5. Use of Movies in Teaching English --- Goswami

To teach English to Engineering students in the state of Rajasthan is a difficult task. English as a language is rarely spoken outside the language classroom. Most of the students are from Hindi medium background and have little exposure to this language. In a scenario like this the judicious use of movies can help the teacher to make teaching interesting. At the same time it will also help students to learn about this language. In the present article, an attempt has been made to show how movies can be used in English language classroom.

It’s really difficult to teach English in a completely foreign environment, where the only person who speaks English is the English teacher. We deal with students, who have come from a Hindi medium background and feel alone and frustrated. It is very hard to convince them that this is normal and all learners feel like this in the process of learning a new language. At the most we can deliver “head knowledge’’ whereas what they actually require is “heart knowledge”. The students need examples of people who have been going through the same feeling of frustration and being alone. Few teachers can fully understand the heart issues with learning a new language. They can certainly minister to the broken language. But, to address the heart issues, we need story and a masterful storyteller. In such a scenario, films can be of great help to make the language learning experience interesting. Films display characteristics of language not present in textbooks. Films can enrich the learning experience by bringing the concepts out of the textbooks and into working reality. Lectures refuse to express real life situations to English learners. Films can prove to be a useful supplement to the standard practices in the English educational realm.

Learning is a process affected by all the senses. Thomas A. Edison was once quoted by the daily press as saying that “eighty-five percent of all acquired knowledge comes through the eye, and that, because of this fact, moving pictures would within decades revolutionize educational methods by supplanting both teachers and textbooks .While his dream may be a bit lofty, motion pictures may be used as a “supplement” rather than a “substitute” for traditional educational methods. The following reasons can be given to show how films can make language learning process enjoyable-

1) Movies are widely enjoyed. There is no doubt about the fact that films are a popular medium of entertainment, especially among the youth. Teaching can be made fun if it is associated with films. The examples from the films are remembered easily and we all have a tendency to associate ourselves with one of the characters in a film.

2) Movies in English are Easily Available. There are many sites which allow the user to download movies or parts of them- trailers- for free. Some scenes from the film which are related with the topic can be downloaded from sites like youtube and can be shown by the teacher to prove her point.

3) Length of viewing is controllable. The teacher can very easily control the total time of showing a movie or its clip according to the time available to her to explain her point.

4) Sub-titles in English not only provide listening comprehension support, but aids in vocabulary development and reading comprehension as well. All English movie channels, these days, are showing films in which the dialogues spoken by the characters appear on the screen. This has made watching these movies easy and at the same time helps in vocabulary development, reading comprehension and pronunciation.

5) Movies are great fun to watch. It is nearly impossible to teach an unengaged pupil.

A teaching plan assisted by a clipping from a film can make the classroom teaching more enjoyable and in this manner the teacher can attract the attention of unengaged students. Finally, no one, not the most dedicated English language learner, not even the teacher, wants a course consisting of only class room rhetoric, typical class room practice, grammar and drills. Movies can offer a welcome respite to "normal" class room activity while still continuing to promote English language skills acquisition and practice. A thoughtfully chosen film (or clip thereof) can breathe new life into a class of the most reluctant learners.

They're simply great fun to watch. After all, they were produced for entertainment, right?

A teacher sometimes finds it difficult to cite examples of those Hindi speaking individuals who have learnt and mastered this language. A movie like English Vinglish may work as a good example to show the difficulties faced by all English language learners. It shows that our experiences and frustrations as English learners are universal. We all know someone struggling with language learning and wish to reach out and hug them saying, “I know how you feel”? We can let this movie do it for us. This film shows the problems faced by the leading character Sridevi, which almost all new learners of English language face.

Comparatively speaking English films directed by Indian film makers on Indian themes are easier to understand than an English film made in Hollywood. For a language learner it is very difficult to identify himself/herself with the culture as well as pronunciation, whereas in an English film on Indian themes are easy to identify as the characters, setting and cultural context described is our own and thus easy to understand. At the same care must be taken while using films for teaching. Some cons for using films for teaching are:

1. Can cause students to lose focus. Movies can be distracting. It is important that the teacher completely watches and knows everything about the movie she is showing so that it does not lead to unwanted conversations and situations. For example, she might have watched a movie numerous times at home but only when watching it with a classroom full of students will those curse words that she didn't notice truly stand out .

2. May take too much time. Movies can sometimes be very long. Even a short movie can take up 2-3 days of classroom time. Further, it can be difficult if different classes have to start and stop at different spots of a movie.

3. Really educational part may only be a small portion of the overall. There are only parts of the movie that would be appropriate for the classroom setting and truly provide an educational benefit. In these cases, it is best to just show the clips if you feel that they truly add to the lesson being taught.

4. Amount of prep time is important to make sure educational experience. If done properly, showing movie is not an easy way to create a lesson. The teacher should watch the movie and determine exactly how she is going to include it in her lesson plans.

5. Perception of using movies can be bad. Finally, there is a perception that watching movies is a bad method of teaching. That is why it is key that if the teacher picks them wisely and properly create lessons that involve the movies and the information that the students are learning. You don't want to get a reputation as the teacher who shows all those movies like "Finding Nemo" which serve little to no purpose within the classroom setting.

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• Lynch, Larry M. "5 Reasons to Use Popular Movies for English Language Teaching." Ezine Articles. EzineArticles.com, 31 Aug. 2006. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Reasons-to-Use-Popular-Movies-for-English-Language-Teaching&id=287405>.
• Lynch, Larry M. "5 Ways to Use Popular Movies for English Language Teaching." Ezine Articles. EzineArticles.com, 31 Aug. 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2010. <http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Ways-to-Use-Popular-Movies-for-English-Language-Teaching&id=287407>.
• Young, A. L. "Teaching With Motion Pictures." Peabody Journal of Education 3.6 (1926): 321-26. JSTOR. Web. 24 Oct. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1488379>.
• http://eazye.hubpages.com/hub/Cinema-in-Education

Works Cited