Whether you teach English to second language learners or to native English speakers, your goal is to enhance the literacy skills of your students. There is an abundance of high-interest novels and short stories in a variety of reading levels available that will stimulate your students to practice and improve their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Some students, however, might become increasingly motivated and engage more in the lesson when you use movies as the source material in your classroom.

Plot, Theme and Character
Review traditional novel-study unit lesson plans. The goals or objectives listed may include helping the students to fully understand and appreciate how plot, theme and character are developed throughout the book. Recognize that these objectives apply equally well to movies. For example, if students are taught to recognize the relationship between cause and effect in the plot of novels, the plot of the movie will lend itself to similar analysis. Similarly, if the novel study includes in-depth analysis of character development, the movie characters can be analyzed in the same way.

Artistic Devices
Literary devices such as foreshadowing, suspense and flashbacks are effectively demonstrated in movies. Ask students to compare the ways these devices translate to film. Students already familiar with the flashback as a literary technique in novels should recognize this device in film and appreciate the similarities and differences between the media. For example, flashback in a novel is often indicated by a change in verb tense while the convention in film is to signal the flashback with tinkling music and a fade-out screen transition.

A Springboard to Assignments
You need not show the film uninterrupted. Consider stopping the film at critical points and have the students predict what will happen next. Student response journals, argumentative essays, character profiles, creation of alternate endings, role-playing, debates and all other assignments that are normally given to students during novel study will be just as effective when applied to film. In fact, reluctant readers respond enthusiastically to these film-based assignments and write more than they did before.

Selecting Suitable Films
There are many English literature guidelines that suggest specific novels to teach, but the list is not as extensive for film study. You will have to select the films yourself. Enlisting the support of a fellow teacher can be helpful. Determine what your criteria for film selection will be. Films with strong character development, in which characters face moral dilemmas, work well. Avoid action movies or other formulaic films. Avoid well-known blockbuster films that most students have already seen. Seek out original, creative movies.