The Language Teacher
August 2001
Using Authentic Video for Current English Usage and Popular Culture Studies
Charlene Potter & Kim Lenz
Kansai Gaidai University
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words: Authentic, videos
Learner English Level: Intermediate to advanced
Learner Maturity Level: Junior high to university
Preparation Time: 30 to 60 minutes (after scripts have been downloaded and videos obtained)
Activity Time: 90 minutes
The use of authentic videos is a useful, fun way to give students something exciting and a little less academic than their regular classes. Lazar claims, "By exposing students to rich language of the text, we can expand their language awareness, their overall knowledge of how words and grammar can be used" (pp. vi-viii). Authentic texts are a good source of natural linguistic input and are useful in promoting cultural awareness and developing fluency. Although authentic materials are often considered too difficult for any but the highest level students, they can still be used with lower level students if the difficulty of the tasks is adjusted to suit the learners' level.
The authentic texts used in this activity are episodes of the American sitcom "Friends." Despite the dubious quality of many television sitcoms, we have found that the shows can be used in a variety of ways to help students make incredible improvements in their language abilities. One of the most important and difficult aspects of oral comprehension and fluency is understanding and producing the rhythms of spoken English (intonation, stress, word connections, etc.). Within the first couple of months of this course, we saw the students' mastery of this rhythm improve significantly. Their self-confidence also got a much-needed boost as their comprehension and production improved in leaps and bounds.
Scripts for each episode can be downloaded from a number of sites such as: <www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/4151/scripts.html>. Reading the script in groups of seven or eight, with each student playing the role of one of the characters, is an ideal way for them to improve their reading and speaking skills. As they watch the scene after reading the script, they can also work on their pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation. The young, good-looking, humorous characters make learning fun, and humor is a great tool for motivating learners. Sitcom humor typically consists of a seemingly simple situation which becomes increasingly more complicated due to a misunderstanding. This often involves a lot of sentence repetition in different scenes, which enables the students to hear the same sentence in a number of different contexts. This helps them remember the meaning of a new expression and shows them the different ways it can be said and used. The students love the show and although it is fast paced, the repetition of the same lines helps them to keep up.
After your class has become familiar with the characters and their different personalities, an interesting activity is to let the students themselves become the screenwriters. This can be done by stopping an episode just before the end and getting groups of students to create their own ending. Although we have not had time for the groups to actually act out their endings, this may be something fun to consider in the future.
The materials needed are readily accessible in Japan as most video stores now carry at least the first and second seasons of the show. If English versions with Japanese subtitles are your only source, you can cover the subtitles with a piece of paper. I also encourage them to rent the videos themselves. "Friends" is also available on DVD with additional information, which makes it a more interactive experience for the student. Another alternative is to go to a "Friends" website where, for $20, you can get a Warner Home Video of the top ten episodes.
Pre-viewing Activities
- Bring up the central issue of the episode and get them to talk about what they know.
- Introduce new vocabulary used in the episode (slang, idiomatic expressions, etc.).
- Read the script in groups of seven or eight students. (A few scenes at a time is a good way to begin.)
- Follow this up with comprehension questions.
Viewing the Episode
This should be done slowly at first, two or three scenes at a time, particularly in the beginning when students are still getting to know the show and the characters. Later on, the script can be given as homework, and the episode can be watched uninterrupted.
Post-viewing Activity
- Ask students to summarize the episodes. The script is already divided into scenes so this is a fairly easy activity for them.
- Use teacher-guided comprehension questions to ensure they haven't missed anything.
- Roleplay the scenes. Each group chooses a different scene. At the beginning of the year, I allow them to use their script. After they have been weaned from the scripts, they may even produce some impromptu language for themselves. For pronunciation and stress practice, I get them to choose only one line from an episode and perfect it. Some teachers may find a book such as Teaching American English Pronunciation to be useful.
We conclude that improving fluency increases awareness of the significance of learning spoken English. The practical information learned with authentic materials through repetition in a variety of contexts enables students to improve their production and fluency noticeably throughout the course. Although a control group was not available in this case, we were able to see drastic improvements in the students' levels of confidence and fluency when speaking English.
References
Lazar, G. (1999). A Window on Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (2000). Teaching American English Pronunciation. Oxford University Press.
This is a comprehensive introduction to teaching North American English which offers numerous techniques for overcoming pronunciation problems along with an illustrated description of English phonetics.
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