Video in the classroom
Thomas Nixon
entire film. For me, life is too short to have ethical problems with showing
a movie in class, but I often have a million and one other things that I
want/need to get to.
This semester, for the first time in a long time I will be showing an entire
movie. I am using "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a reader for an advanced ESL
composition course. I just couldn't let the opportunity slip by to show that
wonderful film. In addition, I think that giving students the opportunity to
compare and contrast the movie with the book is invaluable. Also, of course, I
never let students just watch. They usually have a task (questions to answer,
questions to come up with, etc.) that they need to complete while they're
watching. Follow-up tasks will include writing a summary of the movie, perhaps
writing a compare/contrast essay, etc.
And, yes, I will be stealing some of the good ideas on using videos from
Anthea's post!
Tom Nixon
tcn...@ix.netcom.com USA
TEFL Connection http://www.TeachEFL.com
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Tim Fox
want to say that I witnessed several instances where the video becomes
the babysitter. Those bad examples made me guilty each time I showed a
full-length film, because truth be told I often relied upon video when I
was miserably ill with a cold, too ashamed to cancel class, and unable
to find a substitute. But I lessened my guilt by sitting in the back of
the classroom, sniffling along with the soundtrack and making it obvious
that I was pretty sick.
Then a colleague taught me not to be guilty. She surveyed her students,
and discovered that they did not regard the viewing of a full-length
film (maybe twice in a semester) as a waste of time. They preferred it,
because it was a delightful experience and a great alternative to the
textbook. She assigned her students the task of taking at least five
minutes off from reading the subtitles (in Chinese) to concentrate on
the spoken English -- to this end, a film the students have already seen
is quite valuable. She demands their attention to the film by giving
them a quiz at the end of the film. I force the mandatory five minutes
of listening concentration on my class by re-editing the film so that a
segment is shown without native language subtitles. Before class this
segment is shown with subtitles, and used in a regular listening
comprehension activities such as script study, audiotape repeats,
pattern practices, and even vocabulary word games. Larger themes from
the film can serve as sources for prepared debates, discussions, essays,
etc. It takes a lot of work, but if done properly a feature length film
can provide both motivation and the necessary I+1.
And it should also be noted that these activities work just as well with
a low-ability learner as with a higher level student. The secret is in
the amount of creative preparation the teacher does, and the in-class
pacing.
Like Tom Nixon, I'm considering using "To Kill a Mockingbird." Also, I
recently found that students enjoy seeing, back-to-back, the original
and remake of "Cape Fear." Afterwards they had fun contrasting the plots
and discussing the different values presented in each. I need to know if
anybody has had any success using Action films, such as Twister or Men
In Black, or even Independence Day.
Timothy Fox tim...@MS3.HINET.NET
Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan
Bricault, Dennis
I have used "Animal Farm" -- the 1955 animated version -- along with the
novel in an intermediate reading class. It was well worth the
additional preparation that I put in: weekly worksheets, in-class
discussion questions, role plays, and vocabulary/reading quizzes. My
only complaint was that the sound quality of the video was not good;
this was offset by the fact that there was more action than language, so
even weaker students could enjoy the movie as a complement to the
readings.
I have also started requiring a final essay for my Advanced Structure
class: students do some background cultural reading, watch a full-length
video on their own, and write a comparative essay. This past summer the
focus was "Education in the U.S." and students could choose from "The
Paper Chase," "Stand and Deliver," "Mr. Holland's Opus," and "Dead
Poet's Society." This semester, the theme will be relationships, and I
have set aside "Fools Rush In," "Sleepless in Seattle," "While You Were
Sleeping," and "When Harry Met Sally."
Dennis Bricault, North Park University, Chicago USA
dbr...@northpark.edu <mailto:Dbr...@northpark.edu>
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