Multimedia Materials:
Using Film
ColomboTech Workshop 7

NEW
COLOMBO
MULTIMEDIA
MATERIALS:
USING FILM

Types
• Drama video (films, soaps, sitcoms)
• Documentaries
• TV news and weather
• Discussions
• Interviews
• TV commercials
• Talk shows
• Game shows

Uses in Language Teaching
• For its own sake
• For listening comprehension
• As a language model
• For culture
• As a stimulus for input
• As a moving picture book
Sherman (2003)

Suggestions for Using Film
• Material
• Ads, “trailers” for movies, a scene from a
movie, documentaries, news segments,
TV shows, talk shows…
• How long?
• Clips 2-10 minutes long
• Consider:
• What is the educational purpose?
• Topics and language appropriate to

Techniques for Using Film or Video
• Vision on / sound off
• Sound on / vision off
• Pause / still / freeze- frame
• Sound and video on
• Split viewing
• Jumbled sequence

Film & Literature Connection
• The Shawshank Redemption
• Perspeolis
• Dr. Suess
• Bridge to Terabithia
• The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
• Harry Potter
• The Birds (Hitchcock)
• 10 Things I Hate about You (The Taming of
the Shrew, Shakespeare)
• An Inconvenient Truth

Film & Literature Connection
• Amistad
• Jurassic Park
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Lemony Snicket

Book to Film
• Compare extract from a novel, short
story, or graded reader with the film
version of the same scene

Working with Film Clips
• Identify and describe
emotions
• Before and after (a
scene)
• Pragmatics (i.e. use
of politeness in “The
Graduate”)
10

Great Scenes
• Final scene of G o n e w it h t h e
W in d , where Rhett walks out on
Scarlett
• Showdown between Luke and Darth
Vader in T h e E m p ir e
S t r ik e s B a c k
• “Here’s looking at you, kid” scene in
C a s a b la n c a
• Phone home scene from E . T .

Focusing on Characters
• Missing or wanted posters
• Giving advice to characters
• Casting couch (describing physical
appearances)
12

Book & Game
• Clue
• Character versions of
classic board games
(Simpsons G u e s s
W h o , Harry Potter
M o n o p o lo y ,
etc.)
13

Creating film-related materials
• Complete the
timeline
• Roleplaying great
scenes

Cartoons
• Compare comic strip and film version of
the cartoon
– Persepolis
– Spiderman
– Batman
– Peanuts

Responding to Whole Films
• Favorite scenes
• Story maps
• Comprehension
• Reviews
18

Creating Film-Related Materials
• Create a new soundtrack
• Design the remake
• Storyboards
19

Cartoons
• Compare comic strip and film version of
the cartoon
– Persepolis
– Spiderman
– Batman
– Peanuts
• Compare comic strip and film version of
the cartoon

Graded Readers with Video
• National Geographic readers (A2-B1)
– Geography, culture, tradition, etc.

References
• Sherman, J. (2003). Using authentic video
in the language classroom. Cambridge:
CUP.
• Stempleski, S. & Tomalin, B. (2001). Film.
Oxford: OUP.