Sometimes I find great videos on YouTube; sometimes my students tell me about great videos on YouTube. Either way I have found that my students like the way I use videos to make writing prompts and discussion boards a little more interesting. In my classes, I like to use short videos paired with readings and other things to stimulate background knowledge and vocabulary acquisition. At NISOD this year a colleague and I presented on some of the tools we use to do this (if you would like to see video of that, click here). Anyways, here is one of the videos I have found that I like to use.
***********Warning*************
The content in the video below includes cuss words, If you are offended by cuss words, DON’T WATCH THE VIDEO. As a linguist, I am intrigued by the power we give words. I have a lesson that gets students to think about what makes a word a cuss word. It makes for a great discussion board topic and a fun writing prompt, but in all honesty, I still haven’t had the courage to link this video to the lesson. I would also like to use George Carlin’s 7 Words, but haven’t linked that in either. The topic is controversial.