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Movie For The Talking Of Gooder English
An-D
EnthusiastAshevilleRegistered User regular
EnthusiastAshevilleRegistered User regular
So, I'm a teacher in China, and for the last few days, my life has been kind of consumed by well...a hawk. So I'm kind of behind on lesson plans and grading, so rather than find something interesting to talk about with my students, I'm going to do the American thing and show a movie while I catch up and finish up with the hawk craziness. I would show the movie to my advanced Communicative English students (their English is...okay). This is at the university level.
What I Want To Happen With This Movie:
- Classic film/Great Film. Something everyone should see and everyone should remember.
- Has to be English. If I can get Chinese subtitles for it, that would be awesome (again, their English is okay).
- More famous/modern-ish would be best. Super easy to get a hold of most well-known movies here because...well...China.
- Again on the modern, I want them to use a lot of English that is commonly in use today, so they can get use to the dialogue and flow of real English.
- I'm going to go ahead and say PG-13, maybe R if its not *that bad.* These are university students, and my boss at the foreign language department pretty much said that could do "whatever I wanted" as far as teaching goes.
- Kind of optional, but if it could show *real American life*, that would be awesome. Most of my students believe that Americans live in skyscrapers and stuff like that. A ton of them watch Gossip Girl (80% of my students are girls), which I'm sure does great things for the American image.
So...suggestions?
What I Want To Happen With This Movie:
- Classic film/Great Film. Something everyone should see and everyone should remember.
- Has to be English. If I can get Chinese subtitles for it, that would be awesome (again, their English is okay).
- More famous/modern-ish would be best. Super easy to get a hold of most well-known movies here because...well...China.
- Again on the modern, I want them to use a lot of English that is commonly in use today, so they can get use to the dialogue and flow of real English.
- I'm going to go ahead and say PG-13, maybe R if its not *that bad.* These are university students, and my boss at the foreign language department pretty much said that could do "whatever I wanted" as far as teaching goes.
- Kind of optional, but if it could show *real American life*, that would be awesome. Most of my students believe that Americans live in skyscrapers and stuff like that. A ton of them watch Gossip Girl (80% of my students are girls), which I'm sure does great things for the American image.
So...suggestions?
An-D on
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You obviously don't want anything where people are speaking too rapid fire. Classic or something for the younger set might be best.
Also, subtitles generally are never properly in sync with what is actually being said.
I don't want to condescend to my students and show a cartoon movie (well, maybe if its *really* good), but yeah, speech can't be too fast (but at the same time, I don't want it to be slow either) and the plot can't be overly complicated. Chinese subtitles are optional, just so the students can keep up with whats going on (and not just zone out when they lose it) but at the same time, they can read English too, so that's an easy fall-back.
I showed my Business English class 'Thank You For Smoking' a while ago, and even with English subtitles on, it was still kind of a disaster (even with me going over a ton of vocab and explanation beforehand). 90% of them didn't get it at all. This is how we learn.
You need something with a universal premise.
And by younger, I meant a Pixar film or something. Again, with the universal appeal.
And textbook English/French/whatever will teach you how to communicate like a real person. Maybe it's just the quality of your books. What's your degree in if I may ask?
I take the job pretty seriously, and I feel like I'm making progress and the kids are working hard, so movie day is a day for them to relax and a day for me to catch up and not worry about a real lesson plan.
I hope you're kidding.
Just curious as I'm a Linguistics major with a focus in teaching English.
My main advice for teaching English overseas is to check over the book (some might be good, I guess) and if you're given room to teach your own way, try to do that. By the time you're eligible to teach English overseas, you've probably been speaking it 22-24 years. You know what sounds right and what doesn't, and you can just correct the things they do wrong and make them talk and build their confidence. Though, that is only true at the upper university level, which is what I am teaching.
I was thinking Dead Poet's Society (mostly because I like the idea of all of my students standing on their desks on the last day of class saying: "Oh captain, my captain."), but that might be too rough for them to follow. Its a maybe.
I like this idea. Up, Toy Story, Finding Nemo all have simple, but not stupid, dialog. They're designed to appeal to all ages, and they're all famous enough that your students probably have some idea about them already.
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Go with You Can Count on Me. Great movie overall, with good, modern dialog and a contemporary small-town setting.
I'm actually 33. That's me in the picture. I'm sure I'll know what to do as my degree is specifically designed around doing what you're doing but in a proper and structured manner.
EDIT: Basically I can go teach somewhere else besides Asia and South America. Europe is my goal and there's no way you're going anywhere there and teaching (beyond maybe eastern Europe) without an actual degree.
Would Gran Torino do? That's a great movie. Chinese people like racism, I assume.
That's a good idea. Show them a movie with people who can't speak English well and who are using slang. Why didn't I think of that? :P
All the President's Men: classic, tons of great, naturalistic dialogue, but would likely be pretty baffling without some brief historical context and I'm not sure if showing a movie making heroes of journalists for exposing the government's dirty laundry is going to go over well in China.
Sneakers: likely to be pretty confusing.
The Fugitive: a bit of violence in there, but it's got a simple enough plot to follow.
The Shawshank Redemption: haven't seen this in awhile, so I can't recall if there's antiquated dialogue/violence in there that would be objectionable.
UHF: the comedy is pretty broad, but a lot of cultural references would probably get lost, and a lot of characters don't act naturally.
North by Northwest: 50's diction/writing style.
The Great Escape or Bridge on the River Kwai: these might work, even though they're older.
Back to the Future: might be confusing what with intermixing outdated 50's stuff with outdated 80's stuff....
