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Films in the Classroom

Films in the Classroom: Why?

Films and other audio-visual media …

  • boost our students’ learning motivation;
  • enable us to cover many different fields of learning;
  • make a deep impact on our students by appealing to their emotions;
  • are artistically complex and challenging to analyse;
  • form an integral part of a teenager’s daily life, they’re familiar with the medium;
  • on the other hand, we need to teach them how to deal with films in a productive way;
  • are full of real-life conversations;
  • make it easier to remember specific idioms and vocabulary;
  • function well as a means of cultural learning;
  • combine visual and auditive information which makes it easier to follow the plot;
  • films stimulate a great variety of creative responses;
  • help our students to develop frustration tolerance.

Teaching with Films: Things to Keep in Mind

Whenever you teach English with films, keep in mind that …

  • the average student’s attention span is rather limited; after five minutes, you can expect a critical low in their attention curve;
  • also, students will usually focus on the plot rather than on language;
  • film scenes are often rather difficult to interpret without further background; a single scene is always part of a wider context provided by the entire film;
  • students might feel encouraged to comment on the movie to their seatmates;
  • it can be rather helpful for your students if you provide them with a list of pronunciation hints, key terms, proper names and explanations of cultural references before watching the movie;
  • your students could profit a lot if they get a chance to see and understand the difficult scenes before watching the entire movie;
  • the effect of the movie can vary a lot depending on the equipment (sound / screen / position in the room); you had better to check out the viewing conditions beforehand; also, make sure that all the equipment is in perfect working order;
  • movie ratings might differ from country to country;
  • also, the version distributed in your country does not necessarily contain all the scenes of the original movie;
  • nor does the movie available on the market preserve the original version as approved by the director (hence, there is a “director’s cut”);
  • films with a large proportion of night scenes suffer greatly if you cannot properly dim your classroom;
  • the average classroom layout makes it difficult for students in the back row to see the entire screen; you might ask them to sit on their desks;
  • film dialogue can be rather chaotic, with many characters talking at a time;
  • also, dialogues may get superseded by background noises or film music;
  • for various reasons, your students often need more than go to fully apprehend all the aspects you want them to see (and hear);
  • it is rather tricky to quote from the movie (actors are often required to use a specific accent or defective language);
  • you should always watch the movie yourself before showing it in class; as trivial as it might sound, teachers can get in a real fix if they give in to their students’ desire to watch a specific movie right on the spot;
  • most films take at least an hour and it does not make much sense to analyse individual scenes without knowing what the whole movie is about; however, watching a complete movie is usually not an option in the framework of an EFL class;
  • you need to teach some technical vocabulary before you analyse film scenes in depth;
  • films should not be used as a filler if you cannot think of anything “better”, especially before summer break;
  • your students might feel tempted just to watch and enjoy the movie, developing a consumerist attitude towards films;
  • avoid interrupting a scene too often; rather choose a short scene to be watched in one go and use planned breaks to answer comprehension questions;
  • don’t give your students too much work to do while they are watching; keep writing and reading to a minimum;
  • you shouldn’t explain too much or too little;
  • if you want your students to focus on sound, you can either reduce brightness or contrast; or you might simply ask your students to close their eyes;
  • your students will profit from modelled activities to understand what they are about to do;
  • your students need some advice on which tenses to use when describing film scenes; if you want to describe fictional content, use simple present / present progressive / present perfect for the story and simple past for actions that refer to the backstory; if you want to talk about historical or biographical facts, use past tense forms;
  • there can always be copyright issues or other conflicts with the legal standards in your country;
  • it is advisable to show the scenes repeatedly; thus, you may increase the difficulty of your comprehension questions step by step;
  • film lessons take an awful lot of your preparation time.

