Video film as a main method of teaching a foreign language

At the present stage of foreign language learning in terms of vocational education, we often face such problem as lack of active language environment in the educational process. The article considers three stages of working with text. At each stage a number of tasks using video clips. According to many methodologists, when using video in the classroom, the principle of immersion in the language environment of the foreign language being studied is implemented. In addition, there are exercises for working with video materials and a summary of the lesson, which offers interesting work with videos. It also offers a number of requirements that were developed by teachers for the successful use of video materials in a foreign language lesson.

Key words: after-viewing stage, exercises, language, pre-viewing stage, teaching, video, while viewing stage.

When studying a foreign language in our country, we face such a problem as the lack of a living language environment, the inability to communicate with native speakers which affects the level of training of students. According to the requirements of the Federal state educational standard, when learning a foreign language, a student must be able to “...converse in standard communication situations, observing the norms of speech etiquette; talk about yourself, about environment, interests and plans for the future, justifying intentions/actions, expressing opinion; describe the features of life and culture of his/her country and English-speaking countries” [2, c. 78].

In order to achieve these results, the teacher needs to think through the lesson in such a way that it uses different methods, tools and forms of learning. The use of videos in foreign language classes is one of the types of teaching activities that helps to create the necessary conditions for communication [5, c. 332]. According to Russian and foreign methodologists, video films “... have a greater linguistic and methodological potential compared to printed and sounding texts, clearly demonstrating the process of foreign and intercultural communication.” When using video in practice, “... the principle of immersion in the socio-cultural and linguistic environment of the foreign language being studied in the classroom is implemented, creating the illusion of familiarizing students with the natural language environment, modeling the communicative situation” [3, c. 5].

In the methodology of teaching foreign languages when working with text, methodologists distinguish three main stages: pre-viewing, while viewing and after-viewing [1, c. 88].

Consider each stage separately. Methodologists have identified two main goals of the pre-viewing stage:

 motivate students by setting them up for the task, making them active participants in the learning process;

 remove possible difficulties in reading the text and prepare students for successful completion of the task.

Tasks that teacher can use at this stage: generalization of previously obtained knowledge on the topic; cursory viewing of a part of the film without sound; work with a list of new words, with translations or definitions that are presented before the text [4, c. 66].

The next stage is while-viewing. The main goal of this stage is to ensure the further development of language, speech or socio-cultural competence of students, taking into account their real possibilities of foreign language generalization.

1) Find/ select/read/ connect/insert:

 answers to the suggested questions;

 confirmation of the correctness/ falsity of the claims;

 a suitable title to each paragraph.

2) Guess:

 the meaning of a word or words in context;

 a translation/ what is the definition of the word most accurately reflects its value in this context;

 how events will develop in the second chapter/ next part of the text [1, c. 89].

After-viewing is the third stage. The goal of this stage is to use the source text as a basis and support for the development of productive skills in oral or written speech. At this stage, you can use: project work related to the preparation of similar videos yourself (conducting video tours around the city/college, etc., telling about your family, etc.); role-playing games based on the plot or situation of the video.

After studying a number of sources and articles on the topic of our research, we decided to focus on the already developed exercises for working with video materials of a foreign language teacher M. I. Aleynikova, whose professional interests are learning and applying interactive methods in English lessons and are close to ours.

The teacher selects an excerpt from the film that is 1–2 minutes long and consists of clearly spoken lines that are simple in form and content. Writes out each replica on a separate card. Splits the audience into several groups and gives each group a complete set of cards containing the dialog. The group should look at the passage without looking at the cards, and then put the replicas in the order they met in the recording. After that, you should watch the passage again, checking the correct order of replicas.

2. Five W's and H (10–15 minutes)

From a television news program, the teacher selects an excerpt that is read by the announcer and that contains enough material to ask all kinds of special questions. He then explains to students that they will now see real news that contains information to answer some questions: Who is about? What is about? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Why did it happen? How did it happen? [1, с. 88–89].

On the blackboard, the teacher writes down these six questions, alerting students to exactly how much news there will be in a given passage. The task before the first viewing is to listen and try to understand. The task before the second viewing is to listen and make notes next to each question. After the second review, students answer these six questions.

3. Debate

The teacher selects an excerpt that contains an idea that may cause controversy. This statement is written on the board. Next, students watch the excerpt that contains this idea. After watching the video, students are divided into two groups “pros” and “cons”. Each team selects a captain. The captain at the beginning expresses the general opinion of the team and at the end sums it up [1, c. 90].

We also have learnt with an interesting lesson summary for the second year of the main module on the topic “Great Britain”. Goals and objectives of this lesson:

 improving speaking skills;

 developing speaking and listening skills;

 instilling interest in learning English and the country of the language being studied.

At the stage of studying the new material it was suggested to view videos about before stopnotes of Great Britain for primary perception (“Buckingham Palace”; “Tower Bridge”; “St. Paul's Cathedral”; “Westminster Abbey”; “Trafalgar Square”; “Greenwich Katarinch's Dock”.

At the stage of consolidation of the studied material, work was carried out to assimilate the viewed stories. Each of the stories was viewed a second time, and tasks were also offered to test the perception of the material. For each video: “Buckingham Palace”; “Tower Bridge”; “St. Paul's Cathedral”; “Westminster Abbey”; “Trafalgar Square” a group conversation was held [1, c. 90].

Thus, at these stages of the lesson you can see how the use of video clips helps to better assimilate the material, arouses interest in learning, and contributes to the development of listening and speaking skills. With the help of videos, students have the opportunity to learn new material but also check the level of assimilation of the studied material, develop oral speech, study to understand foreign speech by ear. The effectiveness of using a video depends not only on the precise definition of its place in the training system but also on how well the structure of the lesson is organized and how the training opportunities of the video are coordinated with the training tasks.

References:

1. Aleinikova M. I. The video as a means of learning a foreign language // International Scientific Electronic Journal. — 2016. — № 6(18). — P. 87–90.
2. Buribaeva A. I. Using interactive methods of teaching English in video lessons // Научный журнал. — 2018. — № 4. — P. 77–78.
3. Petrenko L. A., Philippov M. N. Using video materials in teaching foreign language // Вестник науки и образования Северо-Запада России — 2017. – № 3. — P. 1–7.
4. Sadikova G. Selecting video materials for classroom use // Достижения науки и образования. — 2018. — № 5. — P. 66–67.
5. Saitova V. S. Videos in Teachnig Foreign Languages. Язык, перевод, коммуникация в условиях полилога культур: труды Международного студенческого лингвистического форума 2020, 19–21 марта 2020 г. — СПб.: ПОЛИТЕХ-ПРЕСС, 2020. — 379 с.