Using Film As An English Language Resource

@Lake School Email: enquiries@englishinoxford.
com

Using Film as an English Language
Resource

Pre-viewing
Pre-teach vocabulary associated with the theme/character of the film.
Children look at a set of pictures / sentences showing a sequence of
events, they predict the order of events.
Play some of the film with sound only, children make predictions
about it e.g. number of characters, setting and mood.
Hand out half a dialogue or half a sentence, the children have to
predict the rest of the text.
Play a dialogue scene and encourage the children to look closely at
body language. Give the children a few key words from the dialogue
and see if they can predict the conversation.

While viewing
Check any predictions made in pre-viewing stage.
Spot the item. Give the children a list of objects to look for. Check
they know the words before watching.
Speech bubbles pause the film just before key characters speak,
hold the speech bubble to the screen and the children to predict or
say what the character says.
Team quiz the teacher gives each pair of children a question or
questions to which they have to find the answer by watching the film.
After viewing, the children ask their questions to the other team. If
the opposing team doesnt know the answer the children can tell
them. Points are scored for each correct answer.
Write a commentary this works well with extracts from documentary
films particularly if it links to your current topic. Watch the extract
with the sound off. The teacher helps the children to build up a
commentary on the film. When the commentary is written out the
children can practise reading it as the film is shown.
Answer basic comprehension questions, Who, Where, When, What,
Why?
Answer true / false questions.
Ordering activities e.g. pictures or sentences.
Write some key phrases on the board from the film and some which
are not in it. The children have to listen to which ones are in the film.
Correct the mistakes. The children have a basic outline of the scene /
story with some errors in it. They have to correct the mistakes as
they watch the film.
Silent viewing work on feelings, thoughts and gestures.
Jigsaw viewing half the children watch the film (while the other half
are involved in a meaningful activity) and then describe what
happened to their partner. Change over.
Jigsaw viewing the children watch their extract of film and write
questions about it e.g. What colour is the ? How many.? The
groups swap questions and view the new extract of film answering
the questions that have been set for them.
Silent viewing children produce their own dialogues.
@Lake School Email: enquiries@englishinoxford.com

Subtitle match give pairs of children a subtitle for a scene of your
film / extract. Pause the film and ask who has the subtitle, they can
go to the front of the class so everyone can read the subtitle. This
doesnt work with films that have a very fast pace. Try it with The
Very Hungry Caterpillar, for example.

Post-viewing
Role play - re-enacting scenes from the film.
Interview interview key characters from the film.
Personalisation What would you have done?
Memory quiz How observant were they?
Gap-fill summary of story useful for focusing on particular language
items e.g. prepositions, verb tenses.
Character descriptions.
Story board the next scene draw pictures and write sentences about
the next scene in the story.
Write letters e.g. Goldilocks writes a letter of apology to the three
bears.
Front Page What did the papers say the next day?
Making posters to advertise the film.

The Mixed
Up
Chameleon

1) Pre-teach vocab. Do the matching exercise.
2) Watch the film for enjoyment and check the matching exercise (or check it
in a second viewing).
3) Follow-up activity. The group chooses an animal e.g. a dog.
4) Pupils write dog after The mixed up..... on the handout.
5) Then they complete the 4 sentences below following the structures:
I wish I could + bare infinitive + like a .............
I wish I could + be + adjective + like a ...........
and writing the name of an animal that exhibits that trait.
6) When everyone has finished ask pupils to swop their writing with a
neighbour. Their partner has to read what is written and draw a mixed up
dog.
7) When they have finished, the drawings are returned to the writers to be
admired.
8) The pictures and writing could be made into a book The Mixed Up Zoo
(each child would start with a different animal). Or, if the drawing started
with a picture of the child, The Mixed Up Class.

Mr Bean
Sandwich

1) In pairs, pupils discuss their favourite sandwich, in detail. You model first.
2) Watch the film for fun.
3) Second viewing, children can do one of the exercises from the handout
e.g. true/false, correct the errors, comprehension questions.
4) Follow-up, e.g. sentence ordering, retelling the story.

Note: Most silent film is useful as the language level is controlled by
the teacher in the activities they set.

Animated

Shorts

Useful free films on the internet. If you search Short Animated Film on You
Tube, you will find lots of things. Add Oscar nominated to the search and
you can find great stuff. Some of it is silent which is of great benefit to us as
teachers.
Search these (silent) Oscar nominated films on You Tube:
Oktapodi
Lavatory Love Story
Granny OGrimms Sleeping Beauty

Pigeon Impossible is another fun and action packed silent film available on
You Tube. Materials and ideas below.

Invention of Love is harder to follow but is visually beautiful.

