Nice video activities for intermediate and advanced sts.

[chascosta]

I love movies and I think they're a wonderful tool to motivate the sts however, most activitiesI know are very long and sometimes boring and not challenging. I wish I could get something shorter and really great.

Regards.

[joshua2004]

You can buy collections of short films on dvd. I am aware of some websites that actually choose which shorts you want. Most shorts are 5-20 min long.

[chascosta]

Thanks for helping. Does anybody know any sites where I can get short films on DVD's? I'd really appreciate it.

Regards.

[strider]

Why do you need short films? Why not select a scene from a regular movie? With a remote control, it's not difficult to stop and go back, particularly if you stay within one 'chapter' of a film.

In addition, you can find film transcripts on the internet.

[joshua2004]

I agree, right now I am using the Incredibles and showing 15-20 minutes a day. Afterwords, the students write 10 complete sentences with a minimum of 10 words in each sentence about the movie. (characters, plot, time and place, details about the scenes, the conflict, etc.)

[chascosta]

To Joshua. You said you're using The incredibles with your sts, right?
What level are they in? Do you show the movie with the subtiltes on?
How often do they have classes? Is this a graded activity?

So many questions, ah....

See you.

[joshua2004]

You can put the subtitles on if you want it to be a reading activity; if that is your goal, to improve their reading skills. If you want to work on their listening skills, do not put subtitles. My students are middle school; 7th, 8th and 9th grades.

I grade on participation. As long as they are doing the activity then there is no problem. If they are talking or something, I send them out of the room. If they continually violate this rule, I take off participation points since they are not doing the activity (because they are standing outside)

I plan on having them write a complete summary of the movie based off their sentences they write. Generally, with all my activities, I do not grade them for grammar and what not. It would be too much work! I often collect the work to see how they are doing and I might grade the students for just completing the work. But I do not grade for proficiency or achievement. I leave that for quizzes and exams. Once again, I do not individually grade in-class activities, it would be too much work! I give credit for doing the activity and that's all.

I might grade the summary of the movie when it is all over for grammar to see where they are at. I have an efficient and effective way of grading for grammar which I will start a new post for under applied linguistics.

[chascosta]

To Joshua. You've been really helpful. I see you have hard work cos you deal with large groups. Are your pupils all Spanish speakers? Are most of them interested in learning the language? What do you do to motivate them? Sometimes I feel a bit frustrated because most of my sts seem not to see any purpose in studying the language. They're teens, and of course I know it's a quite hard time in our lives, but I don't know if this is the main source of their lack of motivation. Tell about your experience.

See ya.

[joshua2004]

I agree, there are all sorts of issues that can impead people in thier teens from being successful at school. I think the keys to any classroom are: having interesting materials, at least most of the time; respect for eachother, between teacher/student and student/student; and having an understanding of the application and importance of the material. Most students everywhere cannot deny the importance of English, and if they didn't I would do some lessons(in English!) studying how English is used and who uses it!

What sorts of problems are you having? Students talking in the middle of lessons? Don't want to start the work? I assure you, we all suffer the same, but maybe we can give some advice.