I use short, funny video clips a lot when I’m teaching ELLs, and you can read in detail about how I use them in The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL (& How To Use Them). In short, there are many ways to use them that promote speaking, listening, writing and reading (including having students describe – in writing and verbally – a chronological description of what they saw).
I’ve posted quite a few of them during the second half of this year, and I thought it would be useful to readers — and to me — if I brought them together in one post.
I’ve also published quite a few during the previous seven years of this blog. You can find those in these lists:
All My 2015 “Best” Lists In One Place
The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2015 – So Far
The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2014 – Part Two
The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2014 – Part One
The Best Videos For Educators In 2014 – So Far
The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2013 – Part Two
The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2013 — So Far
The “All-Time” Best Videos For Educators
The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2012 (Part Two)
The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2012 (Part One)
The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2011
The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2010
Part Two Of The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2009
The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2009
The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2008
The Best Movie Scenes To Use For English-Language Development
The Best Funny Videos Showing The Importance Of Being Bilingual Or Multilingual — Part One
The Best Pink Panther Fight Scenes For English Language Learners
The Best Videos Illustrating Qualities Of A Successful Language Learner
The Best Sports Videos To Use With English Language Learners
The Best Video Clips Of Sneaky Critters
The Best Videos Showing “Thinking Outside The Box” — Help Me Find More
The Best Fun Videos To Teach Language Conventions — Help Me Find More
The Best Funny Videos To Help Teach Grammar – Help Me Find More
The Best Movie Scenes For Halloween
The Best Christmas Videos For English Language Learners – Help Me Find More
Okay, now here are my choices for The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2015 — Part Two:
Here’s a video that would be a could one to show English Language Learners. They can describe orally and in writing the chronology of events. It shows a system this cat’s owner has created so the cat “hunts” for his/her dinner:
Here’s a great series of short commercials with the theme “Don’t Judge Too Quickly.” They would good for English Language Learners to watch and describe what they see, along with learning the critical thinking lesson that it’s dangerous to make assumptions.
First off, here’s a group of them together. The second to the last one, however, is probably not appropriate to show in class:
Here’s another one:
There are others on YouTube, too, but, like the one I cautioned about in the first collection, they are a little “iffy” to show in class.
I’ve written in my New York Times column about how I use optical illusions with English Language Learners, and I certainly use them when teaching perception in my Theory of Knowledge class. You can many that I’ve previously posted here.
The 2015 Illusion Of The Year has been announced, and here it is:
The upcoming movie “The Secret Life of Pets” looks like it’s a winner, if this new trailer for it is an accurate picture of what it will be like. The trailer itself would be great to show English Language Learners and have them describe in writing and verbally what happens in it. In addition, the segment in the trailer showing how the cat is trying to demonstrate self-control would be a great example to demonstrate an unsuccessful strategy to use….
Though slightly depressing at the end, the Oscar-nominated short would be great for English Language Learners to watch and describe what happened:
Hi Larry,
Just to let you know that we’ve shortlisted this blog post for this month’s TeachingEnglish blog award and I’ll be putting up a post about it on today’s TeachingEnglish Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil, if you’d like to check there for likes and comments.
Best,
Ann
Thanks, Ann!