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Teaching Literacy Through Film

Learn how to use film in the classroom, teach literacy and improve both reading and writing skills, with this free online course

34,781 enrolled on this course

A young boy in school uniform holds his hands up in the shape of a camera viewfinder as if framing a film shot.
  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

Why use film to teach literacy? This free online course, led by film education experts from the British Film Institute (BFI) and film education charity Into Film, will examine the debate surrounding film as a vehicle for teaching literacy, alongside recent evidence demonstrating significant improvements in children’s reading and writing through use of film texts.

We’ll discover how film can be used to develop a range of abilities - decoding, inference and analysis - as well as expanding creativity and improving vocabulary.

Discover inspiring ways to teach literacy

Over four weeks, you’ll explore a range of strategies and frameworks that you can use to engage and inspire young people when teaching literacy, and improve their progress and levels of attainment in both reading and writing.

You’ll have the opportunity to share best practice, download classroom-ready resources, including how-to guides, activities and worksheets, and access an exclusive playlist of short films and clips to use in school.

We will also discuss the benefits of creating film content in the classroom and how this can be used to aid deep learning, which is more easily retained. You’ll have the opportunity to make your own short film for use in the classroom, which can be shared with fellow educators on a YouTube playlist.

Join a supportive community of literacy teachers

The course is open to anyone worldwide, so that you can share ideas and best practice with other literacy teachers around the globe, providing a rich, cultural learning experience.

In discussions, we’ll ask you to give feedback on the activities you’ve been trying out in class, so that you benefit from real-time tutoring from our expert educators.

And if you’re a UK educator working with young people aged 5-19, you can follow up this course with free face-to-face training from Into Film.

You can find out more in Jennifer Johnston’s post for the FutureLearn blog: “Why use film to teach literacy?

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for educators who would like to improve their student’s reading and writing, although parents or anyone with an interest in developing young people’s literacy will also benefit from the approaches that are explored throughout the course.

Who will you learn with?

Diane has over twenty five years' experience as a teacher, senior leader and consultant and has trained with Ofsted. She now works freelance as an English and School Improvement consultant.

Head of Learning at Into Film, Jennifer leads the Resources, Filmmaking, Training, Careers, Industry Visits and Curation teams, who are responsible for the Into Film's free educational offer UK-wide.

As a primary school teacher in South Wales Simon taught right across the KS 1&2 spectrum.
He was also the Teacher Training Manager at Into Film before starting his own training company - eCoach.

Who developed the course?

The British Film Institute (BFI)

The British Film Institute (BFI) was founded in 1933 and is a charity governed by a Royal Charter. It has three priorities – education, supporting the UK film industry and unlocking film heritage.

Into Film

Into Film is a UK-wide film and education charity, which puts film at the heart of children and young people’s learning, contributing to their cultural, creative and personal development.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

Get a taste of this course

Find out what this course is like by previewing some of the course steps before you join:

Join the conversation on social media

You can use the hashtag #FLFilmliteracy to talk about this course on social media.