Theme teaching english effectively by using english video clips and photos to tenth grade students

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING SERVICE
TRAN PHU HIGH SCHOOl
***

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

THEME : TEACHING ENGLISEFFECTIVELY BY USING
ENGLISH VIDEO CLIPS AND PHOTOS TO TENTH GRADE
STUDENTS

Researcher : Bui Thi Linh
Foreign language Group
Tran Phu High School

THANH HOA , MARCH 2017

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents...................................................................................................2
I.Why use video and photos in teaching English?.................................................3
Thirdly, video and photos play an important part in teaching and learning a
foreign language, as it employs real-life situations with real-life expressions
and other particularities.................................................................................4
Fourthly, video and photos are the great resource to use in class and there
are an endless number of ways to exploit it to create motivating,
memorable classes with a high level of language production.......................4
II.Video,photos and the teacher.............................................................................4
III.The role of the learners.....................................................................................5

IV.Some strategies when using video and photos in the classrom........................5
1. Predicting:......................................................................................................5
2. Speaking practice:.........................................................................................6
V.Data Collection Method.....................................................................................6
VI.The Procedures of Data Collection..................................................................7
VII. Studies............................................................................................................7
1. The result of the questionaires.......................................................................8
a. The teachers’ answers:...............................................................................8
b. The students’ answers:..............................................................................9
2. Findings.......................................................................................................11
b.Students:...................................................................................................11
c.Advantages of the video and photos:........................................................11
d.Challenges................................................................................................11
VIII. Implications of the study............................................................................12
1. The Teacher.................................................................................................12
2. The Students................................................................................................13
IX. Practical part..................................................................................................13
1. Introduction.................................................................................................13
2. Activities (See PP lesson Plans and Watch videos in the CD at the
appendix).........................................................................................................13
X: Result after applying the research in teaching................................................15
XI. Conclusion.....................................................................................................15
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1. Conclusions.....................................................................................................15
XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ.....................................................16
Nga Sơn , ngày 25 tháng 05 năm 2017................................................................16
Tôi xin cam đoan đây là sáng kiến kinh nghiệm của mình viết, không sao chép
nội dung của người khác.....................................................................................16

Người Viết...........................................................................................................16
Bùi Thị Lĩnh........................................................................................................16
References :.........................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Video and photos are held as a supplementary material in the foreign language
class. It is used for different kinds of activities, mainly to practice the language
skills, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Video introduces a topic; they
serve as a discussion starter, as a kind of pre-reading, pre-listening or pre-writing
activity or as a kind of game, for example. To prove the usage of video and
photos in teaching English is the main aim of this study.
The theoretical part of the study is going to explore the diversity of video and
photos materials, their characterization and exploitation in such a class.
The practical part is going to prove the theory on concrete examples. The
procedure of activities is described with a comment how it functioned in
practice. The reader will find copies of the learners’ concrete products attached.
The study is supposed to serve as an introduction to teaching English through
video and provide practical ideas which an EFL teacher could use in the class.
The reader will be acquainted with both positive and negative aspects of video
and photos activities in the class.

I.

Why use video and photos in teaching English?

As technology develops, written materials tend to get ever less popular for
learning foreign languages. People seem to no longer find pleasure in reading
books. We need to apply the new technology to practical language learning
problems to have motivating results.
Following chart shows what effect us when we learn a foreign language:

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10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70-90% of what we see, hear and do
( />Therefore, we use video and song as a learning tool for following reasons:
Firstly, using video and photos in the English class is a very helpful and
stimulating method to motivate your students to get the most of the lesson. It
provides students with a more effective and relaxing way of learning English.
Secondly, video and photos allow teachers to not only tell students what they
need to learn from a specific lesson, but illustrate examples to help develop
understanding.
Thirdly, video and photos play an important part in teaching and learning a
foreign language, as it employs real-life situations with real-life
expressions and other particularities.
Fourthly, video and photos are the great resource to use in class and there are
an endless number of ways to exploit it to create motivating, memorable
classes with a high level of language production.
To sum up, video and photos serve for illustration, develop learners’
imagination, make the learning process more interesting and entertain at the
same time. This created strong motivations for me to carry out my research into
“Teaching English Effectively by Using Video clips and photos to Tenth Grade
students of Tran Phu High School”.

II.

