Korean Job Discussion Forums

[EdInstead]

If you were teaching a movie class at an adult hagwon, how many movies would you show in a month?

Or would you just cover one, and go into depth? The class is for a month.

[Ya-ta Boy]

If you are showing the movies to teach English, then consider that one movie is approximately 2 hours long. That would only leave 3 hours of actual lessons per week. Considering that students are perfectly capable of turning on a DVD at home without paying a hakwon through the nose for the privilege of watching it, I'd say you need to teach a MINIMUM of 3 lessons with each movie.

If you are using a movie for discussion, I think I'd ask the students to watch the movie outside class time. (You could still show a scene again in class.)

[EdInstead]

I should have mentioned the class meets 4 times per week for 2 hours each day. Three weeks total, actually.

I figured on about 3 hours of study in-class per movie too, but then I heard from a former student who is taking a similar class at another hagwon in Kangnam. She said that they are studying one movie in-depth for a month. I felt that might get boring.

I thought about showing the movie through once in one day, then going back and reviewing it in pieces at 30 minutes each or something, and doing exercises based on what we saw.

Any other suggestions?

[SuperHero]

I just spent 2 hours teaching the first 10 minutes of Stand By Me. Having said that, I think in depth is good, but you should probably do 2-3 movies over the month instead of one.

I also recommend not watching it in class except for select scenes and have the students watch it at home.

[inkoreafornow]

go to http://www.english-behind-the-scenes.com/site/index.php and check out their tips on teaching using film.

[EdInstead]

Have anything good to say about the "Movie English" CDs?

Necessary?

[PRagic]

At most institutes, 'Movie English' classes are a lesson in translation with some cultural info thrown in on the fly. The classes are 'in depth' to the extent that the teacher spoonfeeds the students all meaning and inuendo. They should retitle most of these classes, 'Writing Subtitles for Western Movies.'

[Hotpants]

At 4 classes per week, I would suggest covering 1 movie per fortnight. Watch movie. Go over sections of the script. Focus on certain language points of interest. Give students a listening task based on blanking out bits of script. Do character extensions. Annotate storyboards. Choose key themes from the movie and find extension activities to them. You can also give students a checklist of things they can spot in the movie while watching. What shoe size is Darth Vader, what is Spiderman's girlfriends name? ... for example.

Yesterday, I just added a movie trailer with question comprehension to my site below - quite good, although trailer screen section is quite small. You can try trailors for warmers to find out what types of movies students prefer. Check my site link below to find it under 'M' for 'movies.'

[matthews_world]

Do extention activities that explore themes in the movie. Why not try a small debate, bring in articles about each theme, etc.

In the English sections of most large bookstores there are booklets, produced by YBM-Sisa I believe, with the scripts of popular movies translated into Korean with a cassette of the audio. Choose the movie of the month and have the wonjon order a few to sell to each student or they can pick them up themselves.

[cwemory]

This site:http://www.eslnotes.com/ has excellent resources and ideas for teaching movies. Highly recommended.