Carlos Budding, Cherie Brown

Summary: In a classroom TedTalks have the power to educate, influence, and inspire. This presentation/workshop will show how TedTalks serve as a catalyst for instruction, discussion and cognitive stimulation. This presentation/workshop will demonstrate how TedTalks are used within a preexisting curriculum to help build background knowledge, increase confidence, help presentation skills, plus fortify all four skills. This presentation/workshop is not about using video in the classroom. It is about generating motivation for lifelong learning.
One major advantage of working with the students who enter our upper-intermediate speaking classes is their high level of motivation. The purpose of this presentation/workshop is to show participants one method of helping students focus that motivation towards not only their own English skills but also developing skills that will help them along all of their lives. This presentation/workshop will demonstrate the steps taken to connect TedTalk videos to classroom curriculum. Instructions will be given to demonstrate how to prepare the students for the different roles they receive in order to prepare for watching TedTalks. One role is that of audience member, the other role is that of presenter. Students given the role of audience watch a video and prepare to discuss the video in class. Students given the role of presenters watch the same video and then prepare a presentation where they summarize the video, gather additional information on the speaker and/or topic, and finally generate discussion questions for the classroom. The presenters first present the information to the audience and then lead a discussion with the members of the audience. Prior to the day of presentation though, students are explicitly taught various discussion techniques such as controlling the floor, interrupting, answering questions, and changing the topic. An optional rubric will be shown to participants to demonstrate how this activity can be assessed. This presentation/workshop will teach participants, how with little effort from the instructor, a classroom can reap an enormous learning reward.
Bio: Carlos Budding is an Assistant Professor at AIU. Primary focus of instruction is Speaking and Listening for advanced level students. He also teaches Spanish for beginners. He has two MA’s – Linguistics from Gallaudet University in Washington DC, and Curriculum and Instruction from George Mason University.
Cherie Brown is an EAP lecturer at AIU, currently teaching on the EAP speaking/listening and academic reading programs. Co-author of Max Vocab: Journeys in the English Language, and Partners in the Classroom she has also written for “English-to-Go,” an online teaching and learning resource site, and regularly contributes to teacher-development programs in developing Asia. Her collaborative work in project-based learning earned the University of Otago Language Centre, New Zealand, the inaugural ‘N.Z. International Excellence in Tertiary Teaching Award ’. Current interests include ELT materials analysis and development, particularly in relation to vocabulary acquisition.