Video,photos and the teacher

Jack Lonergan makes a good comment about the role of the teacher:
“As in most language-teaching situasions, the role of the teacher is a key
one. It is the teacher who must harness the power of the video films; it is the
teacher who has the prime responsibility for creating a successful learning
environment.”
(Lonergan, J. 1984, p.5)
The techniques of video and photos can present material to learners in ways
quite beyond the normal resourses of the language teacher, but it is not meant to
overshadow him.
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In course development the teacher has the manegerial role as well as an
instructional role. It is he who decides how much factual knowledge is really
needed, who must skillfully use the various techniques that modern technology
makes available to present interesting topics using video materials in such a way
as to maintain interest throughout the course. The teacher also reveals his own
personality in the way he presents his ideas.
It is clear that the teacher must be trained to be confident and competent: his
ability to code the information into language teaching mode. This depends on his
own knowledge, intellectual skills and also on his own character.
Technically the teacher must be properly and carefully trained in the technical
aspects of using video equipment, involving techniques such as stopping,
reversing, re-playing, speed-viewing, freeze-frame and the memory button. The
teacher need to exchange ideas, experiment constantly.

III.

The role of the learners

The modern approach to teaching stresses that teacher should provide
opportunities for learning. Lonergan said that:
“Watching video films for language- learning purposes should be an active
process by the learners….; they must participate so that the output from the
video is not just one-way, to an unresponsive audience.”
(Lonergan, J. 1984,p6)
The learner must be familiar with the video equipment, and with the recorded
video materials so that he can take responsibility for choosing sequences for
review, for asking questions, for discussion and for self- assessment.
The learner’s active participation in the lesson promotes his comprehension
which in turn promotes acquisition, increases his motivation.

IV.

Some strategies when using video and photos in the
classrom

There are some strategies that enhance the use of video and photos in classroom
(Claudia Miclaus, Last Updated: 10/13/2011)
1. Predicting:

- With picture and audio on: Teachers use the pause control to stop a scene and
have students predict what will happen next.
- With audio off: The teachers might be to turn off the sound and ask students to
make up a dialog from a scene they've just watched or ask them to predict the
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situation and characterization based on viewing an entire scene without the

sound.
- With picture off: Students have to predict the situation and characterizations by
listening to the soundtrack without the picture.
2. Speaking practice:

One of them could be role-playing, for example having students act out the
dialogue and lines from the video and photos, stressing the correct intonation
and pronunciation.
Interviews is an another idea. The teacher asks students to move around the
classroom and interview one another using questions that can be found in the
video. Then students can make a report to the whole classroom about those
interviews.
One another is information gaps. The teacher divides the class in two. Half of
the class watches the video without sound, and the other listens to it without
image. Then the teacher can put students in pairs from each half, to have them
discuss the situations and characters and perform the scenes in front of the class.
3. Discussion:
The most classical type of activity is discussing before or after watching the
video and photos. There are plenty of topics for students, like those referring to
the general plot, the feelings, actions, thoughts of the main characters in the
scene. One may also ask students to tell which character they like best and why,
or which they identify with and why, or to think about the things that the
characters in the scene are thinking, but not saying out loud, and give reasons for
the characters' attitude. Students may create such inner monologues and then
present them in front of the class, in order to discuss their ideas regarding the
video and photos.

V.

Data Collection Method

In an attempt to reach the aim mentioned in the first part, we have conducted a
true experiment in my school for a year.
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This study was carried out at tenth grade students of Tran Phu High School. The
material for teaching English is English Tenth (2006) by Hoang Van Van, all by
The Publishing House of Ministry of Education of Training.
The participants involved in this study were 88 students of grade tenth (10A and
10D) at Tran Phu High School (Nga Son District).

VI.

The Procedures of Data Collection

This section presents the key procedures of the study.
First, some critical steps of preparation were planned. The procedures of data
collection were mapped out. Having been approved by the Head of the Foreign
Languages Group, arrangements and discussions with the students and the two
other teachers were made to ensure that the data collection was carried out
smoothly. Then, the interview questionaires was designed. All the materials
were gathered, revised and edited and then designed for each lesson.
Next, the teacher directly taught the quasi-experimental class and the control
one from January to May. For the experimental class, the teacher started
teaching Unit 8: My village; Unit 9; Undersea world, Unit 10: Conversation,
Unit 11: National parks, Unit 12: Music and Unit 16 : Historical places with the
help of videos and photos.
Then, the interview questionaires were carried out to the teachers and the
students during the first week of March. Their answers were also colltected by

the teacher. The results of the answers were kept for later analysis.
All the data of the interview questionaires were gathered and analyzed.
The data analyses helped to fulfill other parts of the study.

