Teaching languages with film – some key approaches

- Basic Teaching Techniques
- Cs and Ss
- Tell Me
Activity
Have you used any of the three approaches in your teaching? Do you think they would work in your own education setting? Do they offer advantages or limitations in your view? Please add your comments to the comments section.1. Basic Teaching TechniquesThe first set of approaches called Basic Teaching Techniques, come from a resource published many years ago called ‘Moving Images in the Classroom’. In this booklet, a group of teachers and advisers came up with eight ‘Basic Teaching Techniques’ (BTTs), designed to help teachers who hadn’t used film, video or TV before in their teaching to make the most out of these media.Eight Basic Teaching Techniques:- Freeze Frame – concentrates on the visual language of moving images
- Sound and Image – highlights the important sound in the interpretation of moving image texts
- Spot the Shots – draws attention to the editing process
- Top and Tail – shows how moving image texts are produced and circulated to audiences
- Attracting Audiences – shows how moving image texts are produced and circulated to audiences.
- Generic Translations – ways of making changes to moving image texts and relating them to other media
- Cross- media Comparisons – changing moving image texts and relating them to other media
- Simulation – changing moving image texts and relating them to other media
Extension Activity
If you wish to learn more about this approach then please download and read the four resources in the download section.The ‘Cs and Ss’ and ‘Tell Me’ resources are from a resource pack called Ciné-minis. This is a DVD with a booklet and website published by the BFI in 2012, which collected 12 short French films for teachers to use.In the next step we will be moving onto thinking about film sound, and how to work it into language teaching.Our purpose is to transform access to education.
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