Internet resource suggestions: Using YouTube clips
YouTube is a great source of short clips that you can use to generate discussion, teach vocabulary
and practice sentences with your learner. If your learner has a computer and access to the
internet, you can watch clips online with your learner.
Another option if you have a laptop is to download YouTube videos for later viewing. There are a
number of programmes which allow you to do this. I use the free version of RealPlayer). This is a
programme which plays music and video clips. You can even edit video clips.
To get the programme, Google RealPlayer and go to the home page:
The free version is RealPlayer Basic
Following the on-screen instructions, download this and install it on your laptop (it is also available
for Mac).
You will then see a pop-up window when you access YouTube clips in Internet Explorer
Click if you want to save the video, and wait for it to download. The video is saved into the
RealPlayer library, and in Windows 7 you can also find it under “My videos.
You can then play the saved clip by opening RealPlayer and finding it in the library
A similar programme which works very well with the browser Mozilla Firefox is Freecorder:
http://applian.com/freecorder5/
Clips of everyday life
Users upload videos of useful everyday activities onto YouTube – for example:
1. daily routines: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-jW8FaJkJ8&feature=related
2. supermarket shopping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lsa0mgQmGM&feature=related
3. tours of their rooms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lsa0mgQmGM&feature=related
These are particularly useful for beginner learners.
Example of activities for a daily routine would be:
1. Teach vocabulary around the house – bed, pyjamas, bathroom, toothbrush.
2. Teach the expressions to describe a daily routine (e.g. she’s brushing her teeth, she’s
getting up, she’s making the bed), by freeze framing and pausing the video and saying the
sentences. You can do this several times.
3. Put each expression on a piece of card or paper and get the learner to point to the correct
one when it happens.
4. Then next time ask the learner to say the expressions as they happen.
Mr Bean
Mr Bean is very good source of teaching material because it often shows everyday activities, such
as shopping, packing to go on holiday, going to the dentist and so on. Because it has no words and
moves at a slow pace, it can be used with lower levels as well as more advanced students.
The example here shows Mr Bean in hospital:
There are some general activities that can be used with most clips:
o Brainstorm some vocabulary: ambulance, waiting room, patient, nurse, receptionist, stand
in a queue, queue-jump, ticket.
o Discuss what is happening: Mr Bean is parking his car behind the ambulance.
o Stop the video and discuss what is going to happen next: I think Mr Bean is going to run
round and sit in the empty chair.
o Explain why it is funny: You think Mr Bean is in the ambulance, and then you see him
driving close behind it.
o
o
o
Say what Mr Bean should have or shouldn’t have done: he shouldn’t have parked behind
the ambulance; he should have let the old man sit down
Say what Mr Bean is thinking: Oh bother, there’s a queue, I don’t want to wait.
Write the story after doing the above activities. You do this from the point of view of
someone else in the clip.
YouTube also has “ESL Mr Bean”,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6VCJDJ5I5c
This has explanatory text on the screen and some questions for you and your learner to answer:
(Please note: as with many things on the internet, you have to be careful – in fact none of these
questions is in the present continuous tense, although the text on the screen is)
Recipes
There are lots of recipes on YouTube. Some of them only have demonstrations and text, and some
of them have verbal instructions. Here is one for Anzac biscuits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQRg-fDztNk
You can use this in a number of ways:
Before watching: you can give your learner the list of ingredients: rolled oats, flour, caster sugar,
desiccated coconut, golden syrup, butter, bicarb of soda (baking soda). If your learner is not sure
what these are, you can search Google Images to illustrate them, or show the above picture.
Alternatively you can give your learner a picture of the finished product, and ask them to speculate
about how to make it.
Watching the clip: You can play the clip without sound first and talk about what you can see, and
then with the sound.
You can also ask your learner to answer some questions:
o How did Anzac biscuits get their name?
o What 4 ingredients did Nicko first put in the bowl?
o What do you have to do to the butter and the syrup before you add it?
o What happens when you add the bicarb of soda?
o How do you shape the biscuits?
o How hot should the oven be?
Follow up:
 Ask the learner to write out the recipe
 Ask the learner to tell you a recipe for a similar dish from their own country. There may
even be a YouTube version that you can watch together and compare with her version.
Adverts
Some classic New Zealand adverts are available on YouTube. Here is one from Mitre 10 which
has some useful idiomatic Kiwi language for talking about the weekend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=28pbk_cQx-w
Boy 1: What are you doing this weekend?
Boy 2: I’m putting up a retaining wall.
Boy 1: Doing it yourself?
Boy 2: Nah, I’m going to get some bloke in.
Boy 1: Oh, come on mate, do it yourself!
Boy 2: She’s pretty big job!
Boy 1: Oh, you’ll be right.
Boy 2: You reckon?
Boy 1: We can knock it over in half a day.
Boy 2: Yeah?
Boy 1: Get a couple of mates around. Hey Jonesy!
Jonesy: Ha?
Boy 1: Give us a hand with the job Saturday!
Jonesy: Nah, you’re dreaming!
Boy 2: Aussies!
Boy 1: Ah, no surprises there!
Voiceover: “DIY – it’s in our DNA”
This advert has some interesting features:
 Typical Kiwi expressions: mate; knock it over; you’ll be right; as well as some more general
idioms: give us a hand.

