[Sean Smith on EFL] Video in the classroom: Not as easy as it sounds

Teachers in all subject areas use video because we are primarily visual learners. There are good and not-so-good ways to incorporate video into the language-learning classroom.

Here, I will focus on the use of television and movies, as opposed to music videos or YouTube videos - due to the extended context provided by these media and their popularity with students and teachers.

Browsing various internet forums, I have read that many teachers use video by inserting a DVD in the player, hitting play and watching the entire movie or TV episode in one sitting, followed by a few discussion questions. I can only wonder what, if any, learning opportunity is provided with that method that the students could not do by themselves at home.

The problem with this method, and I speak from experience, is that many students will lose focus or even fall asleep during the video, thus not understanding everything (even with the subtitles), and will not be able to answer discussion questions because they haven`t gotten the storyline.

Watching television and movies without relying on subtitles is a goal that many language learners have, but most of them also say that it is too difficult, so they resort to the subtitles. Clearly, the average learner is not gaining much by watching programs without many pauses.

With that in mind, teachers should provide their students with instruction on how to best use video to enhance their English or whatever language. This can be done explicitly through classroom instruction or implicitly through classroom activities. I use both of these approaches.

Often, I do not even complete a single 40-minute TV episode in one two-hour class. With the lesson I prepared for the "Prison Break" pilot episode, students only watch 18 minutes of the program over three hours. Usually, there will be some warm-up before the TV even gets turned on - with discussion about the show in general or the general theme of the episode.

Next, I select several scenes and prepare a transcript for the students. For this, I go to www.twiztv.com and then format the transcript to suit my needs. This involves deleting the parts of the script I`m not using and then placing what I do use in columns, in order to increase readability. I also watch the scenes in question while reading the transcripts because there are often errors because they are produced by fans, not professionals. Doing so is much more efficient than transcribing everything myself.

Editing the script reduces the size of handouts and further focuses students` attention on specific areas which the teacher has chosen. These may be related to material covered earlier in the course, interesting topics, cultural observations and idioms or colloquial language.

My handouts typically run six to eight pages, with each two- page spread used to define the viewing time before discussion. I usually highlight several difficult words, phrases, or idioms in a box with definitions, while, on the second page, there will be a list of questions related to the scenes we just watched.

This approach keeps students focused, as there are regular breaks in viewing, and students are aware that they will be required to discuss what they are watching. They also have the script and questions for the scenes we view, allowing them to follow along even if their listening skills are not quite up to par. As a further aid in this area, I also recommend watching video with English subtitles, rather than no subtitles.

Additionally, by preparing video that is interesting to the students - as well as questions that are personalized - students will be more inclined to actively participate. A final benefit of not showing complete episodes in the classroom is that students may be motivated to finish watching a show on their own, outside of class.

Movies can also be structured in this same way. I personally recommend using a TV series, since students who watch entire seasons on their own will gain the benefit of extended context that isn`t available with movies.

The process is quite long for planning a lesson around video. It takes me about 10 hours to prepare one episode, but it`s well worth it. A well-planned video lesson can be reused for many semesters. The benefit only increases when you can use it with different sections of the same class.

I have uploaded several sample lessons to my blog that can be downloaded in PDF and MS Publisher formats.





To contact Sean or comment on this column, visit his website: eflgeek.com - Ed.