I’m starting to pencil in the syllabus for next year and I’d like to hear your thoughts regarding how to use movies. I teach 2nd and 3rd grade Eikaiwa at a private high school with medium to low level students. To break up each term, I try to show a movie as an introduction to one of the units, usually in the middle of term. For example, we watch *Chef* to introduce ordering in a restaurant. And so far, that’s been great. But I’m starting to wonder if it would be better to use the movie to close the unit as, in theory, the students would be more familiar with some of the vocabulary and they might get more out of it. So, any thoughts? In your experience, do you like to use movies as an introduction or conclusion to a topic? Thanks
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Great question and good use of mixed media to provide *context* for students.
A suggestion about an approach that could work for you (a different view):
1. Using it over an extended period of time with the intention to achieve a curriculum’s/unit’s objective. I would use shortened scenes from movies that is accompanied by a linked skills activity in each lesson. At the end of the unit, show a “*complete”* version as an overview and open it up with some other communication activity.
I feel like your approach works well with your students, so I wouldn’t do a major overhaul. You could however, focus on aiding your approach by incorporating other elements (sound bites, pictures, movies without sound). Wishing you luck!
An experience from my high school years – a French teacher had us watch a movie that was of significant cinematic and cultural significance with subtitles. The point was to show us something that was of artistic and cultural value. We discussed the movie in English to talk about how we perceived the actor’s and director’s art and the story’s significance.
The few times I’ve used movies in English lessons I integrated them into every lesson, watching a few scenes at a time (about 15 minutes), preceded by prediction, vocabulary, grammar, and followed by comprehension and reflection tasks.
What you do with video depends on your course goals and time constrains, sure.
You can use websites like [Playposit](https://www.playposit.com/) to make quizzes that students can answer as they watch YouTube clips.
Good for predicting what will happen next, what did they just say, etc
Couldn’t you show the movie once at the beginning of the unit, then once again at the end so they can see the difference in what they understand?
I’m not sure what kind of time constraints you have. I teach at a high school, and time like that is hard to come by. Perhaps during the period after tests but before the end of the term (where you legit have a few lessons but you can’t teach them anything new because they’ll just lose it during the break).
Consider yourself forewarned: I help by being critical.
1) You show a movie to low-to-middle-level students in the middle of a term.
2nd year? 3rd year? Both? In its entirety? Whether yes or no: with or without subtitles? If with: English or Japanese? If in its entirety: do you pause (and if so, how often), or let the movie run? Do you pre-teach/practice the relevant vocabulary/phrases you are wanting to focus on? Last one: if you show the entire movie, but are only focusing on one learning point, do you consider this a productive use of your students’ time?
2) “…, that’s been great.” – What objective confirmation of this do you have? Using qualifiers such as low-to-middle-level is subjective, but I’m not such a hard-ass as to not acknowledge what this means ability-wise, so…what takes place after the viewing (be it a slice, or the whole pie?) I feel that the low-level students at the school I currently teach at (also private), be they 2nd or 3rd year, would be mostly/totally lost by watching a movie. Middle-level students, if the lesson was structured well, would fair better.
Again, just trying to be helpful. I ask these types of questions to myself.
Never actually used feature films in a course, but I do use the occasional video (usually business/economy/social issue related).
As for your program, I think both ways has its merits. Use the movie excerpt as an intro, and we’re giving context and it’s a natural lead-in to what’s coming next (highlight key structures/languages, etc.)
Use the video to wrap up a unit, and it’s more a review of certain target sentence structures and language + reflection/discussion tasks if they’re up to it.
Time permitting, I suppose *both* would be ideal as this would give the learner a chance to (god willing) recognize their progress over time.
If I had to pick one or the other, I think your current approach is probably the way to go. This way, you can finish up with a nice consolidation/review task with real (or close to it) interaction.
Why not both? Play a shorter clip with subtitles as an introduction, then play the same clip without subtitles for the closing.