Last year my friend, Kristy Placido, did an amazing service learning project. Her kids used their BYOD devices to research borrowers on Kiva for a video project. The coolest part of the whole thing was that Kristy put up $200 of her own money to give the top 3 video makers the ability to really help their borrower fund the loan!! Talk about walking the walk! I was inspired!
So this year I decided to do the project in my class. My students did a reading of some authentic sites to learn about microfinance and then we headed to Kiva.org to find people who were seeking loans! I gave them a full class day just to read bios of people and to choose the person they want to help. They get a second full day to work on putting the pictures and audio together into a video presentation! Having Kristy’s student vids as an example was a great way for my kids to visualize what I expected!
I have offered $100 to the top video, $75 to the second place and $25 to the third place. Kristy has generously offered to match that amount so I can award two of each prize! How exciting!!! I’ll be asking for votes next week so keep your eyes on Twitter for the links if you have time to help us pick the winners! Kristy’s class is going to vote as well! Why not have your class vote too! Great interpretive listening! 🙂
This is the playlist of my top 10 (well 11 because it was tough to cut it down. Top 6 like getters win the monetary prizes! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0pLE29speO6DZC3nJfmDBLU4FO3b26nq
Please keep in mind that these are language learners and if you have any type of criticism of their language skills, email me at senoracmt at gmail dot com and do not insult their video. Being an intermediate is difficult and they take it very personally when they are flamed. (this happened, can you believe it?) As teachers, I want us to lift UP students who are trying to use language and not tear our own or other people’s students down!!