¡Estamos de vuelta!
Y comenzamos contado la experiencia de nuestro compañero Jorge, que ha compartido conAnimal Class su labor llevada a cabo a finales del curso pasado en un IES de Vallecas (Madrid) con sus alumnos y alumnas de 1º y 2º ESO.
In this case, the activity consisted of watching a documentary film on a topic of social interest in English with Spanish subtitles and then discussing it in the classroom.
Based on the idea that many teenagers spend a large part of their free time watching television, and a significant proportion of that time is dedicated to programs of no educational value, this activity sought, among other things, to broaden the range of programs they watch and to help them understand that documentaries can be entertaining, interesting, and educational.
In this regard, Jorge, as an English teacher, believes it is very important for students to get used to watching films in their original version (English) with Spanish subtitles. But also, through these types of activities, the aim is to develop their ability to select information, summarize, and present in English, as well as to respectfully and constructively evaluate their classmates who are giving presentations.
Jorge tells us about his experience:
En la materia de Inglés se les propuso a alumnos de distintos grupos de 1º y 2º de ESO que viesen un documental en inglés subtitulado al castellano. La selección de dicho documental la debían hacer ellos en función de sus intereses, con dos condiciones: que estuviese en inglés, y que no fuese de fútbol (insistiéndose en que la temática debía ser preferentemente de carácter social).
Many students explained that they didn't know which documentary to choose. Based on their individual interests, they were advised on different options, and the topics were quite varied. Finally, I decided to provide a list of documentaries that I thought would be interesting. Among them were several related to animal welfare (The Cove, Peaceful Kingdoms, Jill Phipps, The Witness, Maximum Tolerated Dose, etc.), as this was a topic that several students had previously expressed interest in.
Tras ver el documental los alumnos –individualmente o por parejas- hicieron un resumen muy breve y una opinión personal que leían a sus compañeros. Una vez hecha la exposición el grupo comentaba y evaluaba el trabajo en función de cinco parámetros que podían ser evaluados con un máximo de dos puntos cada uno, para que la nota final fuese como máximo de diez puntos. Los parámetros eran:
- “Interesting” (whether they found it interesting or not).
- “Quality” (information selection, summary, etc.).
- “Effort” (effort).
- “Fluency” (fluency, clarity, tone of voice, pronunciation, etc.).
- “Presentation” (poster design, use of images, etc.).
Finally, Javier Moreno, co-founder of Animal Equality, the animal rights organization that has conducted the most research, was invited to the school. Due to the impossibility of conducting this last part of the activity in English, it was decided to do it in MAE (“Alternative to Religion”). The students had the opportunity to learn more about how documentaries and research are made, as well as the world animals live in on farms and in other places where cameras rarely have access.
Javier Moreno insisted that they should have access to multiple sources of information, question them all (and he emphasized that this included his own) and that once this was done they should create their own point of view.
The students, for their part, showed great interest and asked questions related to the documentaries they had seen in the previous days; for example, they were asked if it was true that cows are separated from their calves as soon as they are born, as the documentary said.
