What are the main advantages of using films?


·      Students experience real English: different speakers, voices, accents, styles, and registers.
·    Students come into contact with diversity: cultural varieties, social awareness, psychological questions, and international issues.
·     The world is brought into the classroom: the English language is alive, its existence going beyond textbooks.
·     Films go hand-in-hand with entertainment, thus being extremely appealing and motivating to students of all ages.
·     Using films in the ELT class helps develop students’ self-esteem: when teachers choose segments carefully and work on them properly, they arouse in students feelings of achievement, pride, accomplishment, self-satisfaction and happiness. Students realize that they are able to understand parts of real films.
·    Favourite actors and actresses are part of the students’ learning process, becoming language models.
·    Students are exposed to a mixture of language and gestures, a combination of situational language and “spontaneous conversation”. Therefore, they are asked to decode linguistic and paralinguistic messages.
·    Films provide students with both visual and auditory input, thus supporting the different learning styles and/or strategies of students.
·      Language is presented as a whole: Realia is neither segmented nor graded, as is  the case with videos specially designed for the teaching of English.
·      The use of films is a wonderful tool: an audio-visual aid which together with the proper activities helps develop the four language skills -- even though teachers sometimes wrongly believe the focus is only on listening comprehension.
·       An inviting way to learn...

18 comments:

Sherrie Koretke said...

Great list! I love the idea of using films in education. In fact, I love any idea that gets people to learn in a better way and makes more of an impact on them.

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

Thank you, Sherrie! I´m so glad you agree with me. It´s so important to find new ways to help language acquisition. Wait till I write about the use of games! = )

stcarriescenter said...

I love using films. You can relax and really enjoy the language exchange without having performance anxiety. You don't have to worry about what to say next. You can just enjoy listening.

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

...and watching the segment,lots of input for students. They can then work on specifics (language, topic, skills) based on what they´ve been exposed to. = )

Good English said...

I completely agree with you! Films are great resources to be used in the classroom. There are plenty of them, for every taste & for all ages!
It´s hard word planning a class based on a film but it´s worth it!

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

...and for every level. Yes, it´s time consuming but, I you say, it´s really worth it. Besides, chances are, you´ll be able to use your plan more than once. = )

Shawn and Emily Stoik said...

Exactly! Using films in school is such a great way to supplement and add variety to the education process. Great list of reasons, Maria!

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

Thank you, Emily!

Dorien morin said...

Hi Maria, as my first comment never made it on this post, I'll leave you another :) I have 4 kids and one would highly benefit form using film in the classroom. Any good teacher and involved parent should know that all kids learn differently. The one that would connect is very artistic and visual. he would eat it up. One of my kids learns from reading text over and over and another is very audio oriented. Glad you are on the ball :)

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

Thank you so much for leaving your message again, Dorien! I don´t know what happened to the first one. Well, anyway, I do believe that we have to find ways to support the different learning styles of our students and give more input to help language acquisition. The more input, the more ways students have the information represented in their brain (through seeing, hearing, being involved with, etc.), the more pathways they have for reconstructing the the memory. = )

Federico Bertón said...

Totaly agree by using films in the classroom is the best! I've just created my blog in which I'm sharing some home-made activities I use when doing my practicas ( yes, i'm not a full teacher yet, but I'll for sure! lol) It'd be great if we could share and exchange some ideas as regard teaching!Ilove working with youtube videos in the lessons! I'm just starting in the field! Regards from San Luis!!!!!

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

Thank you, Fede, for your comment. I´m so glad you´ve started designing new resources, that is the real challenge (http://eltgoestothemovies.blogspot.com/2011/05/challenge.html. Good luck!

Paul Morin said...

Great post! I've used films and television programs extensively in learning Spanish and Portuguese. I think they're useful at all stages of the language acquisition process, but they're particularly helpful once the student has attained a basic level of proficiency. I have also found them extremely useful in order to maintain fluency when one is no longer living in the country where the language is spoken. Paul

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

Thanks, Paul! I agree but I must say that at elementary level they are very motivating and increase self-esteem because, even if you use a very short segment, students feel they are watching "something real", the outer world is in the classroom and they "understand it". = )

Grammar Guy said...

Absolutely! The use of movies is a fantastic way to teach language. However, the implementation must be carefully considered. Why? Movies are a huge investment of time. A Disney movie requires 3-4 classes, and if you only meet 2 times a week, that's 2 weeks of classes dedicated to a movie. Now, if the students are given assignments to complete during those classes and while they are watching the movie, then it can work out well. For adult students, I use "clips" from movies, say about 5-15 minutes each. Then, their assigned homework is to go home and watch the movie on their own, and complete assignments on their own time. Movies are a great way to teach functional language, vocabulary, culture, and even history. Disney movies are great because they have lots of songs that can be incorporated and youtube'd into lessons afterwards.

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

‎Grammar Guy, I understand what you say. I never play a full movie in class. I don´t think it is such a good idea, especially with adult students. On the one hand, students need to have a very high level of English to understand a film or they´ll get frustrated. On the other hand, adults may start thinking "What the heck I´m doing here? I don´t pay for something I can do on my own at home. Anyway, I don´t understand anything. Oh, no! I´ve forgotten to go to the bank again!". That´s one of the points in our ebook. I have choosen very short segments to focus on something very specific in such a way that even beginners can use movies. Besides, a three minute scene doesn´t take much longer than any other listening comprehension activity that teachers usually include without hesitation, and it is much better. Films provide students with both visual and auditory input and their use in class helps develop students’ self-esteem when we choose segments carefully and work on them properly, they feel happy when they realize that they are working with real films. In our ebook we include all the instructions, activities, worksheets and games to make the most of the segment. It´s been very hard work but worth it. For students: an inviting way to learn. For teacher on the run: take-away detailed plans = )

Marchi Lacerda said...

Hello María Inés,

I´m really interested in buying your e-book, but I was wondering if you could send me one lesson, so I can have an idea how it works.

Thank you in advance.

Bruna.

María Inés Brumana Espinosa said...

Marchi, please send me a message to mibrumana@gmail.com.

Post a Comment