Teacher Discussion Forums

Teaching How to Use Movie DVDs to Improve English Skills

Hi everyone,

I teach at a Japanese University and for the last 10 years I've been using DVDs and movie screenplays in my classrooms. Right now I'm writing a paper on the teaching approach I've developed and what I've learned. The goal of my classes has been to encourage learner autonomy and self-direction. I try to show students how they can use DVDs and movie transcripts to improve their 4 skills, so that they can then use DVDs successfully on their own, after finishing the course.

Many of the strategies I teach have come from the students themselves, based on the written feedback they've provided over the course of the last decade. I also learned a lot by observing my sons as they learned English from movies. Although born in Japan, both boys love to watch English movies and DVDs at home. My wife and I created a multimedia English "environment" in their early years which seemed to help them greatly with the development of basic vocabulary and listening skills.

Most of my college age students begin the course with a belief that natural English is too fast and too difficult to understand. By the end of the semester they usually experience greater success and are more motivated to put an effort in to improve their English skills on their own, with the actors they love, and the movies they most enjoy. That seems to be the key thing, believing that it's possible to learn this way, and then putting the time in with the popular media that interest them.

Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing about the success stories (and challenges) of others. Also, if any of you know of some good books or journal articles on this topic I'd appreciate the information.

Christopher:::

Interesting thread. Shame it never caught on given the value of this self-learning method. Perhaps this thread would be pages long if he were to report his (students) learning experiences on the Student Forum.

Using DVDs is indeed an excellent teaching technique. One thing that I have tried recently is using video clips to teach grammar. It puts a new and exciting twist on what could be a boring and dry lecture. Also, as you have said, it is excellent as a self-teaching tool. Students can learn a lot by turning on the closed-captioning tool while watching and listening (or not listening) to the movie. Also, because movies use a natural rate of speech as well as slang and/or regional or local dialects, it's a great way to learn "real" English that is used by real people everyday. Don't forget that making DVDs can be an exciting addition to your techniques. Skits, interviews and role-plays are fun and educational as well.

Does anyone vary the playback speed when showing videos to students. Unlike conventional DVD players, most video software allows for this. It's also a great way to quickly preview clips or songs by playing at higher speed.