Beyond
Beyond is a 6-level English course for teenagers which I wrote together with Rob Metcalf and Rebecca Robb Benne between 2013 and 2015. Each unit of the course includes a Speaking lesson based around an original video. The concept for these videos was to use a group of teenagers acting out the different scenes in a drama workshop context. This reflects the classroom situation in which students often role-play scenes. We used a different group of actors for each level, reflecting the age of the students who would use the course.
A second video strand is called The Moving Picture. These videos use a mix of original videos, mini documentaries, slideshows, digital animations, vox pops... The idea was to include as many different video genres as possible. The course has a strong focus on Life Skills and we also made some videos for those lessons.
Most of the original videos were filmed at Pegasus, the young persons' performing arts centre in Oxford, and produced by Clark Wiseman and his team at Studio 8.
Extracts from The Moving Picture videos in Beyond (Macmillan Education).
Extracts from some of the drama group videos in Beyond (Macmillan Education).
A complete Life Skills video in two parts from Beyond B2 (Macmillan Education).