Date of submission:
ENRICHED FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Project
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT TASK for APRIL 2012
Target group: FOREIGN TEACHERS
Gimnazija Poljane
Juan De Teresa
School:
Author:
THE USE OF FILMS IN THE FL CLASSROOM
Films can play an important role in the FL classroom. They can be used to cultivate language skills,
develop media literacy and support intercultural learning. Nevertheless, their usage must be carefully
considered from the initial point of the selection of the film through its adaptation for classroom usage
to its eventual implementation. In terms of this project, it is the usability (ie. practicality and efficacy)
of films to assist in the delivery of intercultural education that is of key importance, namely:
 to develop intercultural awareness;
 to develop intercultural sensitivity;
 to develop intercultural communicative competence; and
 to promote empathy, understanding and acceptance of other(nes)s.
INSTRUCTIONS:
This R&D task requires you to read the emailed journal article (Roell, 2010) and use it as an impetus to
start producing an open and flexible catalogue of suitable films for use in the FL classroom.
1. Read the Roell’s (2010) journal article “Intercultural Training through Film”. In particular pay
close attention to the following aspects:
a. The cultural theme categories which Roell has identified.
b. The techniques employed during the pre-, while- and post-viewing phases of the
implementation.
c. The questions used to evaluate the intercultural aspects of a film.
2. Reflect on what you read in Roell (2010). Do you think the techniques and activities she identifies
are worthwhile?
3. Conduct an Internet search of different films (in your target language) which could be utilised in
the FL classroom for (inter)cultural learning. Ensure you use the Appendix 1 guiding questions
when conducting your review.
4. Use the enclosed matrix to tabulate your findings from the previous step.
Operacijo delno financira Evropska unija iz Evropskega socialnega sklada ter Ministrstvo za šolstvo in šport. Operacija se izvaja v okviru Operativnega programa razvoja človeških virov v obdobju 2007-2013, razvojne
prioritete: Razvoj človeških virov in vseživljenjsko učenje; prednostne usmeritve: Izboljšanje kakovosti in učinkovitosti sistemov izobraževanja in usposabljanja.
Reflections on Roell (2010)
I FOUND THE ARTICLE BY Roell quite interesting. I found particularly usefull some of the
activities she proposes, for instance the one in which the class is divided in groups and each one
adopts the point of view of one of the characters, trying to look for the reasons of his/her behaviour.
Values like empathy can be worked with it as well as verbal expression in a role-playing debate.
Some other activities I have already been using them during lessons involving seeing films. But still
there area a lot of suggestions that I will be able to put into practice.
I also liked to read some conceptual background about things that many times I was doing without all
that reflection behind.
The article can be even more usefull for English teachers, as they have a lot of different films suitable
for the classroom.
For the films reviews, I got the synopsis from internet (mostly IMDB) but I did watched all of
them and most of them even used them in class. Keywords are in Spanish, as I guess the goal is
to create a database for Spanish teachers.
Submitted by
23 of April, 2012
Enclosure 1: REVIEW OF FILMS – TARGET FOREIGN LANGUAGE: SPANISH
Choose and describe 5 - 7 films. Give reasons for your selection of each film.
No
1.
2.
Film Title /Year of
Production
LA LENGUA DE LAS
MARIPOSAS (1999)
VOLVER (2006)
Synopsis of film with setting
(at least 100 words for each film)
For Moncho, it's an idyllic year: he starts
school, he has a wonderful teacher, he makes a
friend in Roque, he begins to figure out some
of the mysteries of Eros, and, with his older
brother, a budding saxophone player, he makes
a trip with the band from their town in Galicia.
But it's also the year that the Spanish Republic
comes under fire from Fascist rebels.
Moncho's father is a Republican as is the aging
teacher, Don Gregorio. As sides are drawn and
power falls clearly to one side, the forces of
fear, violence, and betrayal alter profoundly
what should be the pleasure of coming of age.
Raimunda, her daughter Paula and her sister
Sole travel from Madrid to the windy and
superstitious village of Alcanfor de las
Infantas to visit the grave of their mother and
aunt Irene, who died years ago in a fire with
her husband. Then they visit Irene's sister
Paula, an old senile aunt that raised Raimunda
after the death of her parents that insists to tell
them that Irene is alive and living with her;
later, they go to the house of her neighbor and
friend Agustina, who gives a support to Paula.
They return to Madrid, and after a hard day of
work, Raimunda meets her daughter
completely distraught at the bus stop waiting
for her. When they arrive home, Paula tells
that she killed her unemployed father Paco,
who was completely drunk and tried to rape
her.
Genre
drama
Comedy/dram
a
Keywords /
Intercultural topics
Guerra Civil,
educación, escala de
valores, infancia,
relación estudiantemaestro
Length
(mins)
96
Contraste vida
rural/vida en la ciudad,
superstición, Espana
profunda, problemas
sociales y familiares
(desempleo, violencia
de género, abuso
sexual)
121
Rating
Classroom
Suitability Level
3 in 4 letnik
2 in 3 letnik
3.
LOS LUNES AL SOL
(2002)
4.
