Yale University

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT STUDIO

Presenting a section of the film in class. Set-up:

Projecting on a screen of sufficient size for the number of students or using an interactive whiteboard works best. Otherwise, one can use a monitor if large enough for the group. Students' use of individual computers is less satisfactory since the group dynamic is lost.

Different teachers will use different techniques. Here are some of the many techniques that work well:

  • Screening one segment without showing the transcription and asking students to say all they can on what they have just seen;
  • Pausing on selected frames and identifying characters, clothes, positions, objects, actions, relationships;
  • Asking students to identify what the teacher is pointing to;
  • Engaging the students in an exchange about the action in order to test their comprehension and give them an opportunity to use some of the language contained in that segment;
  • Asking students to anticipate what the actors will do or say next;
  • Using the pause (II) and play (>) buttons to play short chunks of speech to be imitated by the students;
  • Playing the first line of a dialogue, stopping with the pause button and asking students to provide the next line imitating the actor's pronunciation as closely as possible (with the exception of Jules...). This technique is used in the SPEAKING EXERCISES- most students find it amusing to converse with Catherine, Jim, Thérèse, Jules, etc.;
  • Working intensively with sound only before showing the transcription.
Director: Pierre Capretz   © 2006 Yale University   Site Editor: Steve Evans