Thread: USING TV PROGRAMMES TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

We have just entered the XXIst century and society is changing, adapting itself to the new scientific advances and new ways of life. Working women are now a reality, there are new machines and household appliances coming out every minute, and above all, Internet, which has nearly butted into our everyday life and has become an essential ressource.
All these changes do affect families, moral values, the use of our free time and the way mass media reach the public, but they also affect children and their education.

We, as teachers, must bear in mind the power of those changes and devices to get our main purpose: MOTIVATION. For this, we should know the likings of our pupils and use them to our purpose (what kind of TV programmes they watch, games they play, the kind of music they like, etc) In this way, language teachers have a wide field in which to move freely, in order to have their pupils introduced to communication in the new language through activities adapted to their level of knowlegde.So I set myself the task of making some questionnaires, adding words and structures that had previously come out in class. Finally, in May, during the “Día del Centro”, two teams played the game. This was a real success and it was recorded in a homemade video.

This activity has many advantages: it is dynamic, activates previous knowledge and promotes listening and speaking abilities together with a quick mental activity.
I have also worked on the Trivial Pursuit model, using knowledge from other areas and giving free way to cross-curricular themes: Ex: Which river crosses London? What’s the capital of France?
Language Teachers must be professionals open to all methodological possibilities. All resources to our disposal can be extremely good at a certain moment, and we shouldn’t get stuck up in traditional methods.
We shouldn’t either become too “technological” and forget the social and cultural components of older resources and devices (nursery rhymes in Children Education, for example). Getting the pupils too immersed in CD-Rom activities or interactive computer exercises may in the long run destroy the conviviality and contact with their classmates.

If we strike the perfect balance, we’ll see results emerge: happy pupils using a lively English.


I am really interested in teaching very young learners (3-6 years old children). If you have any experience and you want to share it, I'll be very grateful.