Here is another activity that demonstrates how the teacher’s voice can be brought into the picture, thus adding an additional layer to the video. It starts with the teacher describing a video clip as if it were a dream. Student interaction can be encouraged.

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I want to tell you about this funny dream that I’ve been having recently. Now when I say ‘funny’ I don’t mean it makes me want to laugh. I mean funny in the other sense of the word.

Did you know that funny had two meanings? Yes - it also means ’strange’.

In the dream, I’m standing on top of a building and I’m looking directly down at the street below. I hear a bell ring and then I hear children’s voices.

What sort of building do you think it is?

Anyway, as I said, I’m looking down at the street below. A crowd of people walk out of the man entrance and then I hear a piano melody. It’s quite beautiful but at the same time, quite sad. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the melody now.

Does that ever happen to you - a catchy tune comes into your head while you are dreaming. Sometimes you wake up and think you should record it somehow so that you will remember it in the morning. But you never do.

So this is where things get a little bit strange. On the pavement below, there is a face looking up at me. But it’s not a realistic face - it looks more like a child’s drawing and it’s animated. It seems to be speaking to me but I have no idea what it is saying. Its hair is blowing in the wind.

Now I can hear a man singing.

The face turns into an animated matchstick man. Do you know what that is? Well this is a matchstick (or a match for short):

And this is a matchstick man:

Now the matchstick man turns into a house, or perhaps I should say, a child’s drawing of a house. You can imagine what it looks like. Anyway, very slowly, I turn to my left. I look along the street and then across the roof of the building that I am standing on.

Can you guess what I see?

I  see the man who is singing. He is also looking down at the street - just like me. He is wearing a peaked cap and a dark blue jacket. He ignores me and keeps singing his slow song. The sky above us is autumn blue. In the distance I can see skyscrapers.

I look back down at the street and there is a new picture. It’s a sailing boat on the sea this time. Then it turns into a car. Its wheels are going round. The car turns into a bird which turns into some sort of animal - its difficult to say what exactly what type of animal it is. It might be a deer.

Now, very slowly, I turn to my right and look across the right-hand side of the building.

Can you guess who I see this time?

This time I see the piano player. He is sitting at his piano on the roof of the building. He is sitting with his back to me.

Do you believe that dreams have meanings? What do you think this one means?

• Language level: Pre-intermediate (A2) +
  
• Learner type: Teenagers; Adults
• Time: 60 minutes
  
• Main activity: Interpretation of a music video
• Topic: Dreams; School
• Language: Prepositions
• Materials: Video clip (music video)

dream-sequence.pdf

Posted by admin on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 9:43 pm.