Korean Job Discussion Forums

ou812 · Joined: 07 Nov 2006

What movie, with not too much slang, etc... do you think would be best to use as material to teach students learning English?

VirginIslander · Joined: 24 May 2006 Location: Busan

What level?

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

I've used High School Musical quite a bit. About a year ago only bootleg copies were available in Korea - but that was fine because there were no Korean subtitles on them - only English.

My tech high school students loved it anyway because of the "high school" setting and themes, attractive song and dance numbers, and colorful characters.

In the U.S. the main target audience for it, I think, is 9 to 14 year olds, but it's been a huge hit - starting out as an "original TV movie" for the Disney Channel made at a cost of 4 million dollars it's now grossed about one billion dollars...

High School Musical Remix DVD has just recently been officially released in Korea, but now it has Korean subtitles that can been turned on. I got mine last week at Kyobo book store's "Hot Tracks" for 22,000 won.

A bonus disk features the "Hollywood Premier", behind the scenes interviews with main characters, and even dance steps to the award-winning choreography.

I think that it won an Emmy for "Best Educational Film for Children" as well as Billboard Magazine's "Best Sound Track" and several individual awards...

For those who have digital cable or Sky Life TV and can get Disney Channel in High School Musical 2 will make its debut in Korea on Sunday evening, September 9.

There's a lot of material, including quizzes and interactive games, on various sites on the Internet...

Snowkr · Joined: 03 Jun 2005

High School Musical is really good.

Also, if your students are high school or above, maybe try a movie called Cellular. It's very clear and easy to follow for low level students. It also really keeps their interest and because it's so visual and action packed. Girls and guys really like it.

Woland · Joined: 10 May 2006 Location: Seoul

Showing a whole movie to students is, by and large, a waste of time as language teaching. It may entertain them, but it won't help them learn English.

We have limited time in classrooms with students and should spend it better. Selecting short scenes from a movie and using them to present certain language (vocab or structures) or to provide models of certain kinds of discourse, from which students can practice is more productive.

I don't mean to pick on OP here; I know that others post questions about movies, as well. It's just some nights I get in a mood about good teaching.

VirginIslander · Joined: 24 May 2006 Location: Busan

yushin · Joined: 14 Oct 2006

there's a plethora to choose from.. how about:
Debbie does Dallas
Green Door
Deep Throat
The Wizard of Oz
The Exorcist
Ben Hur
Pink Panther
Casablanca
and my all time favourite: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

What a great list!

icicle · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Location: Gyeonggi do Korea

I have successfully used clips from High School Musical as the mode for introducing one of the songs ... which we have then learnt ... including cloze activity ... I am middle school ... but the song I used was engaging and the vision with it was engaging ... and something which some wanted to see again .. or sing in a later lesson ....

Icicle

Fat_Elvis · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Location: In the ghetto

I've used excerpts from Mr Bean to teach Past Continuous vs. Past Simple. Pre-teach the necessary verbs, then screen scenes where he is interrupted doing something and then get the students to form sentences.

I've used Life is Beautiful to teach reported speech. Pause the movie and get the students to report the subtitles.

And I've used some exciting 'cliffhanger' scenes from various movies to teach future tense. Pause the movie before the climax of the scene and asked what will happen, what will have happened by the end of the scene etc.

Showing whole movies is a waste of time. I've only done as an end of course thing to keep the students happy, and even then I ask questions about it to check comprehension.

CasperTheFriendlyGhost · Joined: 28 Feb 2007

I once showed Bambi over two days. I think the kids got a lot out of it. Really simple English.

jinjuguy · Joined: 04 Sep 2007

There are particular scenes in "Singing in the Rain" and "My Fair Lady" that deal with the importance of acquiring language well. Try choosing some clips from these.

You may have to give an introduction to the 1st one that the original movie technology did not include recorded sound, etc.

ddeubel · Joined: 20 Jul 2005

I would agree with all those who said both -- don't often use a "whole" movie when teaching, unless the goal is to review what you've read or the goal is not strictly pedagogical and more about relaxing/fun AND use English subtitles if possible. Much more beneficial.

I have used movies quite often after reading a book. Or even a documentary for example with hana's Suitcase (available in Korean too! Great book). My fav. was the movie, The Mighty Freak. Wow what kids writing.

Here is a complete lesson/unit plan for the movie BIG with Tom Hanks. You could use this as a whole course and it is quite self explanatory. Also with an answer key. Based partly on a unit from EBTS English behind the scenes, and my own activities/creations.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/4a0d5a55-c529-4530-b857-b40a3cc430a9/BIG--Tom-Hanks
http://www.esnips.com/doc/82a1987f-668d-419a-a943-5f9d2bd99099/Big-the-Movie-Answer-Key

DD