Introduction Day
At the outset of the Playing for Success course, the students are invited to enjoy a full-day’s introductory visit to Silverstone. The aims of the day are:
- To give students and study centre staff the opportunity to get to know each other.
- To introduce students to the study centre’s interactive website and wireless-networked Apple computers.
- To enjoy a tour of the track and facilities at Silverstone.
- To have fun.
Students undertake a range of engaging activities in morning sessions that also allow the study centre staff to make an informal assessment of the academic and social needs of individuals as well as the group as a whole.
Activity One - Blog It Live!
Each school group is given its own blog within the study centre’s website that can be viewed from school or home. This access allows teachers and parents to remain in touch with what is being achieved by the students in the PfS sessions. They can also comment on what they see via the blog’s built-in commenting feature.During the introductory day students are asked to post a couple of draft sentences of autobiographical writing to the blog. Boring vocabulary is identified and banned at the pre-writing stage to be replaced by strong and powerful word choices. Successes are highlighted as a group and then published to the blog’s homepage.
Activity Two - Driver Profile Photos
Photo Booth is an entertaining piece of Apple software that allows students to take photos of themselves using the computer’s built-in camera. It has a range of interesting and often amusing effects that, when combined with thoughtful uses of background scenery, can produce highly creative and original results. Student are encouraged to take lots of photos and then make editorial choices about which constitute their favourites. The final selection is then saved to their folders that they create on the study centre network. A photo is also added to the blog as either an individual gravatar or as an accompaniment to the students’ earlier blog posts.
Breaks
During break times students are introduced to engaging online games that require creative and lateral thought. These games can be continued back at school or home with links on the school’s blog. Our current favourite is Albartus’ Mystery of Time and Space. Break times can also be used simply to ‘chill out’ but students will always be given the choice to make productive choices with their free time.
Activity Three - Live Race Commentary!
The ‘Live Race Commentary’ activity focuses on how a television commentator uses his or her voice to engage and inform the viewer. Students watch a piece of footage from the BRDC’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ go-karting race at Silverstone. They are asked to assess the commentators use of pitch, pace and volume. The general features are identified as a group and then practised.
In pairs, the students are then given a short piece of unseen Grand Prix race footage on which they have to commentate ‘live’ using iPods with microphones. During the lunchbreak the recording are played back to the group so they can make their own assessment as to whether they have implemented the features identified earlier.
As well as being a fun activity, it gives centre staff a general insight into the students speaking and listening skills and confidence.
