Pre-Intermediate Level >> Miscellaneous Materials >> Video lesson idea. Listening practice and speaking practice. Can be used to help with past tenses too.
Video Jigsaw.
Pre-Intermediate
This is an old idea which allows you to use the video in a slightly different way to just doing listening comprehension with it.
Find an interesting video clip of about 3 to 5 minutes in length. It should be a clip in which a lot is happening. I have used programmes such as 'Fawlty Towers' or 'Mr. Bean' very successfully before for this activity.
Divide the class into two groups. One group watches the video clip with the sound muted - they watch only the pictures. The second group watches with the brightness and contrast on zero - they listen only to the sound. (I have tried getting the students to listen with their backs to the TV, not bothering with the brightness and contrast, but it didn't seem to work so well. Answers on a postcard please!!) If your school is big enough, these two groups can be using the video simultaneously.
The two groups are then brought back together to reconstruct the video together. Some example exchanges might be:
Student A: ...and then he picked something up...
Student B: ... ah, that was when he picked up the moose head..
Student A: OK, then he told his wife he was leaving her and he did something and there was a lot of laughing.
Student B: Oh, he was making a stupid face at her.
Etc, etc.
Variant One
Put all the students together, half with their backs to the video. Put the sound off and get the watching half of the class to describe what is happening. Good for practising present continuous.
Variant Two
Get the two groups to watch sequential segments of the same programme. Put them together to build the whole series together again. This is a series jigsaw as opposed to the parallel jigsaw from the main activity above.
