Using DVD and Video in Your ESL Class – Part One
Have you ever wondered how to use movies in your ESL classes, without just sitting your students down in front of the screen, hitting ‘Play’ and sitting back to watch?
Here are a few ideas to get you started, using very short movie extracts to present and practise new language and develop communicative skills.
1 No picture
Choose a short extract (2 or 3 minutes) with plenty of sound effects. Play it with the screen covered or turned away from the students, and ask them to write down what they hear. If two of the sound effects are birds singing and a baby crying, you could use the extract to present or practice any of these language points (and I’m sure you can think of more):
Some birds are singing / A baby is crying
Some birds were singing / A baby was crying
It must / might / can’t be birds singing or It must / might / can’t have been birds singing
I heard some birds singing / I heard a baby crying
After playing the extract, have students compare what they heard in pairs, and then elicit the language from them. Remember to...