Lights, Camera, Reflection!

It's been a hectic week, but we are finished and debuting our IMovie!
It's about languages... SURPRISE... and their importance in education.

Languages are so important in today's world.  Multilingual students have more doors open to them.  Online resources are not just in English.  Multilingual students can access Wikipedia in Spanish or uploaded texts in French.  Their brains are conditioned to make connections quicker and easier than a monolingual student's.  However, this is best accomplished through elementary education when the students are not preoccupied with social pressures and peers.  But given the high school language trend we make due.
The process itself was more tedious than I expected.  The initial idea of making a video was overwhelming, but once we brainstormed how we would use technology in the classroom our soap box came out and the video ideas came together.  When we started filming we found that without the proper equipment making videos is difficult!  We had a lot of fun though and I hope to give my students the option of making movies in my future Spanish classes.
As we discussed in class after showing the video, learning a new language is not just about the words and grammar, it's about learning culture and acceptance of those cultures.  An open minded class leads to open minded individuals in the world, which will one day hopefully lead to a more peaceful world.
I am determined to use Skype in my classroom to help make Spanish relevant for my students.  I have close friends in my old schools in Spain who I want to collaborate with.  If my high school students could have reading pals over Skype with my 6th/2nd graders I would be ecstatic.