Monday 5 December 2016

Use Adobe Spark Video as language teaching tool


At the beginning of November I was attending the SETT-Syd in Malmö, which is a big conference about how to use ICT in teaching at modern schools. I notice that the difference between this SETT and the SETT in Stockholm four years ago is that the topic of ICT-teaching in the school/preschool is not longer questioned. Instead, now we are talking about how to use ICT in school and make progress with the help of it..

It is quite often we see ICT in classrooms and more and more teachers are getting used to this. I have been working with ICT in teaching for many years and have used lots of apps. One of my favourites is Adobe Spark Video and that is what I have to tell you guys about. This is the one you should try out. 


How does Adobe Spark Video work?


First you go to the app store and find Adobe Spark Video, then download it. You can log in from your facebook or Google account (create one if you don't have an account) and use it for free.  With the app Spark Video you can make your story in just a few minutes.

When you get your pictures done you can just go to Spark Video, chose one of the themes such as schoolbook, travel, film and get started. 
In every page you can put pictures and text.  You can even record sound directly at the same page. Compared with the iMovies direct recording the sound quality in Spark Video is much better. Besides, you can create as many pages as you like. You can choose either with music or without music. There are lots of different music to choose from if you don't want to choose your own. I prefer to have music.


Before you upload your project, to Youtube for example, you can preview it and see if everything is ok. Than share it with friends, colleagues on Youtube, Google Drive or Dropbox. I would like to share one of my presentations which I made by Spark Video.



One thing I have to mention is that Spark Video is based on internet, which means you can access it with any computer, phone or pad as long as you can log in from your facebook or Google account. A good point in using Spark Video is that it is very effective and you can have your project done in two to five minute. Adobe Spark Video is not an app that just aids in language learning. You can use it very broadly.

Why use Adobe Spark Video?


As a teaching resource teachers can use it for their planning. According our syllabus and curriculum (Skolverket, 2011) teachers should plan their lessons according to what pupils react to, which is called “formative teaching”. Spark Video is a good combination with pupil´s feedback and teacher´s planning. You can make a new planning in a few minutes.

One of the processes of formative teaching is feedback from teacher to pupils. Teachers can use Spark Video to make records of when you question your pupils and give feedback.  

Spark Adobe can also used as a good teaching resource for pupils. A good example I can give is once when I worked “reading and understanding” in Swedish with the year 4 pupils and we made a drama and theater “Monsterfest”.  One of the pupils was very shy and could not talk fluently in front of an audience. She agreed to make a record with Spark Video. This took much longer time, but in the end the pupil was very satisfied with her effort and the whole team-work. Though this was Swedish teaching, what I mean is that you always can use this idea in the teaching of other languages.






Like every other technology resource Adobe Spark Video needs developing to fit our requirements. As an example it can still not add video into the project, which I feel is a pity. I believe there will be more people using this app when it gets improved. 

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