An engaging way to liven up any ESL/EFL class is through the use of movie trailers, which can provide many benefits. First, movie trailers are an authentic source of material, which expose students to real situations that can sometimes be missing from textbooks (Cheung, 2001; King, 2002). The use of authentic sources has played a pivotal role in communicative language teaching, with its emphasis on contextualized language and communicative competence (Sandsberry, 1979). In addition, non-ESL/EFL specific materials expose students to a wide range of native speakers, colloquial English, and aspects of American culture (King, 2002; Johnson, 2006).

Next, and most important, movie trailers are motivating and offer a novel kind of entertainment in the ESL/EFL classroom. King (2002) noted that movie-based instruction offers “a refreshing learning experience for the student” (p. 510). This research points to the benefits of using authentic materials like movies; however, movie trailers provide even more advantages in that they are short, free and readily accessible, and very current, and they also encourage students to continue their language learning outside the classroom.

Given the advantages of using movie trailers, there is value in integrating them into your regular teaching practice. In our demonstration at the TESOL 2014 conference, we shared our systematic steps for creating an effective movie trailer lesson that can be adapted to any level or target skill. There are four steps for creating a lesson based on a movie trailer: (1) identify the target skill(s), (2) find an appropriate trailer, (3) prepare the lesson, and (4) teach it.

Identify the Target Skills

The first step is to identify the target skill(s) to be covered, which can include any skill area, as trailers are very versatile; among others, grammar, vocabulary, listening, speaking, pronunciation, and writing can be practiced with movie trailers. It goes without saying that multiple skills can be developed in one movie trailer. For instance, first students can listen for gist, and thereafter, the same trailer can be used for listening for details, thus maximizing the lesson. Then, grammar points such as articles or prepositions can be covered (or reviewed). Trailers can lend themselves to vocabulary in context where students use the visuals, in addition to the spoken language, to help discern the meanings of new words. Finally, with the same trailer, students can be asked to do various post-viewing activities such as writing summaries or opinion pieces about whether they want to see the movie or not. Such tasks can encourage students to integrate target vocabulary and grammar into their writing. Another post-reading option is to have learners practice reading by doing further research online about the movie reviews, actors, or historical and cultural context of the film.

Find an Appropriate Trailer

Popular websites like iTunes Movie Trailers, Fandango, and movietickets.com are good places to begin because the most current movie trailers are available. Many of these sites also have free apps students can download onto their personal devices (i.e. smartphones and tablets), and this promotes language use outside the classroom. YouTube is also another good site to look for older movie trailers. If your classroom lacks Internet access, you may want to consider alternatives such as reserving a campus computer lab, using older trailers available on DVD/VHS, or downloading the trailer from YouTube.

Once you find a trailer, consider the target skills you wish to teach or review. If the trailer doesn’t have exactly what you are looking for, try to keep an open mind; you may see something in the trailer that would work well for another lesson in the future. However, the reality is that trailers offer a rich source of authentic language structures, so many times you may find what you are looking for by watching just several trailers in preparation for your lesson. Another tip to finding trailers is to be on the lookout for something that can be used for class when you are watching a movie for your own personal enjoyment. Finally, important considerations for selection include rate and clarity of the speech, formal or informal speech, and vocabulary level. Trailers should also always be screened beforehand with cultural considerations in mind to avoid swearing, nudity, and explicit violence that could lead to difficult classroom situations and student discomfort.

Prepare the Lesson

The third step in the process is creating a cohesive lesson and handouts. You may want to type out the whole transcript or only sections of it as a guide for the creation of your activities. Transcribing usually takes little time, because trailers are brief and very handy as the same script can be used in a variety of activities. The lesson should contain pre-, during-, and post-trailer activities.

Pre-trailer activities can include a speaking or free-writing task with questions about the genre of the movie or the movie in general. Another useful pre-trailer activity is to preview key vocabulary important for overall understanding of the plot. Depending on the activities that occur later in the lesson, it is helpful for the students to review the target skills and structures (e.g., grammar or punctuation points) as a warm-up activity.

After doing the pre-tasks, the next activity is to actually watch the trailer in class. Students can be shown the trailer once to get a general impression of the film. Then, the trailer can be repeated to provide more opportunities for the learners to view and listen for linguistic features, depending on the skill you want to focus on. Following the second viewing, the students can participate in post-activities, which will extend the language learning into other target skills. Post-activities could include oral or written summaries, prediction activities, scene reenactment of the trailer and/or potential scenes that the students can generate, reflection/opinion about seeing the full movie, and additional follow-up practice with the target forms. Sample handouts of trailer lessons for the films Thor: The Dark World and Island of Lemurs: Madagascar can be downloaded at Maximize Movie Trailers.

Teach the Lesson

Once the lesson is prepared, all that remains is the fourth step: Teach it. Students and teachers alike enjoy these lessons because they inject entertainment and authenticity into language learning. The steps we’ve suggested have proven successful in our classrooms and can serve as a guide for those wanting to create a similar lesson. There are a myriad of ways to use trailers for different levels and skills, and these steps provide structure to maximizing use of a trailer for the needs of different types of learning environments.

REFERENCES

Cheung, C. (2001). The use of popular culture as a stimulus to motivate secondary students' English learning in Hong Kong. ELT Journal, 55(1), 55–61.

Johnson, A. (2006). English trailers v4: An example of an ESL/EFL website that transformed from a testing to a teaching focus. JALT CALL Journal, 2(1), 53–69.

King, J. (2002). Using DVD feature films in the EFL classroom. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 15(5), 509–523.

Sandsberry, L. (1979). Magazine ads and logic in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 13, 501–507.

Vickie Mellos began her career teaching English to children and young adults in Greece in 2004. While abroad, she transitioned to teaching college students and professional adults at the Hellenic American Union in addition to conducting oral examinations of English for the University of Michigan English Language Institute. Since receiving her master’s degree in linguistics from San Diego State University in 2011, she has been teaching ESL and teacher training courses at the American Language Institute. Also, she teaches ESOL, basic skills, and English composition at San Diego Miramar College and San Diego State University.