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The language isnt too complicated and yet there is plenty of banter between the charecters.
Bad idea. All the "sciencey" and paranormal terms would probably throw the students. As native English speakers we can pick these out and understand what they are. Non-native speakers are going to have a really hard time with that.
No, no, no. Way too fast.
Seriously, go with Pixar. Take it from someone who is actually getting a degree in this exact thing.
I think Ferris Bueller is a good choice actually. The pace isn't exactly speedy. edit: except for that, you know, scene where Ferris is trying to get home before his sister. haha.
That being said, Esh is right about Pixar if you're okay with cartoons. You wouldn't go with WALL-E though :P
I think Ratatouille is one of the best films ever made but that's not really American, so maybe not a perfect candidate.
The Incredibles? I dunno.
it's not at all, and in terms of language instruction i think the kids would get a kick out of the scenes where ferris breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience
If anything, the girls will love that it also reinforces the stereotypes of America. How about classic musicals? Or The Incredible Mr. Limpet?
I think one thing which is great about documentaries is that there is for the most part no music in the background. People also don't overact and express themselves in a much more natural manner.
I think you should probably rewatch it.
Remember, universal appeal. How much of 80s American culture are they going to get?
Free Willy or Homeward Bound-- they are both movies designed for younger audiences and have fairly straightforward plots.
Free Willy has an advantage because you are thinking about that hawk. The kids might be familiar with this theme because of your experience.
Homeward Bound is great because it deals with a journey, which is a pretty common theme in Chinese literature. Chances are they have already been exposed to the theme which will make it easier for them to follow the movie.
If you can do a bit of prep-work and maybe have a crib sheet of vocabulary, then it would be doubly great. That way you can anticipate questions they might have about certain, potentially troubling words. Prior to the movie you can introduce these words and make it a more educational and enjoyable experience for them, too.
man i can recite the film line-by-testicle-crushing-line, i don't need to rewatch it
there's buckets of visual humour, the core themes are hardly specific to 80's america - skipping school, family conflict and friendship - and the storyline is incredibly easy to follow
a lot of the jokes would be perfect. the 31-flavors line, for example, would be easy to 'get' - a story heard through a complex string of simple relationships - but would give students a real sense of satisfaction if they picked up on the humour in it. which i'm sure some of them would
do it
I think there's an argument to be made about the universal theme of the movie. They might not care about hawks, either. Plus, as far as I know China doesn't really participate in whaling, although they do consume a fair amount of the product.
If I were in my late teens or early 20s, and someone in a language class showed me a film like that, I'd be bored to tears.
The Truman Show
The Darjeeling Limited (or most wes anderson films maybe? They seem to have a slower more deliberate speech style)
hmm... well, that's about all i could thing of.
I think that's a subjective assessment, and I don't agree. If you are trying to adsorb a language then watching a movie in said language probably wouldn't be boring to you for the following reasons:
1) extra processing power needed to absorb movie in foreign language
2) materials provided that encourages paying attention to said movie
3) unfamiliarity with subject matter generally being stimulated.
I think either of the two films I mentions are decent choices. Some of the Pixar films would also work. The only piece of advice further would be not to go in blind and just give them the movie. If you tie it into a lesson, vocabulary hunt, provide extra guidance in the form of a worksheet, that would make the lesson work better than just letting them watch. One thing that I've learned from teaching methodology is that you really ought not to plan a lesson around the concept of a "free day" for students. That has way more potential to bore students than the choice of movie, as there is no direction given for study.
You do realize that I'm actually in university learning two languages (Finnish and French) while getting a degree in Applied Linguistics with a focus on TESL?
Not sure how your credentials apply here. If I told you that I had a masters in theoretical Linguistics with TESL certification and teaching experience at a university level would it change your opinion? It's not really relevant to the discussion.
Some This Amercain Life shows also have PDF transcripts such as this: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/This_American_Life_Transcript_Poizner_0.pdf
Something like that might help your students work through what they are hearing.
Man Esh, No one said you had bad advice or doubts you have a degree, but that doesnt mean An-D cant choose for himself if he doesn't want to show a Pixar film. You don't have to shit on every other idea.
It's very relevant, because the material you use needs to be of some level of interest to the student, does it not? Yes, trying to absorb the movie will create some level of interest, but as this is a bit of a one off thing that I doubt they're going to be tested on, at least let it be slightly entertaining. Free Willy? Really?
I'm not shitting on everyone's ideas. I've presented very clear cut reasons as to why they would be bad choices. This is something I'm currently in the middle of studying, so I think I've got a pretty decent idea.
This may further reinforce some assumptions these students already formed about American life. I guess you would have to look out for some sex stuff.
I don't think the Pixar movies are a bad idea. However, I think you probably should, in good faith, examine them on a more detailed level.
For example, I think Finding Nemo is a good choice as well because it also contains the theme of travel which is something that appears often in Chinese literature. However, one of the fish, if I recall, speaks a rather broken version of English. If that's true, then that maybe that makes this movie something to either avoid or use in pre and post discussion depending on the level of the students.
Just looking around, I was slighty mistaken, The only two PDFs of TAL are that one, and the long laborious one about the economy. NPR does provide Transcrips for many of their other shows, so perhaps something relating to china would help. The vocab is occasionally high but many NPR interviews are conversational and explain things plainly.
Its pg 13 shows a different side of america than skyscrapers, shows different types of "americans" fat, pretty, poor, rich etc. Should be easy to follow cause it's just a chick flick love story, which might be good because you said that most of your students are girls. Of all my wifes chick flick movies I find this one the best.