The Internet TESL
Journal
Using Movie Trailers in an ESL CALL Class
John Gebhardt
jgebhardt [at] gol.com
Ritsumeikan University(Shiga, Japan)
Heianjogakuin University (Shiga and Osaka, Japan)
This article provides an example of
using movie previews or trailers based on a CALL class. It demonstrates
how a lesson can be done
using movie trailers, the advantages of this kind of language study,
and offers expansion possibilities.
Introduction
It is always a challenge to provide current, meaningful, and relevant
content for students of English as a Second Language or Foreign
Language; an excellent source of material is the Internet, specifically
movie preview or trailer clips. (Both the words 'previews' and
'trailers' are found on the Internet, though the term 'trailer' will be
used in this article because, based on Internet searches, it seems to
be more current.) Movie trailers are short segments (usually two to
three
minutes) of key scenes that provide interesting linguistic input and
action accompanying the language; they offer us an innovative way to
teach English. They can be viewed by students on an individual basis in
a computer lab CALL classroom, using an Internet browser and video
viewer such as QuickTime or Windows Media Players, for example. The
language in the clips can be used in 'cloze' exercises and the scenes
for generating discussion and answering questions.
Background
The class I taught was made up of first year university students. This
specific class was held in a computer lab, though the activity could
just as well be done with videotape or DVDs, so is applicable to a
wider range of teachers. The students taking the CALL class were
experienced in listening to other Internet-based ESL/EFL material such
as at Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab (www.esl-lab.com). However, I felt
for a number of reasons
(listed below) it would be valuable to incorporate movie trailers into
the syllabus. There are several sites on the Internet that have movie
trailers, but a site I found satisfactory, in terms of selection and
speed, was Apple's QuickTime Movie Trailers page
(www.apple.com/trailers).
Advantages of Movie Trailers
The concepts of linguistic input and using authentic materials with
regard to second language acquisition have been with us for many years.
Two web sites where these are discussed are Stephen Krashen's web site
(www.sdkrashen.com/main.php3)
and one written by Kelly, et al.
(iteslj.org/Techniques/Kelly-Authentic.html).
Furthermore, video
and audiotape materials have been used extensively to teach ESL/EFL
classes. What is relatively new is the emergence of digital media
(audio and visual) that is widely available and easily accessed from
the Internet.
Though, indeed, teachers have started using digital music and aural
materials, I believe video content from movies offers significant
advantages. These are as follows:
- movies are popular and have universal appeal across
cultures,
providing current language usage,
- they present visual context in which the dialogue takes
place,
action accompanying speech, and
- they show gestures, facial expression, and other body
language
appropriate to the dialogue.
Furthermore, the advantages of specifically using digital movie
trailers are that they are
- of high quality, the best that professional studios can
afford,
- short with very concise, catchy dialogue, having
highlights of the entire movie, and
- free, readily available from the Internet.
There are several web
sites that teachers can direct their students to, for viewing movie
trailers so that schools will not have to worry about problems of
copyrighted material.
Methodology
The procedure was to direct the students to Apple's QuickTime movie
trailers web site address, let the students, on their own, watch and
listen to the trailer, do a 'cloze' exercise of the dialogue (this was
done on a hand-out), show the answers and have students self-check
their listening and enter their scores on their weekly score sheets.
Then they would work in groups and answer questions related to the
movie scenes appearing in the trailer. These questions are answered in
a collaborative way with groups trying to agree on answers to such
questions as, "Why does so-and-so say "....... " to ..... ?" and "What
would YOU say in that same situation?" or "What do you think the
outcome will be in the movie?" Multiple answers were
acceptable, however. Students would write their answers on the handouts
and these would be graded according to the appropriateness of the
answers.
Possible Expansion of Activities
The activities allow for expansion on the theme of the particular movie
from which the trailer was taken. There is a vast amount of information
on the Internet about movies, including movie plots, characters,
reviews, written dialogue (sometimes before the movie is actually
released), and pictures that could be incorporated into a report, for
example. Student projects could have them actually seeing the movie
outside of class and writing their own reviews and character sketches,
and based on the movie, teachers might prepare True/False question
lists, discussion topics, answering fact and opinion questions, and so
forth, depending upon the level of the students' English. The
possibilities are endless.
Conclusion
Movie trailers offer an exciting and innovative way to study English as
a Second or Foreign Language. The movement toward digitalized video and
their increasing availability makes them ideally suited for a CALL
class with Internet access, though the methodology would work with
videotape or DVD material, as well. This activity provides the students
with current, meaningful and relevant content, and the combination of
both an autonomous learning environment and collaborative,
communicative, task-based interaction.
Web Links Mentioned in the Article
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. X, No. 10, October 2004
http://iteslj.org/
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Gebhardt-MovieTrailers.html