Tagashbaeva L.A.

Taraz State Pedagogical Institute, Kazakhstan

USING FILMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

The power of films as a medium is acknowledged by all. It can be exploited in a number of ways. One possible use of films in the language program is to promote new ideas and expand the learner’s horizons. Film is an excellent medium for the explicit teaching of grammatical, lexical and phonetically aspects of the EL. Videos allow the learner to see speech rhythm and speed of speech. Language structures an lexical items in different communicative situations.

Video is an interesting and entertaining way to promote the learner. To enhance the learner’s command of the target language; and the messages, available through the film offer a refreshing change of routine in the classroom.

In addition the expanded context, rich visual imagery and often exaggerated actions and gestures of film provide students with multi-sensory input that is close to what they would find in real life communication. Moreover, film’s multi-sensory input is likely to assist in more effective memory, retention, since it requires viewers to use the right hemisphere of the brain in addition to the left which is already activated for language learning.

Another benefit of introducing authentic content through film is that it provides a focus for discussing language and culture. Cultural aspects of the film, such as customs and humour or culturally specific use of language, such as idioms could be discussed with learners or learners could exercise their powers of observation to inductively learn functional use of language.

Films also allow learners the possibility of thinking critically as well as using their imagination. They contribute not only to the development of inferential skills but also to aesthetic appreciation of the storyline and technical aspects of the film such as photography, special effects, electronic tricks, music and so on.

Selection. The selection of films is the most important step in the process and constitutes the biggest challenge. It can be based on thematic content to reinforce and consolidate topics treated within the language syllabus, such as: discrimination, moral issues, mass-media, ecology, education and work or to illustrate language functions and grammatical patterns in real use.

Selection should be very careful especially with respect to accent since some problems may arise. Comprehension may be hindered by dialectal varieties of the language used by the characters. Yet, the film may be profitable for advanced groups to illustrate particular speech community.

When choosing a film decisions on subject matter should be based on well-thought –out criteria since it may go beyond the learners linguistic and conceptual competence and may not be in keeping with his\her needs and interests. The students’ age and psychological maturity must be taken into consideration when making a choice, and care should be taken so as not to offend the learners’ sensitivity. Some films seek to depict the deepest vises of human existence, such as unfaithfulness, sex violation, thirst for power competitiveness etc.

Working out.Teaching activities should be organized according to thematic issues. Linguistic and conceptual complexity in concert with the learners’ level of proficiency. Effective use of a film requires careful planning and appropriate teacher guidance of pre-viewing, viewing, post- viewing activities.

Pre-viewing activities are used to tap into the students’ background knowledge or to review the previous segment of the film. Pre- viewing activities stimulate learners imaginations, spark their interests and aid in a comprehension of the film.

Sample activities

- Create an introduction to each move that includes information such as title, date of release, the names of the director and principle actor\actress and a few discussion questions to get students thinking about the themes of the movie. You can also go online and find background information about the actors, directors, or the movie itself to distribute as a pre-movie reading assignment.

- Prepare for learners as much of the vocabulary as possible short of giving away what happens in the film. Create exercises that will help students to learn new words such as

· choosing appreciate definition to the new words

· finding synonyms, antonyms to the active vocabulary from the box

· making up a crossword with the new words

· making up a story the film vocabulary

Viewing activities center an understanding the gist of the content. It is recommended that the learners should watch carefully so as not to miss important visual clues. The teacher can play the segment or part of it more than once if necessary to ensure learners understanding.

Sample activities

· create a close exercise based on a short important section of the movie. Play the section several times so that students can feel in the blanks

· try showing a dialogue section of the movie with the sound turned off and ask students to guess what the characters are saying to each other. The viewers can write down verbs that describe the actions in the scene and pay attention nonverbal communication and the setting to get a general idea of what is happening in the scene.

· Ask learners to remember the flow of the conversation as much as possible so that they can reconstruct the conversation segment later from memory.

· Show learners a long segment of the film so that they could predict what is going to happen after this scene. Discuss the learners’ guesses and have them watch the rest episode of the film.

Post- viewing activities include going over the answers to the comprehension questions. Predicting future occurrences and getting learners to practice the language through speaking and writing activities.

Sample activities.

· Try checking the learners’ understanding a film with a help of the following assignments:

-Making a plan of main events of the film and commenting on the main events.

-Answering questions to the film

-Characterizing the film heroes

· Organize round table discussions and debate on controversial issues. Students will be eager to discuss outstanding topics treated within the films, such as marriage and divorce, love versus, money and so on.

· Give students practice in writing summaries to reconstruct the macro structure of the story and see it as whole. Learners can also write movie reviews giving their own opinions about the film.

References:

1. Allan M., 1995. “Teaching English with video”. New York: Longman.

2. Canning C., 2000. “Practical aspects of using video in the FLC”, the Internet TESL Journal.