I've been showing my second year students a short movie that Sarah, Victoria, and I made last year. I was Santa Claus, Victoria was the narrator and a sleeping girl, and Sarah did all the filming and editing (the hardest part). Victoria originally had the idea for us to make the video to practice the grammar point "There is" and "There are." We imagined it as a simple little film with one or two takes that wouldn't look great, but would be okay. However, the love of Sarah's life is film (she's at the American Film Institute this year), so she made it into an all-star production. She filmed the skit a dozen times from many different angles, and then spent hours editing it. The result was quite impressive, I think. I doubt she'll be putting it on her resume anytime soon, though.

The reaction of the kids to the video has been wildly varied. One class all applauded when it was finished, which was nice. Then there was the class who didn't know that I was Santa Claus (they must be stupid, because it's obvious). The teacher and I couldn't believe they couldn't tell it was me. All the other classes have been able to see me. I think the students thought it was some professional video or something. One of the classes today seemed quite bored by the whole affair. I figure it must be better than learning grammar, right? Anyway, it's a cool video and despite having shown it 26 times so far, I am still not bored of it. Maybe it's because I'm in it. :)