Study Drama to Learn English — The Tour Guizhou Method
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A well-known sports aphorism states, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent.” This means that if someone performs a task over and over again, that doesn’t guarantee they are doing it right. But it does mean that they are ingraining this behavior into their memory and forming habits. It can be difficult to establish new habits, but it is even more difficult to “un-learn” old (bad) habits.
Nowhere is this more evident than in learning a language, where the first time you learn a word, sentence, or grammar structure, that language pattern is repeated over and over again until it becomes (almost) permanent. Reading and writing, the most commonly tested language skill, is derived from listening, speaking, and traditional story telling.
Having worked with Chinese people, training them in English for more than 20 years, my system depreciates reading from a book and stresses acting methods. Language is only one part of communication. Emotions, gestures, and storylines pass meaning as well as words and sentences. When studying the details of English speaking actors in popular movies, you can learn from the best. The movie clips are chosen for examples of excellent English and memorable quotations.
After learning the methods and accents, of popular movies, the student substitutes his/her own words and meanings into learned sentence structures. Bad language habits are left behind. These language resources can be used in many ways. Ultimately, for students who want to learn writing, you must learn first to listen, speak, read, and then write. My favorite teacher as a child told me to write the way I speak. “If you don’t write well, learn to speak better.”
Here is an example of video clips used in these methods: Note the body movements, the eyes, eyebrows, gestures, and language. All together, in the context of the movie, an emotional reaction should occur. You will remember the accent, words, sentences, and grammar if you practice it.
About the “Method”
How does it work?
This page contains links to resources for learning English that feature spectacular events, emotional content, or interesting character development. It is strongly recommended that you watch the movie first to understand the context and establish an emotional link to the sentences. The language learning theory is that any thought or emotion represented by a well-structured English sentence or phrase will be remembered, replicated, and modified to suit the student. Hollywood Actors are paid millions of dollars for their skill in communicating. Best practices in communication are therefore obtained by modelling not only accents of these actors, but all techniques. Communication is achieved via facial expressions, tones, pauses, moderations in speed, hand and head gestures, eyes etc. Its fun to be like “Actors”.
How to Use the Resources:
An actor may raise his voice, louder and in a higher pitch. Alternately, emphasis can be added by reducing the volume and lowering the voice. This depends on the context. Note the key words in each sentence. They are often pronounced slower and louder (or softer). The key word can be enhanced with pauses, both before and after. Key words are accordingly supported by a change in the rhythm of the sentence. Listen for these techniques and model your sentence after the the sentences of the actors.
You will find that after practicing these clips and noting the nuance of the communication, you will be able to use the same techniques in your own language. You can substitute your own words, gestures and speech quality into the structure of your own sentences. It is recommended that you select your favorites and memorize them, verbatim. Pay close attention to the pauses, tones, volume, pitch, gestures, and modulation in the sentences, in addition to the word order.
Using these resources in a classroom, students alternate between listening and speaking, providing feedback to each other. When alone on a bus or with an extra minute, small clips are readily available for short micro lessons. Using an ear piece is recommended.
There are three kinds of videos in the following links:
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- The Movie itself.
- A list of clips. and
- “Continuous loops”. The continuous loops are where the practice takes place.
First watch the movie, then play all the clips consecutively to select your favorites. Then use continuous loops to practice the target sentences. Don’t read out loud. Listen, and then repeat. Remember! Always, ALWAYS, listen and watch before you practice the sentence. Note gestures, tones, pauses, volumes etc. Reading out loud is well accepted for learning English, but not for here. In this context it tends to reinforce the existing accent which we trying to leave behind. You only have time to repeat the sentence once, so make it count! If you make a mistake, just wait 10 or 12 seconds and try it again. Don’t waste your time trying to correct a mistake during recitation.
I am recruiting people with video experience and an interest in language to create new projects. Please contact me if you have an interest.
John S. Porter (AKA: “Jack”)
All suggestions are appreciated at usainfo@yahoo.com
More on the American Movie language learning experience:
You will find that after practicing these clips and noting the nuance of the communication, you will be able to use the same techniques in your own language. You can substitute your own words, gestures and speech quality to create you own sentences out of the the structures and style found on this website. This is an ideal classroom exercise, with students alternating between listening and speaking, providing feedback to fellow students when appropriate.
My friend Yusi is perhaps the best example of a successful of the American Movie Application in language learning. Yusi liked vampire movies when she was growing up and had to learn English to enjoy her movies. Her accent, grammar, and general English proficiency grew as she grew up. Finding an obsession for a certain kind of movie, and practicing the English from good American Movies, may be the best way to learn English, short of being born into an English speaking household.
The Amazing Yusi
Here is a very useful link for people wanting to practice a lot of good English:
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