Using the present continuous tense to talk about a future plan:
o What are you doing this weekend?
o I’m putting up a retaining wall.

Features of spoken English – leaving some of written “grammar” out, e.g.
o Doing it yourself instead of “Are you doing it yourself?
o You reckon? instead of Do you reckon?

Some useful aspects of pronunciation:
o Running words together in rapid speech: Whadayer doing this weekend? Gedda
couplev mateseround.
o Special stress for emphasis: Oh come on mate, do it YERSELF!
o Rising intonation for questions You reckon? and falling for statements: We can
knock it over in half a day.
While I wouldn’t expect a learner necessarily to reproduce all of these features in their productive
speech, awareness of them will help them understand Kiwis better.
When you have explored the linguistic features of the clip, you can also talk about any cultural
aspects of the ad, for example the emphasis in NZ on doing things yourself, the belief in a “can-do”
attitude, and the traditional rivalry with Australians. How would a similar ad be presented in your
learner’s country?
The Australians get their revenge:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=JARkLg_lHFo
Video-enhanced texts – for reading practice
Find a poem which has some visual support for the meaning of the words. An example is this
simple poem “The dead” by Billy Collins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuTNdHadwbk
(Note that when you click on “Show more” you get the text of the poem in this clip)
You could first play through the video clip without sound and talk about what you can see, and try
and predict what the poem will say.
Then listen to the poem and see how close it is to your predictions. Finally listen and read the
poem together and discuss your reactions to it. In this case you can talk about how close this poem
is to your own beliefs about what happens after you die.
For lower levels a simpler poem is: “Alone”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMPOiiWjd88&feature=related
She sat in the park, on a bench, surrounded by privets
An opening to her left, an opening to her right
She came to be alone
And felt this was the perfect place to be alone
So she waited for someone to be alone with.
Other ideas:

Movie previews – discuss what the movie is about, what the genre is, and whether you’d
like to see it.

Episodes of Shortland Street: particularly useful for Kiwi idioms

“How to” videos on anything that your learner might find useful. Here’s one on removing
scratches from DVDs using Coke, toothpaste, baking soda and peanut butter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE1gvaM3iAs

Travel videos from the learner’s country: for example a typical market like this one in
Shanghai:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eusdbzQiF64
Or a home video like “My trip to china”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k_mjgVx1oI&feature=related
The learner can be the teacher here, explaining what is happening and what the unfamiliar
items for sale are, or where the places of interest are.

Job interview examples:
ESL example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppqcn1CiKEo&feature=related
Authentic example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDFljsZWcqA&feature=related
Can be used for listening practice; to give example of answers to common interview
questions; and as a biasis for discussion about good and bad interview techniques.

ESL teaching clips – warning: these vary widely in quality, so make sure you watch it
critically before deciding to use it.
Here is a reliable one with a variety of situations:
http://www.youtube.com/user/podEnglish/videos?sort=dd&view=0&page=2