They are also on www.diigo.com/user/catherineweller

Movie
Segments

http://moviesegmentstoassessgrammargoals.blogspot.com/

The site uses movie clips to show grammar in context. All ideas are tagged
so look for all ages and beginner. You can search by grammar item if you
want.

Indiana
Jones

1) Elicit great movie heroes from the pupils (use pictures)
2) Elicit why they are heroes e.g. they are strong, good, brave.
3) They are going to watch the beginning of a film with a hero in it. First
listen to the music and sounds at the beginning of the film, without seeing
the picture, and predict where the hero is and how he feels (beginning
until just before they find the statue in the forest).
4) Watch enough film just to confirm the answer.
5) Pre-teach key vocabulary e.g. spiders, webs, cave, treasure, gun, skeleton
using images. Feedback to board.
6) Split viewing. Half the pupils watch carefully while the others are
answering 3 question in pairs (quietly)
1. What was the last film you saw?
2. What is the next film you want to see?
3. What is the best film you have ever seen?
(up to just before they enter the cave).
7) The watchers have to tell their partners what they saw in the film in as
much detail as possible.
8) Teacher asks for brief feedback from the other group about their 3
questions before changing over. Now the watchers turn away while the
other group watches. (up to just before Indiana takes the golden
statue).
9) As in number 7.
10) Group viewing. Shouting observations. The teacher shows the next part
of the film, which has lots of action. Ask questions as the pupils watch and
they have to shout out the answers. Whats he doing? Hes running,
How does he feel? He feels scared. Encourage full sentences and vary
the tenses of your questions.
11) Use the last part of the film as a quiz. For example, true/false questions
while the pupils watch or team memory quiz. (up to flying off in

aeroplane).
12) Follow-up activities could include gap filling a summary of the story,
interviewing the hero, diary writing, storyboard for the next few scenes
(pictures and writing).

The Wrong
Trousers

There is not much language in this half-hour film as only Wallace speaks. It
is very visual with lots of funny action scenes.

1) Pre-teach vocabulary by matching objects to pictures.
2) Give the children a list with a selection of the objects. Watch the film and
order objects as you see them.
3) Watch again and answer true / false questions.
Stuart
Little

Scene: Stuart and his brother wake up and get ready for the day.

1) Elicit language of daily routines.
2) Practise the language of morning routines e.g. mime game, find someone
who..
3) Elicit sequence words and possibly time. Practise telling each other their
daily routines.
4) Watch the film and tick the things that George and Stuart do.

They wash their faces.
They comb their hair.
They look in the mirror.
They yawn.
They brush their teeth.
They gargle.
They scratch their heads.
They say good morning.
They get dressed.

5) Watch again and put the actions in order.
6) Follow up - Class survey of daily routines.


Using Film as an English language Resource
The Mixed-up Chameleon

a giraffe a fox a flamingo an elephant a fish
a turtle a polar bear a deer a seal

Who has a shell? A. a deer B. a turtle
Who is smart (clever) A. a fox B. a fish
Who is handsome (beautiful) A. a flamingo B. an elephant
Who is funny? A. a polar bear B. a seal



I wish I could ..
1. be big and white a. like a fish
2. be smart b. like a flamingo
3. swim c. like a giraffe
4. run d. like a polar bear
5. be handsome e. like a fox
6. see things far away f. like a deer
7. be strong g. like an elephant
8. hide inside a shell h. like a turtle
9. be funny i. like a seal

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

e



The mixed-up ____________________

I wish I could _________________________ like a _______________
Ask your partner to draw your mixed-up animal.


Pigeon Impossible
Read and label the picture
One morning, Walter Becket sat down on a bench, opened his briefcase and ate his
breakfast. A pigeon flew down and sat on the bench next to him. Walter liked eating bagels
for breakfast, so did the pigeon!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the information about Walter Beckett. What's his job?
Are the following sentences true
or false?

1. He is thirty-five years old.
2. He has brown hair.
3. He has brown eyes.
4. He is good at electronics and
software.
5. He's been an agent for 9
years.
6. He was born in America.

Should Walter give
the pigeon some
of his bagel?
Can you guess
Walter's job?


Pigeon Impossible

Write the picture number next to the correct sentence.

The pigeon tried to shoot Walter.

Walter threw the bagel in the air.

The pigeon started to press the buttons inside the briefcase.

The briefcase started to move.

The pigeon fell into the briefcase.

The pigeon flew out of the briefcase and the bagel fell inside it.

Walter used the bagel to stop the pigeon.

The briefcase started to fly.

A scared woman ran away from the briefcase.


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@Lake School Email: enquiries@englishinoxford.

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