Below is a sort of treasury of the best MT clips we have collected here. They are so good that if we don’t have time to plan a class we can just come to this article or click on the Movie Talk hard link across the top of this page, choose one, plug in and start class. If you have any other gems you have another one send it to me and I will add it immediately to this list.
People who are new to Movie Talk are encouraged to first read in that category here:
https://benslavic.com/blog/category/movie-talk/
Note that Michele Whaley properly credits Dr. Ashley Hastings as the creator of MovieTalk. People considering using MovieTalk are encouraged to go to Martina Bex’s site below to get some background information on this excellent tool before visiting any of the articles in the MovieTalk category:
http://martinabex.com/teacher-training/movietalk/
(Please provide me with corrections, omissions, additions, updated links, etc. in the comment fields below about any of these clips.)
Here are the clips:
El Monstruo del Armario (for Halloween), submitted by Martin Anders:
The Black Hole, submitted by Martin Anders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3H
Darth Vader Volkswagen commercial, submitted by Louisa Walker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0
“Cat-man-do” Simon’s Cat, submitted by Carol Hill (French only):
Carol adds:
Possible target structures are wakes up, wants to sleep, cannot sleep, hits him, jumps, pulls, takes, pretends to sleep, hungry, some body parts, feels like eating, is busy sleeping.
Die Sendung mit der Maus, submitted by Robert Harrell (NOT LIMITED TO GERMAN):
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=die+Sendung+mit+der+maus
Robert Harrell on the above link:
It’s a children’s program that includes vignettes of a little over a minute in length. They feature a rather large mouse, a small blue/purple elephant and a pink rabbit. There is no speech, but there are sound effects, and the elephant and rabbit have “voices” without words.
Pillow Fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IeS5IU4Odushttps://www.youtube.com/watch
Class by Eric Herman demonstrating the use of the above link:
v=HGO7WX4q5AI&feature=player_embedded
30+ animation shorts without dialogue, submitted by Kyle Carr:
youtube.com/playlist?list=FLmGRD-jEANtej9xSPDT7y_Q
Crayon Dragon, submitted by Kyle Carr: youtube.com/watch?v=EorkUqmeHds
Alma, submitted by Sean Lawler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irbFBgI0jhM
Dragonboy, submitted by Chris Stolz:
iPad vs. Paper, submitted by Eric Herman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR4mlLiyjYo&feature=youtu.be
Wildebeest from BirdBox Studios, submitted by Eric Herman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMJXvsCLu6s&feature=youtu.be
Mr. Bean Takes the Stairs, submitted by Eric Herman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWwCj-GPel0&feature=youtu.be
The Force Volkswagen Comercial, submitted by Eric Herman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0&feature=youtu.be
Destiny, submitted by Eric Herman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEKLEeY_WeQ&feature=youtu.be
Fly Guy or any other Simon’s Cat video, submitted by Eric Herman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1qHVVbYG8Y&feature=youtu.be
Messi vs. Kobe, submitted by Eric Herman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruav0KvQOOg&feature=youtu.be
Paperman, submitted by Eric Herman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSxJkKiHXbw&feature=youtu.be
Comments by Eric Herman on the above clips:
I have done these with a link to the clip on YouTube and a link to an accompanying reading:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EajK__C8PDdj1sE4zdT6mLRdVq__U_XlnSDARSkVqiY/edit
I use MovieTalk like Step 2 of TPRS. I spend at least 3 fifty minute classes on 1 minute MovieTalk clips. To me, the best clips are those that have repetitive plots, like the 3 scenes/events of a TPRS story script. Then, it is easier to pick 2-3 target structures that keep coming up in the clip.
Movie trailers for MT, submitted by Dennis Gallagher:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYOcC-8GxaI (French only)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv7P2KDzMOE (French only)
Comments by Dennis Gallagher on the use of the above movie trailers in MT classes:
These are both videos with speech. What I usually do is play it through without the sound and ask the students to write down a list of words (French/English doesn’t matter) that they have learned which relate to what they see on the trailer. Then they listen to the French just so they can hear a few words that they know. From that point on, I use Keynote/PP using frames to discuss the story and embedded readings. I find the Keynote easier to operate than pausing/rewinding a video. Of course, some frames provide more discussion than others, so I focus on them.
Christy Miller’s database of some clips used by teachers for MovieTalk, submitted by Diane Neubauer, posted originally on the moretprs list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amsk6rejsRZ_dENfcnhCSTFKUWx5Z3NvUGVxVVRlSnc&usp=sharing#gid=0
Caminandes.com, submitted by Angie Dodd:
http://www.caminandes.com/
Power Point by Leah Turner created for the new film Beauty and the Beast coming out in Germany, based on the french original:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3jpi5oZMfagbFVBaFFCVUtXWmM/edit?usp=sharing
Comments by Leah Turner on the above link:
Any language could use this, except it’s nice to be able to watch the trailer afterwards with the German sound. But, you don’t have to use sound.
I didn’t write down sentences for each slide because we did this after we read an easy reader version of the story for over a month. So, the students all had lots of vocab to work with already.
