Movies are the best

By Anna - Beijing, China

I think showing movies to the students is one of the best ways to teach English (if not the best). There's almost everything in the movies. Everything is authentic. Students at all levels need to watch movies as much as they can, provided time and money affordable. Like in my school, which has primary and high school students, we have different movies for the students. For little kids, we have Tom & Jerry, Rainbow Fish, etc.; for high school students, we have Noting Hill, Antz, Men in Black and so on. In universities, they offer a course called "advanced visual-aural-oral skills" for graduate students.

Movies can be used for different purposes. As there's almost everything in them, teachers need to direct Ss' attention to some of them. As a Chinese myself, I find watching movies most challenging. There's always a lot that I can't figure out while watching a movie. That's the exact area where the Chinese Ss need help from a foreign teacher because it has the least to do with grammar. It's all live English for which we may not find any help or explanation from our textbooks or grammar books. Besides, it's a rich resource of cultural things.