Experiences of a teacher of English

An activity I’m doing tomorrow, willing God, is to read out the beginning of a thriller in its original version to my adult students, for them to encounter a text in genuine and authentic English.  My students’ levels are from intermediate to upper intermediate, some B2.  It’s an experience which is new to them and has a stroke of novelty.  As well I’m thinking of projecting Casablanca with subtitles in Spanish.  By the way, the book is a thriller, The Prometheus Deception , by Robert Ludlum. I might tell you about the experience. I will ask them what they understood or their feelings. / Photo from: meeting-with-agenda abhinavpmp com

It could entertain students and help them learn if we play a film with captions or subtitles in English.  I propose Singin’ in the Rain . This movie is rather simple to follow. It was released in 1952 and on the picture above are from left to right, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly. Debbie then was some 18 or 19.  I presume that girls would enjoy more than boys, but since it’s an academic activity they might like it too, at least a bit though they show the opposite. Oh, I forgot, the scene above is the unforgettable song “Good Morning”. By the way, boys and girls learn English in a different way, as I can say from my own experience.

In the current English course we have watched a movie in English, with the subtitles or captions in Spanish, the students' mother language.  I'm not in favor of doing so: I prefer that the students would watch the movie with the captions in English.  Anyway, has it helped the students to associate spoken English with written Spanish?  As I said I prefer to play a movie in English with the subtitles also in that language. / Photo from: mugglenet com. Hogwarts Harry Potter's school

Watching a movie is a great activity, and it fits a mixed-ability class.  You play the movie after having done a brainstorm about the movie: topic, title, etc.  So you play the movie and stop or pause from time to time. Then you ask some questions, from the difficult What is going to happen then?, to the simple How many people are there on the scene?  Obviously they like films, and as I said this is an activity they enjoy a lot.  Besides it breaks the monotonous and boring routine of classes.  Choose a movie that would be appropriate to the kids and their age. Some experience I have: skip sex scenes, or even better, do not play movies with explicit sex scenes.  It’s an activity in which you have them speak, speak and speak – speaking sometimes is the most valuable language skill to teach. / Photo from: Taj Traveller Itinerary Main 2 Group Tour India. www onthegotours com

Teacher A said to teacher B, “An utter activity I have implemented in classes of English has been to watch a movie and talk about it.  First be sure the movie is for kids.  An introduction by the teacher seems sound. You can ask who have watched it, or what they can think the film will be about after having learned the title.  Now I’m recalling that one of the movies was Vertical Limit (about mountaineering adventures). Then we watched a piece of the movie, and from time to time I paused the film – not too many times; let’s them enjoy the film.  This one was with subtitles or captions in English.  When I stopped the movie, I asked them simple questions and more complex or profound ones for high-achievers. I asked them from a question which you’ve got to explain what it’s happening (present continuous), or how many people are on the scene, until more complex questions like why you think the girl is mad [upset, angry] with the young man...