RETORNO A
HANSALA (2008)
While Raimunda is hiding his body, Sole calls
her to tell that their beloved aunt Paula had
died. On the next morning, Sole travels alone
to the funeral, and when she returns to Madrid,
she finds her mother hidden in the trunk of her
car. She brings Irene to her apartment, where
secrets from the past are disclosed
men without jobs, in the port city of Vigo. Six
men worked in a shipyard, now shuttered.
They pass the time at La Naval, a bar opened
by one of them after the yard closed. They face
their futures in makeshift ways: Rico has his
bar and a sharp 15-year-old daughter, Reina
has become a watchman and a moralizer, Lino
fills out job applications, Amador drinks
heavily and talks of his wife's return; José is
married to Ana, who works at a cannery and
tires of being the breadwinner amidst José's
emasculated moodiness; Santa, the group's
conscience and troublemaker, occasionally
fantasizes about Australia. In truth, all are
joined like Siamese twins, adrift
Near the Strait of Gibraltar, in the city of
Algeciras, harried Spaniard Martin (Jose Luis
Garcia Perez) runs an undertaking business.
When the bodies of numerous African
migrants wash up on shore -- a plot point
ripped from real life -- he sees a payday and
agrees to assist. A scribbled phone number in
the fist of one corpse leads him to Leila (Farah
Hamed); it's her little brother, whom she
financed on his fateful trip. When Martin
agrees to drive Leila to her remote Atlas
Mountains village to return the body, it
becomes a voyage of discovery for them both.
drama/comedy
Desempleo, escala de
calores,
superviviencia,
amistad, globalización,
113
drama
Inmigration, estrecho
de Gibraltar,
diferencias
interculturales, respeto
y tolerancia hacia otras
culturas
95
2, 3 in 4 letnik
5.
7:35 DE LA
MANANA (2003)
6.
EL LABERINTO DEL
FAUNO (2006)
7.
MAR ADENTRO
(2004)
Helmer Chus Gutierrez avoids an early
temptation to take pic toward Martin's money
troubles; once they're on the road, story flows.
Trim tech package is marred by the extreme
shakiness of d.p. Kiko de la Rica's otherwise
attractive images.
A woman enters the café where she has
breakfast every morning and finds that all of
the other diners are staring at their plates in
silence.
In 1944 fascist Spain, a girl, fascinated with
fairy-tales, is sent along with her pregnant
mother to live with her new stepfather, a
ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During
the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an
old faun in the center of the labyrinth. He tells
her she's a princess, but must prove her royalty
by surviving three gruesome tasks. If she fails,
she will never prove herself to be the the true
princess and will never see her real father, the
king, again.
Ramón Sampedro (Javier Bardem) was a
fisherman and part-time poet who, at the age
of 26, suffered an accident while diving that
left him a bedridden quadriplegic. Now 54,
Ramón must depend on his family to survive.
While grateful to his family and friends for
their help, Ramón was always an active
person, and as the years wore on, he has come
to see his life as frustrating and pointless and
wishes to die with what remains of his dignity.
drama/dark
comedy
drama
drama
Mezcla de tiempos
pasados, costumbres
espanolas, el bar como
institución
Posguerra espanola,
infancia, imaginación,
cuentos de hadas
8
2 in 3 letnik
119
4 letnik
Eutanasia, dignidad,
derecho a la muerte
125
4 letnik
No
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Film Title
LA LENGUA DE LAS
MARIPOSAS (1999)
VOLVER (2006)
LOS LUNES AL SOL
(2002)
RETORNO A
HANSALA (2008)
7:35 DE LA MANANA
(2003)
EL LABERINTO DEL
FAUNO (2006)
MAR ADENTRO
(2004)
Argumentation of choice
It was part of a series of films meant to be used as a cycle in wich History of Spain was teached thrugh the use of films. It also
portrays the way education was understood in the 30's and the importance of the teacher as a reference in early childhood
It allows a good discussion about how is life in rural, deep Spain, focused on the land of Almodóvar and Don Quijote. It shows as
well the courage of some women who will be ablo to do everything to survive.
It is an excellent film about the consequences of externalization of companies due to globalization. It shows the effect of
unemployment in the lives of normal, every-day people who, first of all, learn how to keep their dignity above everything else.
Gives a great opportunity to discuss cultural differences and misunderstandings that happen when whe judge the other before
getting to know him. It also deals with an important social issue in nowadays Spain, as it is the drama of inmigration from Africa
through the Strait of Gibraltar.
Is a short film and, therefore, not so time-consuming as a whole film. It portrays some typical Spanish costums in a shocking
manner but, best of all, it allows students to practice different past tenses in a ludic and clarifying way.
It is one of the films thought to be included in a group of lessons about Spanish History, like La lengua de las mariposas.Besides
that, is a great film to establish simmilarities and differences with the book students need to read for Matura (No soy un libro),
which gives them a better understanding of it and a broader sense of interpretation.
It is able to deal in a subtile but powerful way with a delicate issue like eutanasia and the right to die with dignity. It is meant to be
used as part of a group of films that deal with moral issues that in my opinion should be more extensively discussed in Gimnazija.