Using Movies in Conversational ESL – Southern Ontario Cooperative of ESL Ministries

By Jennifer Tong

In our online ESL class for Upper-Intermediate to Advanced students, we have been discussing movies since last year. First, we agree on a movie. Then we watch that movie in our spare time before the class. When we come together for a class, we discuss the themes and content of the movie. We do this every other week. It has been working well for us. The students are highly motivated and very engaged in the discussion of the movies. I would like to share our experience in this article – first the benefits of using this medium, and then some ‘how-to’ practicalities.

Movie-watching is largely a pleasurable activity. For my students, they would all gladly do their ‘homework’ of watching the movie for the class, in contrast to reading assignments that I sometimes give. They may use subtitles while watching or search on the internet about summaries of the particular movie etc., but the process of watching still trains their listening and understanding. Even though we don’t dissect the movie into small segments to test comprehension, we can talk about various idiomatic or colloquial expressions that stand out in the movie; and the discussion of the themes and topics raised in the movies often show how much they understand – and often I’m amazed at their understanding. These themes and topics are often close to life, if we pick movies that are evocative: for example, we have discussed dementia and caregiving in the movie “The Father”, the issue of homelessness and the meaning of life in the movie “The Soloist”. These give the students a chance to talk about what matters to them, and so they would willingly and naturally ‘practice their speaking’. As well, these are issues that touch their hearts. If the discussions are good, affective dimensions will be opened up and the building up of relations and community is strengthened. If the movie is from the West, there is a lot about Western culture to talk about.

If you want to try this kind of lesson, here are some tips:

(i) Pick movies that are thoughtful that explore deeper life issues, and avoid those that are flippant and are ‘mere entertainment’. Movies that are based on true stories or are adaptations from books are often good. A good movie goes a long way towards having worthwhile and stimulating discussions in the lesson. Some movies we have used include: The Father, Shadowlands, The Soloist, Homeless to Harvard, etc. We can use foreign films that have English subtitles as well; sometimes students from those countries will feel a particular identification and validation if we discuss a movie from their country. Documentaries are another possibility. There are good documentaries available on the CBC and TVO websites, for example. Be careful about using movies that are more political or controversial (e.g. a movie about the Cultural Revolution in China), though these can generate good discussions if handled well. Also, our experience is that faith-based movies are more difficult to discuss, because the students’ premises are all very different. As well, if the themes are more obscure or the English is difficult to understand (too ‘literary’, for example), students may encounter more difficulty.

(ii) We use movies that are freely available online, mostly via YouTube. This may mean choices are limited, but we can still find good movies. Students can help with sourcing these movies. If we use movies that they suggested, they will feel a sense of ownership. A list of movies online that we have used is given at the end of this article, with links. If all of your students have Netflix, or if all have access to library services like Kanopy, then there would be more choices. Renting a movie to watch together during the lesson may be another way, but this involves costs and it is more time consuming to use the class time to watch it together.

(iii) As the teacher or facilitator of the class, think about discussion angles and/or questions as you watch the movie yourself. Often discussions can start with asking the students to summarize the story in the movie, maybe taking turns. They can end with asking about take-home messages or morals of the movie. In between, we can ask about ways to describe the main and supporting characters, their lives, and their relationships with each other. Notice that there are often pivotal or turning points in the main characters’ lives. We can ask about whether we agree with the perspectives of the directors towards certain issues, or how we would react in their situations. We could talk about the ending – whether they like it or what could alternative endings be. We could also talk about various cinematic effects – what they were trying to convey. And we could of course zoom in on certain issues that the movie raises and discuss them in some depth. So the possible topics are quite endless.

(iv) In terms of conducting the discussion, I would recommend letting it flow without sticking rigidly to the questions you prepared beforehand. More often than not, students would take the discussion into different directions than you had planned, and when that happens, it is best to ‘go with the flow’. They may raise issues that you have neglected, or they may steer the discussion towards what matters in their lives. It is therefore important to address them. Often there will be a chance to come back to other issues you had in mind later. And, of course, seize ‘teaching moments’ for language and culture points in the process of the discussion.

All in all, it is a very rewarding experience to conduct lessons based on movies this way. I hope you would try too!

List of movies available on the internet that we have used or are thinking of using:

“Minimalism” (documentary): https://watchdocumentaries.com/minimalism-a-documentary-about-the-important-things/

“Shadowlands”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRg3j3Tqu1M&t=5672s

“Click”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uPkAH4FN_Q&t=177s

“One Week”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpyy8EIU8hg

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6KvucPvEuY

“Homeless to Harvard”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0vbIvUSVaA

“Walking to school” (Chinese movie): https://youtu.be/OwyqYeiNbCY

“The Man Who Knew Infinity”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WwLPep9xNg

“Everest”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_44HtRCq6o

“Employable Me” (documentary): https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/employable-me-drew-clover