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Database of Teaching Sources

A database of selected, reviewed, tested, assessed and validated e-learning based language teaching sources addressed to Higher education students for the learning of 18 different European languages.

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The suspicion

Date of Publication

2006

Target Group

Lecturers
Students

Domain Area

Arts & Music
Business & Communication
International Relations
Teacher Education

Learning Scenario

Autonomous learning
Classroom Context

Target Language

Portuguese

Language of Instruction

Any language

CEFR level

B1
B2
C1
C2

Type of Material

Animation
Activity/task
Video

Linguistic Features

Vocabulary
Prosody

Skills

Listening
Speaking
Critical Thinking
Writing
Mediation

Description

The short film A Suspeita (The suspicion) (Portugal, 2000) features a train journey in Portugal. This journey has four main characters and one secondary character. Among the possibilities of content to be explored in this film are the rich dialogues between the characters, the actions of people on a train, the work of the conductor (“pica”), and the deconstruction of stereotypes previously created by us and society.
This resource was used with levels B1, B2, C1 and C2 as there are several dialogues that students can interpret. In addition, they can relate to the journeys they have already made in the country, as well as the terms related to trains and the like.

Case study

1. The online resource, which is 25 minutes long, was used in several steps, which will be described in detail in the following point (Guidelines).
The questions raised were about film genres, lexicon about travelling (by train or otherwise) and reactions provoked on a journey.
As a final activity, students were asked to make a detailed description of what they saw in the story. To do this, they should give names to the characters and describe them in detail. They should also think of a moral or lesson for the story.
This activity was very positive because, to the teacher's surprise, the students were very creative in their summaries of the stories and were rich and precise in details.

Guidelines

Step 1 - Firstly, students were asked about the genres of films they most like or prefer and asked to give some examples.
Step 2 - In a second step, they were to associate the title of the film with the film genre and then confirm.
Step 3 -Then, in addition to saying the setting in which it takes place and the number of characters, students were prompted to describe the characters physically and psychologically.
Step 4 -Students were also asked to describe the characters' lines, to say the country and city of origin of the train and its destination.
Step 5 - As an evaluation, students were asked to give an accurate description of the facts that occurred on the trip.

Review

Category
Rate
Comprehensive approach
Capacity to match the needs of lecturers and students

5

Added value
The provided tangible improvements

4

Motivation enhancement
The capacity to motivate students to improve their language skills

4

Innovation
Effectiveness in introducing innovative, creative and previously unknown approaches to LSP learning

3

Transferability
Measurement of the transferable potential and possibility to be a source of further capitalisation/application for other language projects in different countries

3

Skills assessment and validation
Availability of appropriate tools for lecturers to monitor students’ progress and for students to assess own progress and to reflect on learning

4

Adaptability
Flexibility of the contents and possibilities for the LSP lecturers to adapt the contents to their and to students’ need

3

Usability
Assess the technical usability from the point of view of the lecturer and the student

4

Accessibility
Assess the accessibility from the point of view of the lecturer and the student

4

Comments:
Available online, this resource is easily accessible, for any user, be it a teacher, a student, or an independent language learner. Even though it is not an innovative material, it continues being a creativity booster and an important vehicle for reflection, for developing listening, speaking and writing skills. It matches the needs of both teachers and students.
Website of the Teaching Source:
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