Material presentation: a constant challenge for teachers

 

I have discovered in my long years of teaching that simple tweaks to the way you present or combine material can make such a big difference. And you won’t know unless you experiment. What I am saying is that there have been times when I was really hard at it to make my input stimulating for the students but it certainly wasn’t worth the investment in time and effort while other times some minor readjustment did the trick. Teaching like learning is highly associative, and the right choice of association(s) is sometimes a matter of coincidence or good timing.  

An example will help illustrate my point. I had recently come across a news story on BBC about the SGA strike and how it affected film or series production, filming and releases. The challenge with teenagers is getting them interested in a topic that could leave them indifferent or making them see an issue from a different perspective.

After having dutifully prepared the text and some exercises to go with it – as usual – I stumbled upon a short video about why going to the cinema is good for you, and it totally transformed the way I was going to introduce the news story. To begin with, the video should precede the news story as it would definitely engage my students’ attention enough to want to consider the fairness or even the relevance of the actors’ demands and grievances.

Accordingly I had the students watch the video and write down or make a mental note of the aspects of the video that they found most exciting or they could relate to and then share their takes on the video. Some were impressed by how far cinema theatres have come since the appearance of the first cinemas. Others noted how much stronger the cinema audience reactions were compared to those who watched alone. I don’t suppose they were surprised by how much more focused the cinema audience was since by now they are well aware of the distracting effect mobiles have on literally any kind of activity.

However, having a scientific confirmation of the social role of cinema going and its contribution to fostering the spirit of community did strike a chord.

Here are my teacher's and student's copy for anyone who would care to use them and the video link.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K-qew27vBam1i_jSHBYu20yE1kTE3OUbgCt_PeovlpE/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iAkj3QLynXStunUDKytn_FghgIN9GHxZdQuWBYZxcLI/edit?usp=sharing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/why-going-to-the-cinema-is-good-for-you/p0f722xz