Some topics may be regarded as, let's face it, rather dull by some students. Faced by such dilemma one needs to think hard to get the students remotely interested before asking them to start preparing notes or essays etc.

Movie Maker is an ideal tool to turn the pressure up in the classroom and it does not have to take long to produce. I quickly edited a brief video clip downloaded from www.britishpathe.co.uk to make it appear that Joseph Stalin was standing in the Kremlin waiting, patiently, for...the students. The task was simple:

• Targets set during the first Five Year Plan had been too high and factories were unable to meet them.
• Students' job was to prepare a speech explaining to Stalin what they had done to meet targets and why they consequently had failed.
• The class was also informed that their speeches would be rated according to 'chance of survival' after delivering their masterpieces.

It took approx. 10 minutes to download and edit the clip (watch video here) but the results were far greater. Students initially treated the task as a straight forward note-taking activity, but after a few hints that they would have to stand up a couple of meters from the iwb speaking to Stalin, some of them became rather nervous : ) , and they all started writing away like mad! At the end of the task two students 'volunteered'to deliver the first speech. One of them was a very confident 17-year old whose hands suddenly started shaking and he said: why am I so nervous it's just a flippin' movie? He made his speech (very well it must be mentioned) but the class only rated his chance of survival as very slim...

Movie Maker can be used in various ways, from starters to main tasks and plenaries (which this particular task actually became).This resource has been used by the whole department for a few years now as it's simple yet effective way of getting students working extra hard. They do that when we make our task matter.

Stalin with an Audience from johannes ahrenfelt on Vimeo.