242 Movie TV

Last year, when I went to the NYS Foreign Language Teachers Conference, I attended a workshop on digital shorts in the Italian language classroom, and was introduced to 242 Movie TV.  242 Movie TV is an independent movie website that features digital shorts in many different foreign languages.

But...what is a digital short?
A digital short is basically a movie...that is short, ranging from 5 to 20 minutes long.  A lot of the digital shorts on the website do not have a lot of language.  Many major events in the movies are just spoken through actions.  There are not many characters in the film - the movies are simple and simplified. Great for a language learner who can easily get confused when watching a foreign film.

Using these sort of clips are great to stimulate discussion.  Students won't get confused or frustrated if they don't understand dialogue, because there isn't much of it.  It really is to facilitate learners to think, analyze, and discuss what is happening in the digital short.  I'd say that using this website is most appropriate for university-level students or older high school students.  The tasks that Mimi and Ana told us about after watching a trailer would be pretty much the same for digital shorts.  Acting out a character, writing a dialogue, or writing the letter from the perspective of the boy in the film (the Italian movie short) would make students think and push students to use the target language.  I think that these activities are well-suited for group work, so that students can fully discuss their thoughts about the digital short that they watched.

Here is an example of an Italian digital short. The movie is called "Due di Tre" (Two of Three). What do you think it's about?

For all of my Spanish and French friends - here is a link to the rest of the international independent films on the website! Hope this helps someone!