Teaching literacy through film

Reading and writing can often feel like a slog for learners, it requires a lot of concentration and can overwhelm students. Films however can be used to brighten this up, not to mention make grammar and vocabulary all the more interesting. Films are something we can all enjoy, they form one of the pillars of culture. Through image and sound they connect with to of our most powerful senses and bring the others to life. Not only this but recent studies in neuroscience show that the brain is not a fact machine, but instead it connects with and learns new information best trough stories (The neuroscience of storytelling). Stories like those contained in movies can enhance us in so many ways, and provide a thought provoking way of tackling lesson aims.

Below are some film ideas that you can use to really enhance your classes.

Film English: http://film-english.com/ - This website comes with a short film and a lesson with vocabulary, grammar, listening, and discussion activities. You can search by grammar point, vocabulary, level, and age to find the best film for your class.

Into Literacy Short Films: https://vimeo.com/album/3601739 (password: literacy teacher) - This was created by the British Film Institute and is very child and teen friendly. It contains many short films and invites us to create lesson plans about character, content, sound, image, and much more. Characters could be used to tackle verbs or adjectives, content could be used to tackle narrative tenses or reported speech, sound and image could be used to inspire a writing task. There are many more choices but these are a few options.

Character work: Watch a clip of a film with several characters. Give students a predictive task and/or descriptive task worksheet with questions about the character. At the end students share with their partner. Then you get a sheet of paper larger than a student. Get someone to draw their shape (repeat for number of characters). Students then write about the character using this to brainstorm. They can write personality, thoughts, and intent inside and they can write other things outside. You can then use this for a descriptive writing task, storytelling writing task, or role play activity.

Storyboarding: get a story board and give students a reading task, get them to draw the scenes and summarize. You can use this to get them to write a review or another story.

Storylinking: On the board write 5 words.

• one day
• he/she
• but then
• suddenly
• finally

Tell a story and get students to complete. Get students to write a new story, dialogue, or a blurb.

Foley sound: Foley sounds are the sounds of birds tweeting, leaves crunching, wind blowing, footsteps in the dark. They help set the scene. Get students to close their eyes, and then tell a story. Include some simple foley sounds (Foley sound ideas). Ask students to think how they feel and to guess the sounds. Get students to finish the story or to write a new story with the Foley sounds.