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Trabajo Fin de Máster Using Audiovisual Materials for Teaching EFL in Secondary Education: A Corpus for the Design of Learning Activities El uso de materiales audiovisuales para enseñar EFL en la Educación Secundaria: Corpus para el diseño de actividades de aprendizaje Autora Paula Wood Borque Directora Victoria Gil Máster Universitario en Profesorado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanzas de Idiomas, Artísticas y Deportivas Facultad de Educación Curso 2019/2020
Table of contents Abstract 1. Introduction and Justification 1 2. Purpose and Objectives 4 3. Theoretical Framework 6 4. Methodology 10 5. Findings 14 5.1. Surveys 14 5.2. Corpus 15 5.3. Selection 15 5.4. Fragments 15 5.5. Fragments for activities 16 6. Results 17 7. Conclusions 24 Works cited 26 Appendices 28
Abstract This dissertation focuses on the use of audiovisual materials such as films and TV series as a learning resource in the EFL classroom to improve language acquisition and student motivation. For this, a survey has been created in order to know what kind of content Secondary Education students enjoy watching, although eventually the focus was put on the fourth year. Then, a corpus of fragments that could be appropriate for this academic year was compiled by making use of the results. In this dissertation the methodology used to carry out this project will be explained, aside from the findings during the process and the results obtained. Regarding the results, although in the Appendices a series of activities related to some of the fragments included in the corpus are proposed, I finally selected five fragments to develop some activities in depth. These will help work either form or content relevant to the fourth year’s curriculum and will promote student engagement.
1. Introduction and Justification This dissertation focuses on the use of audiovisual (from here on A.V.) materials such as films and TV series as a learning resource in the English as a Foreign Language (from here on EFL) classroom to improve language acquisition and the development of the communicative competence. As a former EFL student and as a teacher in training I had noticed a gap in these lessons, related to student motivation and engagement. While at first it was something intuitive and taken from my own experience as a student, I was able to confirm the existence of this gap through research. The first step in my project consisted of a survey aimed at Secondary Education students, which will be explained in detail further on. The results of this survey proved my first insights that EFL students do not find their English lessons engaging, so I decided that these kinds of resources would be a solution to this gap. There are many benefits of using A.V. materials (such as films and TV series) in the EFL classroom. Aside from being intrinsically attractive, as long as the topic appeals to the viewer, they display real-life contexts useful for practising communication and comprehension skills. However, the relevance and usefulness of A.V. materials for Second Language Acquisition will be seen in depth in the “Theoretical Framework” section. As already mentioned, one of the reasons for creating this project was the lack of motivation on the part of EFL students perceived as a student and as a teacher in training in my two placements. At the start of this project, this lack was more of an intuition from my own experience as an EFL student. However, during the second placement I carried out a survey as part of the subject Innovation and Classroom Research in EFL regarding the motivation and engagement levels (aside from other elements) in the second and third years of Secondary Education in the school I was assigned. The results of this survey confirmed these conjectures and revealed that students demanded active participation in the EFL classroom in order to improve engagement, and breaking away from their usual grammar-exercises routine - although this will be explored in more depth further on in the "Findings" section. Moreover, through the analysis of a learning unit done for the subject Instructional and Curricular Design it was revealed that the EFL student’s book analysed included very few activities that helped with students’ interest and engagement, since they did not stimulate complex cognitive processes (such as evaluating, selecting or comparing). That is, most of the activities promoted a passive role for the students, not encouraging participation. Since in the survey mentioned above students demanded to have a more active role, this is something that I thought should be an essential element in my activities proposal. Another element that was mostly an intuition at the start of this project was the usefulness of A.V. materials to 1
improve motivation and engagement on the part of the students. Nevertheless I was eventually able to ascertain its relevance, which will be explained further on. In addition, another main reason for the development of this research is that I was granted a collaborative scholarship with the Faculty of Education in September, which enabled me to design an innovation project. I decided to create a corpus of fragments of films and series that could be useful for the ELT classroom. With this, I started this master final dissertation. The fragments used in this project were selected so as to not contain spoilers, or at least not significant ones. They are from the first episodes of the series they belong to, from the first scenes of a film, or from the first film of a well-known saga. My intention is not to spoil the films or series for my students, since that might even decrease their motivation or produce some kind of discontent that could affect the session, like raising their affective filter. Stephen Krashen (1981) defines the affective filter like an attitude related to SLA, in which “performers with high or strong filters will acquire less of the language directed at them, as less input is "allowed in" to the language-acquisition device” (p.22). That is, if the learner is stressed, anxious or in a bad mood it can prevent him or her from learning, which is something to avoid as a teacher. Spoiling some TV series or film that students might have liked to watch at some other moment can negatively affect their mood, and thus their attitude towards the lessons and their disposition to learn. Additionally, due to the new situation that has emerged because of Covid-19, school classes must be taught online. Since I lived this experience both as a student and as a teacher, I have decided to take into account the current events for this project, so that the materials proposed in the dissertation can be both used in class (as a flipped classroom) and at home as online teaching. In this way, in both situations this is a proposal for independent learning; regarding our current situation, students will be able to watch the different fragments at home and do the activities proposed (although some of them might require the online presence of a teacher), so it would be home learning. Feedback can be given online. In a normal situation, this is a good proposal for a flipped classroom, where students will watch the fragments at home and may carry out activities at home to then be discussed in class, or do the activities in class. This dissertation is divided into seven main sections. After this introduction and justification I will expose my purposes and objectives. The following section will be the theoretical framework, in which I will explain the concepts that will appear in and guide this project. Next I will talk about the methodology used throughout the process of developing this dissertation, from the initial survey to the creation of the activities proposed. In the fifth section I will discuss the findings that arose from each of the steps taken for the development of the project, to then describe the activities proposed as the 2
results of this research. It will end with some conclusions, reflections and limitations encountered during the making of the project. 3
2. Purpose and Objectives My main purpose is to investigate how A.V. materials such as scenes from films and series can contribute to English acquisition, developing communicative and comprehension skills, and to use my findings in order to propose a series of activities that will help promote effective learning in the EFL classroom while also improving engagement on the part of the students. Another primary purpose - and as a result of this investigation - was to create a corpus of useful A.V. fragments that can be used to develop activities for English acquisition, aside from the main activities developed in the “Results” section. This was done with the intention of helping other teachers by offering possible scenes to use in class that are also relevant from a curricular perspective. Furthermore, one of my aims is to exploit the intrinsic attractiveness that A.V. resources may have for Secondary Education students in order to improve their motivation and engagement. As explained in the introduction a motivation gap was identified during the placement periods, so in this dissertation I attempt to create a corpus of fragments that, aside from being appropriate for language acquisition, appeal to the fourth-year learners’ interest. For this, a major objective was to design a survey in order to learn what the preferences in films and series of each age group were. Other main objectives of this dissertation are to show the potential that popular films and series may have to motivate students; to identify and collect examples of fragments of films and series that can be used to promote language learning, taking the curriculum as a reference; and to design effective learning using a smaller selection of these fragments, taking into account the curriculum. The Aragonese Secondary Education curriculum for EFL was taken as a reference during the processes of selecting appropriate fragments and developing activities to exploit them, taking into account the linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic components of the communicative competence. Since the focus is on the fourth academic year of Secondary Education, there was especial attention put to elements such as the communicative functions, the syntactic and discursive structures, the lexis and the socio-cultural and sociolinguistic aspects that must be taught in this year, including them in the activities proposed. Key competences were also taken into account; the Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2006) established eight key competences, although the curriculum includes seven. These were taken into consideration to ensure a complete activity and, as it will be seen in the “Results” section, there are three of them which are present in every activity; the competence in linguistic communication (this is the basic one, since the main objective of an EFL lesson is language acquisition), the digital competence (since all of the activities will involve the use of A.V. materials and other digital resources which the 4
