Language Is the Result of Acquisition

Language is the result of acquisition

Comprehensible input leads to acquisition

CI through movies and videos

by Pat Verano

CI stands for 100 % understood, 100% meaningful / Translation (title, characters descriptions, subtitles)
Cognates
Gestures
Visuals( culture info and setting of the movie)
Contextualization in the TPRS class personalization (pq&as) (what did Ana do, who has been to…)
Implicit grammar teaching through the story telling technique / Acting out a scene, compare it to the novel
Explicit grammar in the form of pop-up meaning
(accents)
Reading as the major input- It relates to visuals and scenes of the movie / Headlines, scripts and commercials
Compare the movie to the novel(script)

Movies are a powerful source of input. They combine visual elements, motion, listening, acoustic means and reading possibilities. The tremendous amount of meaningful repetition you can bring into the class plus building up personalization through personal questions and answers, circling and reading make movies a`la TPRS a unique source of effective CI.

The educational movies based on the novels written by Blaine Ray for the TPRS field, are aimed at providing the students as much effective CI input as possible to motivate, favor, and enrich their second or foreign language acquisition process.

The steps to Movies a´la TPRS

1-Presentation: in some of the novels, Pobre Ana is the same central character in a different setting and she is exposed to a new” comic” situation. If we take Blaine’s movies (where Ana is the central character) and use laughter and humor in the scenes as sitcoms, we can generate excellent, high-comprehension scenes. What makes people laugh is something that taps a pool of knowledge and getting the “joke” creates a feeling of social success.

Before beginning: Give students everything they need to know:

Describe the situation and present the characters and their personal quirk: Use the book, teachers is the narrator

Teacher reads what is written on the reverse side of the written novel. (Projected on the wall)

1-Present the movie
Find the best translation for the movie into English-Discuss about the place where the movie was filmed-Play with varieties like: ¿Ana bailò tango en Buenos Aires, Argentina, o……..) : Culture teaching


.
2-Show photos of the characters. Ask about their names
Add a brief description of the characters written next to the photos :
Ana: es la protagonista de la película “Ana Bailó tango en Buenos Aires,” ella visitó la ciudad y compró zapatos número 42.

Prior to viewing the movie give students everything they need to know:

Describe the situation and present the characters and their personal quirk: Use the book, teacher is the narrator.

Teacher reads what is written on the reverse side of the written novel. (Appears as part of the titles of the movie))

On the reverse side of the written novel: Teacher reads what is written on the reverse side of the written novel. (Projected on the wall) Students translate.

Ana, la protagonista de esta historia es la misma de Pobre Ana. Luego de viajar a México, Ana cambió mucho y quería conocer el mundo. En esta historia Ana vuelve a viajar otra vez, ahora a Buenos Aires, Argentina, la escuela le da la oportunidad. Ella tiene dos metas principales: continuar mejorando su español y aprender a bailar tango. Ana se da cuenta que bailar tango es un arte y hay mucho que aprender. En el proceso, hace amigos, compra unos zapatos especiales para tango conoce a un profesor de tango muy guapo y, lo más importante, aprende sobre la cultura argentina

3- Using the script as the reading (for discussion)

Read from the script

-Use cultural information in the movie. -Act out a scene from the movie

Set the characters/use visual, music and scenes in the movie Establish relationships among the characters

Say which things are shown/ are not shown in the movie

-Use the book and compare it to the script -Discuss character development, choices /values and order sequences

Use the movie, book and script Say which things are shown/ are not shown in the movie

Say which things are shown/ are not shown in the movie

Sample activities: use the book and compare it to the movie

A-Say things which are shown in the movie/ which are not shown in the movie. Discussion

·  ¿Ana cambió luego de su viaje a México?

(Looking for “ahs” and “ohs”, teacher says “Ana cambiò(mucho) luego de su viaje a Mèxico.” Add a few circling questions

·  ¿Quería Ana conocer el mundo? (Looking for “ahs” and “ohs”, teacher says “Ana querìa conocer el mundo.” (Add a few circling questions

·  ¿Hace amigos en Buenos Aires? (Looking for “ahs” and “ohs”, teacher says “Ana hace amigos en Buenos Aires.” Add a few circling questions

·  ¿Compra zapatos especiales en Buenos Aires? (Looking for “ahs” and “ohs”, teacher says “Compra zapatos especiales en Buenos Aires.”

Add a few circling questions

·  ¿Conoce a un profesor de tango muy guapo en Bs As? (Looking for “ahs” and “ohs”, teacher says “Conoce a un profesor de tango muy guapo en Bs As .” Add a few circling questions

b- Act out a scene from the movie: watch the scene , read the script and act it out

Students listen and watch and color or mark the right balloon. Then search for the dialog in the script and/or book

Using the dialogs in the book or script students act out the scene, teacher reads and they gesture or students read from the book

c-Discuss character development, choices /values and order sequences

Reading the script and the book

(Example)

Escena 1

Contesta = igual al libro, X no està en el libro, ¿No estoy seguro/a

·  a-Ana leyó un libro sobre la Argentina

·  b-En la escuela había un programa para estudiar español

·  c-Ana llegó al aeropuerto

·  d-Alejandra habló por teléfono con la Academia de tango

d-Use culture provided by the music: students are going to write the translation for the subtitles

(a piece of the song)

Pat Verano