Introduction

More than 70 years ago, in 1939, W. S. Hendrix published a paper in The Journal of Higher Education, titled “Films in the Learning of Foreign Languages: Services to Be Gained From Motion Pictures in Teaching Foreign Languages.” According to Hendrix, who was then at the Ohio State University,

Little has been done in the utilization of moving pictures in the teaching of foreign languages, but the moving-picture industry in this country has made our students so familiar with films for entertainment that the adaptation of their use to another field would be simple. (p. 308)

Hendrix was right about student familiarity with films for entertainment, even in the 1930s, and with the growth of a global film industry, it is even more so the case these days than it was then. But the idea that their use in the language classroom “would be simple” was less accurate, and the use of films in language classrooms has expanded considerably since then, spurred on by the development of video recording machines in the 1980s.

As a result, there was a flurry of books at that time, such as Marion Geddes and Gil Sturtridge’s Video in the Language Classroom (1982), and Video Applications in English Language Teaching (1983) by Brumfit, McGovern and MacKnight. The interest in using films in language classrooms continued throughout the 1990s, into the new millennium (e.g., Chapple and Curtis, 2000) and to the present day (e.g., Curtis, 2012), with ideas such as “doing more with less” and “mining the material” becoming recurring themes, partly to avoid cognitive overload of the learners.

A common problem is that teachers can easily and inadvertently show too much of a film to learners at one time, which can lead to cognitive overload, in which too much linguistic and cultural input is given in too little time. The reason this happens often is because film is such a rich medium, even a few minutes of film may contain much larger quantities and qualities of linguistic and cultural input than teachers might realize (Curtis, 2012). Therefore, to make better use of film, and to avoid cognitive overload, when I run workshops for teachers, I encourage them to use shorter film clips, of a maximum of a few minutes, and to reshow these clips in a variety of different ways, for example, with the volume on or off, with and without subtitles, etc.

Using The Terminal

The Terminal is a film directed by Stephen Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, which was released in 2004, and grossed over 200 million U.S. dollars worldwide. While the film received mixed reviews and it did not win any major awards, for the purposes of English language teaching and learning, this may be one of its strengths as it is accessible to a wide and varied audience, with many clear and compact dialogues.

The film’s relatively simple plot is based on Tom Hanks’ character, Viktor Navorski, who is stranded at JFK airport in New York because his home country, Krakozhia broke out in civil war while he was visiting the United States. As a result, Navorski cannot be deported back to Krakozhia, and he cannot be released onto U.S. soil, so he is stuck in JFK, where he ends up living and working for 9 months.

During that time, Viktor makes friends with many of the staff who work at the airport, including Enrique Cruz (played by Diego Luna), who, like Viktor, is also a non-native speaker of English and works in food services, delivering meals to the planes. As a result, he provides meals for Viktor, and in return Viktor helps Enrique get to know another airport employee, the immigration officer Dolores Torres (played by Zoe Saldana). Viktor goes to see Dolores many, many times, each time asking her to stamp his immigration card with the mark that will allow him to enter America, and each time she has to reject his application. In spite of this, Dolores and Viktor develop a friendship and he asks her about her life, including whether or not she has a boyfriend, which Enrique is very keen to know, as he is strongly attracted to her.

“Doing More With Less” and “Mining the Material”

A good example of using films to “do more with less” in the language classroom is utilizing a scene from The Terminal which lasts just 56 seconds, but which can be used to teach several aspects of speaking, listening, and pronunciation. The scene takes place approximately 40 minutes into the film. During the short clip, a great deal of linguistic and cultural information is conveyed and exchanged using a variety of means. Following is a transcription of the scene, in which Enrique Cruz (EC) speaks with Viktor Navorski (VN):

EC: So, she had a boyfriend?
VN: Mm-mm (nods head, with mouth full, eating)
EC: For how long?
VN: Says nothing (still eating) but holds up two fingers
EC: For two years?
VN: Says nothing (still eating) but nods his head
EC: What happened?
VN: He chit.
EC: What?
VN: He chit.
EC: Eat s**t?!
VN: He chit.
EC: (Says nothing but looks confused)
VN: He chit. He chit. He chit!
EC: OK. Try to repeat exactly what she said.
VN: He chit. She catch him. So…
EC: Oh! He cheats!
VN: Yes. Yes. Yes! What we call “Krushkach.” We say “Krushkach.”
VN: One man. Two womans. (holding up first one finger, then two fingers). So, crowded. You know… Ah! (makes a downward chopping motion with his hand)
EC: OK. He cheats.
VN: Mm-mm (still eating).
EC: You say “cheats” not “chit.”
VN: He chit.
EC: No, no. “Cheat”
VN: Enrique (pointing a finger at Enrique). You, no chit.
EC: No cheat.
VN: No chit.
EC: Yeah. No, I won’t. I won’t cheat.
VN: She’s a nice girl. She won’t take your chitting.

