to all sites as in a live cartoon motion picture. Other students then backed up the action of the paper puppets on the sticks by reading the dialogue, rigorously in Latin, prepared beforehand

[8] It must be noted that the students had to stay at school for extra hours in the afternoons in order to catch up with their American peers in Chicago who lag 7 hours behind. In spite of this late connection, students were always present. It goes without saying that this is one of the best signs showing interest in school activities on the part of the students

[9] Hans H. Ørberg, “lingua latina per se illustrata”, accademia vivarum novum ed.

[10] The topics chosen could vary greatly from sustainable development to equality between men and women; from questioning the right to attack Iraq to the possible coexistence of democracy and Islam. On our part we favoured the students’ choice of pointing at the hottest issues in the international agenda namely War on terror, the concept of terrorism and of pre-emptive war, the change of attitude towards the war on Iraq after failing to show evidence for weapons of mass destruction etc.

[11] Thanks to them it has been possible to spread the news among the students of the chance of attending such an enthralling event. They have been supportive of the students’ interests in international events and have also proven competent language tutors. They have published several articles on various journals dealing with anthropological studies

[12] www.global-leap.com is arguably the most complete site for video conferences in Europe. One of the best features is an on-line form where schools can book video conference lessons at various sites in the UK including the British Museum and the Tower of London. Mike Griffith director of the “Videoconferencing in the classroom project” directly linked to Global Leap is very keen on promoting videoconferencing among schools. He is also available for advice and tests. Use this number to contact him: +44 (0)20 8866 6036

[13]whether of sheer knowledge or trash culture should not make much difference. I believe that one of the problems in youth culture these days which is particularly evident in the school system of western countries is that the young are not considered main actors of their own lives but as open jars waiting to be filled by somebody else’s thoughts and ideas.