If you have 12 minutes to spare, go watch this little film. It's gone viral so many of you may have already seen it, but I took the time to go to the director (Patrick Hughes's) website and watch it in great quality, widescreen format.

http://www.patrickhughes.com.au/shor...pes_signs.html

It's really a work of art! After watching it I felt like I just watched a 2-hour drama and not a short film. It's very emotion-evoking. Definitely one of my favourite films, despite its brevity. It'll make you feel good inside. It's a nice little pick-me-up if you're having a bad day.

For all you teachers out there, I devised a lesson plan using this film. I had my students view the film, then we discussed the different modes of communication shown in the video and their respective advantages and disadvantages. I then had them create their own "Signs" skits that they presented in front of the class. I encouraged them to use gestures, eye contact, emoticons and other visual cues to help convey their message. I was impressed at the effort the students put into this project and will definitely do it again with other classes.