Project Title: Imagine West Africa (Imaginez L'Afrique de l'Ouest)

Students living in the United States often have difficulty imagining far away places. Students in a high school French class in South Windsor, CT, expanded their knowledge of West Africa as they visually explored and created their own video journals of an imaginary trip. Each pair of "travelers" went from one location to the next and included "pictures" of their discoveries. They presented what they had learned by creating video journals, which they narrated in French. The videos were created using Garage Band and iMovie and imported into Google Maps projects.

We are part of "Google Historical Voyages and Events," a site dedicated to showcasing teacher and student projects related to history.

Essential Questions:

  1) What do we learn by studying the cultures of other countries

  2) Why is it important to study about other countries, their languages, and their cultures?

Click on Map Below To View Project in Google Maps

Documents We Used In The Project - You Can Download Them

Imagine West Africa (IImaginez L'Afrique de l'Ouest)

Background:

Students often study about foreign countries in their foreign language classes. Using today's technologies, they can experience far more than textbooks can provide.

Final Project Task:

Using Garage Band, iMovie, YouTube, and Google Maps students created narrated video presentations of what they had learned. They created their own audio files, using Garage Band. Students narrated their scripts to their own, musical creations. They used iMovie to create videos, which they uploaded to YouTube. Finally, they created a class collection using Google Maps, placing each video in a corresponding place on a map of West Africa.

Procedure:

Research and Collection Of Images:

With your partner, follow these steps:

1. Find the route between your assigned location and your destination.

2. Note the distance!

3. Find a way to get from one place to the next. (This might be the hard part. You cannot assume there are cars to rent, trains to take, etc.

4. Once you have your route, "take" pictures (10 - 20)

5. Note that there are many ways to collect images from the Internet.

6. We will be using the methods described in class. Be sure to read the information supplied on Creative Commons.

7. Remember to save information to cite your sources, with proper attributions.

8. Once you have collected all your photos, add them to iPhoto. (You can drag and drop your folder over the iPhoto icon in the Doc. You do not need to import each photo, one at a time.)

9. When your images are in iPhoto, create an "album" for them and name the album.

10. Do any necessary editing so your images are "WEB friendly."

Organization and Creating of Videos:

Do the following steps:

1. Put your images in order and create a script to accompany them.

2. Include a few interesting facts and use descriptive nouns and adjectives. Make it exciting for the viewer.

3. Write your scripts in both English and French.

4.  As you write your scripts, watch partitive articles.

5. Limit the length of your script to 2 minutes.

6. Edit your script using Google Docs

7. Record the French version of your script on the iPod. Use the narration app.

8. Using GarageBand, combine your narrations with your own musical creations.

9. Put the images and recording into iMovie and create a finished video. Export the video.

10. Share the movie on YouTube using the account created for the class.

Google Tools Uses: Search Engine, Google Maps, and Docs

1. Students did research using the Google Search Engine

2. Students used Docs to write their scripts

3. Lesson plan and lesson documents were uploaded to Google Docs. Documents:

           - have searchable text

           - can be accessed online by other teachers and students

           - can be downloaded and printed

           - can be emailed to others

4. Students summarized their findings in a collaborative, class project using Google Maps:

           - Students insert placemarkers on a Google Map of West Africa

           - Placemarker "pins" indicate each site the students researched

           - Students link to their completed iMovie videos, which were uploaded to YouTube

           - As visitors click on each placemarker, the students' narrated videos "play"; placemaker windows open,

              and the students' finished projects can be viewed

Apple Software and Hardware: iPods, iPads, computers, GarageBand, iMovie, Pages

1. Students imported photos and images to iPhoto; did necessary editing

2. Students used  iPads and iPods to record narrations, using Voice Memo app; sound files were converted to mp3 files

3. Students used Garage Band to create original musical background files; saved and imported to iMovie

4. Some students created podcasts, complete with jingles and narrations in Garage Band

5. Students imported music files, narrations, and images to iMovie and created iMovie videos.

6. Finished videos were "shared" with You Tube

Lesson Plan, Learning Standards, and Rubric

1. Lesson Plan

2. Learning Standards

3. Sample Student Script

4. Rubric

School Webpage On "Google Historical Voyages And Events"

The students' project is summarized on a webpage which is found by clicking on the project title from the "Studying Languages and Cultures Of Other Countries" page of the "Google Historical Voyages and Events" homepage.