06
NOV
2014

Using movies to raise cultural awareness

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Using movies or films in class is a great way to help student both learn more about language and also about culture and cultural differences.  These days there are tons of films available that deal with interesting intercultural issues. Here are some thoughts on how to use film for language and cultural study.

When studying a movie in depth, it can be very helpful to have a copy of the screenplay. In this way, the dialog of the movie becomes the “text” on which the lessons are based. Teachers can find screenplays for many movies in books and online. But be careful! What is published as a screenplay may be the dialog in a final draft of the script submitted by the writer.  The screenplay as written often changes significantly by the time the film appears in theaters. If you can find the “shooting script” for the film or a transcript, you should get the word-by-word dialog. Once you have this, you can review the text for vocabulary words, idiomatic expressions, and cultural observations to include in your lessons.

Read the rest of this post in the Pearson ALWAYSESL Newsletter.

 

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