ESL+and+Dot+Sub

**ESL and Dot Sub**
One barrier I face with my ESL students is with sharing videos and having them comprehend all that is in the video. I show videos often in class as a way to reach the visual learners. However, often the videos use a large amount of vocabulary ESL students have not been exposed to, especially in science. One website called DotSub.com provides video translation with subtitles in a large selection of languages. Anyone can use Dot Sub to view the videos and select the language to view the videos in. If you are a member you are able to upload your own video, make subtitles and allow other members to make subtitles in their preferred language. There is a large selection of video genres including documentaries, instructional and video podcasts. There is an excellent video for use with teaching the US government. Also a video from President Obama directed towards kids. Within DotSub website is a variety of different extensions available. One option is being able to comment about the videos for other viewers to see. Another option is the ability to search by the use of tagging.

ESL students could benefit with this Web 2.0 tool by watching and reading the videos in both their native language and also English. Students can then feel more comfortable understanding what they learned through the videos. The option of reading other individuals posts about the video can also bring more meaning to the video. One barrier I saw with this option was the posts were in a variety of different languages, you could not easily translate the posts into a language the reader selected directly from the website. With an outside source for translating like Google translate, all posts could be easily read.

Sharing video in education is useful way to reach students’ interest. With Dot Sub, videos can be translated for ESL students to better understand the content in the video when viewed in English and also their native language.

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