Watching A Film or Television Program Together

A good club activity is watching a film or television program together. Films in English are best suited to intermediate level and above. But it is still possible for lower level learners to have fun with films too.
If the club members’s level of English is low you can use a video or DVD with subtitles in Bahasa Indonesia. Or you can use a film in Bahasa Indonesia and show subtitles in English. The important part for practice is the activities you do before and after watching.

It is a good idea to get into groups of 5/6 or as small as possible. The groups should be organised so that members with similar levels of English are together in a group. It is easier for the club members if the activities before and after watching are done in these groups. Groups can make a list of questions together. The questions can be for discussion after the film or at the next club meeting. If you wait till the next club meeting members have time to think and look up words in English.

Some questions could be - Who was your favourite character and why? Did you like the end of the film and why? What was the best part or the worst part of the film? The questions should be suitable for the English ability of the group members. For lower levels the questions could be simpler. For example - How many children in the family? What furniture could you see in the living room? What did Han wear to the dance?

Before you start, show the members the picture on the front of the video or DVD. Groups can then guess and discuss what the program will be about. Is it a drama? A comedy? A war film? A romance ...
Another good idea is to watch shorter sections of the film or program. A whole film could be watched in 3 or 4 sections over 3 or 4 club meetings. At the beginning of each meeting ask some students to retell what happened last time. Activities for each section could include;

• Look for the name of something in the film - like a shop, a hotel or a city.
• Find something the same as something else - a previous story, a picture, etc.
• Find another way of saying something known - goodbye / bye bye / see you.
• Something said by a character - what did John say when he got home?
• A specific piece of information - where did John take the taxi to? How much was the taxi fare?

Sometimes it’s fun to show a couple of minutes of the film with the sound (volume) turned down and ask a volunteer to come to the front and;

• Describe what’s happening in simple English.
• Say what’s already happened.
• Imagine what’s going to happen next.
• Imagine a dialogue, for example, speak to the character on the screen.
• Watch a person’s mouth and guess what they’re saying.

In This Issue

Fantastic English Clubs in Bali!

English Clubs

• Madia English Club
  Madura, East Java
• Stella Maris English Club
  Waikabubak - Sumba Barat, NTT

Watching A Film or Television Program Together

Language Activity - Movie Review

KGRE Radio Highlights for March - April 2005