Kathryn Why a video clip Eine unangenehme Wahrheit

Watching videos is completely normal for students of today and learning is enhanced for those who are both visual and aural learners.
According to Vygotsky for learning to take place there also needs to be an active social environment and the subject of Global Warming with its current concern seems to interest almost every student (which in turn leads to active students, also necessary for learning) and stimulate conversation also encouraging interpersonal learning. Even though it may not be in German, learning German also includes learning about German culture and Germany leads the way in ecological issues so this would support this aspect of the course. Vygotsky also said that the teacher needs to be 'active' and I believe that if as a teacher I am committed and inspired by the subject then I am being 'active'.
I would use this video clip of Eine unangenehme Wahrheit with a Year 11 or 12 Class in the unit about the environment. The German is not too hard to understand and I would ensure that I had given the students the unfamiliar vocabulary before to avoid the experience of not understanding the clip, which could be undermining for them and already being familiar with the vocabulary would mean that watching the video would be working from the Zone of Proximal Development (spoken of by Vygotsky) and building on their knowledge. Many of the students would probably have seen the film in English and this would support their learning. Also, hearing it in German means it could be absorbed more easily.
It would also be possible later to watch the dvd of the film and have German subtitles running as this is an excellent way of learning language. As the students would probably learn new information this would support the 'knowledge' (spoken of by Bloom) and lead to greater 'comprehension' of the world (the next stage in Bloom's levels of learning) which in turn would lead to a change in attitude about what the student themselves could do to help the planet, that is 'application'.