Abstract:

The seventh art provides high school English learners with multiple linguistic and pedagogical benefits that help students to improve their language level and, also, to become better citizens. These benefits have been divided into different areas by some scholars, and they are related to:
(i) linguistic advantages such as the practice of the four language skills and the learning of grammar and vocabulary;
(ii) cultural advantages as movies help students to understand both the foreign culture and their own community; and
(iii) motivational advantages because this methodology encourages students to learn English thanks to the portrayal of real language, the wide range of remarkable issues that can be discussed, and the development of creative and critical thinking skills, among others.

In this study, I present a didactic proposal for the 4th year of Compulsory Secondary Education based on Avatar, a film by James Cameron, through which I show how cinema can be used in the English classroom to raise EFL learners’ awareness on the devastating environmental crisis we are facing at present. In this teaching unit, I have included all the benefits films have for English learners and the compulsory contents to be taught at the same time that I address this serious matter.

Keywords:

TEFL, cinema, environmentalism, high school.