Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges

“Innovative methods in language teaching: Teaching a foreign language through cinema”

Author: Vivian Papageorgiou

Summary:

The presentation is about an experimental course about an innovative language teaching method I have applied during the period of a school year, with a class of 3rd high school grade.

Objective:

My goal was to attract the students’ attention and teach the language in a funny and creative way.

Step by step method / The description of the experience:

Theoretical introduction in cinema:

-Introduction to basic principles of filmmaking

Practical introduction in cinema:

-Watch “A Trip to the Moon” (1902) by George Méliès and “Hugo” (2011) by Martin Scorsese

-Read texts in English about the directors

-Study the vocabulary of the film

Practical approach in language teaching:

-Students were separated in small groups and wrote scripts focused on specific aspects of English grammar

-Discussed how English grammar applies in the scripts  

Practical approach in filmmaking:

-The students did the shooting under my supervision, mainly around spots in the school premises

-We edited the short films and united them in a modular film, under the title “English grammar in everyday life”

Results and benefits:

-I managed to attract the students’ attention

-The students learned the language in a funny and creative way

-They learned to cooperate and work in teams

-They developed an interest in filmmaking

-Students who were weak in the foreign language, tried hard because their motivation was to have an active role in the whole procedure