Universidad Nacional de San Martin

Universidad Nacional de Trujillo

USING VIDEOS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS

Mg. María Elena Castro

USING VIDEOS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS

* What’s video ?   Video is an audiovisual method that communicates information and an idea in an integral way. Video is a complete alternative for teaching

English because it is a powerful vehicle of information due to its messages and images. 

WHY USE VIDEO IN THE ENGLISH CLASS?

Video is obviously an ideal medium for helping students to comprehend spoken English better, promote productive language and improve their writing with a series of activities to support their English learning and provide them a stimulus for activities that take the students beyond the immediate context of the video sequence.

WHY IS VIDEO ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO TEACH ENGLISH?

When we present the instruction through videos, instead of making learners passive listeners, we’ll involve them actively in the learning process. And the result will be more confident, motivated, and satisfied students.oVideo makes English language instruction easy to learn and use.oVideo can reinforce the language more easily because the natural context for the language is seen and understood.

Video ensures that both, teacher and students get the maximum benefit and enjoyment from it.

The video intention is to give pleasure to the learners of English. It’s supposed to be fun to watch and fun to work with.

Video lessons should be enjoyable so students will be interested in the messages and the information that come to them via that language.

DO VIDEO CHANGES THE WAY THE STUDENTS LEARN ENGLISH?

What video lessons can do is truly impressive. It accelerates and enhances learning.

It also helps learners increase their English proficiency.

 That’s why the English teacher should carefully

select the video sequences to use in order to capture the students’ imagination, attract their attention and make them want to understand every word that is said in the video sequence.

IN WHAT WAYS CAN THE LANGUAGE IN THE VIDEO BE

CATEGORISED?

1. Language for productive use – expressions for the students to understand and then to imitate or develop.

2. Language for understanding – expressions for them to understand but which they will not be expected to produce themselves.

The intention is to increase the amount of English the students are able to use, and the more English is heard in the classroom, the better.

USING DIFFERENT VIDEO TECHNIQUES

IN THE ENGLISH CLASS

Mg. María Elena Castro

The video intention is to give pleasure to the students while learning English. Using Video in class is supposed to be fun to watch and fun to work with. Video lessons should be enjoyable so students will be interested in the messages and the information that come to them via that language.

That’s why the English teacher should carefully select the video sequences and techniques to use in order to capture the students’ imagination, attract their attention and make them want to understand every word that is said in the video sequence. Here, you will find some interesting techniques to exploit videos effectively in the English class for a successful teaching.

TEN USEFUL VIDEO TECHNIQUES FOR A SUCCESSFUL TEACHING

These ten key techniques selected intend to help us to exploit videos effectively, in interesting ways in order to improve language performance and practise listening, speaking and writing skills.

Each strategy is designed to encourage a lively communicative atmosphere in the classroom.

These techniques can also be adapted to suit the needs of the individual teacher and his/her group of students and make the most of a powerful and motivating medium.

1. Silent Viewing

2. Freeze Frame

3. Roleplay

4. Behaviour Study

5. Prediction

6. Thinking and Feeling

7. Sound Only

8. Watchers and Listeners

9. Telling the Story

10. Culture Comparison

1. 1. SILENT VIEWINGSILENT VIEWINGThis technique involves playing the video extract

with the sound turned down. The students watch the video and decide what is going on and what the speakers are saying. The video silently should be used just for one or two minutes.

2. 2. FREEZE FRAMEFREEZE FRAMEThis technique involves using the Pause button

on the video recorder to ‘freeze’ the picture on the screen. It allows students to look more closely at individual images or utterances within a sequence. This is useful for detailed language study, observation and description.

3. 3. ROLEPLAYROLEPLAYRoleplay and acting out are two of the most lively

and successful ways of using new language learned through a video.

Acting out involves practising the exact words of a dialogue with a partner or group. To do this the students will need to look at a script of the dialogue or have learned it from the video or board.

It’s important for students not only to reproduce the dialogue but also to copy the gestures, expressions and eye contact used by the characters in the video. Students develop fluency and confidence in speaking.

4. 4. BEHAVIOUR STUDY BEHAVIOUR STUDY This technique focuses on the non-verbal

ways in which people express themselves: facial expressions, gestures, posture, dress, physical contact and so on.

Students will learn conventions of behaviour in another culture. The point is not necessarily to get the students to imitate behaviour in the English-speaking society but to be aware of how it differs from behaviour in their own country.

5. 5. PREDICTIONPREDICTION This is one of the simplest and most popular

techniques for using video in the classroom. You stop the video and elicit from the class what happens or what is said next.

This is an important method of developing comprehension. It is also valuable for promoting discussion and fostering speaking skills, e.g. Intermediate and advanced students look at the title of a sequence and predict the topic or they watch a video sequence which is stopped before they reach the end and the teacher asks them to write a suitable ending.

6. 6. THINKING AND FEELINGTHINKING AND FEELINGThis technique is designed to focus on the

thoughts and emotions of the characters in a video sequence, and their relation to what is said.

This activity focuses on the interpretation of body language and its relation to language. Sometimes people say something different to what they are feeling or thinking.

7. 7. SOUND ONLYSOUND ONLYThis technique provides practice in describing

and identifying things or people by their description and following an oral description of something.

Intermediate and advanced students will be able to describe a person from the voice and describe the speaker’s personality and appearance from the sound of the voice alone.

8. 8. WATCHERS AND LISTENERSWATCHERS AND LISTENERSThis technique provides practice in speaking,

observation and accurate reporting . Here half the class watch the screen and the other half listen.

Then the watchers explain to the listeners what they have seen.

The watchers’ task is to tell the story to the listeners. Then the listeners tell what they have heard to the teacher.

Finally they all watch the video sequence with sound and vision and compare it with their reconstruction.

9. 9. TELLING THE STORYTELLING THE STORY

This technique is designed to stimulate oral and written composition. Students watch the end of a video sequence and try to construct the story that led up to it.

Fill the Video GapAsking Real QuestionsSequencing

10. CULTURE COMPARISON 10. CULTURE COMPARISON

One of the reasons for using video in language teaching is to make comparisons between the student’s culture and the culture of the language being learned.

In Culture Comparison, the students focus on differences and similarities between the mother-tongue culture and the English culture.

Finding similarities and differencesBrainstormingProject Work

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