Schools and teachers commended for commitment to literacy
Mon, 19/09/2011 - 17:20
MEDIA RELEASE
cap that!, a national campaign asking teachers to turn on captions in the classroom for all students, has today formally acknowledged the commitment of St Anthony’s Primary School, Clovelly (NSW), one of eight major prize winners in the 2011 cap that! competition. The school’s video entry has inspired teachers nationwide to start using the simple tool at their fingertips to improve literacy and learning for students.
The competition asked educators to share their ideas and experiences around using captions in the classroom, with St Anthony’s inspiring entry showing how they are integrating captions and responses from students that demonstrate how captions enhance learning and engagement with audiovisual materials.
Emma Clancy, Year 2 teacher who submitted the entry said, “It’s blown me away. Something so simple can really enrich learning so much for each child… And it’s not just literacy benefits. There was such a difference to how they were engaged.”
A Year 1 student said, “You got to really easily read the story. If it was a bit muffly and you can’t hear it properly you could read the words underneath.”
The entry won the school a subscription to ClickView 2, a library of digital videos worth up to $2,400, which CEO of ClickView Australia and New Zealand, John Bonnyman, presented them with today at a formal presentation ceremony at the school. Emma Clancy also won a prize pack of captioned DVDs and passes to cinema locations with captioned sessions.
“A lot of people think captions are just for the kids that need them, who are hearing impaired, ESL students or children that need extra literacy support. We’ve seen it – the other children get so much more out of it. It’s for all children,” said Clancy.
Through using captions in class, students also gained different perspectives on learning. One Year 4 student said, “It’s important to learn about captions because it’s good to learn how people with a hearing loss feel and how they can learn the same things as us but just in a different way.”
Other major prize winners include St Paul of the Cross School, Brighton Secondary College, Redcliffe State High School, Casimir Catholic College, St Augustine’s College, St Jerome’s Primary School and Mt Lilydale Mercy College. Sixty teachers nationwide won minor prizes. Entries highlighted proven benefits of captions for all students, particularly those who are Deaf or hearing impaired, speak English as a second language, are struggling readers or have learning disabilities.
St Paul of the Cross, a school with 98% of students with a Language Background Other Than English (LBOTE), 87% English as a Second Language (ESL) students and 37 fully-funded special needs students, links captioning to an open and inclusive learning environment. The school’s winning entry looked at practical and easy ways to use captions for their diverse student body.
School Principal Mary Colagrossi said, "We've found captions to be of great benefit in our school. Not only do they help improve literacy, comprehension and learning outcomes for all of our students, their use encourages an inclusive learning environment and equitable access to the curriculum. We're very excited about it and I encourage all teachers to give it a go and see the difference captions can make!"
St Jerome’s Primary School shared how they’re using captions at their upcoming short film festival so that a great number of people can hear and understand them. In turn, this will raise awareness amongst students of the levels of disability in the community.
An entry from Brighton Secondary School suggested teachers turn on captions while watching Shakespeare films so that all students, particularly ESL students, may better understand Shakespearean language.
Other winning entries focused on how captions can improve vocabulary in difficult subject areas such as physical education, ways to promote the use of captions in schools and practical lesson ideas that other teachers can use in class.
Competition entries will remain viewable and teaching resources incorporating captions will continue to be available for free download from the website.
-ENDS-
For media enquiries, interview and photo opportunities please contact:
Katie Couani
Marketing Communication Coordinator, Media Access Australia
E: Katie.Couani@mediaaccess.org.au
T: 02 9212 6242
About cap that!
cap that! is an initiative of Media Access Australia, Australia’s only independent not-for-profit organisation devoted to increasing access to media for people with disabilities.
A national awareness campaign in its inaugural year, cap that! urges teachers to simply turn on captions on audiovisual resources used in the classroom for literacy and learning. With its main promotional week National Literacy and Numeracy Week, the campaign is centred around the cap that! website, providing teaching resources, education access news and a platform for teachers to share their ideas around using captions, as part of the cap that! competition.
While the competition has ended for 2011, the cap that! website will continue to provide downloadable teaching resources such as lesson plans and activity sheets that incorporate captions. Also available are resources for educators which explain what captions are, how to find captioned materials and how to turn on captions on TV, DVDs and online videos.
The proud Patron of cap that! 2011 is NSW Senator the Hon Ursula Stephens. cap that! is proudly sponsored by Australian Communication Exchange, with major prize sponsor ClickView and supporting prize sponsors Hoyts, Event Cinemas, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
cap that! facts and stats
- For Deaf or hearing impaired students, listening, even with hearing aids, implants or similar devices, can still be difficult, tiring and stressful, particularly over long periods. Background noise and conversations also reduce the effectiveness of these devices.
- Our research shows that hearing impaired students will generally not ask for captions when they need them to avoid embarrassment.
- 83% of children with a significant hearing loss attend mainstream schools.
- Research shows captions can improve ESL students’ listening and reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition and word recognition.
- There are over 600,000 non-English speaking background students in Australia.
- Captions can help all children, including those with learning disabilities, to read by linking written words to sounds and images, boosting literacy and general comprehension skills.
- Captions differ from subtitles because they also describe important sounds or music in text format.
- Captions are readily available on 58% of new release DVDs and on many TV and ClickView programs, online videos and cinema screens around Australia.
