5 Reasons to Use Popular Movies for English Language Teaching

As progressive professionals in our continual search4. The length of viewing is controllable
for additional resources, approaches, techniques andHow long are your English language class sessions?
methods for expanding our repertoire of EnglishFifty minutes? One hour? Ninety minutes? Two hours
language teaching tools, often, we need not look faror more? No matter what length classes you have,
beyond our immediate surroundings for inspiration. Amovies can be adapted to suit the timeframe you
commonly available resource of authentic English ishave available. How? Simply use clips from films or
movies. Are movies practical for English language"installments" instead of the whole film in one shot. This
teaching? How do you go about it? What are goodactually seems to work much better for many
movies for English teaching? Where can you getteachers and class groups.
them? Why bother using movies at all? These5. Use of sub-titles and close-captioning is controllable
questions, and others, will be briefly explored in thisAnother useful aid in movie-watching is the ability to
series of articles. Here then, are five good reasonsturn on or turn off features like sub-titles in English or
why you should use popular movies with your learnersthe learners L1, or the use of close-captioning in
for English language practice and acquisition.movies, documentaries or videos produced with this
1. Movies in English are widely enjoyedfeature. Using sub-titles in English not only provides
A wide variety of learner types enjoy watchinglistening comprehension support, but aids in vocabulary
movies. It is one resource from which you can extractdevelopment and reading comprehension as well. As
considerable mileage on a wide range of themes andthe English language learners' skills develop, these aids
topics.can be turned off.
2. Movies in English are easily availableAs progressive professionals in our continual search
Unless you live in Tibet or Borneo perhaps, movies infor additional resources, approaches, techniques and
English are usually available from a variety of sources.methods for expanding our repertoire of English
Rental shops, book stores, theaters, media outlets,language teaching tools, movies can offer us an easily
record shops and music stores all have numerous titlesaccessible, dynamic resource to enrich and expand
avail at any given time. Offerings change or areour English language teaching. These reasons contain
upgrades as new films are released.only a few of the many benefits we and our learners
3. Different movie formats are availablecan experience. In the companion to this article entitled,
Whether your available viewing equipment is VHS or"5 Ways to Use Popular Movies for English Language
BETA format, NTSC or PAL, 35mm, 16mm or evenTeaching", we'll look at ways movies, clips and videos
8mm video, you can still find an expansive variety ofin English can be exploited in the EFL class room.
flicks from which to choose.