Last time on this blog, I shared a few of the more common American Christmas specials. This time, I'll add a few more, as well as a couple of the best known Christmas films. These are all iconic Christmas specials well known in the USA and I introduced them in my advanced class a couple weeks ago.
# 5 -- A Charlie Brown Christmas
Charlie Brown is most certainly an American icon. Seems like this should be included.
# 6 -- A Christmas Story
Last month in this class, as discussed in a post a few weeks ago on movies, I showed the Thanksgiving film, "Pieces of April," spread over a few weeks. I seriously considering give this film, "A Christmas Story," the same treatment and only decided against it as I did not wish to repeat myself with the same kind of class, two months in a row. Undoubtedly a good film for foreign folks wishing to understand American culture. --or at least American culture of a few decades ago.
#7- It's a Wonderful Life
A true classic and a well known one. Surely it can't help for people wishing to understand our culture to check this one out, can it?
# 8 - A Miracle on 34th Street
The story of a "real" Santa Claus in New York City. Another classic worth checking out.
#9 -- Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Okay, here I might be pushing it. I admit this strange and bizarre classic in "bad" movies has a special place in my heart. On the other hand, I did show it to my students in the advanced class, a group primarily composed of educated, middle class Asian housewives and they seemed to consider the brief exposure ten minutes well spent.
Once a week, I teach an advanced ESL class where most of the students are wives of highly educated foreign workers, often from the tech industry. They generally speak English well and much of the class is cultural enrichment.
What follows is a list of Christmas Specials that I introduced my students to this week.
I began by explaining that Christmas is a religious holiday celebrated only by those who are at least nominally Christian and introduced the concept of separation of church and state. Nevertheless, I said, Christmas is clearly and important time of year and the separation of Church and State is not 100% (for better or worse) as evidenced by such things as "In God we Trust" on the money.
So, with no further ado, a list of Christmas specials for ESL and Foreign Students.
#1 --Frosty the Snowman
Although technically not a Christmas special, per se, this does tend to get shown around Christmas time. Therefore I began the class with it, perhaps to alleviate fears that I was going to push my religious beliefs or offend Muslims.
Like many of these I began with the song on which the television special was based, and explained the vocabulary and concepts in it. Therefore I began with this song.
I then followed up with the trailer for the TV show (or as close to the trailer as I could find. I am not convinced, despite the label, that this is really the TV show trailer.)
#2 --Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Again, I began with the song, explaining lyrics and vocabulary and cultural references. As an aside, and a piece of self criticism, this was not a terribly interactive lesson and was a bit lecture heavy. Not perfect, but once in a while, I feel, it's okay to do such lessons.
This was followed by the trailer for the TV special. (This is not the one I used in class, but how can one not enjoy this? Especially if you are from Schenectady, home of GE, as I am. )
#3 - How the Grinch Stole Christmas
This one I did a little differently than the others, because while the others started with songs, this one started with a book, a book by Dr. Seuss, so I began there. The I showed the trailer for the TV show.
I explained that while I thought the word "grinch" had not been an English word, before this song they could now use it to describe an unhappy, grouchy person. I then followed this up with the song, explaining that a lot of the vocabulary is quite intense and obscure (I actually had to look up a couple words myself, "wasty" for instance, and told my students so. I do make it clear to my students that I do not understand every English word and they should not expect to be able to do so either. )
I showed this partly to explain the cultural significance of the song. I kind of feel they were more impressed than I was, but it was still fun to see the US Navy band perform this classic.
This might have worked too, but probably not as well.
And finally I introduced them to the Jim Carrey full length movie. I confess, I steered them away from it, but explained I hadn't seen it myself and perhaps I should before saying bad things about it. On the other hand, with the cartoon being such a classic, I feel this entire movie is unnecessary. Competely unnecessary.
Films in the ESL classroom, or any classroom for that
matter, can be a good or bad thing.
Sometimes they can be a sign of laziness. Lazy? Yes and that’s
bad. If one gets the chance to see the
amusing (but ultimately forgettable) film, “Bad Teacher,” Cameron Diaz plays
the eponymous “Bad Teacher.” She hates her job and instead is focused on her
life’s goal of raising funds for breast implants in order to better enable
herself to catch a rich husband and never have to work again. (Yes, in this
film Cameron Diaz wants breast implants. It’s not exactly the most thought-out,
intelligent, or deepest film ever made. I only saw it once and while I did enjoy
it, I have not seen it since.)
Therefore, instead of actually teaching her English
literature class, she simply sits in the
back of the room, snoozes, and plays movies each day. Each and every day. With
no exceptions or any other activities of any kid.
She is, as the title says, a bad teacher. (By the way, I have never used this film in the classroom. I doubt very much if I ever will. )
Don’t be a bad teacher. Don’t show films each and every day
in your ESL classroom.
But does this mean you can’t use any films at all in the
classroom? No, of course not. There are
many ways to show films in the classroom and do so in a way where you remain an
active, engaged teacher and your students benefit from the activity.
Over the years, I have used several films in my classrooms.
The tip to using them successfully, I feel is to choose a film that is useful
and relevant to the student’s interests, concerns, and goals. It should go
without saying that it is best to choose a film that will not offend and will
make students comfortable in the classroom. Then stop and teach from it. In other words, 15 to 20 minutes of film per
class with the film spread over several classes is not a bad way to do it.
It is a good idea to prepare ahead of time
Consider handouts or at least make a list of the following
that students will gain from the film:
·Vocabulary
·Idioms
·Cultural references and customs
Discuss these. You might wish to have supplemental materials
prepared ahead of time.
Of course, it helps to know your students. In my last class,
we started watching the film, “Pieces of April.” This small independent film
involves a dysfunctional family that tries to get together for one last
Thanksgiving together because mom is dying from cancer. April, the problem
daughter, has invited everyone to her place for Thanksgiving dinner. There are
only two problems, the first is April really does not know how to cook. The
second is that when she does sit down and get ready to roast her turkey, she discovers
that her stove is broken and the finds herself running up and down the stairs
of her run-down apartment building desperately asking people if she can borrow
an oven on Thanksgiving morning.
In the film people speak relatively standard American English
but the idiom “nip it in the bud” as in “I am nipping this in the bud right now”
needed to be taught.
As the film is from 2004 the reference to “collect calls”
and “calling collect” needed to be explained.
Curiously the phrase, “Eddy the drug dealer is history”
which is used when the father is trying to give reasons as to why they should
be optimistic about April’s life and their upcoming visit, was quite confusing
to the students.
When it was all over, they had many questions, but a
surprising number of them were about how to properly cook a thanksgiving turkey
with stuffing. Next week I hope to bring some youtube videos on how best to
prepare a Thanksgiving turkey.
A few other films, I have used in the ESL classroom include:
Bright Lights, Big City
Hair Spray
My Name is Earl –Sold a Lemon Car (Season 4, Episode 9)
