How to integrate Kickstarter into the English Classroom

Have you ever heard of  http://www.kickstarter.com/? It is a funding platform where designers, musicians, filmmakers and many more can present their projects and call other people up to support them. So on the first sight, it is not a website that you would typically integrate into your English classroom. But it is important to take a closer look. Many filmmakers present ideas for documentaries they are planning or doing. Those documentaries often deal with problems of certain countries such as developing countries but also about the USA.

I would like to present one of those projects. Two filmmakers want to create a documentary that is called:

“Dream with me – A documentary about one year in America’s Public Schools”

(To get more information go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1800556280/dream-with-me-a-documentary-that-will-change-the?pos=23&ref=popular)

In the video they posted on kickstarter.com they are talking about why they want to do the project as well as they present a short trailer of the planned documentary. This video could be easily integrated into the English classroom when dealing with the American school system. It makes the pupils think about what goes wrong in the USA but also makes them consider problems of the German school system. Especially in upper classes this could lead to interesting discussions and thus helps pupils to broaden their vocabulary to express their opinion on specific topics. On kickstarter.com you can find many more of such videos where people call attention for different problems. It definitely pays off to take a look at the different projects, many are worth being supported and many are worth being talked about in class. So if you are looking for a topic to do a discussion on and you are bored by normal topics like abortion or smoking ban, you should browse through www.kickstarter.com, it is definitely worth it!

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