Versatile and popular, the use of video in the English Language Teaching (ELT) classroom encompasses five major areas:
Feature Films
In a simple activity, the sound of a particular scene can be turned off. Students then form pairs or small groups to create their own script for the scene which is later compared to the real dialogue. Teachers can prepare and reuse transcripts of selected scenes for a variety of activities. One example is the use of transcripts for topic focused cloze exercises which can be filled out as students watch the movie or after viewing to practice recall. Members of the TESOL Video Interest Section (VIS) can participate in a barter network, exchanging materials they have created. If interested in this barter network, consider joining VIS as your primary TESOL interest section.
Student Productions
Student can engage in a cooperative, whole language experience by making a recruitment video. Students discuss the plan for their video and write a script. Using multiple locations, students can take turns acting, directing, and running the camera. This experience gets students to use the language for authentic communication and practice their listening skills by viewing each project. Students can also shoot skits they have created or scenes they have adapted from novels or short stories. The viewing of the final product could be followed with an academy-awards-type ceremony and a public screening, complete with refreshments and invited guests.
Evaluation of Student Performance
Students can be taped while being interviewed, graded by the interviewer and then separate raters can watch the video and grade each student's performance by the same criteria. The grades are averaged for the student's final grade. These interviews can be used for entrance, exit, and ongoing assessment of communicative ability. For student self-evaluation, students critique their own performances, focusing on delivery (e.g., eye contact) and language. Critiques are especially effective when they are followed up with a chance to repeat and revise the original performance.
Commercially Available Videos
There are many commercial videos available. Many ELT publishers carry comprehensive video programs usually packaged as a video with supplemental teaching materials. Students watch the video and then work with texts to do different language learning activities. In addition to these comprehensive programs, videos are available which have a special focus, such as business-related language or pronunciation practice.
Teacher Produced Videos
For less expensive videos, teachers may create their own materials. A classroom activity based on counting the number of occurrences of an event or events and calculating frequencies, ratios and proportions is well-suited for ELT students in math and sciences. The teacher records a scene in which an event is occurring and shows a sufficient number of the events to perform some calculations. For example, cars moving through an intersection make a good subject. A window on an upper floor of a building overlooking an intersection is an ideal vantage point. Although the concepts and the calculations in this type of activity may be simple, the vocabulary and structures needed will challenge ELT students.
Video is not only a source for many pedagogically sound activities, it is a great motivator for language learning. Interested teachers may contact the TESOL Inc. Video Interest section for more information.
Elisabeth Gareis teaches ESL, speech, and intercultural communication at Baruch College/CUNY as well as TESOL methods at Long Island University. She is the former editor of TESOL Video News, the newsletter of the TESOL Video Interest Section.
Diane Ogden is an Assistant Professor who teaches ESL at Snow College in Ephraim, UT. She is currently the TESOL Video Chair.