Teaching & Learning with Live Video

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“Videos provide greater engagement than text or images for the simple reason that it combines audio, video and text.” - Amit Garg
Live video is growing an audience on social networks, such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. Anyone is able to go live on video to an audience on these social networks with free mobile apps, like Facebook Live, Hangouts on Air, and Periscope. These apps also allow the person going live to engage the audience by seeing their comments in real time as well as emoji reactions. Facebook Live allows you to dress up and add filters. Hangouts on Air and Facebook also allow you to screen share and show slide presentations. Anyone can subscribe if they enjoy the live videos and will be instantly notified when another live video event is about to happen. Below is a slide presentation about using Live Video to Teach and Engage English Language Learners.
Tips and Ideas
  • Note! All these apps are viewable on a computer, laptop, or mobile device and have free apps for Android and iOS devices.
  • All these apps also will automatically load the recording of the video immediately after to your channel, page, group, or account.
  • Students must be at least 13 years-old for individual accounts on these platforms, but I recommend setting up a teacher account and using with teens, university students or adults. 
  • For Facebook Live you might try setting it up under a Facebook Page or private class Facebook group. This way the recordings go straight there under the Video tab of your group or page. You can also limit who sees your videos. 
  • If you use Periscope in conjunction with Twitter then you might want to create a Twitter class account or hashtag to easily find the recordings.
  • Find an example of Facebook Live presentations for English Language Teachers here. 
  • With any of these apps, you can engage the audience using the following ideas:
    • encourage the audience to create chain stories together since their comments will show up live on the screen
    • use these tools to flip the classroom
    • invite a guest speaker and host a Q&A session
    • interview multiple people live like you see in the talk shows and ask your audience ahead of time what they believe the majority of answers will be for the question
    • play a trivia game with someone live and let the person ask the audience for help
    • take them on a virtual field trip
    • teach something in the field. For example, you could go live on a hike and show them different plants, trees, and animals.
    • encourage students to subscribe to news or learn English channels so they are motivated to learn English outside the classroom.

​Hangouts on Air
  • Remember to record the Hangout session, choose Hangouts on Air, and if you just want video chat, then choose Hangouts.
  • Download the free Hangouts app available for iOS and Android.
  • Every video chat is better when students can get to know each other! Have them add their names with the Lower Third feature located in the Hangouts Toolbox app. Look at the slideshare for details.
  • You can screenshare and text chat with Hangouts. However, these features are best using the browser version versus the mobile app.
  • With chat, share clickable links and have a backchannel while the recording takes place. The chat does not get recorded in the video.
  • You can even use emojis during the chat so that you can get feedback with emojis. Check out my other lessons with emojis.
  • Have different roles for students- leader, reporter, note-taker, distributer! I have these descriptions in my book, Learning to Go. Only $5.99!
  • Have at least one student take notes on a Google Doc, since the chat does not record. I have this note-taking Google Doc for you to make a copy of!
  • With the screen share feature, students can demonstrate to their group members how to use a web tool or they can watch as they collaborate on thes same document.
  • With the ability to easily link and view files, peers can collaborate on a Google slide presentation, work on a spreadsheet, create a collaborative infographic with spreadsheets, brainstorm using various graphic organizers, have a debate (they can share briefs and research to back up their stances), work on a collaborative book on Google Slides and so much more!
  • Connect with me on Google.com/+ShellySanchezTerrell for more tips and resources.
  • To discover more Google tips and tricks, check out my post, Get Your Google On with These Google Gurus and Hashtags.