Youtube is an amazing resource in the classroom. Here are a few tips and items to get you using it effectively in your own classroom. 

1. Keepvid.com   Your internet connection might not be reliable or also slow. Streaming video puts your lesson at risk. Instead, plan ahead and download the youtube video for your educational (and fair) use. Keepvid makes it easy. Just put in the url of the video and then download and save to your computer or memory stick for in class use. (and use the GOM player for playing the MP4s - it has the least amount of problems with video codecs and allows you to get them if needed.  Here I show you all this. 

2. Youtube has so many ads! Use reloader (see below) or the ad free / searchable player I made for teachers. 

3. Youtube offers transcriptions and also CC - closed captions.  See my explanation here on using this. Try to find videos with the subtitling/captions if possible. 

Videos

4. Make your own youtube channel that students can visit. You can make playlists and then send students to those playlists. Also, catalog and list the best channels/sites for your students with playlists. (this video shows how to do it) Focus on content that is good for language learning like subtitled only songs, Kinetic typography etc... 

5. Click "Video" and "Using Video" on the right sidebar for more info. about using youtube and video in the classroom!

6. Youtube Reloaded is a quick way to make a player full of videos from youtube that your students can use to practice/learn English. That way, they avoid all the garbage, distraction and ads on Youtube. Here I outline how to do it and post it here on a wiki (like this one available free to all educators HERE). See the result below.