Using Digital Storytelling to learn Xhosa Vocabulary

Learning Xhosa vocabulary in a linear fashion may not be the most inspiring or effective way of teaching a second language so we decided to put a different spin on the theme of Churches and Ceremonies for the Grade 10 Xhosa class.

The boys were asked to take photographs of various items in the school chapel using whatever technology they had available and to source other pictures from the internet that supported the theme.

Using these downloaded resources, and PhotoStory 3, the boys created a narrated picture story in Xhosa and saved the final product as a movie.

Photostory works by organising a series of digital images into a sequential order. One can then add various effects to each of the images, insert text, music and even record your own voice. It is a Microsoft tool and freely available for download off the web. Photostory projects can easily be uploaded into Classroom blogs without having to going through YouTube.

This made their learning experience more visual, fun, creative and contextual and also supported an active learning environment.

Here is an example of one of the movies created by the boys.