Specific video-based techniques

    There is a great variety of activities that can accompany the use of video in the language classroom. The kind of technique that teacher chooses depends solely on learners’ needs, teacher’s objectives or the video itself. It is useful to find an appropriate video sequence first and then plan a relevant task. When planning communicative activities a teacher should take the advantage of VCR technology to create an information gap. Stop/start, wind/rewind and freeze frame buttons offer an obvious advantage of video technology over television. They enable the teacher to present or skip different sections of a footage in various ways as well as control the sound. The following are such examples of four video-based techniques (Harmer 1996:214).
SILENT VIEWING.
    This technique works best with dramatic sequences that contain strong visual cues (see lesson plan no.1, 3). Learners can be asked questions about the characters or events that take place and also to put down the dialogue (see lesson plan 3). Teacher may stop the tape e.g. every few seconds and ask the students to “jog down” what the characters are saying. Moreover, the teacher can stop the tape and ask students directly about what they see e.g. to name all the items visible on the screen. Of course all of these variations pivot on the kind of video material chosen to be used in the classroom.
JIGSAW VIEWING.
     This term describes the activity when one half of the class watches the video without sound and the other half listens only to the soundtrack. Then the students are put in pairs or groups and combine their information. It is advisable for the teacher to state some additional questions to help the students reaching a consensus. This kind of technique is rather time consuming for it involves two groups of students to leave the classroom interchangeably. “Split viewing” is another variation of this technique that is easier to apply. One group of students instead of leaving the class is seated with their backs to the screen and hears only the sound whereas the other group hears the sound and sees the picture simultaneously.
FREEZE FRAME.
     Freeze frame is a simple technique basically involving stopping the tape and asking students for predictions (see lesson plan no. 2). Before employing it the teacher must carefully plan in what specific moments on tape it can be used. After it is thoroughly planned it may swimmingly foster learners’ attention and curiosity about the particular video piece.
SOUND ONLY.
     It is yet another type of predictive technique where the students only listen to the sound and the television screen is covered with a cardboard or blackened. A suitable activity may require students to speculate about the setting, action and characters but this speculation is exclusively based on audible clues e.g. gunshots, background noises, dialogues.

Authentic video materials- characteristics, types & sources

    Authentic or non-English Language Teaching (non-ELT) materials are spoken in real English. Learners should rather be exposed to this kind of language that is spoken and designed for native users of English than to an oversimplified versions provided by course books which often aim at the presentation of grammatical rules. Therefore, my personal desire to concentrate my thesis rather on authentic than non-authentic video materials.
    Authentic videos are not aimed at learners of the language thus, they do not patronize them. They are certainly more enjoyable and genuine in contrast to non-authentic ones, which often develop a feeling of cheap imitation of real life among students. Culture is an important factor, too. These “real slices of life” not only represent the language but peoples, customs, food or other certain values characteristic for a target society. Consequently, carefully chosen materials may provide countless topics for cross-cultural discussion and writing activities. When learners successfully comprehend the material intended for native speakers, they have a sense of accomplishment and are motivated to look out and try to understand some other authentic materials on their own (Haines 1995:63).
    Undoubtedly, choosing the right video material according to the level of learners is crucial and wrongly selected material can lead to frustration. Nevertheless, the right material used in an appropriate way can be fun and effective for learners, particularly if it is subtitled. Allan (1991:24-30) suggests the following five categories of authentic video materials.
Drama.
    A common thing for all kinds of films is that they are acted thus a simulation of reality, which is the main issue here. There is no doubt that subtitles do help students a great deal when it comes to complex language structures. Carefully chosen piece of subtitled film may even serve as a successful introduction to a grammatical problem, which is to be discussed during the class. What is more, a subtitled piece in students’ native language may serve as a perfect aid for practicing grammar and communicative skills as well (see lesson plan no. 3).
Documentary.
    Since pieces of films are adequate to use in more animated classes when introducing situational language, documentaries are rather destined to present more serious topics. The factual information and opinions are most often presented verbally what can be discouraging for students, therefore, the teacher should be obliged to select the kind of material that incorporates pictures or photographs which would make exploiting of the topic easier. An obvious advantage of documentary to film is that it involves a commentary, presents location, people and interviews. These features give the teacher freedom of choice and decision of what to adapt to his lesson. An exercise involving the comprehension of a commentary may be used with more advanced students and, on the other hand, location images should be the most successful with intermediates or even beginners.
Current affairs and news programs.
    These are very similar to documentaries but much more condensed and shorter. Their advantage over documentaries is that they can be fully used, from the beginning to an end within a forty-five-minute class since their length should not exceed ten minutes. Similarly, the verbal message is rather difficult and challenging but visual cues that news are often accompanied with will certainly be facilitating for students.
Cartoons.
    Cartoons are originally made for children but there are no obstacles to presenting them before grown up audience. A great advantage seems to be length and a simple storyline that ends with a moral. However, cartoons are very likely to create comprehension problems among learners since their language is very colloquial and pronunciation often distorted what makes them difficult to follow. A subtitled version of a cartoon would, beyond all doubt, be the most beneficial.
Advertisements.
    Advertisements are excellent aids for language teaching. Every word and visual carries its meaning as commercials are aimed to play and stimulate viewers’ perceptions. They can contain good examples of language like description or persuasion but sometimes play with the meaning of words. Although incorrect pronunciation and spelling are frequent phenomena, advertisements may be extremely effective as prompts for communicative activities, namely role-plays.

SOURCES
    A desire to use video materials in the classroom is connected with the obvious problem of obtaining them. To dexterously handle and plan communicative activities in advance, a teacher should be in a possession of at least small video collection. The easiest possible solution are off-air recordings. With the use of VCR a teacher can record a number of suitable material for later use. However, cable television is not the only source. DVD (Digital Video Disk) is a relatively recent phenomenon that offers movies with a choice of subtitled version. It is an immense advantage for teachers from around Europe since they can always switch to subtitles in students’ native language no matter the country. It is a pity though, that this is rather costly an equipment and not so popular in Poland yet.