ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute OBJECTIVES You will understand: 1. Criteria for selecting appropriate movies for use in the classroom. 2. Various techniques for using movies to teach listening. You will be able to: 1. Plan and teach listening lessons that use movies.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute ADVANTAGES OF USING MOVIES IN THE CLASSROOM Movies or films can provide a different type of audiovisual learning experience for students than TV shows, news shows and commercials. Obviously, a movie is designed to provide a longer viewing experience. It is also designed NOT to stop every five minutes for commercial breaks. This extended, uninterrupted viewing time allows movie- makers to have more complicated characters, multiple plots and intricate settings. All of the benefits of TV shows, news shows, and commercials are also true of movies:  They contain authentic language and cultural behaviour  They are motivating and memorable for students  They are a source of current topics for discussion

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute CRITERIA FOR SELECTING APPROPRIATE MOVIES The criteria to think about when selecting a movie are the same as those presented in the previous module on TV shows, news, shows and commercials:  Is language at an appropriate language level?  Is the content age appropriate?  Is the content culturally appropriate?  Is the language appropriate (no inappropriate slang or swearing)?

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute The following are other considerations that apply to movies alone: What movie genre is appropriate for your language target and your students? A movie’s genre will dictate its plot structure, characters, pacing and sometimes setting, for example: Comedy/romantic comedy, action-adventure, animation, science fiction, historical drama, drama, thriller (mystery, crime), horror, family, and documentary. Before you use a particular movie, be aware of its genre and the implications of that genre for the language learning experience it will provide students.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS Should you use the English subtitles? The use of subtitles is advantageous in providing students with instant feedback as to whether they have correctly understood the dialogue. It also allows them to follow the plot of the movie, even if they have NOT understand the dialogue. There are challenges however. Students may use the subtitles as a crutch and not focus on listening to the movie. They may also struggle to read the subtitles quickly enough to stay on top of what is happening. The best compromise is perhaps to use subtitles on some occasions and not on others, depending upon the lesson objectives and the level of students.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute USING MOVIE CLIPS Despite the fact that movies are designed for long, uninterrupted viewing, you can choose to use a short clip from a movie, rather than the entire movie. The activities suggested in the previous module, for TV shows, news shows, and commercials also work with short movie clips. The procedure is similar as well, including pre-viewing, viewing and post-viewing activities. Here are some additional ideas for viewing activities to use with movie clips:  MOVIE GENRE  CLOZE ACTIVITY  SITUATION ANALYSIS

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute USING A COMPLETE MOVIE When showing a movie in its entirety, it is vital that the pedagogical purpose be very clear. Schools and institutions may have very strict rules about showing a complete movie in class; you may be perceived as a lazy teacher if your class spends one or more lessons watching an entire movie, or complete movie viewing may be viewed negatively by more serious students. An alternative is asking students to rent the movie and see it at home or see it in the movie theatre. Here are some ideas to use with full movies:  MOVIE REVIEW  CULTURAL MOVIE REVIEW  MOVIE PREDICTION  MOVIE ANALYSIS

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute PLAYING AN ENTIRE MOVIE Teachers should not play an entire movie all the way through for a language class. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute Complete task journal questions 2 and 3 and submit via to or (preferred), or print and hand