students must make use of); and the learning to learn competence (flipped learning is the main methodology used in these activities, so students are expected to develop their autonomy and their own learning strategies). Finally, it must be noted that some of the activities proposed include learning resources presented in the subject Design of Learning Activities for EFL (such as Padlet and Flipgrid). 5
3. Theoretical Framework The research for this dissertation was done keeping Brown’s Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in mind. Some of the characteristics of CLT are that it focuses on all of the elements of the communicative competence - that is, the grammatical, discourse, functional, sociolinguistic and strategic components -, and that it “engages learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes” (Brown, 2007, p.46). The activities proposed in this dissertation follow these characteristics by also focusing on the components of the communicative competence and making a meaningful use of the language. They also focus on real-world contexts, another CLT characteristic (Brown 2007); as we will see, this is a benefit that A.V. materials offer and that should be exploited. Regarding the role of the teacher in this approach, Brown (2007) defines him/her as being “an empathetic ‘coach’ who values the students’ linguistic development”, while the students are expected to adopt the role of active participants (Brown 2007, p.47). Students are made the focus of the activities proposed in this project by making them actively involved in their own learning process, while the teacher will be more of a guide. Moreover, there is also a focus on students’ fluency by using authentic language, which is also a characteristic of CLT (Brown 2007, p.47), with less of a focus on the discussion of grammar rules - although there will still be a focus on grammar in some activities since this is something that the current curriculum requires. An important perspective within the CLT framework is the Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) approach, which some of the activities proposed also follow. As Richards (2006) claims, “language learning will result from creating the right kinds of interactional processes in the classroom, and the best way to create these is to use specially designed instructional tasks” (Richards 2006, p.30). A task is a type of activity in which students must achieve an objective, and some of its main characteristics are: (1) it is something that learners do or carry out using their existing language resources. (2) It has an outcome which is not simply linked to learning language, though language acquisition may occur as the learner carries out the task. (3) It involves a focus on meaning. (4) In the case of tasks involving two or more learners, it calls upon the learners’ use of communication strategies and interactional skills. (Richards 2007, p.31) As it will be seen later on, the activities developed in this dissertation follow Richards’ (2007) task features, especially the fact that the result of the activity will not only be language acquisition. Another similar CLT perspective that some of the activities proposed follow is the Project-Based Language Learning approach (PBLL) which, as its name indicates, consists of having learners create a project so that they are able to learn a second language throughout its development. Although the focus of the project in PBLL does not necessarily have to be on language, Second Language Acquisition will be deeply involved since “the major goal reported for project-based instruction is to 6
There is no specific context for carrying out the activities proposed, so it is not easy to talk about differentiation. Even if they could be used in different circumstances, there are some differentiation techniques that can be followed regardless of the background, like including subtitles in English for the scenes if they were not going to be used in the first place - although I would suggest including them regardless, since some accents and the speed at which some characters speak might hinder comprehension. Similarly, providing the scene transcript when it was not going to be handed over initially can also be a good solution for students with a lower English level or with some learning difficulty. The use of subtitles and transcripts will depend on the focus of the activity and the level of the learners. Moreover, the teacher should be available to clarify any comprehension doubt and provide scaffolding, even in a home-learning environment. The activities proposed could even be adapted to be carried out in the third year of Secondary Education or in the first year of Bachillerato, since there are many similarities with the curriculum of the fourth year. In fact, I had to adapt some of them to the third year for my second placement. They had to be adapted not only to a lower level, but also to the placement circumstances of privacy; placement students were not allowed to have direct contact with the Secondary Education students, so some speaking activities had to be modified to fit this requirement. However, this will be explained in more depth in the “Results” section. 13
5. Findings 5.1 Surveys: In the first survey I received 46 responses, most of them including 5-6 titles in them. 32 participants were female students, while 14 were male students. I ended up with 67 film titles; there were 99 responses in total regarding film titles, but as I counted the repetition of titles the final number was 67. The same goes for the series titles; there were 92 responses in total, but counting the repeated ones it turned out to be 57 titles. Most of the participants - 11 people - were 3rd year Secondary Education students; 8 of them belonged to the 4th year; and another 8 of them to 1st year Bachillerato. These are the participants whose responses I ended up taking into account because of the academic years they belonged to (to see the rest of the results go to Appendix 5). One of the participants was a University student, but it was not counted since the focus of this research is on Secondary Education students. I carried out another survey during my second placement as part of the subject Innovation and Classroom Research in EFL with the intention of knowing the students’ opinion on using A.V. resources in the EFL classroom and what kind of activities they find most engaging during these classes. The results revealed that 28 out of 49 participants watch films and series in English as a leisure activity. The main reasons for this is that they believe watching them in English will help them learn and practice the language (Appendix 6). They also acknowledge that they prefer hearing the actors’ real voices and original script because of translation problems like puns. In this way, more than half of the participants affirmed they would find watching films in English in the EFL classroom useful and enjoyable. Moreover, even if 21 participants declared they do not watch films or series in English for leisure, 43 out of 49 participants claimed to have watched films or series in the EFL classroom before (Appendix 7), so the type of lessons and activities proposed will probably not be such a new experience for them. In regards to what kind of activities they found most motivating, participants indicated that they would like to break away from the routine of using their every-day English books and doing grammar exercises. They expressed they would like to be active participants in the EFL classroom and use different resources and materials (Appendix 8). This is related to the question regarding students’ attitude towards watching films in English in the EFL classroom, since 10 participants claimed that they would enjoy watching videos or films and commenting on them. This information is further supported by the results obtained in the question “What would you change or improve about your English lessons?”. More than half of the answers (30 out of 59) belonged to the group “More fun, entertaining and interactive” lessons (Appendix 9), and changes in relation to academic work and the use of A.V. materials in class were also demanded. In summary, the participants demand more engaging and interactive lessons, less focused on grammar and more focused on speaking and games. Taking all 14
of this data into account it can be affirmed that using A.V. resources could help with engagement, but interactive and engaging activities in which students are active participants should be carried out if we want these lessons to be effective in terms of language acquisition and motivation. 5.2 Corpus After recollecting the responses of the 46 participants of the first survey, I ended up with 67 film titles and 57 series titles, although many of these were selections with just 1 vote. I listed them and noted down in a table how many votes each of the titles had, to make way for the next step (see tables in Appendix 2 and 3). Another finding that I previously mentioned in the methodology section, is the one related to the Avengers films. Many participants in the survey chose Avengers as their favourite film, even though it is technically a saga of films and not just the four main ones (The Avengers ,Avengers: Age of Ultron ,Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame ), and almost every one of the main characters has their own film. Other people wrote down titles of films belonging to this saga (such as Iron Man , Doctor Strange and Spiderman ). Nevertheless, as explained before, this was resolved by grouping all of these titles under the category of Avengers . 5.3. Selection (corpus reduction) I initially had a great variety of titles, but most of them had been selected by just one person. This is because it was an open-question survey, so the responses had little cohesion (as explained in the methodology section). Because of this I ended up reducing my corpus, as it would have been very difficult to work with such a big number of titles. Since I eventually decided to focus on the fourth year of Secondary Education the corpus narrowed considerably, although not as much as I expected since most of the participants belonged to the three academic years I ended up taking into account - 3rd year Secondary Education, 4th year Secondary Education and 1st year Bachillerato. Moreover, I then decided to only focus on the titles that had more than just one vote, so the corpus narrowed even more, ending up with 16 film titles and 16 series titles (see tables in Appendices 2 and 3). 5.4. Fragments Some of the films and series that received more than 1 vote (and thus had to be included in my first corpus reduction) were age restricted and dealt with topics that I cannot use for academic purposes in a Secondary Education Classroom, such as horror, tragedy, murders and certain mental disorders. Some examples of this are the films It (which 15
