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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / June 2004are movies useful as supplement to learning English?
Hello -- Are movies useful as supplemental material for people learning English? Has anyone seen lists of movies especially good for this purpose ... English spoken slowly, cultural issues presented, etc. Thanks for any suggestions. L Mehl > Are movies useful as supplemental material for people learning English? As a student I could say definitely yes. I read the book first and I picked out expressions and words I thought they would be useful to remember and practice. Then I saw the movie, first time with subtitles. It was not too difficult because I had the background of the book. I have seen already the move more than 10 times. I've got a lot of practice in pronunciacion, intonation... I don't know... way of speak. About the movie, I think the most important thing is that it should be a movie you really like, to be able to see it as many times as you need. I have practiced this way with Harry Potter first and second books and movies. Only with movies: "About a boy" is a movie I like because they use everyday vocabulary, I think, and also, because the kid uses a lot of tag questions... In written English there is no problem, but speaking... They speak normal, it means for us (students) fast :-), but it is ok. "Chicken run" is a beautiful movie. As it is intended for kids, the vocabulary is easy and they don't speak too fast... I hope it helps you. Irma. > >> Are movies useful as supplemental material for people learning English? > > As a student I could say definitely yes. And I definitely agree with Irma :) I think that's an effective and pleasant way. Maybe it's effective just *because* it's pleasant ;) BTW, Films and TV shows as a way to learn English is just the topic of a new message board [Films & TV] in the (T)EFL online communities http://groups.msn.com/TEFL > I have practiced this way with Harry Potter first and second books and > movies. I liked the first one, not the second. Not too difficult to understand, anyway. Another nice, easy film [mostly British RP pronunciation, I would say] is "Love Actually".  SignatureEnrico C - not a native speaker > Another nice, easy film [mostly British RP pronunciation, I would say] > is "Love Actually". Hi Enrico, Thanks a lot!!! This will be my next movie, it seems to be great! All of them very good actors and actresses. I didn't know the movie... I will buy it.. They say soon will be in DVD. You know, Contrary to Mexico, German cinemas only broadcast movies translated into German. I think there is just one or two cinemas where you can watch movies with its original sound, but they are not near my village. It is really a pitty, I think. The only thing I can be proud of is that I went to the "English Theatre" in Hamburg. It was fascinating. I thought I couldn't understand anything and to my surprise I did. Well... Ok... not 100% but enough to understand what was all about. Thanks for your suggestion. :-) Irma >> Another nice, easy film [mostly British RP pronunciation, I would say] >> is "Love Actually". [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > them very good actors and actresses. I didn't know the movie... I will buy > it.. They say soon will be in DVD. It already is :) Look for it on www.play.com, for instance. But, maybe you meant for rental. > You know, Contrary to Mexico, German cinemas only broadcast movies > translated into German. I think there is just one or two cinemas where you > can watch movies with its original sound, but they are not near my village. Same as in Italy. > Thanks for your suggestion. :-) De nada :-) Let us know how you liked / understood it! Another good film that's not very difficult, in my opinion, is "The Talented Mr. Ripley". Then, if you are going to be an English teacher, seeing "My Fair Lady" is almost compulsory :) Signature(T)EFL online communities http://groups.msn.com/TEFL | Then, if you are going to be an English teacher, seeing | "My Fair Lady" is almost compulsory :) The "St Trinians" series serve as a cautionary introduction to British women of a certain age :-) Owain > It already is :) Look for it on www.play.com, for instance. > But, maybe you meant for rental. Actually not, I really want to buy it. When I like a movie it is cheaper for me to buy it. :-) > De nada :-) :-O Do you speak/study Spanish???? > Let us know how you liked / understood it! Yes I will.... > Another good film that's not very difficult, in my opinion, is > "The Talented Mr. Ripley". > > Then, if you are going to be an English teacher, seeing "My Fair Lady" > is almost compulsory :) Yes you are right... I've written my list of DVD and this movie is among them... Just I need to wait a little... This month I bought 6 books :-/... Irma >> It already is :) Look for it on www.play.com, for instance. >> But, maybe you meant for rental. > > Actually not, I really want to buy it. When I like a movie it is cheaper > for me to buy it. :-) For buying, I like play.com [Jersey] and dvdsoon.ca [Canada] because they don't apply shipping fees to Italy. Amazon and HMV [UK] have some bargains too, sometimes, but you must add shipping fees if you don't live in the same country. >> De nada :-) > > :-O Do you speak/study Spanish???? Nope! I thought "de nada" is a semi-standard expression in English too, at least in US English, just like "Ciao!", or "Gesundheit!" for "bless you!" when someone has sneezed :) > Yes you are right... I've written my list of DVD and this movie is among Do you like TV series? They are quite good as listening exercise, as well. Of course, your credit card receipt would get longer and longer! ;) Signature(T)EFL online communities http://groups.msn.com/TEFL >> It already is :) Look for it on www.play.com, for instance. >> But, maybe you meant for rental. > > Actually not, I really want to buy it. When I like a movie it is cheaper > for me to buy it. :-) For buying, I like play.com [Jersey] and dvdsoon.ca [Canada] because they don't apply shipping fees to Italy. Amazon and HMV [UK] have some bargains too, sometimes, but you must add shipping fees if you don't live in the same country. >> De nada :-) > > :-O Do you speak/study Spanish???? Nope! I thought "de nada" is a semi-standard expression in English too, at least in US English, just like "Ciao!", or "Gesundheit!" for "bless you!" when someone has sneezed :) > Yes you are right... I've written my list of DVD and this movie is among Do you like TV series? They are quite good as listening exercise, as well. Of course, your credit card bill would get longer and longer! ;) Signature(T)EFL online communities http://groups.msn.com/TEFL > For buying, I like play.com [Jersey] and dvdsoon.ca [Canada] because > they don't apply shipping fees to Italy. > Amazon and HMV [UK] have some bargains too, sometimes, but you must > add shipping fees if you don't live in the same country. I didn't know about play.com and dvdsoon.ca... I will have a look. I like to buy with Amazon, specially books, but the thing is that you need to buy more than 20 or 25 EUR... it is too much... > Do you like TV series? They are quite good as listening exercise, as > well. Of course, your credit card bill would get longer and longer! > ;) Telling you the truth I don't like very much T.V. series. I used to watch a lot of them long ago.... But one day, long ago as well :-), I decided to study my highschool in a programm for adult learners. One year, I had 15 examinations, each examination was the equivalent of one subject you study in a regular term, Literature I, Social Science II and so on. It was a very busy year, since they just gave you the book, the date of your exam, and their blessings :-).. and I forgot to watch t.v. but I got my highschool certificate :-).. Since then I like much more to learn things in Internet. What T.V. series do you like? Irma. >> For buying, I like play.com [Jersey] and dvdsoon.ca [Canada] because >> they don't apply shipping fees to Italy. >> Amazon and HMV [UK] have some bargains too, sometimes, but you must >> add shipping fees if you don't live in the same country. > > I didn't know about play.com and dvdsoon.ca... I will have a look. Mind you, dvdsoon DVDs are usually Region 1 [North America], so you would need a R1 or Region Free DVD player to play them. Moreover, dvdsoon.ca is not in the EU, so you *might* be asked for customs duties and taxes, if you spend more than a certain amount. It never happened to me, anyway :) > I like to buy with Amazon, specially books, but the thing is that you need > to buy more than 20 or 25 EUR... Why is that? >> Do you like TV series? They are quite good as listening exercise, as >> well. Of course, your credit card bill would get longer and longer! [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > their blessings :-).. and I forgot to watch t.v. but I got my highschool > certificate :-).. Since then I like much more to learn things in Internet. Well, I wasn't very fond of TV shows myself, but I found out that TV series on DVD can be a very useful self-teaching material. You get tons of footage with uniform difficulty level to watch and listen to in small doses [episodes!], and as you watch them you get accustomed to the characters and to their way of speaking, so it makes a good exercise, in my view. > What T.V. series do you like? Well, that's a matter of taste, of course, and much depends on the topics and what kind of language you are interested in. One of my soft spots is "Yes, Minister!" / "Yes, Prime Minister!" [1980-1988]. It's political satire about British red tape and government. Most characters speak RP English. "Fawlty Towers" [1971-1972] is another celebrated British TV comedy. It's about an extremely rude-mannered hotel manager on the English Riviera! Pronunciation is generally RP as well, I would say, except for Manuel, a Spanish waiter from Barcelona [the role was played by a German actor, actually]. In case you like detective stories better than comedies, you might go with the Sherlock Holmes BBC series, or pick some US series such as "Twin Peaks" or "Law&Order", or oldies like "Columbo". In "Columbo", characters are often rich people, top dogs, so they usually speak educated American English. I watched the first "pilot" episode shot in 1968, Peter Falk was still youngish! :) Then, if you like it, "Sex and the city" is a goldmine of American idioms [not just the sex related ones :) ] Going right back to movies, "Casablanca" [1942] is a piece of cake for EFL students, I dare say, as well as a great cinema classic everybody loves. As to the accents you'll find in it, Bogey's is American, of course, "Sam"'s [the guy who "plays it again" ;) ] is African American, and Bergman's is Swedish, I guess :-) Signature(T)EFL online communities http://groups.msn.com/TEFL >> I like to buy with Amazon, specially books, but the thing is that you need >> to buy more than 20 or 25 EUR... > > Why is that? Sometimes they have discounts or you can buy two books cheaper. In December you don't get free shipping and handling, and they just take the payment from your account, so to say :-). On the other hand, ebay is not bad, at the moment, it is my principal provider, you get really cheap book, they are sencond hand but it is ok. > Well, I wasn't very fond of TV shows myself, but I found out that TV > series on DVD can be a very useful self-teaching material. You get > tons of footage with uniform difficulty level to watch and listen to > in small doses [episodes!], and as you watch them you get accustomed > to the characters and to their way of speaking, so it makes a good > exercise, in my view. Yes, you are right. With movies you need to spend 2 hrs. to watch it completely and sometimes you simply don't have the time. Episodes are shorter. I like your idea.... >> What T.V. series do you like? > > Well, that's a matter of taste, of course, and much depends on the > topics and what kind of language you are interested in. > ........ Wow! you really know about t.v. ... > Going right back to movies, "Casablanca" [1942] is a piece of cake for > EFL students, I dare say, as well as a great cinema classic everybody > loves. > As to the accents you'll find in it, Bogey's is American, of course, > "Sam"'s [the guy who "plays it again" ;) ] is African American, and > Bergman's is Swedish, I guess :-) Well, I will consider this one in my list of DVD's... Thanks a lot and have a nice day! Irma. I think movies are very useful to learn English interestingly. If you are fond of some actors or some stories of the movies, you will more get interested in the movies. Nowadays, we didn't just sit and study the English grammar. We have to be able to accecpt the current trends to study English. Actually I'm a korean who majors English education. I think Movies are really authentic materials to get used to English easily. > >> I like to buy with Amazon, specially books, but the thing is that you need > >> to buy more than 20 or 25 EUR... [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > > Irma. >> Another nice, easy film [mostly British RP pronunciation, I would say] >> is "Love Actually". [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > village. > It is really a pitty, I think. Hi Irma That's a shame, because subtitles are a really good way of using movies to improve your knowledge of a language. I try to watch French movies (French is my first L2) as much as possible, and subtitles are great - you try to follow the film, but if you miss a bit, you can glance at the subtitles - and often when you see the translation you realise what the orignal dialogue meant. Django > Hi Irma > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > subtitles - and often when you see the translation you realise what the > orignal dialogue meant. Yes you are right... The only benefit I have with German t.v. is that helps a bit my broken German... but the risk is asking for sausages in the supermarket by the slogan :-) Irma. > Are movies useful as supplemental material for people learning English? They are useful as listening exercises, especially if you have some sort of accompanying material (questions, discussion, etc.). DVDs are great for learning languages--much more useful than videocassettes, for many reasons. > Has anyone seen lists of movies especially good for this purpose ... English > spoken slowly, cultural issues presented, etc. I'm not sure that English spoken slowly is very useful, because people in real life do not speak slowly. SignatureTranspose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly. > English spoken slowly, Not a movie. News. The "Special English" section in the Voice of American TV/Radio site. http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/index.cfm They speak slowly and use a simplified language. That might be useful if you are a beginner. If you are not a beginner, you will get bored soon, as it's too slow and easy, so it won't be really useful, I guess. In that case, I would suggest that you watch the VOA daily NewsLine. http://www.voanews.com/real/voa/english/nnow/engl2000b.ram [broadband webcast] http://www.voanews.com/real/voa/english/nnow/engl1930v.ram [56K webcast] It's mainly international news, very interesting in my view, reporters speak clearly but are not artificially easy. SignatureEnrico C I think films are certainly useful. You can use them to improve your listening skills, knowledge of real spoken language (including slang), and understanding of the culture of the country in which it was made. You may be interested to see this section of my website, where I give some explanatory notes about some films which are related to Britain in some way: http://www.ukstudentlife.com/Britain/Films.htm Regards Mark UK Student Life: http://www.ukstudentlife.com > Hello -- > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > L Mehl > You may be interested to see this section of my website, where I give some > explanatory notes about some films which are related to Britain in some way: > http://www.ukstudentlife.com/Britain/Films.htm > > Regards Congratulations! :-) Your site is really nice.. Very easy and lots of information. I liked the Film and Literature sections. I just have a question: Philip Pullman and Ken Follett are not among the modern British writers... May I ask you why? Sorry for the question, and please don't get me wrong, but I like very much Follett and I expected his name in the list. Thanks. Irma >> You may be interested to see this section of my website, where I give some >> explanatory notes about some films which are related to Britain in some way: [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Your site is really nice.. Yep! I liked it too! :-) Signature(T)EFL online communities http://groups.msn.com/TEFL > I think films are certainly useful. You can use them to improve your > listening skills, knowledge of real spoken language (including slang), [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >> >> L Mehl A really great site - I'll certainly recommend it my to students. Django > Hello -- > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > L Mehl you could find yourself some carton movies in which enlish is spoken slowly, |
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