VII. Studies
The results of interview questionaires were run to compare. The
questionaires include many questions and we divided into two parts: one for
teachers and another for students. (See appendix)

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1. The result of the questionaires
a. The teachers’ answers:
1. I think that using videoand photos in teaching raises my students
achievement.

2. Video and photos can bring fresh and timely information into the
classroom.

3. The length of the video and photos are from 5-8 minutes are enough.

4. I have tried to make an instructional video and photos in my classes.

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5. I see that the number and quality of videos that ministry of education
provide are enough to me as a teacher.

6. Video and photos could improve the students’ problem-solving skills .

b. The students’ answers:
1. I think that using video and photos in teaching enlarges our knowledge
and improves our language.

2. I see that the video and photos are related to our lessons’ goals.

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3. I prefer to participate in making videos and photos for our lessons.

4. Using videoand photos help us relax and more confident during the
lesson.

5. Learning with
video and
photos help us
to have good
scores.

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2. Findings
From above results, I found out that:
a. Teachers:
Teachers are positive about the use of video and photos in the classroom because
it stimulates classroom discussion. Video and photos reinforce lectures and

reading, help students to have a common base of knowledge. The movement, the
natural language and the story all combine to provide an enjoyable context for
learning. However, this learning requires great preparation from the teachers.
b. Students:
The main aims of using videos and photos during the English classes are to
motivate and help students to understand this language. Students who watched
video were able to provide more complete and complex explainations. The gaps
in knowledge base between boys and girls and between minority and majority
students were smaller and closer. Video and photos can help to improve the
students’ problem-solving skills. They can produce more sophisticated solutions.
Both teachers and students are eager to make video clips for their lessons in
spite of spending so much time and preparation.
c.

Advantages of the video and photos:

Video can illustrate how thing works. It provides information in detail that text
can not. Video and photos can show real life examples and stimulate students’
discussions. Students listen to the teacher attentively. Students feel relax and
more confident when learning with video. Barners said that video could enhance
problem- based learning ( Barners, 1997).
d. Challenges
Beside all above advantages, there are also some challenges.
There may be a lack of resources because the number and quality of videos that
ministry of education provide are not enough for teachers.Teachers may lack
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equipment and required software. Not all teachers have a camcorder and are
good at technic.

VIII. Implications of the study
Every study should be applied to practice. The results of the study showed that
video and photos could be exploited as a supplementary method in teaching
English to the tenth grade students at Tran Phu High School.
Nonetheless, in order to fully exploit the approach, the following resources
should be taken into account.
1. The Teacher
The teacher should be wholeheartedly devoted to their job as he/she needs time,
enthusiasm and efforts to design lessons in accordance with the teaching
context, especially choosing and making video. For example, the teacher has to
spend a lot of time choosing and preparing suitable video for each lesson. You
can use programmes recorded from the TV in the country you’re in. or you can
use cartoons, soap operas or reality TV shows from the students’ country as they
will be able to tell you all about the characters and you can exploit the natural
information gap between you and them!
The use of Video is likely to create good opportunities for students to express
their feeling freely. This suggests that questions in this lesson should be
designed in a way that creates opportunities for the students to express their
minds frankly.
The teachers need to have video ideas and prepare carefully before going to the
classroom. Each video only lasts from 5 to 8 minutes. Some following topics
may make the students atractive:
School events: music show, guest speakers, school plays and sports... These
events would make great videos for a classroom
Student projects: Let students create videos as special projects or to
demonstrate their mastery of a concept, then post the video on the screen to
show off the learning that’s going on in your classroom.
Teaching videos: There are many educational videos available online, which
can be used to supplement lesson plans. Add the videos to the blog so students

can easily find them and watch them.
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2. The Students
The students' feelings, wishes, weaknesses and strengths should be
exposed more frankly so that the teacher can adapt their teaching methodology
flexibly. Apart from that, pair and group work should be taken advantage of so
that weaknesses can be compensated for.
In short, using video and photos in teaching English requires the support
and encouragement from other departments as well as the administration of the
whole .
IX. Practical part
1. Introduction
Video’ s activities have a wide use. Nevertheless, the practical part of this study
focuses on one group of learners: high school students, especially grade 10th.
The activities might be modified according to the level, age and interest of the
learners.
In the practical part there are concrete examples of video activities which were
tried out in three different levels of learners. There are both original and
modified activities included. The overtaken video activities were included in
order to illustrate how usual video activities can be modified into activities for
teaching.
The categorization of the activities is based on their main skill focus, topic, type
of task, other skills, level, time, function and purpose. The characterization helps
the teachers orientate in the activities and choose the appropriate activity
according to their needs.
Time suggested for each activity depends on the particular group of learners and
modification of the activity. The teacher had to count with longer time by
younger learners.