received 4 votes), Joker (4 votes) and The Walking Dead (2 votes), as mentioned in the methodology section. Regarding the level of engagement of each fragment, and following my own criteria, I had to disregard the ones which would have probably bored the students, like long conversations (such as in the first episode of Peaky Blinders , in which most of the scenes are either action with no dialogue, or extremely long and non-engaging conversations; for this reason I just selected one scene in this episode). 5.5. Fragments for activities When revising the different fragments that I had analysed to use them for activities, I found that it is very difficult to find one that focuses on only one or two items (either lexis, syntax or grammar items). There will always be some variety, as films and series usually attempt to mimic real-life situations and conversations, and people do not normally use just one tense or type of adverb (for instance) when talking. Regarding the subject matters of the fragments, I found that initially many of the themes in my analysed fragments were similar. For instance, I found many examples of instruction-giving and commands (in Stranger Things ,Friends and various scenes of Harry Potter ), and the theme of bullying (Harry Potter ,Stranger Things ). Because of this, I thought I needed to analyse more fragments to obtain a wider variety of subject matters. However, when it was the time to come up with activities for each fragment I realized I was able to exploit these fragments in different ways - mostly because some of them did not cover just one topic, and because I could choose between focusing on either form or meaning. These activities will be developed and explained in detail in the “Results” section, but to see each topic and subject matter in a visual and synthesized way go to Appendix 4. 16
6. Results In this section I present the activities I decided to develop from some of the fragments in my final corpus. In each title I propose one or various activities that will either focus on form or meaning, always according to what the curriculum indicates students in the 4th year of Secondary Education should learn. I will explain the activity, what elements it works and the key competences included in it. A synthesized version of these activities can be found in Appendix 4, and the script for each fragment will be in Appendix 17. This “Scripts” section contains the scripts of various useful scenes for the 4th year of Secondary Education. These have not been developed in the same way the activities down below have, but I explain the elements they cover and briefly propose how they could be used. (1) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (31:05-33:55) (Fragment 7 in “Scripts” - Appendix 17) This activity will have a focus on form, specifically on modal verbs. The protocol I have followed for this activity is first to think about what I would like to do an activity about by looking at the 4th year of Secondary education curriculum, and then find an appropriate fragment. In this activity I would like to offer an explanation of different types of modal verbs, which appear in the selected fragment. These would be for positive deduction (must), prediction (will), permission/request (can, could), obligation (have to/have got to) and possibility (might). Students could start by watching the fragment without a transcript or subtitles, and try to identify all the modal verbs they can on a first try. This could be done either at home or in class. The reasoning behind this is that in this way students will be forced to activate previous knowledge about modality which, according to the curriculum, has been gradually taught throughout the four years of Secondary Education. Nevertheless, to make it easier for students the teacher can previously indicate that there are eight modal verbs they have to identify. After this, they could be provided with a transcript of the scene to check if they have done it correctly and to re-watch the fragment while seeing and hearing where these verbs are placed and how they are used. In this way they will be more conscious about how they are being used. Next, the teacher could ask the students to guess what modal verbs are and how they work, as a way of promoting independent thinking, since they probably have already found some sort of pattern. Then, the teacher would explain what modal verbs are, as a way of revising what students know from previous years. In the next activity students will try to identify what type of modal verb each one in the fragment is. Again, this will be a way of activating previous knowledge, although they will probably not be able to identify what type of modal “must” is, since modals of 17
positive and negative deduction are first introduced in the fourth year of Secondary Education. This will be a good way of proceeding to the explanation of the different types of modals they can encounter, aside from those present in the fragment. The ones students will hear in use in the fragment will be of positive deduction, prediction, permission/request, obligation and possibility; the teacher would also have to explain and provide examples of ability (and explain the difference between them and permission/request modals, since these will probably have posed some problems in the identification stage), negative deduction, no obligation/necessity, prohibition and advice. Moreover, identifying the modal verbs present in this fragment will help them understand them better and recognize them in future texts. The key competences involved in this activity are the competence in linguistic communication (since the focus is identifying and learning the different modal verbs), the digital competence and the learning to learn competence - that is, the three main ones for all of the activities. This fragment also has different functions related to the topics it covers, like asking for and giving directions, use of politeness and giving instructions. Because of this, the scene can be also exploited in other ways and used for different lessons. An activity focused on teaching how to give instructions can be combined with teaching modal verbs, since instructions are usually constructed with them (must/mustn't, need/not need to and have/not have to will certainly be used for this). This may also be the case with an activity focused on politeness (asking for things politely, like Harry does in this scene; could, may, might and will are probably going to be used) and giving directions (have to, must, should …). If an activity like this was carried out it would also work the social and civic competence, since it would involve learning about politeness and polite forms, and codes of conduct in general. (2) The Da Vinci Code (3:30-5:13) (Fragment 20 in “Scripts” - Appendix 17) This is a good scene to talk about the topic of symbolism and cultures with students. This fragment focuses mostly on vocabulary, and the grammar present is quite simple (it is limited to how-questions, that-relative clauses, present simple and continuous, and demands), so the activities related to it will have a focus on meaning. In this case, the protocol I have followed is first analysing the fragment and then coming up with an activity, which could ultimately serve as motivation for a project. This scene is very versatile; the activities arising from it could focus on current symbolism, that is, new language (like emojis and memes, which students will be familiar with), but also on the idea of multiculturalism and the relativity of images depending on how and where one has been brought up. Regardless of the focus of the activity, the class should start by talking about the cultural relativism portrayed in the scene, and how the images that Langdon shows elicit different meanings from what they are supposed to represent. The teacher could ask the 18
students to share what was the first thing that was brought to their minds when they saw these images, before Langdon explains what they really are (if the scene is watched in class instead of at home, the video could be paused each time Langdon shows an image). One image that will probably trigger the students to participate is the first one, in which the robes worn by priests in Easter in Spain are shown. After this class share, there are different options on how to proceed. One option would be to explore the topic of visual literacy, and work the communicative competence through symbols and images while exploring their relativity - just as this scene does. A possible activity for this would be to try to communicate something, like the instructions for a simple action, with images and symbols and no words. For example, students could try to give instructions to make a sandwich, but only using symbols (such as emojis) or images (such as drawings or photos). They could compose this scripted message and pass it on to some classmate, so that they try to decipher the instructions it is giving. Then, they would have to explain orally or by written production why they chose such symbols and images to give these instructions, and what they were trying to convey. Another activity related to the topic of communication through images would be to project pictures, such as Banksy’s graffiti (Appendices 10 & 11), and let the students share their opinions on what they are trying to convey, or what is brought to their mind when looking at them. Surely different opinions and views will arise, which would be interesting for a class share or a debate. If this was to be done for home learning, as in today’s situation, students could share their personal views through a Padlet. To make it more interesting, students should be encouraged to support their opinions with arguments (that is, explaining why they think the image represents such a thing). The key competences involved if any of these two activities were to be carried out are the competence in linguistic communication (with a focus on speaking), the learning to learn competence, the digital competence the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship - in the first activity students will have to choose their communication strategies, take decisions and organize their discourse (Orden ECD/2016 de 26 de mayo); and in the second activity by supporting their views with arguments - and the cultural awareness and expression competence (in the case of the second activity, since students will have to interpret an English artist’s work). The other option would be to focus on the problems of relying on first impressions and your own culture - which can ultimately be a very interesting topic for students, who were born in the era of multiculturalism. For this, we could use images of symbols and actions that are considered normal in our culture (in this case Spanish culture), but not in others, or just have a different meaning. As an example, we could show them an image of someone sticking their tongue out (Appendix 12). In our culture, this is a way of mocking someone, and if we ask our students what this action stands for they will probably answer something like that. Nevertheless, we could then explain that in Tibetan culture this is a way of greeting; it is considered a sign of respect 19
