Looking for a fresh writing assignment that motivates students, uses new technology, and incorporates writing? I’ve found that a video-podcast assignment fits the bill in my French literature class.

For this assignment, students created ten-minute video podcasts that reviewed a French film. They played the role of commentators on a film, developed a script, and illustrated their analysis through film clips. Through this assignment, students developed their spoken and written academic French as well as strengthened their analytical skills. Before I knew it, they had successfully transformed Ebert and Roeper to “Hiver” and “Rocquefort.”

Video Podcasting
Video podcasting is the automatic downloading of audio and video files to a computer or iPod-like device. It’s often thought of as a great way to disseminate information to students. Many teachers use it to make their lectures available or for oral assignments. What many don’t realize is that podcasting can be a great way to get students to produce writing as well.

When I first received a DoIt Engage grant to use video podcasting in my French language and literature classes, I saw it as a chance to get students to listen to authentic speakers and to test them on their oral comprehension. I soon realized, however, that podcasting helps students to produce language in both written and oral forms, since they can write dialogues to record and then submit them to me electronically.

Staging the Assignment
When designing any assignment that uses technology, I try to put pedagogy first. In other words, I always try to keep my teaching objectives in mind so as not to let the technology inadvertently become the focus of the exercise.

Keeping this mantra in mind, I set up the assignment by first discussing some sample film reviews with students. Together, we discussed what does (and doesn’t!) make a film review compelling. Then I taught the French vocabulary students would need to critique a film. They then used these terms and concepts to choose a film and to explain why they liked it and what aspects of it they were going to analyze. This exercise led into their first writing assignment, a short essay in French that they shared with their classmates, who provided peer editing and feedback.

We spent the middle part of the semester learning how to make video podcasts. I worked with LSS and Software Training for Students to create mini tech-seminars that taught students to use two easy free computer programs: Audacity and iMovie. Even though all my literature classes are in French, I decided to teach the technology in English, so as to keep technology issues from becoming the unwanted focus of the course.

In the third section of the course, students wrote a ten-minute (or five-page) dialogue that, working in pairs, they then used as a script for the video podcast. I responded to several drafts of their scenarios for both form and content. I then worked with them on the pronunciation of the texts that they had written. My aim was not only to improve their writing but also to help strengthen the connection between written and spoken texts.

The Final Showing
In the end, each student group succeeded in producing a ten-minute video podcast. Students combined their dialogues with still photographs of themselves and from the film. They also included a two-minute-long film excerpt that they analyzed in detail. While their French wasn’t always perfect, students delivered genuinely insightful analyses of the films. And they did so with flair and humor that I’ve rarely encountered in other assignments. In one podcast, students used an animated snowflake (“Hiver”) and piece of cheese (“Roquefort”) as the commentators. Hiver and Roquefort went on to show how Laetitia Colombani, the director of the 2002 film A la folie…pas du tout, used color to convey messages not reflected in the dialogue.

Students seemed genuinely impressed to have created a piece they could “publish.” But they found more than just the final product gratifying. They also developed the critical apparatus to analyze films. This assignment managed to tap into students’ cultures, even as it opened them up to a deeper understanding of French film.

Moreover, I found that students’ use of French improved. Because of the creative nature of the project, they were willing to get into roles, adopt a voice, and take some intellectual risks—all in a foreign language. I will use this assignment in future classes as a way of encouraging students to write about something in which they're interested, to develop a text during the course of the semester, and to share their writing.