What have you always wanted to do in English language teaching?

Well, I have just completed writing a syllabus and am now putting together some lesson plans for my new project.  For the first time ever, I have gone to a language school and offered my services as a tutor, proposing the kind of course that I have always wanted to organise.  It is called ‘Learn English Through Filmmaking’.  It will draw on all my previous experience, skills and interests. In addition, it marries my teaching experience with my love for the moving image and creating short films, which I have been doing since 2006, although my love of recording sound and vision goes back to childhood.

The course takes place at ICS English, in Norwich, UK.  This is a small friendly school located in a charming Georgian building right in the beautiful heart of Norwich – one of the friendliest, safest and most historic cities in the UK. The school is run independently by a friendly team of international language teachers with many years of experience.  ICS English is Norwich’s oldest English language school. It has offered courses in English for 40 years and it is now under new management.

This is one of the promotional videos for the course, which I produced a couple of weeks ago and this has been already shared many times on social media:

This is a 4-week course.  Plenty of homework and ‘flipped’ learning will take place – as students will watch short films outside of the class and work on these during the lesson times. Students will get a certification at the end, as well as a short film to take home or upload to social media.  The course will be advertised at carefully selection locations around Norwich and on the school website. 

The course objectives are as follows:

• To develop the learners’ spoken and written accuracy and range of vocabulary around specified topics areas related to the short films they watch.
• To develop the learners’ range of vocabulary related to filmmaking, film genres and film analysis.
• To develop fluency in interactive communication, through guided and freer discussion of issues related to topic areas presented in the films.
• To develop the learners’ ability to analyse and interpret moving image texts.
• To develop the learners’ intercultural communicative competence through viewing a wide range of (short) films.
• To develop the learners’ critical thinking skills.
• To provide critical feedback on presentations and reviews, and to give opinions about film, effectively in both written and oral form.
• To give students confidence – especially in front of the camera.
• To facilitate the creation of an original short film, to be produced, collaboratively by the learners.

I acknowledge the work and published materials of Kieran Donaghy.  I will draw on his book, ‘Film in Action’ (2015) and his award-winning website, Film English.

Please contact the school directly for more information, including a more detailed syllabus. Although you can ask me questions here, too, and I will answer them.

Wish me luck!