In 2020 as schools had returned to their usual routine, our Hebrew team was looking at ways we could increase student collaboration and integrate Hebrew in authentic and interesting contexts for our Year 6 students. We decided to create a film festival within our school, with the whole of Year 6 creating videos in teams. After a vote from the staff and student body, the winning film would progress and enter the MLTANSW Linguafest Film Festival. The requirements of the competition included a special item (a Rubik’s Cube), as well as for the language to be entirely in the foreign language.
We began our journey introducing students to Apple Professional Learning Specialists who focused on enhancing and further developing their film making skills. Sessions were held teaching students about crucial filming techniques including shot selection and mood, the method of storyboarding through Keynote as well as and editing techniques using iMovie.
Below you can see some pictures of students practicing their camera angles and becoming familiar with microphones in one of these sessions.
WIthin Keynote, students used their Apple Pencils to create drawings in order to storyboard each scene to be filmed. Below is an example of one group’s storyboarding – detailing the camera angles for their film production, used as a guide and scaffolding tool. What was really impactful was that due to Keynote’s sharing abilities the group was able to delegate scene drawings and all collaborate and participate ensuring each student was engaged and had a role in the story design.
Through this project students were able to work collaboratively and explore the various skills within their groups – many developing a passion and appreciation for film making (outside of TikTok). Additionally, students were given a creative outlet and authentic purpose for using the Hebrew language.
The video below shows an example of one group’s final creation.
The MSC Competition was voted for by the whole College with prizes for Acting, Comedy and Drama, Use of Technology, Use of Hebrew, Props and Costumes and Storytelling.
Whilst our school sadly missed out on prizes within the MLTANSW Linguafest, our students became the real winners as they worked together to create such incredible projects.
Stories of Learning In Our Classrooms 