or agreement since, according to Tibetan folklore, a ninth-century Tibetan king had a black tongue, so people used to stick out their tongues to show that they were not his reincarnation (White, 2014). This would be a good way of re-enacting what professor Langdon does in the fragment, and making the students better understand the meaning of multiculturalism and why they should consider taking into account other cultures rather than only their own. Some other examples that could be used in this activity are telling someone to “come here” by moving your index finger (as the image in Appendix 13 shows) - which is used to call dogs in the Philippines, so it is very rude to use it -, or to touch someone’s head (as in the image in Appendix 14) - since in Buddhist cultures like Thailand the head is a sacred part of the body and it should not be touched. These are all actions that are considered something different here, so it will probably elicit the students’ curiosity. Again, all of this could be done in class by orally sharing opinions, but it could also be done in written form by facilitating the images to the students and making them express their initial views before revealing this new information. This activity would involve the competence in linguistic communication (again, with a focus on the speaking skill), the digital competence, the learning to learn competence and the social and civic competence (since the focus is on multiculturalism, mediation and cross-cultural understanding; Orden ECD/2016 de 26 de mayo). This fragment could also be used for creating multimodal activities or projects, since it can be easily related to subjects such as history (with the theme of the Ku Klux Klan and the robes used in Spain), art and literature (the images of Poseidon and Isis). Although this suggestion is not related to the main EFL activities proposal, it could be interesting to relate the English language classes to other subjects to motivate students and help them associate concepts, since many things that are taught in school should not be seen in isolation if a better understanding is wished to be promoted. I was allowed to use this fragment in the 5th session of my placement. Nevertheless, I had to work with third-year students (and not the fourth, the academic year all of these activities are aimed at). Because of this, and because I needed to adapt my materials and lessons to the topics and grammar this class was working with, some activities are different than the ones I propose. It is also important to note that the placement was carried out during the confinement period, so all the lessons and activities created for my students were provided to them in the form of documents and links, and I was not able to have direct contact with them through video conference. First, the students had to watch this scene (which I made available for downloading) with subtitles in English. They were then given the transcript along with a vocabulary table I made with words that they may find difficult to understand (if I had been in class with them, or allowed to teach through video calls, I would have carried out a vocabulary activity for this purpose). I provided them with the three pictures in Appendices 12, 13 and 14 in order for them to write down in 2 or 3 lines what they thought this meant. Of course, it is expected that they write what comes to their mind from their own culture’s perspective. Afterwards, before they read the different 20
meanings of these three actions, they had to do a reported speech activity focused on requests, instructions, offers and suggestions - since this is what their program required -, so I made sure the sentences were related to the images. Next, they had to read a brief text with the same peculiar meanings that I explained before, although adapting it to a 3rdyear level. This text is provided because of more than one reason; first, to deal with the topic of multiculturalism that appears in the fragment, and also because of the mini-project that follows. The students had to prepare a short presentation about an action or symbol characteristic of some culture or country, and they had to use some modal verb - again, this was required by their program. However, due to the privacy issues stated earlier, this was carried out by the teacher and I was not able to take part in it. (3) Stranger Things, Season 1, Episode 1 (12:50-13:57) (Fragment 15 in “Scripts” - Appendix 17) This is a scene about bullying, a topic that must be covered in schools regardless of the subject. Thus, the activity arising from this scene is going to be focused on this topic rather than having a focus on grammar - since it does not contain salient grammatical features. The vocabulary in this fragment is related to bullying and mocking because of someone’s appearance (“frog-face”), disability (cleidocranial dysplasia'; “toothless”) and there is an instance of racism (“midnight”). There are also references to pop and American culture (“freak show” and “Mr Fantastic”) that sixteen-year-old Spanish students may not know - in that case they should need clarifying. The activity arising from this scene is going to be about raising awareness about High School bullying and the unethicality of insults. The protocol followed for its creation was to first find the fragment, and then analyse it to come up with the activity. The idea would be to first watch the fragment (preferably with English subtitles, since the characters speak very quickly at some points) and check if students have understood with an exercise about the vocabulary present in the fragment - for example, related to the insults and mocks and how they have been constructed (“frog-face”, “toothless”, “midnight”; word combination, suffix and metaphor). It could be watched more than one time; this depends on the level of the students and if this is going to be done at home (which is the main idea for a flipped activity) or in class. Students could also be provided a transcript if needed. Next, the students could do a writing (for example, a blog entry) giving advice to someone who is suffering bullying so as to practice vocabulary related to the topic and maybe some specific grammar feature (as we will see further on). An option would be trying to turn an insult into a superpower; this could even be turned into another activity in itself, or even a project. To also practice speaking, the teacher could organize a class share, a debate or a role-play about what would the students do if they were in that position, or (if that topic is found to be 21
sensitive for them) about why bullying is bad. All of these activities work the competence in linguistic communication, the digital competence, the learning to learn competence and the social and civic competences (since it works the topics of respectful relationships and the problems of bullying). I also used this fragment for my placement in the 4th session, but again with some changes to the activities I propose above because of the school’s program. In this case, students had to first watch the fragment (which included subtitles in English) and then they were provided the transcript. Next, they had to do a reported speech activity that was about the dialogue in this scene, since they were required to practice the rephrasing from direct speech to reported speech. This grammar exercise was also adapted to students who required minimum contents. Finally, all students had to write their advice for someone who is suffering bullying in a Padlet. They were required to write at least five lines, and to use the modal verbs “(not) have to” and “(not) be allowed to” at some point, since they also needed to practice them. As it can be seen in Appendix 15, each of the students wrote their advice in the Padlet document successfully using and integrating these modal verbs (at least most of them). I answered all of the comments, mostly just praising their opinions and giving them my own. I also indirectly corrected some grammar errors by repairing the students’ answer (that is, by rewriting the sentence in the correct way, without it being an explicit correction), so that they could have some feedback from me. (4) Friends, Season 10, Episode 3 (4:40-7:12) (Fragment 22 in “Scripts” - Appendix 17) This scene deals with the topic of giving instructions and the importance of following them accurately, and physical appearance. It is a good fragment to work with imperatives and commands, so it will be focused on grammar rather than on these topics. In this case, I have followed the protocol of first finding the fragment, and then coming up with an activity. For this scene I have come up with two possible activities, both of them focused on giving accurate and easy to follow instructions. For the first activity, students could record a tutorial giving instructions and upload it to Flipgrid - a platform designed for uploading and sharing videos, especially directed to learners and educators. For today’s situation of quarantine and home learning, students could record and explain how to do some activity related to this (for example, how to properly wash your hands, how to share a document in Drive, how to use Google Meet, how to disinfect something, etc.). It does not have to be something difficult, but they should be able to give clear instructions by using imperatives, precise steps and their own actions to exemplify how it should be done. It will be useful to practice speaking, imperative forms and suggestions, and to learn how to organise 22
