What Are the Advantages of Video?

• "[Video] can present a communicative transaction in its totality. The learners can see the people and the situation(the setting where the interaction is occurring). They can see and hear the attitude of the persons involved(the interlocutors). They can hear the linguistic registers and the appropriateness of the language within the situation. They can appreciate cross-cultural relationships by asking themselves if this piece of business would be conducted in the same way in their country. They will become aware of other cultural aspects, such as the gestures used and the distance maintained between the people involved. It is a replica of natural conversation in the real world" (Finocchiaro, 1989, p. 151).

• "Children and adults feel their interest quicken when language is experienced in a lively way through television and video. This combination of moving pictures and sound can present language more comprehensively than any other teaching medium. And more realistically too" (Stempleski & Tomalin, 1990, p. 3).

What Are Some of the Teacher's Responsibilities?

• To view the video before attempting to use it.
• To pinpoint the purposes of using video. Will it be to help the learners repeat the language, imitate the language and gestures, or predict what may happen next?
• To collect appropriate video.
• To think how would you teach the English in an interesting way, not boring.
• To know the level of your students.

Purpose

1. Active viewing - active involvement.
2. Vocabulary - vocabulary development and review.
3. Grammar - grammar presentation and review.
4. Pronunciation - activities focusing on sounds, stress and intonation.
5. Listening/speaking skills - viewing comprehension, listening, oral composition, speaking and discussion.
6. Reading/writing skills - reading, note-taking and written composition.
7. Cross-cultural concerns - cultural awareness and cross-cultural comparison.

Sequence Type

There are two types of video sequence. One is the educational video made specifically for language learning and the other is normal video (i.e., video/TV/film material made originally for native speakers)

1. Drama - TV soap operas, drama series, plays, situation comedies, etc.
2. Documentaries - any material which is non-fictional and or unscripted. TV news programmes, interviews, sports programmes, TV talk shows.
3. TV commercials - all kind of TV or cinema advertising material.
4. Music videos - generally used to refer to pop music videos of all kinds.

Selecting a Sequence

1. Interest - Any sequence chosen for use in class must be interesting or attractive.
2. Length - Your video sequences must be suitable for class time.
3. Language level - It is more important to grade the task or activity so that the class can deal with it, rather than to grade the video material itself.
4. Language items to be taught - The focus can be changed according to your aim of the lesson.

Activities
 

Listen and Say

Level: Beginners and above

In class

1. Tell the students that you are going to play a sequence twice. During the first viewing their task is simply to follow the story. Explain that during the second viewing you will stop the video from time to time so that they can repeat the line just spoken.
2. Play the sequence without stopping.
3. Play the sequence again, pausing to single out lines for choral repetition. Encourage the students to use the same intonation as the character.

Roleplay

Level: Elementary and above

In class

1. Tell the students that you are going to play a sequence twice. Their task is to study the situation in the video, and then roleplay the same situation using whatever words or other means they wish.
2. Play the sequence twice.
3. Divide the class into groups composed of the same number of students as there are characters in the sequence. Allow the groups 5 minutes or so to rehearse roleplaying the situation in the video.
4. The groups take turns performing the situation for the class, using their own words, actions and gestures.
5. Play the sequence again, and compare it with the roleplays.

Watchers and Listeners

Level: Intermediate and above

In class:

1. Divide the students into pairs. One in each pair is a listener who faces away from the screen. The other is a watcher who faces the screen.
2. Give the task. The watchers must tell the listeners the story after the sequence has been played.
3. Play the sequence.
4. The watchers have 3 minutes to tell the listeners what they saw.
5. Elicit the story from the listeners. They must tell you what they were told. Encourage disagreement: "Did you hear that?" "What did you hear?"
6. At the end, encourage one or two quieter listeners to sum up the story or the disagreements.
7. Replay the sequence. This time all the students watch. At the end the listeners and the watchers compare their earlier versions.

Silent Viewing

Level: Beginners and above

In class:

1. Pre-teach essential vocabulary (only if necessary).
2. Brief the students on the situation (only if necessary).
3. Give the students the following questions: Where are the people? Who are they? What's happening?
4. Play the sequence with the sound turned down.
5. Elicit answers to the questions. If possible, extend to include discussion of the answers.
6. Play the sequence again with sound and vision. The students compare their guesses with the actual content of the video.
7. (Optional) Proceed to intensive study of the sequence for content and language.

References

Stempleski, S., & Tomalin, B. (1990). Video in action. New York: Prentice Hall.

Finocchiaro, M. (1989). English as a second foreign language: Making effective use of video. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents.

Real English: Our ESL/EFL video and CD-ROM methods. Retrieved November 15, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.realenglish.tm.fr/videos.html

Dave's ESL Cafe: Idea cookbook: Video. Retrieved November 15, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/sefer.cgi?Video:

Englishclub: Teacher's room: Teacher's workshop: Using video in the EFL/ESLclassroom. Retrieved November 19, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.englishclub.net/teachers/workshop/video.htm

Video rising on line: Using video to teach the four skills. Retrieved November 19, 2000 from World Wide Web: http://www.members.tripod.com/~jalt_video/vr_OtOg.htm
 

This page last updated: December 10, 2000