How Does Watching a Movie Help ESL Students?

Language teachers have been using films in their classes for decades, and there are a number of reasons why film is an excellent teaching and learning tool.

Learning from films is motivating and enjoyable

Motivation is one of the most important factors in determining successful second-language acquisition. Films and TV shows are an integral part of students’ lives so it makes perfect sense to bring them into the language classroom. Film, as a motivator, also makes the language learning process more entertaining and enjoyable.

Film provides authentic and varied language

Another benefit of using film is that it provides a source of authentic and varied language. Film provides students with examples of English used in ‘real’ situations outside the classroom, particularly interactive language – the language of real-life conversation. Film exposes students to natural expressions and the natural flow of speech. If they are not living in an English-speaking environment, perhaps only film and television can provide learners with this real-life language input.

Film gives a visual context

The ‘visuality’ of film makes it an invaluable language teaching tool, enabling learners to understand more by interpreting the language in a full visual context. Film assists the learners’ comprehension by enabling them to listen to language exchanges and see such visual supports as facial expressions and gestures simultaneously. These visual clues support the verbal message and provide a focus of attention.

Variety and flexibility

Film can bring variety and flexibility to the language classroom by extending the range of teaching techniques and resources, helping students to develop all four communicative skills. For example, a whole film or sequence can be used to practise listening and reading, and as a model for speaking and writing. Film can also act as a springboard for follow-up tasks such as discussions, debates on social issues, role plays, reconstructing a dialogue or summarising. It is also possible to bring further variety to the language learning classroom by screening different types of film: feature-length films, short sequences of films, short films, and adverts.

There are countless ways in which movies can support your lesson.

For example, they can be used to:

• Reinforce a grammar point
• Listen for gist
• Practice vocabulary
• Discuss and debate
• Role play

Movies are a brilliant way for students to hear up-to-date authentic speech and be exposed to various accents. And because there are countless movies based on an infinite amount of things, you can use them to introduce or spark discussions about a certain topic, be it a historical event, a time period or the culture of a foreign country.

And of course, by bringing popular movies into your lessons, you show students how they can learn from and practice English when watching movies in their own time.

 

References

https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-film-help-you-teach-or-learn-english

http://www.fluentu.com/english/educator/blog/esl-movie-lessons/

Like Stars on Earth (2007/8.5)

An eight-year-old boy is thought to be a lazy trouble-maker, until the new art teacher has the patience and compassion to discover the real problem behind his struggles in school.

Like Stars on Earth is especially useful in social studies classes because it gives students an opportunity to meet a contemporary, middle-class Indian family. Students will have the opportunity to draw parallels with their own families, seeing similarities between the obstacles and challenges faced by the Awasthi family and their own. Too often social studies classes focus only on differences between cultures; Like Stars on Earth gives students the chance to understand that there are universals as well.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the film is its ability to help the viewer understand and sympathize with the difficulties of the young protagonist and the heartache and frustration of his parents. Younger students may need help understanding that the father is not just mean; he loves his younger son but cannot understand why he does not behave and think like his older brother.

Students in your class who struggle with learning differences will recognize many experiences and emotions they have had. Students who handle academics with ease will learn more about the struggles, and strengths, of their less academically inclined classmates.

 

References

http://journeysinfilm.org/introducing-like-stars-on-earth-journeys-newest-curriculum-guide/

October Sky (1999/7.8)

The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner’s son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father’s wishes.

The story of growing up in a coal mining town, “October Sky” is impossible to understand fully without recognizing the many symbols which fill this book, ranging from the town of Coalwood itself, to the launch of the rockets, and which show the future, the past and the struggle to reach your dreams

• Written by Homer Hickam about his childhood growing up in a small mining town during the days of the early space race, “Rocket Boys,” also called “October Sky,” is in many ways a symbol of the entire space race. The story of young boys, who no one expects to succeed, pushing past their limitations and finding out that if you work hard enough you really can achieve your dreams. Beyond that, this book is filled with symbols of growing up, small town life and many other larger events of the world including politics and even war. It is important to understand those symbols if you’re going to understand the full meaning of the book.

  References

  http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/121226-the-symbols-and-symbolism-in-october-sky/

   

School of Rock (2003/7.1)

After being kicked out of a rock band, Dewey Finn becomes a substitute teacher of a strict elementary private school, only to try and turn it into a rock band.