Appendices Appendix 1: Assignments used as evidence of the necessity of improvement 1. Survey Report , Innovation and Classroom Research: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fa2HWHxHEkOBxxmSO9dzOrBQwv215Z4S/ view?usp=sharing. In this assignment I report and evaluate the results from the survey done for the subject Innovation and Classroom Research. These results helped me identify the initial gap, and they are also briefly explained in the section “Findings”. 2. Analysis of a Learning Unit , Instructional and Curricular Design: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vrY4WIWDkCPQtHk9LAPfQ4k2ij9gA-37/vie w?usp=sharing. This assignment is an analysis of the first unit from the book Pulse 3 Student’s Book . The purpose was to evaluate if the unit followed the CLT methodology, if it included tasks and if it worked the CEFR’s key competences. Appendix 2: Table of survey votes for films 1 vote 2 votes 3 votes 4 votes 5 votes 6 votes Inception The Da Vinci Code The Hunger Games Star Wars Harry Potter Avengers Gladiator Mean Girls Spider-man Joker The Godfather The greatest showman Five Feet Apart It Primal fear The Notebook The Irishman Wonder Marley & Me The Lion King The Last Song The Incredibles Pitch Perfect A Monster calls Angels & Demons Pirates of the Caribbean 29
Crazy stupid love The Kissing Booth Marrowbone Divergent Be Somebody Alex Strangelove The Duff The Grinch The Croods Scary Movie Falling Inn Love The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The others Descendants Baby driver Full out Doctor Strange Interestelar Murder on the Orient Express Hidden Figures Four Weddings and a Funeral Law Abiding Citizen 30
Me Before You Frozen Silver Linings Playbook Match Point Iron man Nightmare Before Christmas The Shining Venom Black Hawk Down The Lord of the Rings Cold Pursuit Captain America civil war The Perks of being a Wallflower Nerve Avatar Notting Hill Miracle Escape room 31
Appendix 3: Table of survey votes for series 1 vote 2 votes 3 votes 4 votes 6 votes 8 votes Teen wolf Game of Thrones Shadowhunter s Peaky blinders Stranger things Friends Narcos The Walking Dead Glee gossip girl The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Vikings The society 13 reasons why Pretty Little Liars Grey’s Anatomy Castle Jane the Virgin Criminal Minds CSI Sleepy Hollow Raising Dion The Man in the high castle Voltron: Legendary Defender New Amsterdam You Riverdale Sex Education Euphoria Death in Paradise Flash Henry Danger Spongebob Squarepants 32
The amazing world of gumball Chesapeake Shores Insatiable The originals Luke cage Gilmore Girls Rick & Morty Final space Orange is the new black Shameless The Simpsons Family Guy The Vampire Diaries Downton Abbey Seinfeld House She-ra and the princesses of power Over the Garden Wall Chernobyl Breaking bad 33
The Frankestein chronicles Tagged The magicians Madame secretary Appendix 4: Fragments and activities table Fragment Focus (topic or grammar) Activity Key Competences Pages Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (minute 31:05-33:55) Grammar (modal verbs) Identify the modal verbs in the scene without the script/subtitles (optional; previously indicate there are 8). Check with the script and re-watch. Ask what modals are and how they work, then explain. CLL CAA CD 17-18 Identify the types of modal verbs in the fragment, then explain them. The Da Vinci Code (minute 3:30-5:13) Topic (visual literacy) Communicate something with images and symbols (no words). A classmate must decipher it. Explain their decisions and thinking process. CLL CAA CD CEC 18-20 Share opinions on what they think about Banksy’s graffitis. Class share or debate for class / Padlet for home learning. CLL CAA CD SEIP Topic (multicultural ism) Show images of actions that mean different things in different cultures. Class-share about what they mean for them (before and after explanation for meaning in other cultures). CLL CAA CD CSYC Stranger Things, Season 1, Episode 1 (minute 12:50-13:57) Vocabulary & Topic (bullying) Vocabulary activity related to the insults (how they have been constructed) CLL CAA CD CSYC 21-22 Writing; giving advice to someone who is suffering bullying, and/or turning an insult into a superpower. 34
Class share, debate or role-play about what would they do in that situation / why bullying is bad. Friends, Season 10, Episode 3 (4:40-7:12) Grammar (imperatives and instructions) Video tutorial of how to do something (optional; related to Covid-19 and home learning). Upload it to Flipgrid. CLL CAA CD SEIP 22 Re-enactment of the scene giving/following directions in a proper way. The Hunger Games, part 1 (12:50-14:00) Topic (natural disasters) Reading; article about how natural disasters changed the world in The Hunger Games . Reading comprehension questions. CLL CAA CD CSYC CMCT 23 Writing; how can natural disasters affect the future (positive view). Appendix 5: Academic year of the participants in the first survey Appendix 6: Reasons for watching audiovisual materials in English (2nd survey) Learn / practice It’s better in English (real voices / bad translations) Other (the question was not properly understood or the answer was unclear) 35
14 10 7 Appendix 7: Do you watch films and series in English in the EFL classroom? (2nd survey) Appendix 8: What kind of activities do students find most motivating? (2nd survey) Videos and films (and commenting them) 10 Games (such as irregular verb bingo) 10 Dialogues, role plays and speakings 10 Thematic classes and activities (for especial days such as Halloween or Easter) 4 Other (crafts, video calls, multimodal activities) 4 Tasks and projects 3 Mind maps and diagrams 3 Workbook exercises 3 Nothing 3 Listening exercises 2 36
Appendix 9: “What would you change or improve about your English lessons?” (2nd survey) More fun, entertaining and interactive Changes in relation to academic work More audiovisual materials Changes in relation to people Other 30 18 4 2 5 More interactive activities (e.g. theatres) More speakings and dialogues More fun activities Fewer exercises, more games and projects More group exams More explanations (not just copying) Repetitive grammar No more web vocabulary Watch films at the end of the term Watch more videos Treat students better Choose the cooperative group Don’t change anything Change everything and the book More didactic lessons Appendix 10: Banksy’s Mona Lisa Bazooka for Activity 2 37
Appendix 11: Bansky’s Season’s Greetings for Activity 2 Appendix 12: Sticking one’s tongue out for Activity 2 (not my image) 38
Harry: Dear, Mr. Potter. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Vernon: He’ll not be going! We swore when we took him in we’d put an end to this rubbish! Harry: You knew?? You knew all along and you never told me? Petunia: Of course we knew. How could you not be? My perfect sister being who she was. Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. We have a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful? I was the only one to see her for what she was. A freak! And then she met that Potter, and then she had you, and I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as ... abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up! And we got landed with you. Harry: Blown up? You told me my parents died in a car crash! Hagrid: A car crash? A car crash kill James and Lily Potter? Petunia: We had to say something. Hagrid: It's an outrage! It's a scandal! Vernon: He'll not be going! Hagrid: Oh, and I suppose a great Muggle like yourself's going to stop him, are you? Harry: Muggle? Hagrid: Non magic folk. This boy's had his name down ever since he was born! He's going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and he'll be under the greatest headmaster that Hogwarts' has ever seen: Albus Dumbledore. Vernon: I will not pay for some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks! Hagrid: Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me. Dudley: Ahh! Hagrid: Oh, um, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone at Hogwarts about that. Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do magic. Harry: Okay. Hagrid: Ooh, we're a bit behind schedule. Best be off. Unless you'd rather stay, of course. Hmm? West country (rustric) accent and informal constructions (useful for seeing other varieties of English). Formal and informal registers. Imperatives and demands, prohibition. Present continuous, futures, past simple, simple conditional (would, if), perfect conditional, present perfect (+since). Question tags. Polite and impolite forms. Whand interrogative pronouns (when, where, how). Use of prepositions (around, behind, under, in front of), adverbs (once, ever since, particularly, strictly, just, never), conjunctions (unless), reflexive pronouns (herself, yourself). Infinitives used to express purpose. Would rather.Vocabulary: family, jobs and occupations, education, magic, 45
insults, out-dated words and expressions. Description of past events, reported speech. This fragment can be used for many different purposes, most of them with a focus on form rather than meaning. Use to teach/review prepositions (some already seen in the 3rd year, some new to 4th-year students), adverbs (manner, time and frequency → already seen in the 3rd year, but has to be worked in the 4th year as well). 5. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (24:43-28:45) Harry: I still need… a wand. Hagrid: A wand? Well, you want Ollivanders, they no place better. Why don’t you run along there and wait. I just got one more thing I got to do, won't be long. Harry: Hello? Hello? Ollivander: I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr. Potter. It seems only yesterday that your mother and father were in here buying their first wands. Ah. Here we are. Well, give it a wave. Harry: Oh! Ollivander: Apparently not. Perhaps... this. No, no, definitely not! No matter. I wonder... Curious, very curious. Harry: Sorry, but what's curious? Ollivander: I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It just so happens that the phoenix, whose tail feather resides in your wand gave another feather, just one other. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar. Harry: And...who owned that wand? Ollivander: Oh, we do not speak his name. The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things...terrible, yes, but great. Hagrid: Harry! Harry! Happy birthday! Harry: Wow. Adverbs of time, place, manner (still, along, when, apparently, perhaps, definitely, ever, just, so, always). West country (rustic) accent. Present simple, future simple, past simple, conditionals, present continuous, past continuous, present perfect. Omission of subjects. Use of Whose. One other instead of another. Description of past events. Suggestions. Vocabulary: family, shopping, magic. 46
