Teaching social issues through cinema and teletandem

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21165/gel.v15i3.2409

Keywords:

Teletandem. Telecollaboration. Language learning. Social issues. Intercultural learning. Hispanic cinema.

Abstract

Teletandem is an innovative learning experience that helps to connect foreign language students with native or competent speakers in a virtual context. Through a Teletandem project, students have the opportunity to learn a language while developing a new cultural dimension. This paper presents the pedagogical experience of using Spanish cinema and a U.S. – Chilean Teletandem project designed to promote linguistic skills while addressing sociocultural issues related to the target culture. Using Web 2.0 tools, students had monthly synchronous conversations that focused on cultural, racial, gender, and social-political problems associated with the Hispanic culture. The Teletandem project allowed students to compare information learned in class with the material collected from their partners. This exchange of information helped students to form their own opinions and gain new perspectives of the target culture. 

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Author Biography

Aurora Castillo-Scott, Georgia College & State University

Aurora Castillo-Scott received her Ed.D. in Technology Education from West Virginia University in 2007. She is currently an Associate Professor at Georgia College & State University where she teaches Spanish Introductory and Intermediate, Conversation and Diction, and Structure and Composition. She has formerly served as Director of the Language Lab. She is interested in in-tandem learning, telecollaboration, instructional technologies, online teaching, virtual worlds, project-based learning, and role-playing. She has presented on these topics at national and international conferences. In 2011, she received the award Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology at the International Conference on College Teaching and Learning at Ponte Vedra, Florida.

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Published

2018-12-31

How to Cite

Castillo-Scott, A. (2018). Teaching social issues through cinema and teletandem. Revista Do GEL, 15(3), 257–278. https://doi.org/10.21165/gel.v15i3.2409

Issue

Section

Edição Temática v. 15 n. 3 (2018)