Instructional Session 28
Objective: By the end of class, you will be able to… Beginner: write sentences in French to describe people in class, giving details to compare descriptions of people in the past and present Intermediate: say sentences in French to describe people in class, giving details to compare descriptions of people in the past and present, giving details to compare descriptions of people’s internal AND external traits in the past and present Advanced: say a series of connected sentences in French to describe people in class, giving details to compare descriptions of people in the past and present, giving details to compare descriptions of people’s internal AND external traits in the past and present, and using transition words to say more
Preparation: In this session, you will learn a twist on a well-known strategy, Movie Talk, that I call “Reverse” Movie Talk. You will first read about “traditional” Movie Talk, and then you will learn about the variation “Reverse” Movie Talk. “Traditional” Movie Talk is a powerful strategy that is generally very well-received by students and enjoyed by teachers as well. This strategy was developed by English Language Development professor Dr. Ashley Hastings, under the name “FOCAL Skills Movie Technique,” in the 1980s and ‘90s to improve his English language students’ listening proficiency. It worked so well, and proved to be so engaging, that many World Language teachers began to adopt the practice. “Traditional” Movie Talk uses a video clip of about one to two minutes. To deliver the input, you play the video with the sound turned off, for a short time, until a scene that you can talk about comes up. You pause the video from time to time, point to various items and people, and describe things in a slow, unhurried, clear fashion. As you point to the details of the image, you describe and narrate, and also ask a few questions, perhaps asking students to make inferences. (Why is she sad?) or predictions (What are they going to do?). After a bit of discussion, you then play the next part of the video, pausing when there is something interesting to talk about displayed on the screen. During this part of a Movie Talk, or a “Reverse” Movie Talk, you will spend MUCH more time paused and talking than with the video running. A one-minute video will easily take five or six minutes. For that reason, it is suggested to begin with very short clips. A video that is four or five minutes long can easily take 30 minutes or more in class, when you add in all the time for pausing and discussing, and that is just too long.
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