Focus on form. Good fragment for seeing adverbs and verb tenses. Most of the adverbs will have already been taught in the 3rd year but have to be reviewed in the 4th year. Same case with the verb tenses. Also useful to review the modality “suggestions” and the different ways they can be constructed. 6. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (28:45-31:00) Hagrid: You all right, Harry? You seem very quiet. Harry: He killed my parents, didn't he? The one who gave me this. You know, Hagrid, I know you do. Hagrid: First, and understand this, Harry, 'cause it's very important. Not all wizards are good. Some of them go bad. A few years ago there was one wizard who went as bad as you can go. And his name was V-...his name was V-... Harry: Maybe if you wrote it down? Hagrid: No, I can't spell it. All right. Voldemort. Harry: Voldemort? Hagrid: Shh!! It was dark times, Harry, dark times. Voldemort started to gather some followers, brought 'em over to the dark side. Anyone that stood up to him ended up dead. Your parents fought against him, but nobody lived once he decided to kill 'em. Nobody...not one. Except you. Harry: Me? Voldemort tried to kill...me? Hagrid: Yes. That ain't no ordinary cut on your forehead, Harry. A mark like that only comes from being touched by a curse...and an evil curse at that. Harry: What happened to Vo-...to You-Know-Who? Hagrid: Well, some say he died. Codswallop in my opinion. Nope, I reckon he's out there still, too tired to go on. But one thing's absolutely certain. Something about you stumped him that night. That's why you're famous. That's why everybody knows your name. You're the boy who lived. West country accent, informal speech (nope, ‘cause, ain’t no, codswallop). Past simple (a lot of it), conditionals, present continuous. Use of numerals. Comparatives (as … as). Adverbs (still, absolutely). Vocabulary; reckon, stump. Description of past events. Good fragment to introduce students to a West country / rustic accent in opposition to the standard English accent that EFL books usually present, aside from a more informal speech and register (again, different from what academic books show). 47
7. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (31:05-33:55) Hagrid: What are you looking at? Blimey, is that the time?? Sorry, Harry, I'm gonna have to leave you. Dumbledore'll be wanting his… well, he'll be wanting to see me. Now, uh, your train leaves in 10 minutes. Here's your ticket. Stick to it, Harry that's very important. Stick to your ticket. Harry: Platform 9 ¾? But Hagrid, there must be a mistake. This says Platform 9 ¾. There's no such thing… is there? Man: Sorry. Harry: Excuse me, excuse me. Trainmaster: Right on your left, ma'am. Harry: Excuse me, Sir. Can you tell me where I might find Platform 9 ¾? Trainmaster: 9 ¾? Think you're being funny, do ya? Mrs. Weasley: It's the same year after year. Packed with Muggles, of course. Harry: Muggles? Mrs. Weasley: Come on. Platform 9 ¾ this way! All right, Percy, you first. Fred, you next. George: He's not Fred, I am! Fred: Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother! Mrs. Weasley: Oh, I'm sorry, George. Fred: I'm only joking. I am Fred. Harry: Excuse me! C-could you tell me how to - Mrs. Weasley: How to get on the platform? Yes, not to worry, dear. It's Ron's first time to Hogwarts as well. Now, all you've got to do is walk straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Ginny: Good luck. West country accent, informal speech (do ya, blimey). Prepositions (at). Subject omission (“think you’re being funny”). Modal verbs (could, must, can, might, have to, will). Adverbs (as well, always). Future continuous, present continuous (with gonna). Tag questions. Vocabulary: family, transport, trips. Instructions, asking for directions. Activity: modal verbs. Protocol; 1st activity, then fragment. Explanation of modals for positive deduction (must), prediction (will), permission/request (can, could), obligation (have to/have got to) and possibility (might). They could watch the fragment and try to identify all the modal verbs they can (telling them that there are 8). Ask them to guess what modal verbs are and how they work. Then explain what modals are and the different types. After this, they could identify what type of modal verb each one in the fragment is. Functions: asking for and giving directions, politeness and giving instructions. 48
8. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (34:20-37:47) Ron: Excuse me, do you mind? Everywhere else is full. Harry: Not at all. Ron: I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley. Harry: I'm Harry. Harry Potter. Ron: So-so it's true?! I mean, do you really have the...the... Harry: The what? Ron: Scar...? Harry: Oh, yeah. Ron: Wicked. Woman: Anything off the trolley, dears? Ron: No, thanks, I'm all set. Harry: We'll take the lot! Ron: Whoa! Harry: Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans? Ron: They mean every flavour! There's chocolate and peppermint, and there's also spinach, liver and tripe. George sweared he got a bogey-flavoured one once! Harry: These aren't real frogs, are they? Ron: It's only a spell. Besides, it's the cards you want. Each pack's got a famous witch or wizard. I got ‘bout 500 meself. Watch it! Oh, that's rotten luck. They've only got one good jump in them to begin with. Harry: I’ve got Dumbledore! Ron: I got about 6 of him. Harry: Hey, he's gone! Ron: Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day, can you? This is Scabbers, by the way, pathetic, isn't he? Harry: Just a little bit. Ron: Fred gave me a spell as to turn him yellow. Want to see? Harry: Yeah! Ron: Ahem. Sun- Hermione: Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one. Ron: No. Hermione: Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then. Ron: Sunshine, daises, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow! Hermione: Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? Of course I've only tried a few simple ones myself, and they've all worked for me. 49
Example... Oculus Reparo. That's better, isn't it? Holy Cricket, you're Harry Potter. I'm Hermione Granger… and you are...? Ron: I'm...Ron Weasley. Hermione: Pleasure. You two better change into robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon. You've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know? Just there. Courtesy patterns. Adverbs (everywhere else, by the way, really, once, only, to begin with, just, then), prepositions (off, about, around), adjectives (besides). Future, past simple, present perfect. Deviant use of irregular verbs (sweared). Tag questions. Southern English accents (middle and low class, can deviate from the standard; “‘bout”, “meself”). Vocabulary: friends, foods and flavours. Activity: learning a variety of adverbs and how to use them (place, time, degree…). Also works with topics such as personal identification, friends, foods and flavours, leisure activities (like collecting cards), celebrities… Good as an introductory activity. It will help review verb tenses that they should be familiarized with (present simple, perfect and continuous, past simple). Protocol; 1st fragment, then activity. → input flood 9. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (39:30-41:27) McGonagall: Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Now, while you’re here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup Neville: Trevor! Sorry. McGonagall: The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily. Draco: It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts. This is Crabbe, and Goyle and I'm Malfoy… Draco Malfoy. Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand-me-down robe? You must be a Weasley. Well soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't wanna go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there. Harry: I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks. McGonagall: We're ready for you now. Follow me. Future simple, imperative (instructions, descriptions), present with future meaning, present continuous (with past meaning?). Prepositions (into), 50
conjunctions (while), adverbs (momentarily). Omission of subjects and auxiliaries (no need to). Tag questions. Modals meaning positive deduction (must), prediction (will), no necessity (no need to) and ability (can). Comparatives (better than). Contractions (wanna). Vocabulary: friends, family, education, bullying. Activity: modal verbs (can, will, no need and must) → explanation of modals for positive deduction (must), prediction (will), no necessity (no need to) and ability (can). Protocol; 1st activity, then fragment. They could watch the fragment and try to identify all the modal verbs they can (we could tell them there are 11), and then ask them to guess what modal verbs are and how they work. Then explain what modals are and the different types. After this, they could identify what type of modal each one in the fragment is. There could also be an exercise related to instruction-giving, or work with the topic of bullying/choosing friends/unfriendliness. Possibility; Task inside of a project about giving instructions (fragments as a way to focus on form for a bigger project). 10. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (42:50-46:05) McGonagall: When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses. Hermione Granger. Hermione: Oh, no. Okay, relax. Ron: Mental that one, I'm telling you. Sorting Hat: Ah, right then… hmm… right. Okay… Gryffindor!! McGonagall: Draco Malfoy. Sorting Hat: SLYTHERIN! Ron: There’s not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. McGonagall: Susan Bones. Harry: Ahh! Ron: Harry, what is it? Harry: Nothing... nothing, I'm fine. Sorting Hat: Let's see… I know… Hufflepuff! McGonagall: Ronald Weasley. Sorting Hat: Hah! Another Weasley. I know just what to do with you… Gryffindor!! McGonagall: Harry Potter. Sorting Hat: Hmm… difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh yes, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you? 51
Harry: Not Slytherin. Not Slytherin. Sorting Hat: Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know. It's all here in your head. And Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness! There's no doubt about that! No? Harry whispers: Not Slytherin, please… anything but Slytherin Sorting Hat: Well, if you're sure… better be… GRYFFINDOR!! Fred and George: We got Potter! We got Potter! Instruction-giving: future, auxiliars with future meaning (shall). Prepositions (into), adjectives (plenty of), adverbs (either, where, when). Present continuous, conditionals. Omission of subjects and verbs. Relative pronouns (who). Hesitation forms, process of choosing, possibilities. Description of future events. Fragment useful for learning or reviewing the giving of instructions, aside from various grammatical elements such as adverbs, prepositions and adjectives. 11. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (51:18-53:16) Snape: There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few, who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death. Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not...pay...attention. Mr. Potter. Our… new… celebrity. Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? You don't know? Well, let's try again. Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar? Harry: I don't know, Sir. Snape: And what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfbane? Harry: I don't know, Sir. Snape: Pity. Clearly, fame isn't everything, is it, Mr. Potter? Instructions, prohibition and requests: future, adverbs (as such), relative pronouns (who, how). Question-making. Use of conditionals. Formal register, old-fashioned or literary/fantastic terms (ensnare, asphodel). Vocabulary: education. 52
