In 1968 the famous artist Andy Warhol claimed “In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes” and as technology evolves, this prediction has actually become true. I think that everybody knows what YouTube is so there is no need to explain how it works; on the contrary there is a great need to discuss about it, about its potentialities and limits. YouTube is an amazing tool and the reason why I appreciate it so much is that it gives “real” people the opportunity to provide entertainment and to make their voices heard. Moreover YouTube is accessible and easy to use: it is not only for young ( I found out that there is a 78 years old man named Peter who uploads videos with the user name “Geriatric 1927” that has become a sort of celebrity) but for everyone willing to shoot a video about anything (from political speeches to the most weird human behaviour) and then to upload it.
Recently the media have been talking a lot about YouTube and often not in positive terms. I remember some videos (I don’t remember if the video was uploaded exactly on YouTube or something similar) in which teenagers hit a boy with disabilities in the classroom: newspaper and TV shows just couldn’t stop talking about it and about the YouTube phenomenon and the YouTube generation. Everybody seemed to be horrified and blamed YouTube and the Net in general for spreading these awful images making its authors really famous with a high risk of emulation. Actually I don’t know if YouTube has a sort of “filter” or if everybody is allowed to upload everything but the first thing that came to my mind hearing all the journalists arguing was that the Website (and the Net) mirrors our society: a society that is a little bit sick and that lacks civilisation, a society full of ordinary people who don’t want to be ordinary any longer.
However let’s get back to the real topic of this post, that is YouTube and language learning. Most of the people enter the Website just for fun: they only want to watch the latest most bizarre video. But the idea of using such videos to improve our English is not bad, I mean, if learners have the opportunity to better their knowledge of their second language and at the same time to have fun, that is great! I don’t have a beautiful and satisfying relationship with technology but I’m open minded, willing to explore new ways to enhance my English and if YouTube is going to help me, I will try it out. As far as I’m concerned, I think that YouTube could be an extraordinary source of material, moreover watching short videos prevent learners from getting bored but I don’t think it could be a substitute for “real” lessons nor that it could be really effective.
Let me know what you think about it: I’m looking forward to reading your comments!
Recently the media have been talking a lot about YouTube and often not in positive terms. I remember some videos (I don’t remember if the video was uploaded exactly on YouTube or something similar) in which teenagers hit a boy with disabilities in the classroom: newspaper and TV shows just couldn’t stop talking about it and about the YouTube phenomenon and the YouTube generation. Everybody seemed to be horrified and blamed YouTube and the Net in general for spreading these awful images making its authors really famous with a high risk of emulation. Actually I don’t know if YouTube has a sort of “filter” or if everybody is allowed to upload everything but the first thing that came to my mind hearing all the journalists arguing was that the Website (and the Net) mirrors our society: a society that is a little bit sick and that lacks civilisation, a society full of ordinary people who don’t want to be ordinary any longer.
However let’s get back to the real topic of this post, that is YouTube and language learning. Most of the people enter the Website just for fun: they only want to watch the latest most bizarre video. But the idea of using such videos to improve our English is not bad, I mean, if learners have the opportunity to better their knowledge of their second language and at the same time to have fun, that is great! I don’t have a beautiful and satisfying relationship with technology but I’m open minded, willing to explore new ways to enhance my English and if YouTube is going to help me, I will try it out. As far as I’m concerned, I think that YouTube could be an extraordinary source of material, moreover watching short videos prevent learners from getting bored but I don’t think it could be a substitute for “real” lessons nor that it could be really effective.
Let me know what you think about it: I’m looking forward to reading your comments!
5 commenti:
Hi Giada!
I totally agree with you! YouTube gives “real” people the opportunity to provide entertainment and to make their voices heard. However, it has to be used in the right way and with intelligence!
In my post I cited the video of the boy maltreated at school, too.
I think that videos like this should be forbidden and there should be a filter in this sense!
YouTube is an useful tool to improve our knowledge of english, it offers us the possibility to see videos, in which we can see and hear english native speakers and how they interact with other people: every culture has got its own customs and traditions!
See you soon!
Bye bye!
Letizia
Hi Giada!
I really liked reading your post as you pointed out a lot of interesting things, first of all the fact that YouTube makes it possible to users to broadcast videos, sharing them with people from all over the world and expressing their thoughts about any kind of issues, from those about fun to politics and health care.
As Letizia wrote in her post, it's really sad to hear about that video shoot by those teenagers who hit their peer and it’s unbelievable that some stupid young people have even tried to emulate it broadcasting similar videos..I can hardly believe that such a horrible thing could happen!
Like you girls, I think that YouTube is a very useful tool to improve our English, as it perfectly combines fun with learning!
See you tomorrow!
Greetings from Sydney, Australia.
You may like to know that Olive Riley, a feisty 108-year-old Australian great-great-grandmother, is the world's oldest blogger. She is probably the world’s oldest YouTuber as well.
Physically frail but mentally alert, Olive raised her three children on her own, survived two world wars , the Great Depression of the 1930s, and worked as a barmaid, an egg sorter, and a station (ranch) cook in many parts of Australia.
Olive’s blog, The Life of Riley, has a huge Internet following. Prepared by her friend, international film maker Mike Rubbo, and based on his interviews with Olive, it attracts hundreds of enthusiastic comments from many countries, and from bloggers of all ages. It’s posted on the Internet at http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/
Links
Olive’s blog http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/
Olive’sYouTube http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/
Mike Rubbo, film maker (Olive’s helper) http://www.mikerubbo.com/
World’s favourite grandma ftp://ftp.bdb.co.za/olive_riley.pdf
Life begins at 80… on the Internet http://bdb.co.za/shackle
Best wishes, Eric
Hi Giada!
Wow they write you from Australia!
You're growing notorius;)
However nice introduction and the things you pointed out!
Goog job!
See you on Wed!
Bye, bye!
Hi Giada!
LOL! A man from Australia wrote you. Fantastic, isn't it?
Talking a little about your post, you mention something I didn't think about: the opportunity for real people to make their voice heard through You Tube. I was more concerned with the limits and the risks of You Tube in my post. However, I think you're right... there's always a positive side of anything. Don't you agree? If you have already read through my post, You will realize that I mentioned the terrible videos about disabled people as well. See You!
Elena
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