Learning English with movies and series

Using series and movies to learn a language is a method that has many advantages. They are a fun way to learn English when you are too tired to do anything else. They can, also, give a cultural insight so you´ll be able to understand the culture and history of the country. Thanks to the new technologies we have a great variety of audiovisual elements and possibilities of interaction with them.

Some advantages of this method are, among others, that you can learn real English, the kind that native people actually speak. The English spoken in movies is very natural and use some colloquial expressions that aren´t found in textbooks.

You can hear how words are pronounced which is a very interesting and important thing to learn because it allows you to better communicate with native speakers and to improve your English level. Also, you can understand how words are said, taking into account the tone of voice, so you will be able to know what the person who is talking wants to express, further than just paying attention to the words. This is an advantage that we don´t have if we want to learn this by reading (which doesn´t mean that reading is not a good method, on the contrary, since it helps us with vocabulary, spelling and syntax) because reading doesn´t allow us to observe the characters or interpret their expressions.

Movies and series can give an idea of the context in which the words that you have just been learning are used. This is an advantage in relation to learning from vocabulary lists, which is very common, for example, in schools. It´s obvious that knowing the meaning of the words is essential but knowing where and when to use them is important too, as well as the different meanings they acquire according to the context in which they are used.

The last advantage that we are going to comment is the possibility of turning on or off the subtitles during the visualization of the movie or series that we choose. Although many people recommend seeing them without any subtitles, this can be challenging at the beginning so I think that maybe they can be gradually turned off. For example, at first, you can have them in Spanish and, as you improve, they can be switched to English and then, finally, you can turn them off completely. Perhaps it would also be a good idea to watch easy movies and series, and the ones that matches with your current English level so it´s not too complicated when you start. You can even watch films in English that you have already seen in Spanish first. On the other hand, the subtitles may present the problem of reliability depending on who make them since not always are experienced translators who carry out this work.

For all the previous advantages I think that series and films constitute a good way of learning without this supposing to take away importance to the other methodologies. 

My period of internships at school

My period of internships at school

I am going to tell you my experience when I was doing internships at school. I hope you enjoy it!

Last year, in September, I started my period of internships at a public school which provides pre-school and primary education.

I was doing internships in sixth of primary education. Moreover, I was in fourth of primary education teaching the subject “Arts and Crafts” in english with other classmate. I spent most of the time in sixth and only three hours per week in fourth. In sixth course, I had twenty-four pupils; twelve were girls and twelve were boys. I also had four pupils who has special educational needs. Since the beginning of the year, the pupils were organized in pairs but with the passage of time they were organized individually because they talked a lot. The classroom was equipped with a lot of materials and technology; one digital whiteboard, one traditional blackboard, one computer for the teacher, individual computers for the children, dictionaries… The walls of the classroom were a valuable space because they were decorated with maps and posters. During  my period of internships, I taught in sixth course different subjects: mathematics, Spanish language, Galician, natural sciences, social sciences and Arts and Crafts. When I was teaching these subjects I cleared up some questions, I did many dictations, I explained different lessons, I corrected many exams, compositions, exercises and works that the pupils did. 

Now, I am going to show you some activities that I prepared for the pupils in sixth course.

1.-“Pulmonary Ventilation”: I prepared this activity because the pupils didn’t understand the pulmonary ventilation. The previous day, I said to them that they had to bring at the class some materials to built the bottle. The next day, they built the bottle step by step at the same time I was explaining what they had to do. In the end, I explained the pulmonary ventilation with the bottle. They enjoyed a lot and they were very attentive.

2.-“Poster board with panels”: In this activity, the pupils chose a book in Galician. They had to explain the book to the rest of the class drawing six panels in a poster board.

3.- “Mildews”: I explained the mildews to the pupils and I suggested them to bring at the class some foodstufs with mildews. They bring the foodstufs with mildews and each pupil explained to the rest of the class what happened to his/her food.

Now, I am going to show you some activities that I prepared for the pupils in fourth course in relation to the subject “Arts and Crafts”.

1.- “Geometric shapes series”: In this activity, each pupil had to continue the geometric shapes series with the pencil. Then, they coloured each figure with crayons.

2.- “Doing a drawing with geometric shapes”: In this activity, the pupils cut out cardboards doing geometric shapes. They did a drawing pasting the geometric shapes.

To sum up, during my period of internships I noticed the educational level of the pupils, their motivation to learn different subjects and the cooperation between the pupils and their difficulties. In the future, as a teachers, it’s important to know their difficulties, their educational needs and adjust our knowledges to the children. Moreover, it’s essential to motivate the children because they will learn with more eagerness and, of course, the teacher has to enjoy what he/she is doing.

This was my experience in my period of internships. I suggest you to see this video which it gives you advices for teachers. 

Moreover, I invite you to see these web pages about how to motivate students.

https://teach.com/what/teachers-change-lives/teachers-motivate/ 

http://www.teachhub.com/top-12-ways-motivate-students 

https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/

Mª Esther López Pérez