Useful fragment for focusing on modality; prohibition, ability, obligation and requests. Focus on meaning; topic of education, different ways of approaching students (Draco vs. Harry), use of politeness. 12. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (55:05-59:10) Hooch: Good afternoon, class. Class: Good afternoon, Madam Hooch. Hooch: Good afternoon, Amanda, good afternoon. Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up. Stick your right hand over the broom and say, Up! Adverb, preposition, adverb (up), preposition (over), adverb. Class: Up! Adverb Harry: Whoa. Draco: Up! Adverb Hooch: With feeling! Hermione: Up. Up. Up. Up. Adverb Ron: Up!! Ow! Shut up, Harry. Adverb Hooch: Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end. When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle...3 ...2 … Mr. Longbottom. Adverb, preposition, adjective, adverbs (off & when), preposition (from), adjectives (hard, steady), prepositional phrase (for a moment), adverbs (then, forward, slightly, back down), preposition. Girl: Neville, what are you doing? Students: Neville… Neville... Boy: We're not supposed to take off, yet. Phrasal verb & adverb Hooch: M-M-Mr. Longbottom Mr. Longbottom! Mr. Longbottom! Neville: Down! Down! Ahhhh! Adverb Harry: Neville! Neville: Help!!! Hooch: Come back down this instant! Adverbial phrase Neville: Help! Hooch: Mr. Longbottom! Everyone out of the way! Come on, get up. Preposition & phrasal verb Girl: Is he alright? 53
Hooch: Oh, oh, oh, oh dear. It's a broken wrist. Tch, tch, tch. Good boy, come on now, up you get. Everyone's to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say Quidditch. Adjective, adverb, particle in a phrasal verb (get up), adverb + preposition (firmly on), conjunction, preposition, adjective (single), prepositions (out of, before). Draco: Did you see his face? Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd have remembered to fall on his fat ass. Adjectives & Preposition Harry: Give it here, Malfoy. Adverb Draco: No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find. How 'bout on the roof?? What's the matter, Potter? Bit beyond your reach? Prepositions Hermione: Harry, no way! You heard what Madam Hooch said! Besides, you don't even know how to fly. What an idiot. Adverbs (besides is a linking adverb) Harry: Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom! Adverbs Draco: Is that so? Have it your way, then! Adverb Boy: Good job, Harry! Boy 2: Oh, that was wicked, Harry. Adjective McGonagall: Harry Potter? Follow me. Good fragment for explaining how to give instructions + directions (up, right, forward…). Use of imperatives and conditionals (3rd type). Adverbs (once, when, down, forward, slightly, up, besides), prepositions (off, on, over, beyond), conjunctions (while). Future tense. Structure for...to (purpose). Omission of subject/verb. Vocabulary; education, sports, health, bullying. Activity: working with adverbs, adjectives and prepositions. Learn what they are, how to distinguish/identify them and how to use them. Protocol; 1st fragment, then activity. Could also be used to work with how to give instructions or the theme of bullying. Activity; tell students to identify all the adverbs, adjectives and prepositions they can the first time they watch the scene, then do a class-share with their findings. Ask if someone knows what an adverb/adjective/preposition is, then explain what they are, the different types and how to identify them. There could also be an exercise related to instruction-giving, sports or work with the topic of bullying. Possibility; Task inside of a project about giving instructions (fragments as a way to focus on form for a bigger project). 54
HOPPER: Oh, those garden gnomes again. Well I tell you what, I’m gonna get right on that. FLORENCE: At a more pressing matter, Joyce Byers can't find her son this morning HOPPER: Mmm okay, I’m gonna get on that. Just give me a minute FLORENCE: Joyce is very upset HOPPER: Well Flo, Flo, we’ve discussed this. Mornings are for coffee and contemplation . FLORENCE: Chief, she's already in your- HOPPER: Coffee and contemplation, Flo! JOYCE: I've been waiting here over an hour, Hopper HOPPER: And I apologize, again JOYCE: I’m going out of my mind! HOPPER: Look, boy his age, he's probably just playing hookie, okay? JOYCE: No, not my Will. He’s not like that, he wouldn't do that. HOPPER: Well, you never know. I mean, my mom thought I was on the debate team, when really I was just screwing Chrissy Carpenter in the back of my dad's Oldsmobile, so... JOYCE: Look, he’s not like you, Hopper. He's not like me. He's not like... most. He has a couple of friends but, you know, the kids, they're mean. They - they make fun of him, they call him names, laugh at him, his clothes HOPPER: His clothes? What's wrong with his clothes? JOYCE: I don't know. Does that matter? HOPPER: Maybe. JOYCE: Look, he’s… he’s a sensitive kid. Lonnie... Lonnie used to say he was queer. Called him a fag. HOPPER: Is he? JOYCE: He's missing is what he is. HOPPER: When was the last time you heard from Lonnie? JOYCE: Uh, last I heard he was in Indianapolis . That was about a year ago. But he has nothing to do with this. HOPPER: Why don’t you give me his number? JOYCE: You know, Hopper, he has nothing to do with this, trust me. 61
HOPPER: Joyce, ninety-nine outta a hundred times, kid goes missing, the kid is with a parent or relative JOYCE: What about the other time? HOPPER: What? JOYCE: You said "ninety-nine out of a hundred." What about the other time? The one. The one! HOPPER: Joyce, this is Hawkins, okay? You wanna know the worst thing that’s ever happened here in the four years I’ve been working here? You wanna know the worst thing? It was when an owl attacked Eleanor Gillepsie’s head because it thought her hair was a nest. JOYCE: Okay, fine. I will call Lonnie. He will talk to me before he talks to- HOPPER: What, a pig? JOYCE: A cop! Just find my son, Hop. Find him! Insults among friends/co-workers, rude vocabulary (look like hell, screwing, queer, fag), slang (Playing hookie). Past continuous (use of “while”), present continuous, present perfect. Conjunctions (While), adverbs (again, right on, already, ever, before), prepositions (over, out of, from, in, on), report of events (reported speech). Question-response procedure, suggestions. Focus on form: useful for reviewing the use of some verb tenses (present and past continuous, present perfect, future…). There is also a variety of adverbs and prepositions, so an activity regarding how to identify and differentiate them could be carried out. Focus on meaning: topics related to missing people, resorting to the police for help, crimes... 17. STRANGER THINGS, SEASON 1, EP. 2 (0:10-4:30) MIKE: Is there a number we can call for your parents? DUSTIN: Where's your hair? Do you have cancer? LUCAS: Did you run away? MIKE: Are you in some kind of trouble? LUCAS: Is that blood? MIKE: Stop it! You're freaking her out! LUCAS: She's freaking me out! 62
DUSTIN: I bet she's deaf. Not deaf. MIKE: All right, that's enough, all right? She's just scared and cold. Here, these are clean. Okay? ALL: No, no, no! DUSTIN: Oh, my God! Oh, my God! MIKE: See over there? That's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it? You don't want it closed? ELEVEN: No. MIKE: Oh, so you can speak. Okay, well... Um, how about we just keep the door... just like this. Is that better? ELEVEN: Yes. DUSTIN: This is mental. MIKE: At least she can talk. LUCAS: She said "no" and "yes." Your three-year-old sister says more. DUSTIN: She tried to get naked. LUCAS: There's something seriously wrong with her. Like, wrong in the head. DUSTIN: She just went like... LUCAS: I bet she escaped from Pennhurst. MIKE: From where? LUCAS: The nuthouse in Kerley County. DUSTIN: You got a lot of family there? LUCAS: Bite me. Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy. DUSTIN: Why she went like… LUCAS: She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho. DUSTIN: Like Michael Myers. LUCAS: Exactly! We should've never brought her here. MIKE: So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm? LUCAS: Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem. DUSTIN: I think we should tell your mom. LUCAS: I second that. 63
MIKE: Who's crazy now? LUCAS: How is that crazy? MIKE: 'Cause, we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember? DUSTIN: So? MIKE: So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom... DUSTIN: Oh, man. LUCAS: Our houses become Alcatraz. MIKE: Exactly. We'll never find Will. All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight. DUSTIN: You're letting a girl- MIKE: Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will. Here you go. This is my sleeping bag. DUSTIN: You really think she's psycho? LUCAS: Wouldn't want her in my house. DUSTIN: Mental. MIKE: Hey, um, I never asked your name. Is that real? Sorry, I've just... never seen a kid with a tattoo before. What's it mean? Eleven? That's your name? Eleven. Okay. Um, well, my name's Mike. Short for Michael. Maybe we can call you "El." Short for Eleven. Um, well, okay. 'Night, El. ELEVEN: 'Night, Mike. Inquiry (many question types; is there, where, do you, did you, are you, is that, how is). Non-verbal communication (facial expressions, reaction to noise, gestures). Using the present to talk about future plans (mixed with the future will). Informal vocabulary; nuthouse, mental, freaking out, psycho, bite me, wrong in the head. Giving instructions, suggestions, advice. Good extract to talk about empathy / friendship / making new friends / question types / decision-making. Focus on form: Most part of this scene is a questioning to one person, so an activity about how to formulate different types of questions could be carried out. It could be related to a role-play activity in which students have to question each other (e.g. as in an interrogation) using the different kinds of questions seen in the scene (is there, where, do you, did you, are you, is that…). 64
