Integrating Documentary Films and Environmental Education through English

Abstract

Combining the teaching of language and content is practiced worldwide and continues to gain wider applicability. Despite its popularity, there is no evidence that it has been implemented in Armenia. This design project presents the design, implementation and assessment of a content-based course designed for intermediate-level students. Current environmental issues have been chosen as a theme for the course as there seems to be a lack of environmental education in Armenian schools. The course is organized around documentary films on various environmental topics. Documentary films have been chosen as text as they are educational, informative and shorter than feature films. The course is aimed at improving students’overall language competence, developing higher order thinking skills and raising students’ awareness about issues related to the environment, developing a sense of ownership and global citizenship in terms of advocacy on ecological sustainability. The deliverables of the project include a detailed syllabus with course description, schedule, goals and objectives,assessment plan and grading rubrics for the course assignments, as well as ten lesson plans with all the teaching materials. I have also designed course assessment tools and provided recommendations based on my own observations and course assessment through questionnaires and focus group interviews. The course was piloted with intermediate-level students at the Experimental English Classes of the American University ofArmenia. The age of the students ranged between 12 and 16. The results of course evaluation showed that,overall,it was a successful course and met the goals and objectives set during the course design stage.