1. Project-based learning – the students in School of Rock work on one big project. If this was organised by a qualified teacher, department or faculty, then this could incorporate many different skills rather than trying to teach skills and content separately.
2. Drawing out students’ talents – At first some of the students seem to be given roles that are an after-thought, ones which are not important. However, the students grow into these roles and make them their own. For example, the student who produces a lighting show is amazingly talented – but would never have had the opportunity to discover this if it wasn’t for the project.
3. Developing confidence – The system of gold stars and receiving grades for each piece of work keeps students in their seats and keeps them well-disciplined in the film. This is necessary in some schools where students have very disorganised and fragmentary home lives. However, in most schools students need creative freedom and the opportunity to work to their strengths, building confidence in their own ability.
4. Teamwork – Instead of working individually (or nominally in pairs), students in School of Rock had to depend on one another. They were all vitally involved towards the same end which made them seem valued and developed their interpersonal skills.
5. Real-world experiences – The students work towards something called Battle of the Bands. Although the students do not win this competition, the experience of playing in front of a live audience and showing their parents what they have been up is invaluable. This made me think of students publishing their work for bigger audiences through blog posts, YouTube videos, etc.

 

References

http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2008/01/27/5-things-school-of-rock-can-teach-us-about-real-education/

Freedom Writers (2007/7.5)

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

The film shows a number of forms of self-expression, for example diaries; discussions and rap lyrics. In addition we see interactions between Gruwell, her students, colleagues and family.  In all of these instances language is used in ways that offer particular interpretations of events and rely on the film spectator to have an understanding of the dynamic. Read the following activities and consider some of these points in further detail.

“In the movie, Freedom Writers, Ms. Erin Gruwell is forced to think on her feet as she faces her first days of being a teacher dealing with inner city kids who have never been known to have much potential. Ms. Gruwell is the first teacher who stands behind these “throw away students” to give them power over their lives. Through simple life lessons she empowers her students with a voice to change their world-reading for knowledge, writing to free themselves, and using education to control their own destinies. She gives her students the one thing they have never had: a voice of their own.

Freedom Writers is a movie with a very powerful message. Ms. Gruwell starts her first teaching career in a school of inner city kids whose normal days consist of drive-by shootings, drugs, and gangs. As her meticulously planned lessons are thrown out when she finds none of her students have heard of the Holocaust, Ms. Gruwell is forced to think on her feet. Through methods of adaptation, Ms. Gruwell battles for her students and against the school system and fights to make the classroom matter to her students.”

 

References

Click to access FreedomWriters.pdf

http://lutherkatie.blogspot.com.tr/2008/12/our-book-freedom-writers.html

Stand and Deliver (1988/7.3)

This 1982 drama film tells the story of educator Jaime “Kimo” Escalante, a new teacher at the Garfield High School with a determined spirit to change the academic structure and enhance their level of teaching by relating the subject to personal matters. In the below clip, you see him teaching his class how to solve a mathematical problem by referencing the subjects in the word problem to “girlfriends” and/or “boyfriends.” A teacher who not only is able to do so, but has the courage to execute that style of teaching, is a truly resolute educator.

This film demonstrates that teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds can accomplish amazing things when properly motivated and assisted by a good teacher. There is also strong evidence that twelve Garfield High students who passed the AP Calculus test in 1982 cheated on one problem: a question for which they all got the same wrong answer. It is clear that these students learned calculus and this fact does not undercut the message of the film. However, the evidence of cheating puts an interesting twist on the dispute with the ETS. It also provides an opportunity to teach students about due process in modern society and some of the problems with cheating.

This Learning Guide explores teaching opportunities from “Stand and Deliver” in six areas:

• Lasting Change Takes Preparation to Achieve and Effort to Maintain
• Ideas Move Across Continents and Oceans
• We Can Get A Taste of Calculus in Finding the Area of a Circle
• Literary Devices in a Work of Historical Fiction
• Public Policy and Burdens of Proof in Modern Society (Perhaps the ETS Gave the Students a Break)
• Some Problems With Cheating

 

References

http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/stand-and-deliver-files/stand-and-deliver-supplemental-materials.html

http://thecelebritycafe.com/2013/04/top-10-most-inspiring-teachers-movies-2/