Engaged Online Language Learning with How-To Videos

A crucial component of effective online learning in any discipline is keeping learners actively engaged with the course material, with their classmates, and with their teacher. It is also advantageous to break up learning into manageable components rather than create long lessons or lectures that require marathon attention spans. When teaching language courses, we need to find ways to activate all four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) while also integrating the 5 Cs (Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities). One way to address some or all of these learning components is to incorporate lessons based on instructional or "how-to" (do or make things) videos. Examples related to numerous topics are easy to find online, including in French, and can work well for any age group or proficiency level. Integrating these into language courses can be a small piece of a lesson for a specific topic—such as a video on soccer techniques to accompany a unit on sports—or a multi-day or multi-week endeavor focused, for example, on how to give and follow instructions.

In any of these situations, appropriately scaffolding the activity provides important support for students to successfully navigate the video(s) and related assignments. Providing a clear roadmap will help students know what to expect in terms of required tasks and learning objectives. Thus, prior to the viewing, instruction might include textbook readings, practice assignments, brief videos by the instructor, or brainstorming together in class to activate prior knowledge of the subject and/or of the grammar and vocabulary involved. In some cases, it might be helpful to direct the students to other websites with relevant information for the lesson.

With the stage set, students can watch the videos as homework. As many demonstrations are brief (five to ten minutes), watching the videos multiple times is feasible and perhaps preferable. Guiding questions for during or after the viewing can help students make sense of what they are seeing and hearing, and post-video questions can expand discussions and promote critical thinking about the content. In the class following the homework assignment, instructors might wish to play selected clips, which allows for highlighting specific features, engaging students with questions about what they see and hear, or sending students to breakout rooms to discuss among themselves (and thereby ensure speaking time for each student).

To find videos that align with course or lesson goals, launch a Google search with prompts such as "Comment jouer," "Comment faire," or "Comment dessiner." Suggestions will automatically populate the search window, such as "Comment jouer à Fortnite," "Comment jouer de la guitare," "Comment faire du slime avec de l'eau et sans colle," or "Comment dessiner Pikachu." Many of these will likely be hosted on YouTube. Preview a few videos for language, content, and appropriateness for your lesson goals. For boosting students' motivation to engage with the material, teachers can tailor the content to their students' interests. Is there a simple skill they are excited about trying in French? This might involve art, cooking, skateboarding, video game walk-throughs, yoga, or hairstyling.

Focus Areas

Two rich content areas (though not the only ones) to consider when planning lessons with how-to videos are language and culture. First, language: at the forefront of each lesson is the fact that the students will be hearing authentic French. Since how-to videos are generally aimed at native speakers, students will hear "real" language in context. As an added benefit, many videos on YouTube allow for adjusting the playback speed to a slower rate of speech. While there will never be enough time to cover every aspect of the language used in a video, the following are ideas for linguistic focal points:

• • Grammar: Lessons could address one or more of any grammatical structures the speaker uses in the video, depending on the students' proficiency and on course or unit goals. In particular, though, how-to videos lend themselves really well to zeroing in on the imperative and the subjunctive.

• • Vocabulary: Specialized vocabulary related to a specific hobby or craft often dominates how-to videos. For an art or construction project, what...