The making of our Student Video Project, part 1: Tongue Twisters

How does a pronunciation activity morph into a class project for a short film? Every trimester our Conversation Class students develop an original script for either a radio show or short film, which they practice and act out themselves. The material for the this audio-visual project is taken from the topics and activities that they have worked on in class throughout the semester. 

This trimester our Conversation Class students decided to do a three part short film film. Part one and two are focused on mastering some very tough pronunciation by reciting tongue-twisters. Part two was a student hosted quiz show which includes vocabulary, grammar and listening comprehension trivia from topics seen throughout the course.

Last week students saw the the tongue-twisters that they would be reciting for the first time, and trust me, they weren't the easiest. They decided to do a short performance of this one:

"A tree-toad loved a she-toad

who lived up in a tree.

He was a two-toed tree-toad,

but a three-toad toad was she.

The two-toed tree-toad tried to win

the three-toed she toad's heart,

For the two-toed tree-toad loved the ground

that the three toed tree-toad trod.

But the two-toad tree-toad tried in vain;

he couldn't please her whim.

From her tree-toad bower,

with her tree-toad power,

the she-toad vetoed him."

Bea, Cristina and Elvira (from left to right) with their first encounter tackling this tough tongue-twister.  Luckily their pronunciation was even better than their drawing!

The girls split the tongue-twister into three parts, practiced and memorized it. This week we filmed their short performance as the opening scene of the video project. 

Stay tuned for more information about part two of the video project and for the finished product.