Chicken or the Egg, submitted by Chris Stolz:
youtube.com/watch?v=nfYPktsd9bs
Comments by Chris Stolz on the Chicken or Egg clip:
It’s 3:23 long, has sound and music (but no talking, yay!) and tells a complete story. You could use any of the following: has, wants, likes, falls in love with, decides, wakes up, goes to bed, sees, goes, eggs, chicken, pig etc. Also #s, colours, day, night, etc.
It’s great. I thought it would take 20 min but it took an hour! I circled in the present tense and when we finished, I asked t/f and one-word answers in past tense. Today I did dictado with 10 or so sentences from the film. My beginners at this point have had about 75 hours of CI and this one worked perfectly, and would also work well for more advanced kids.
MovieTalk ROCKS. What an amazing, fun tool.
When anything appears or happens on screen, I pause the film, and ask a question. Like every 20-30 sec or so. In this film, I first asked “what’s his name?” when the pig appears. Then I asked, “what is he eating/wearing.” Etc. What does he see? Who is he looking at? What color is his _____? What’s HER name? What’s she like? I circle each sentence I say a bit– I want them to understand but I do not want to beat it to death because it does need some narrative momentum.
Sometimes I just say something – “The pig is wearing a black jacket.”– and I circle that. I also stop and ask for opinions– is she pretty? Does she like him?, etc. and I personalize a bit too– the pig eats eggs, so I ask kids “Do you like eggs?” Etc.
It’s a great little film, huh?
Chicken or the Egg with German sentences, submitted by Leah Turner:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3jpi5oZMfagMlpOTGhJRWkycE0/edit?usp=sharing
Chicken or the Egg clip, comment by Kyle Carr:
I have done this same video and I do MovieTalk for the entire period as part of my 2-week schedule. If you want a good clip, just type in “CGI Animated Shorts” in the YouTube search bar. You will get tons of MovieTalk worthy clips. Dragonboy is probably my favorite and it is extremely effective with the kids (has humor, love, action, and emotion all in a short clip)
Sabrina Janczak collection:
https://benslavic.com/blog/youtube-clips/
Comments by Sabrina Janczak on MovieTalk:
This is a great way to break away from stories, especially if you have a hard time with them or if the kids resist them at this time of the year.
Based on my experience with Youtube as a teaching tool , if I had pieces of advice to give to new teachers using this tool it would be :
1) Know your audience of kids and try and pick clips that are compelling to their age group, interest and culture (Kyle’s suggestion to google CGI animated shorts is a great one)
2) Try and pick clips where there is a clear and concrete correspondence between the imagery and the language. So the visual should support rather hinder their listening comprehension. Music clips are not a good tool for listening comprehension in that respect because there is so much subjective imagery in them.
3) For your beginners try and pick a story that has a somewhat clear chronological narrative. So for example watching pulp fiction is a hard exercise even for a native speaker b/c all the flashbacks, and the going back and forth in time are very hard to follow.
4) If you do that for the first time, don’t pick a long clip. Practice this art slowly until you get comfortable with this tool.
Mountain Bike, submitted by Tim Bennett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bt-NqV4Gq8
Comments by Tim Bennett on the above clip:
…for this one, it’s mostly va abajo, arriba, da una vuelta, but wow, what footage….
Chicago Bulls Proposal, submitted by Tim Bennett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO51UQlxVyw
Social Experiment, submitted by Tim Bennett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fC6RP6tZ1Q
Cartoon, submitted by Tim Bennett:
Rescue, submitted by Tim Bennett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg9PWSHL4V
Team Hot Wheels Jump, submitted by Tim Bennett:
Reading for the Hot Wheels clip by Tim Bennett:
Hay un hombre que se llama Austin Foust. Está en el equipo Hot Wheels. Austin es “el conductor amarillo.” Austin quiere hacer un récord mundial para el salto. Austin maneja una camioneta de carrera amarilla. Él está muy alto en la pista. El vehículo va abajo muy rápido y vuela. Austin aterriza y da una vuelta. Todos celebran, especialmente Austin. ¡Es un récord mundial nuevo!
Since I’m new at this and still stumbling around, I tried to follow the three steps and establish meaning by going over some vocabulary before the videos. Then we watched the videos with the sound down while I did a simple narration. Then the next day, the students read the two stories and translated from Spanish to English, line by line from the Promethean Board (I covered up the story and slowly moved the cover down as we progressed).
Downhill track in Valparaiso, Chile, with Marcelo Gutierrez, submitted by Tim Bennett:
Comment by Tim Bennett on the above track:
…for this one, it’s just downhill, so there is va rápido, abajo las escaleras. ¡Que emocionante!…
Dakine, submitted by Tim Bennett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bt-NqV4Gq8
Construction Worker, submitted by Tim Bennett:
Reading by Tim Bennett on the above clip:
El Rescate
Hay un hombre. Trabaja en construcción. Trabaja en un edificio de apartamentos. Un día, hay un fuego. El edificio de apartamentos está en llamas. Todos escapan pero el hombre que está en el piso quinto. Un bombero viene. No viene con mucha agua pero con una escalera. El hombre salta del piso quinto al piso cuarto. El bombero baja la escalera. El hombre agarra la escalera. Inmediatamente después del rescate,¡parte del edificio de apartamentos se cae¡ El hombre casi se muere pero escapa.
Begging for Pizza, submitted by Tim Bennett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fC6RP6tZ1Q
Dog Lost His Doggie Dish, submitted by Tim Bennett: