Activating Learning: Creating a Flipped Classroom Video for Teaching 'Places in Our Town'

- December 16, 2024

Hello everyone! Today I will introduce a brand new teaching approach: Flipped Classroom Approach.

Let's explore!

What is the Flipped Classroom Approach?

The flipped classroom approach is a contemporary teaching method in which students study theoretical resources on their own time while concentrating on interactive and practical exercises in class. By enabling students to interact with the material at their own pace, this approach encourages active learning. It has several noteworthy benefits, including encouraging student-centered learning, strengthening collaboration, and boosting communication through engaging classroom exercises. However, it also has drawbacks, such as the requirement for strong self-control and consistent access to technology, which not all students may have.

Our Task and Process

In order to put this strategy into practice, Başak, Ozan, and I worked together on a project that taught language related to local locations, such as bookshop, playground, mosque, train station, pharmacy, toy shop, shoe shop, supermarket, police station, and hospital (words we chose from the 'My Town' unit in the MEB English coursebook for grade 5 students). Our assignment was to make a video to introduce these words to 5th grade students as a pre-class learning resource. After introducing the subject in a brief discourse, students were given vocabulary examples and allowed to deduce meanings. Lastly, for reinforcement, we used the words and pictures again. We designed a Quizizz fill-in-the-blank exercise to evaluate students' learning after making the video. The project was both challenging and enjoyable. Deciding on the subject and style of the video was thought-provoking, but we solved it through collaboration and idea sharing. We shared the workload as follows: Every participant created their own avatar and animated their own parts via Animaker. CapCut was used to combine the voices and animations, and sound effects were added for an organized result. We created a vocabulary-based quiz after watching the video. Overall, this experience highlighted the potential of the Flipped Classroom Approach in language learning.

The Tools We Used

Animaker: For creating animations and avatars. https://www.animaker.com/

CapCut: For audio integration and video editing. https://www.capcut.com/

Quizizz: For creating interactive quizzes. https://quizizz.com/pro/join

Here is our vocabulary teaching video for a flipped EFL classroom. I look forward to your comments.