Can I show these two sites to students? We can BUILD INITIATIVE and improve COMMUNICATION. Short Version: (For busy principals)

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Dear Principal
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(a) Can I show these two videos to students? (a short tour of a city and learning a phrase in another language) after the school work is finished in the class?
(b) Can I record their "explanations of the classwork" and post the video just for the students to review on Google Drive (limited distribution)? 
We can BUILD INITIATIVE and improve COMMUNICATION.
THIS ACTIVITY can help students (1) say "Thank you" and (2) help them write about a place that they care about

Here's what I want to say to a student:

"You have five minutes before the bell rings.   You just spent this class writing about something that is important.   Would you like to make a short presentation, about 30 seconds, and talk about what you wrote?   Then we can post the short video.

You face will not be on YouTube, only your voice.

We can say that you are a student in California.

If you want, you can make this your video (if you like the result).  If you don't like it, I can erase it.

This activity promotes your speaking ability.  Are you interested in doing this?

We can walk over to this corner and you can talk about what you just wrote."

WHY?  

a) Putting a "performance of understanding" on the web (even in a limited distribution) says "Your classwork is valuable."  

b) Limiting the distribution gives the student control over how his/her words are shown.

c) The classwork becomes "more visible" because the student can revisit the words.

PROCEDURE

The posting can be on a GOOGLE DRIVE and the link can be made to specific people or to the world. or "to anyone with the link" (which is a way to limit the spread of the material).

Is this okay?   What procedures are needed to protect privacy and avoid cyber bullying?
 

Visit CHINA!

Other activities that might be used:

a)  Write a review of a movie.  The review would be on Google Docs and distributed only to the student and the teacher.   If the review is good, we could eventually post the result on IMDB.com, with the permission of parents.

b)  Add information to a Wikipedia article or an Amazon review.

c)  WANDER THE WORLD.  Walk the streets of a city that is difficult or expensive to visit.  LIMITED use of Google Earth and YouTube videos that show another place.
TIP:  Preview the videos ahead of class time to find videos that have good features (stable camera work, pauses that allow you to stop the video and ask questions about the location).

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Say "Sorry" in Chinese

Here is one way to use the volunteer to expand the awareness of students about the "outside world."
 (1) "What language do you want to learn?  Let's use five minutes before the bell rings to learn a phrase in that language."

(2) "What place do you want to visit?  I have Google Earth and we can go almost anywhere."

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Teacher's resource
http://www.brilliant-insane.com