18. PEAKY BLINDERS, SEASON 1, EPISODE 1 (10:00-14:35) HARRY: On the house, Mr Shelby. FREDDIE: I’ll take a Mild. HARRY: ‘Right. FREDDIE: Cheers Thomas. Good health to you. The crown of a Prince. Soon to be King I’d bet. THOMAS: You don’t bet. FREDDIE: No, but these past few days I’ve been speculating. THOMAS: ‘Bout what? FREDDIE: One of my Union comrades has a sister, works in the telegraph office at the BSA factory. She says over the past week they’ve had messages coming up from London to the brass. From Winston Churchill himself. Something about a robbery. ‘A robbery of national significance’ it said. She found a list of names left on the telegraph machine. And on that list was your name and my name together. What kind of a list would have the name of a Communist and the name of a bookmaker side-by-side? THOMAS: Perhaps it’s a list of men who give false hope to the poor. The only difference between me and you Freddie is that sometimes my horses stand a chance of winning. FREDDIE: You know, there are days when I hear about the cuttings and beatings that I really wish I’d let you take that bullet in France. THOMAS: Believe me, there are nights I wish you had. DANNY: They’re going to get me! THOMAS: On three! DANNY: They’re going to get me! THOMAS: One, two, three, down! Breathe Danny, breathe! DANNY: They’re going to get me! They’re going to get me! THOMAS: Danny, Danny you’re home. We’re all home in England. You’re not in France. You’re not an artillery shell, Danny, you’re a man. Hey? You’re not a whizz-bang. You’re a human being, Danny. You’re all right. You’re all right. You’re all right. FREDDIE: Up! Up! THOMAS: It’s all right. It’s all right. DANNY: Ah hell. Did I do it again? THOMAS: You did it again, Danny. Got to stop doing this, man. It’s all right. 65
DANNY: Oh, God. Mr. Shelby I’m sorry. THOMAS: It’s all right. You go home to your wife now, Danny. Try to get all that smoke and mud out of your head, eh? DANNY: Yes Mr Shelby. I’m sorry. THOMAS: Go on. HARRY: Mr Shelby, you have to do something about him. FREDDIE: Damn right, Harry. You pay the Peaky Blinders a lot of money for protection. You’re the law around here now Tommy, aren’t you? Maybe you should put a bullet in Danny Whizz-Bang’s head, like they do with mad horses. Maybe you’ll have to put a bullet in my head someday too. THOMAS: Bring the bill to the Peaky Blinders. We’ll take care of it. Main topics: Bar/pub talking (on the house, I’ll take -, cheers, good health to you), unions and community (union comrades), money (robbery, pay for protection, bring the bill to), bets and businesses (stand a chance of winning), war (cuttings and beatings, take that bullet, artillery shell, whizz-bang), threats and power (we’ll take care of it, what kind of a list…, I really wish I’d let you, they’re going to take me, you’re the law around here, the crown of a Prince soon to be king), Comfort talk (it’s all right, you’re all right, you’re home, you’re a human being). Brummin (Birmingham) accent (might be difficult to understand, but good example of different accents in England). Relative clauses (who), present (perfect) continuous, future. Suggestions. Good fragment to introduce new English accents aside from the usual standard ones from EFL students’ books (Birmingham accent; students will probably need subtitles and/or a transcript to follow the dialogue). 19. IRON MAN (0:40-3:50) TONY: I feel like you’re driving me to court-martial. This is crazy, what did I do? I feel like you’re gonna pull over and snuff me. What, you’re not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest. JIMMY: We can talk, sir. TONY: Oh. I see, so it’s personal? RAMIREZ: No, you intimidate them. TONY: Good God, you’re a woman. I honestly, I couldn’t have called that. I mean I’d apologize, but isn’t that what we’re going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first. 66
RAMIREZ: I’m an airman. TONY: Well you have actually excellent bone structure there. I’m kind of… having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird? Come on, it’s okay, laugh. Hey! JIMMY: Sir, I have a question to ask TONY: Yes, please. JIMMY: Is it true you’re twelve for twelve with last years’ Maxim cover models? TONY: That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else? You’re kidding me with the hand up, right? PRATT: Is it cool if I take a picture with you? TONY: Yes, it’s very cool. I don’t wanna see this on your MySpace page. Please, no gang signs. No, throw it up, I’m kidding. Yeah, peace, I love peace. I’d be out of a job with peace. PRATT: Come on, hurry up! Just click it, don’t change any settings. Just click- RAMIREZ: Contact left! TONY: What’s going on? RAMIREZ: Contact left! JIMMY: What do we got? PRATT: Jimmy, stay with Stark! JIMMY: Stay down! TONY: Yeah JIMMY: Son of a bitch! TONY: Wait, wait, wait! Give me a gun! JIMMY: Stay here! Present continuous (to talk about the future and making speculations), past perfect, conditionals, imperatives. Topic; meeting a celebrity (is it cool if I take a picture with you?, I have a question to ask), army, war (vocabulary; pull over and snuff me, soldier, airman, contact left, give me a gun), flirting (you have actually excellent bone structure, I’m kind of having a hard time not looking at you). American accent. Obligation, prohibition. Focus on meaning: the main topic of this scene is war and the army, aside from meeting a celebrity. These are two very contrasting topics, so the scene could either be used for two different units or combine the two topics to 67
develop an activity (e.g. debate or opinion essay about having to perform a role because of your occupation - soldiers as serious and diligent - and the problems of breaking that role, as the scene portrays). 20.THE DA VINCI CODE (3:30-5:13) LANGDON: Thank you. Thank you. Symbols are a language that can help us understand our past. As the saying goes, “a picture says a thousand words”. But… which words? Interpret for me, please, this symbol. First thing that comes to mind, anybody. WOMAN 1: Hatred, racism. MAN 1: Ku Klux Klan. LANGDON: Yes, yes, interesting. But… they would disagree with you in Spain. There they are robes worn by priests. Now, this symbol. Anyone? MAN 2: Evil. WOMAN 2: La fourche du diable. LANGDON: In English, please? MAN 3: Devil’s pitchfork. LANGDON: Poor, poor Poseidon. That is his trident, a symbol of power to millions of the ancients. Now this symbol. WOMAN 3: Madonna and child. WOMAN 4: Faith, Christianity. LANGDON: No, no, it’s the pagan god Horus and his mother Isis centuries before the birth of Christ. Understanding our past determines actively our ability to understand the present. So, how do we sift truth from belief? How do we write our own histories, personally or culturally, and thereby define ourselves? How do we penetrate years, centuries, of historical distortion to find original truth? Tonight, this will be our quest. Topic; symbols, symbolism, different cultures, problems of relying on first impressions and your own culture (interesting topic for students). Racism, religion, mythology, pop culture. Activity: good fragment to talk about the topic of symbolism / cultures (multimodality; can be related to history, art, literature…). This fragment focuses mostly on vocabulary, the grammar present is quite simple (how questions, that-relative clauses, present simple and continuous, demands). Protocol; 1st fragment, then activity. Activity; current symbolism (new language) → emojis, memes… visual literacy. Communicative competence through symbols and images and its relativity. → motivation for a project 68
21. FRIENDS, SEASON 5, EP. 9 (11:35-13:35) DONALD: Um, Ross, may I have a word with you? ROSS: Oh, of course Donald. DONALD: We’ve been getting reports of some very angry behaviour on your part. ROSS: What? DONALD: Threatening letters, refusal to meet deadlines… apparently people now call you “mental”. ROSS: Yeah. DONALD: We want you to speak to a psychiatrist. ROSS: Oh no, you… you don’t understand. Ugh, this is so silly. Um, this is all just because of a sandwich. DONALD: A sandwich? ROSS: Yeah, you see, my… My sister makes these amazing turkey sandwiches. Her secret is, she puts an extra slice of gravy-soaked bread in the middle. I call it the “moist-maker”. Anyway, I-I put my sandwich in the fridge over here, and... DONALD: You know what? I-I’m sorry, I-I believe I ate that. ROSS: You ate my sandwich? DONALD: It was a simple mistake, it could happen to anyone. ROSS: Oh really? Did you confuse it with your own turkey sandwich with a “moist-maker”? DONALD: No, I- ROSS: Do you perhaps remember seeing a note on top of it? DONALD: There may have been a joke or… limerick of some kind? ROSS: That said it was my sandwich! DONALD: Now, now, calm down. Come look in my office, some of it may still be in the trash. ROSS: What? DONALD: Well it was quite large, I-I had to throw most of it away. ROSS: You, you, you… you threw my sandwich away? My sandwich? MY SANDWICH? Suggestions (may I…?). Vocabulary/topics related to offices/work colleagues (reports, meet deadlines, office), food (gravy-soaked, moist-maker) and misunderstandings (simple mistake, could happen to anyone, confuse). 69
Present perfect continuous, present simple to report past events, past simple (grammatically simple fragment), modal verbs (may, could). Focus on form: this is a good fragment to practice the report of past events / reported speech. Like the previous one, the topic in this scene is also misunderstandings (aside from some other topics). To work these two elements, students could use the reported speech to describe some misunderstanding that has happened in their lives. As a possibility, students could compete to see who writes the funniest story, and upload it to some platform (a blog, Padlet…). 22.FRIENDS, SEASON 10, EP. 3 (4:40-7:12) MAN: Alright Mr. Geller, right this way. So, how dark do you wanna be? We have one, two or three. ROSS: Well, uh, I like how you look. What are you? MAN: Puerto Rican. ROSS: Two, I think a two. MAN: You’re gonna face the red light. When the red light goes on the spray’s about to start, so close your eyes. When the spraying stops, count to five. Pat yourself down to avoid drip-marks, then turn around so we can get your back. You got it? ROSS: Spray, count, pat and turn, spray, count and pat. MAN: Wow, you catch on quick. ROSS: Well, I have a P.h.D, so… One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Miss- Wait, wait! I’m not- I’m not finished counting! You sprayed my front twice! MAN: You never turned? ROSS: No, I barely even got to three Mississippi! MAN: Mississippi? I said count to five. ROSS: Mississippilessly? Well, how-how bad is it? MAN: Not that bad yet, but it keeps getting darker for the next four hours. ROSS: So, how dark is it gonna get? MAN: Well, you got sprayed with two twos and- ROSS: I’m a four? MAN: Yeah, but your back’s a zero. You’re gonna want to even that out. 70