Well girls, here we are at last! This week we explored the last tool we needed for our English course. Hopefully, working on Web 2.0 will be easier and faster from now on. I must admit that the tools we explored in the last seven weeks helped me a lot. I was rather sceptical at first, but it was due to the fact that I had skeleton technological skills! This new adventure turned to be very interesting in the end.
But now, let’s talk about YouTube. The young boy or girl who never heard about YouTube, please raise his/her hands! It’s quite impossible… Even I knew what it was! We all know that it’s maybe the most popular website young people use at most. Unfortunately, I can’t use it as often as I’d like to, because I still haven’t got broadband and I can’t look at the videos from Internet. But now things will be different: I should have the broadband into three or four days, GREAT! However, for the moment I should manage the best on my SLOW computer.
I think that many young boys use YouTube just for fun. Not to mention all those who use it for exhibitionism- let’s think about the episodes of bullying or about the most recent crime news. But YouTube- like any other communication tool- could turn out to be an extremely useful tool, if used with some intelligence. For example, it could be a way to improve our language learning: you can listen to videos in foreign language and exercise your skills having fun. And we all know that when you have fun, you learn more and faster! A friend of mine is using videos from YouTube to write her thesis. She has to study them to point out language differences in Spanish dialects… This is a perfect example of how many resources you can find here. Obviously, this is not the only reason why YouTube’s a good resource. I think that it can also be useful to keep you abreast of the most relevant issues, to keep your mind open, considering cultural differences and different points of view. Let’s think about the video about the i-rak we saw last Wednesday… It was illuminating, wasn’t it? It satirized Bush’s policy in such a keen way! I’d like seeing more videos from Mad-Tv. If I found more interesting videos, I’ll let you know!
Just another thing before going…I chose to add this video to my blog because I love it. It’ll explain you the title of my blog “Somewhere over the rainbow”; it’s the video of the song, my favourite song. This is the text (if you want to learn more about the singer, read about it in Wikipedia)... I hope you'll like it!
"Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dreamed of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Blue birds fly
And the dreams that you dreamed of
Dreams really do come true
Someday I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops thats where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
And the dream that you dare to,why, oh why can't I?
Well I see trees of green and
Red roses too,
I'll watch them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Well I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white
And the brightness of day
I like the dark and I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people passing by
I see friends shaking hands
Saying, "How do you do?"They're really saying, I...I love you
I hear babies cry and I watch them grow,
They'll learn much more
Than we'll know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Someday I'll wish upon a star,
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top that's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
And the dream that you dare to, why, oh why can't I? "
6 commenti:
Hi Martina!
How can you do this to us?? Watching a video with wonderful images of sandy beaches, flowers, sunsets can be quite dangerous for your mood if the weather is windy and rainy out of your window! I'm joking of course! I really like this song, because of not only its relaxing melody but also its words: "The colours of the rainbow so pretty in the sky/ Are also on the faces of people passing by/ I see friends shaking hands/ Saying, "How do you do?" They're really saying, "I...I love you"". It's the kind of "philosophy" we talked about some weeks ago: live your life with a happy hearth and life will show you its sweetest side. You know, I sometimes think that men cannot be really happy and satisfied: they are always looking for something and when they get it they find out that it can't fill the void they feel inside of themselves; thus, they are compelled to begin all over again and to look for something else. Maybe they should learn to appreciate their life simply because they have the chance to live it: everything is going to be all right if we firmly believe it, this song says it clearly.
I know, I'm too optimistic… I'm still an incurable dreamer!
As for YouTube, by now we are all aware of the great potential that the Internet offers and this huge collection of videos does not make an exception. Unfortunately, just like the other tools we learnt to use in the past few weeks, YouTube is often used improperly to fill the Net with rubbish: people seem to feel in the right to upload the recording of the worst things they do just to show off with their friends. Someone believes that the Web is one of the causes that spur people (above all the young) to record their stupid boastings because it allows video to be watched by a very large audience. Do you think they are right?
See you in class,
Elena
Hi Martina, I do love your video!!! I got "goose flesh" (let's hope English people do use this expression, too..) while watching it! You know, this song reminds me of my grandfather, the person I love most among all my relatives: as he adores the singer Louis Armstrong, when we were children he used to sing "Somerwhere over the rainbow" to us, little girls, trying to imitate Armstrong's fascinating voice.. I think you can understand how moving this video was for me!
As for YouTube, I agree with you and Elena: new and popular tools can become dangerous if used improperly. The fact is that nowadays people have the chance to make everything public by uploading any kind of materials: this can be useful (like in the case of teaching materials), but also very negative and dangerous. As you said, what makes the difference is to use these tools with cleaverness. ;-)
Marta
@Elena: The video is so colourful, isn't it? I couldn't resist sharing it with you. I love it and it was related to what I wrote in my presentation post. :)
@Marta: I'm so happy you liked the video so much! I can perfectely understand how moving this video can be for you because it reminds me to my grandfather as well! At Christmas Eve, we usually dinner all together and he always wanted to listen to "What a worderful world". This songs smells of Christmas and grandad!
Martina
Hi Martina!
Unlike yesterday,I feel more positive toward YouTube today... Perhaps this is due to the fact that I spent some time searching on it and I managed to found some interesting videos, or only to the fact that I reflected on how I ( and we)can exploit this wide source of information. I'm now quite convinced that YouTube can be very useful to our language skills, in particular listening and comprehension, which are perhaps the most difficult ones.
I like the song you chose as well! Very moving!
Bye!
Hi Martina!
sorry for posting this comment at this moment but I had quite a lot of problems with my computer yesterday!
Is YouTube a dangerous tool? Yes, it is, above all for younger generations. Would they make stupid and vulgar videos if YouTube didn't exist? I don't know the answer to this question, maybe they would do it anyway because they're young and a little bit witless...
Luckily YouTube can be used to do positive things, too. It can convey very useful information and help us improving our language skills. Hope that in the future someone will find the way to stop all the nasty things people post in the web. I know that it' a little utopian but you never know...
@Giovanna: Don't worry, I know what technological problems are!;-)
I agree with you: the only solution to stop people using the Web for nasty purposes would be to find a solution to limit their "power". I don't think it's so easy, but I hope someone think about that as soon as possible.
Bye!
Posta un commento