To illustrate concrete products of the learners, a few examples are included.
2. Activities (See PP lesson Plans and Watch videos in the CD at the
appendix).

There are some examples of Teaching English Effectively by Using Video clips
and photos to Tenth Grade of Tran Phu High School.
- Unit 1: A day in the life of...

Part A: Reading:

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In the part Before you read, I use a video clip in spite of a picture to illustrate the
life of the farmer in the fields. This video clip was recorded by my students and
I. The reason why I have to use this video clip is that most of my students were
born and grew up in the country. But they don’t know much about the farm life.
They could not immagine how hard it is. Because they do not pay attention to
things parents do for them everyday. But after watching this video clip, they
know more information about the farmers and their work. Our students disscuss
frankly about the life of the farmer, and give many sollutions for them. This
video clip helps our students read and understand the text about the life of the
villagers easier and feel sympathy for the farmers, from which they try to
overcome difficulties in learning to escape the poverty of the farmers.
- Unit 12: Music. B: Speaking.
+ In Warm up part: I let students play a game: Who’s Who. In this part, I use a
music video to raise the emotion of the students about music. They are eager to
talk about their favorite music, their favorite singers and their favorite songs.
+ In Task 1: In spite of asking students to read the text in the book about Ha
Anh’s favorite music, I ask students to wacth a video clip. This video clip is

about one of their friends. She talks about her favorite music and why. Students
feel very happy when seeing their friend in the video clip. They try to listen and
answer all the questions easily. This video clip also inspires the emotion of the
students. They ask and answer their parners all information about music. They
want to share what they think about music.
These video clip helps my lesson succeed. All my students feel relaxed and
confident when talking about their favorite music.
- Unit 16 : Historical places.

A: Reading :

In the part Before you read, I use a video clip and photos in spite of the last of
English 10. Many students don’t equivalent status to learn when finished second
semester exam. But when using this video clip has had more students toward
learning and learn interesting information about history and landmarks that we
do not know and have not been visited. This video helps our students read and
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understand the text about the historical places in Viet nam and in the world and
they hope that they will visit these places in the near future.

X: Result after applying the research in teaching.


Before applying the research in teaching

Class

Number

Like

Dislike

10A

45

16 (35%)

29 (65%)

10D

43

15 (34.8%)

28 (65.2%)



After applying the research in teaching

Class

Number

Like

Dislike

10A

45

35 (78%)

10 (22%)

10D

43

32 (74.4%)

11 (25.6%)

XI. Conclusion
1. Conclusions
This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using video and photos in
teaching English to the tenth grade students at Tran Phu High School. The study
showed both benefits and drawbacks when videos were used to teach English.
As regard for the advantages of the study, the findings showed that video could
benefit students' learning development. These benefits could be summarized as
follows:
- Video can illustrate how thing works.
- It provides information in detail that text can not.
- Video and photos can show real life examples and stimulate students’

discussions.
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- Students listen to the teacher more attentively.
- Students feel more relaxed and confident when learning with videos.
- Video and photos could enhance problem- based learning.
- In conclusion, the study shares the most common results of the study on using
video and photos in teaching English.
XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ
TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ

Nga Sơn , ngày 25 tháng 05 năm 2017.
Tôi xin cam đoan đây là sáng kiến kinh
nghiệm của mình viết, không sao chép nội
dung của người khác
Người Viết

Bùi Thị Lĩnh

References :
Nguyen Quoc Hung (2003). Video- Assisted Language Teaching and Learning.
The Ho Chi Minh Publishing House
Hoang Van Van et all. (2006). English Ten. The Publishing House of Ministry of
Education of Training.
Lonergan, J. (1984) Video in Language Teaching . Cambridge University Press.
Stempleski, S., Tomalin, B.: Video in Action: Recipes for Using Video in
Language Teaching. New York : Prentice Hall, 1990.
Allan M ( 1985 ) Teaching English with Video London : Longman
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