The scene contains only around 100 words and takes less than a minute. So, even in the shortest language lesson of 30 minutes, the scene could be shown several times, in a number of different ways, and still leave most of the lesson for pre-viewing and postviewing activities, before and after seeing the scene. It is also important to note that there are around 30 conversational turns in the scene, making the average turn just a few words long, which helps prevent cognitive overload and increase understanding. There is also a lot of paralinguistic support, with head-nodding, holding up of fingers, use of hands, facial expressions, and so on, all of which can also help the students understand the communication between these two characters.

Added to the paralinguistic support, there is a lot of repetition of words and phrases, especially Viktor’s attempt to say “He cheats” or “He cheated,” which becomes “He cheat,” which then becomes “He chit,” in which the long vowel /iː/ gets shortened to /ɪ/. Also, the students with higher level listening skills in English are able to appreciate how “He chit” can become “Eat s**t,” with the /h/ in “he” dropped, and the /tʃ/ in “cheat” becoming /ʃ/. This can happen easily if the two words are repeatedly quickly, as Viktor repeats them, when he becomes animated in his explanation to Enrique. The students are also quick to point out Viktor’s error, when he says: “One man. Two womens,” which then leads into another discussion about how words in English like “woman” and “women” contrast singularity with plurality, not by adding “-s” but by changing the vowel sounds.

These kinds of phonemic shifts have led to some rich discussions with students about the importance of sounds in relation to meaning, and how small changes in sounds can result in big changes in meaning. Most of the English language teachers and learners I have worked with know only too well the “ship” versus “sheep” minimal pair activities. But material like this breathes life back into that kind of exercise, using highly engaging audio-visual input, which is contextualized within the larger framework of a narrative sequence.

Conclusion

There are a number of scenes like this one in this film. For example, in the scene immediately following the conversation between Viktor and Enrique, Viktor and Dolores engage in the following exchange (OT = Officer Torres):

OT: Next.
VN: Officer Torres. Have you been ever in the love?
OT: Enough, Viktor. Who is it? Who is telling you to ask me these things?
VN: It’s a man of misery.
OT: Misery? You mean “mystery”?
VN: No, no. Misery. Man of misery. He’s so sick. He’s so in love.

This scene is less than 30 seconds, but even in that very short time, it still illustrates a number of aspects of English, in terms of the relationships between sounds and meanings, as well as features such as word order. Again, the students are often quick to point out the grammatical problems with Viktor’s question to Dolores: “Have you been ever in the love?” These two examples show that, by carefully selecting scenes from carefully chosen films, it is possible to “do more with less” and to “mine the material,” to develop students’ speaking, listening, and pronunciation skills in creative and engaging ways that attract the students’ attention and hold it.

References

Brumfit, C. J., McGovern, M., & MacKnight (1983). Video applications in English language teaching. London, UK: Pergamon Press and The British Council.

Chapple, L., & Curtis, A. (2000). Content-based instruction in Hong Kong: Student responses to film. System, 28(3), 419–433.

Curtis, A. (2012). Doing more with less: Using film in the English language classroom in China. Research on English Education, 1(1), 30–47.

Geddes, M., & Sturtridge, G. (1982). Video in the language classroom. London, UK: Heinemann.

Hendrix, W. S. (1939). Films in the learning of foreign languages: Services to be gained from motion pictures. The Journal of Higher Education, 10(6), 308–311.

Spielberg, S., Parkes, W.F., & MacDonald, L. (Producers). Spielberg, S. (Director). (2004). The terminal. United States: Amblin Entertainment and Parkes/MacDonald Productions.

Andy Curtis received his MA in applied linguistics and his PhD in international education, both from the University of York in England. He served on TESOL’s Board of Directors from 2007 to 2010, and he is currently teaching MA TESOL courses offered online by Anaheim University, in California. He writes a regular blog for TESOL titled Teaching and Learning Online.