We turn now from materials with a on language to materials you choose because of the they present. This could include ELT and non- ELT material and will mostly of documentary programmes or from current affairs programmes. -based programmes present information and opinions. You can use them to stimulate discussion, or as of for or .

(a) Collecting information

An information-gathering serves the purpose of directing viewing. This is a good activity for small group work as it lends itself to the pooling of information and sharing different of the . Video Plan 11 is drawn from worksheets prepared for Danish teenagers to use with a programme from a Thames Television : The John Smith Show. This took four British families, all with the surname Smith, and used it to look at of life in Britain. Television English also applies classroom to off-air material. The Teacher's Notes suggest a variety of activities which take learners back to the video '' several times. Video Plan 12 above, from the introduction to the book, gives a of the most common activities.

(b) a

Choose a which you know will interest and your students. If possible it should also be a about which your class will have differing views. Video Plan 13 shows how -based material can slot into which takes place before and after the viewing.

(c) Producing a

Video Plan 14 is taken from a course developed in the Free University of Berlin which used a of drawn from different . These were grouped according to and by a variety of . This is one example of a related to an from off-air documentary material within a unit on drugs.

A different to video materials is to look at how they their message. This is particularly to non-ELT materials since they were produced to convey a message to a particular audience. They can be studied as examples of uses of the in the of the society that produced them. In language programmes which include an of work and with students who are interested in , this flavour of studies can be very . All film, video and television production is an example of the use of tools other than language to to an audience. One way of video programmes is to look at the film techniques employed: decisions, camera angles, the way are juxtaposed all have an effect on the viewer, who is often of it.

The group in Video Plan 15 on page 62 encourage students to think about the way a programme was put together.

A study of this kind can be related to in other too, giving a comparison of, for example, different ways of the same . The treatment of off-air material outlined in Video Plans 14 and15 could form the basis for discussion of this kind.

There are three things to look for in a story: the characters, the plot and the of telling the story. This is a useful basis for thinking about how you could use a story in class. You will certainly want to make sure your students can follow the plot, and an of the characters is usually very closely to our understanding of a plot. How far you discuss the will depend on the interests of your students.

Interesting stories are good material for developing the skill of gist listening. You can set a clear : the ability to retell the main of the plot. It is usually possible to follow the plot without understanding every word in the story and you can choose stories on video which have a strong to the storyline. Look particularly for information about characters: are often by facial expressions or movements. Below is an example of the way you could organise your notes as you preview a story.

The camera can take us into people's homes and lives and places of work and lay before us of what life and work is like in another country. You would probably choose to use materials of this kind because the of the are of to your students. Perhaps they are soon to go to Britain or the States to study or as tourists. Or perhaps they are working in Britain and having to the that is all around them. If these are your reasons for using video material which of a society, use the video to find out what your students want to know about it.

Different people will notice different things and some of them may surprise you. Leave it as open as possible and encourage them to ask questions, by setting preview questions such as 'What differences do you notice between British/North American customs and those of your own country?' 'Does anything seem strange to you in the scene?'

We said at the beginning of this that you would have to choose when to use video rather than another classroom . It's fairly clear when you would use a book or an Overhead Projector or a magazine picture in your teaching and it's not difficult to see that video makes a different . The that we are most likely to use for the same reasons as video is the audio or cassette recorder. We are accustomed to using audio to present examples of language in use. It lets us bring into the classroom different voices and different accents and a skilful use of sound effects can suggest a setting. We can do all of these things better with video. So, if we had the same of materials on video as we do on audio, would we continue to use audio in language teaching? The answer is yes, but it would have a more limited . It would be limited to the it is most useful for in the language classroom: listening.

We have that video is a good to use for extensive listening. It is not however so well suited to an , detailed study of spoken language. The present of videocassette machines does not speedily or to the stop, rewind, replay you go through in listening to every word. There is the added irritation of having the picture interfered with and the screen takes a moment to settle down after a restart. If you want your students to listen to a dialogue, don't do it on video. The ideal would be to have the soundtrack on an audio cassette. Then, after using it on video, any listening could be carried out on audio. Where this is not possible, it is best not to attempt listening. You don't need to treat every dialogue in the same way anyway, so keep that kind of work for audio materials and try to use video for the work it is best suited for.