Using a Youtube Video for Listening

Using a video for a listening activity can be both fun and practical for teachers. The video that I am going to use is The Internet is Worse Than Ever - Now What? by Kurzgesagt. I actually used this video for my unofficial teaching activity in my internship school. I used this video because it is about social media, a topic that students would be interested in and is also recent. The illustrations in the video also look very vivid and catches attention. First I asked students about their opinions on social media and if they ever come across different views and debates on social media. All of them said yes and I asked if they had ever been in a social media debate. Some of them said yes and some of them said they just prefer reading those debates because it is fun. Then I started the video and gave them a handout with questions and asked them to answer the questions according to the information provided in the video. I also did stop the video sometimes to ask them questions apart from those on the handout. I think it was interactive and engaging for them. Lastly, we discussed the answers and they gave their opinions about the last question which was how can we make social media a better place. 

Here are the questions I used for the listening activity:

1-) What are some downsides of social media mentioned in the video?

2-) What is a filter bubble?

3-) Why does social isolation or exclusion make us feel bad?

4-) What is social sorting?

5-) What we can do to make things better? Write your opinion.

Each question except the last one test if the student understood some information provided in the video. I think using a video to test listening comprehension is one of the most practical ways to create an engaging classroom activity and you should also definitely use it!

Thanks for reading