Teaching with Films: Methods

  • Academy Awards: You’re a panel of film buffs. Discuss whether this film should be awarded an Academy Award! Choose the right category!
  • Acting: Act out one of the key scenes from “…”!
  • Active Pause: Stop! What does the protagonist do / say next? How does the film continue?
  • Ad: Write an ad for the television listings / TV guide!
  • Allusions: Which references to other movies or movie genres can you detect?
  • Alternative scenes: Shoot an alternative version to one of the scenes of this film!
  • Associations: What ideas come to your mind if you hear “…”. Which of these ideas appear in this scene?
  • Audioplay: Listen to the soundtrack and write down what happens!
  • Camera: Describe what the camera team does in this scene? Do you see alternatives?
  • Casting: Who would you choose as leading actor?
  • Characterisation: Characterize the protagonist / hero! How do they develop?
  • Collocations: Complete this list of verbs / adjectives / nouns with the prepositions being used in this scene!
  • Comprehensions: Answer these questions about “…”. (Write down five questions you might ask your classmates / partner about this scene from “…”.)
  • Crossword: This crossword contains key concepts of the movie…!
  • Definitions: Write down the words from the movie that match these definitions!
  • Discussion: Here are ten statements about the movie. Discuss them with your partner!
  • Dubbing: Make a professional attempt to dub the movie to create a convincing version in your native tongue!
  • Exhibition: Create an exhibition about this movie!
  • Fast forward: You’ll watch part of the film in fast forward mode. Summarize the plot!
  • Film poster: Create a film poster for this movie!
  • Final scene: Watch the final scene first – what has happened prior to this scene?
  • Five items: These items will appear in the movie we are going to watch. Create your own plot connecting these ideas!
  • Gap-filling: This is a dialogue taken from “…”. Fill in the blanks!
  • Gender roles: Is there a difference between the way men and women act in this movie? Imagine switching the protagonist’s sex – what would be different?
  • Guessing quotes: Which character from this film says “…”?
  • Interior monologue: Choose a film still (or silent scene) and write an interior monologue for one of the film characters!
  • Intertitles: Add intertitles to this movie – like the ones you can see in old silent movies!
  • Interview: Prepare a mock interview with either one of the actors, the director, or the characters from this film!
  • Jumbled dialogue: Rearrange these pieces of dialogue until they make sense from your point of view!
  • Jumbled scenes: Put these scenes (stills) into the right order!
  • Key scenes: Change this scene. How will your changes affect the outcome of the movie?
  • Letter to…: Write a letter to the director / producer / leading actor / …!
  • Outtakes: The producer tells you to cut out one scene. Which scene will you select?
  • Parallels: This poem / song / short film / short story has some striking similarities to this movie. Identify them!
  • Press conference: Organize a fictional press conference for this movie!
  • Props: Make a shopping list for all the props you need for this scene!
  • Remake: Shoot a remake of this movie!
  • Review: Write a review of this movie!
  • Scene selection: Watch this scene from “…”. What does it tell you about the whole movie?
  • Script breakdown: Write down your analysis of this scene!
  • Script: Compare the film script to the movie! Which amendments have been made? What does the film add to / leave out from the script?
  • Senses: What can you see / feel / smell / hear in this scene?
  • Setting: Look at this dialogue from the script. What would make a perfect setting for this?
  • Silent movie: Turn off the sound and speak the text yourselves! (Or: Create a spoof by adding some completely new dialogue!)
  • Soundtrack: Create your own soundtrack to this scene!
  • Split Screen: You will see only part pf this scene. Report to your partner what it your part is about!
  • Split viewing: Group A: You will listen to the soundtrack. Group B: You will watch the same scene without soundtrack. Share your observations and find out what the scene is about!
  • Spotting differences: In how far does the world shown in this movie differ from your own world?
  • Storyboard: Create a storyboard before watching this particular scene!
  • Subtitles: Create your own subtitles for this scene!
  • Summary: Summarize the plot of the movie (from … point of view)!
  • Surrogate acting: Listen to the soundtrack and act out what you think the actors should be doing!
  • Ten questions: These ten assumptions can be true or false with regard to the movie. Tick either “T” for “true” or “F” for “false” before watching the film!
  • Title: Seeing the title of this movie, what do you expect with regard to the story or genre?
  • Trailer analysis: Explain what the trailer promises to the film’s potential audience!
  • Trailer: Make a trailer for this movie!
  • Vision only: We’ll turn off the sound and watch again. In how far does the sound have an impact on how we view the film?
  • Vocabulary list: Write down ten new words that you have learned while watching this movie!

Vocabulary

  • Field sizes: extreme long shot / panoramic shot – long shot – full shot – American shot – medium shot – close-up – detail shot
  • Point of view: establishing shot – point-of-view shot (POV) – over-the-shoulder shot – reaction shot – reverse-angle shot
  • Camera angles: eye level / straight-on angle – high angle / overhead – bird’s eye view – top shot – low angle / below shot
  • Camera movement: pan / panning (= horizontal movement) – tilt / tilting (= vertical movement) – tracking shot / pulling shot – push in – pull back – zoom in – zoom out
  • Camera speed: normal speed – slow motion – fast motion – freeze frame
  • Colour: black and white – colour – shade / tone
  • Lighting: high key – low key – natural light – studio light
  • Editing / montage: shot – sequence – cut – fade-out – fade-in – dissolve – cross-cutting / parallel-action – flash-forward – match cut – jump cut

Resources

Kontext