Cross cultural ESP project: using a documentary film in teaching social work students

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the linguodidactic and pedagogical potential of documentaries in a cross-cultural ESP project which can serve as a valuable authentic tool both for classroom use and self study. The novelty of the research is to show how a full -length can be effectively applied for raising students’ cross-cultural awareness and professional competence.

In our projects we make an extensive use of the content-based, the system activity and the learnercentered approaches.

Project methodology

The ESP (social work) project in question is focused on the inspiring feature-length US documentary “A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story” (2009) produced by award winning independent filmmaker Lane Wyrick. The story in the movie is devoted to Bill Sackter abandoned in a mental institution at age 7, who would never see his family again. When he was released 44 years later, he met a college student (Barry Morrow) by chance. The meeting changed his life forever since Barry became his guardian. Bill’s life story spread throughout the United States when Mickey Rooney and Dennis Quaid starred in the highly successful tv movie “Bill” (1981) which dramatized Bill and Barry’s relationship. It was a landmark production that forever changed the world’s perception of people with disabilities.

Bill became the harmonica-playing proprietor of “Wild Bill’s Coffee Shop” which is located in the heart of the University of Iowa School Social Work.

It is worth mentioning that the School has been our International Partner-University for two decades. Many Russian and American Social Work students and professors have watched this film.

The Coffee Shop is considered to be “social work” because for the students it is a living course on understanding disabilities where they can socialize with handicapped workers, that is why it is a unique project which is worth studying across nations.

The project is divided into four stages: Preparatory, During Viewing, Post Viewing and Extension Stages.

At the Preparatory, pre-viewing stage, the students should be prepared for as much of the social work vocabulary as possible (e.g. deinstitutionalization, residential facility, mainstream, a provision, a title, respite care, intermittent, handicapped, mentally retarded e.g ). It is also very important to pre-teach cultural and social content area. For this reason the students are assigned some homework to familiarize themselves with the University of Iowa School Social Work and their educational programs. They are also offered to study the texts about Bill Sackter and the programs for people with disabilities in the United States which appeared in the 1970-ies as a result of deinstitutionalization where a number of handicapped people were released to live in the community. The students also leam about the people who are featured in the film and who contributed to Bill’s adaptation to new living conditions: Barry Morrow (A Hollywood script -writer and producer), his wife Beverly, professor Tom Walz, a former director of the school of social work, who helped to set up Bill’s Coffee Shop and other people.

The During Viewing stage is divided into several parts since it is a full-length movie (90 minutes), interrupted for the discussion of the issues raised in each part submitting the students with a number of comprehension questions.

The most common problem faced by the students when watching any movie is that they may feel overwhelmed with by the authentic language used. That is why the film is viewed with the subtitles, which allows to eliminate some linguistic challenges, thus helping the learners to keep track of all the events shown in the movie.

The Post Viewing stage includes various writing activities. In this particular project the students are invited to write movie reviews according to the plan, which encompasses the story about Bill, the people who made his life complete after the institution, favorite scenes and their personal impressions about the movie.

Below are some excerpts from the students’ essays:

“The film is very touching. The most interesting in it is the fact that it is based on real events. The film raises sympathy to the main character and resentment to the cruel attitude of the state towards its citizens with disabilities who lived in institutions in the 1st half of the last century. Despite the harsh conditions, Bill Sackter remained the person who could smile, make other people laugh. ”

“One of the most striking moments was when Bill died and we could feel that everybody really missed him. We had a feeling that we knew him personally too. ”

“I was very surprised that being very young Barry decided to help a mentally handicapped person, took him to his family and gave real love and care to him. ”

“Looking at the life of Bill, you start to think about how you would live the rest of your life if you were him, the person who spent most of his life in a mental hospital. ”

“Bill Sackter’s story is the lesson of optimism. He was always positive and loved life with all its difficulties and disadvantages. The story of his life teaches that every person despite all the difficulties can live a decent life and find their place in this world. Bill is a hero for people with disabilities and a symbol of hope for all people. His story gives hope in a better future. ”

Another valuable cross-cultural experience of the Post-Viewing stage was sending the students’ commentaries to the online newsletter “Bill's Coffee shop Newsletter” which is a virtual extension of Wild Bill's Coffee shop and Uptown Bill's. It is written by Tom Gilsenan, a former manager of Wild Bill's and now the director of Uptown Bill's. The Newsletter is distributed via email to more than 500 readers. The best excerpts from the students’ comments were published in one of the newsletter issues.

One more Post-Viewing activity is writing individual and group letters to Professor Tomas Walz. This year examples are as follows:

“Dear Tom,

Can you convey our thanks to Lane Wyrick for his exciting documentary «А Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story». The story about Bill Sackter is very inspirational and emotional. Bill’s life is an example of hope, compassion and the power of friendship... ”

“... We want to thank you for all the knowledge and experience that you gave us in your textbook «English for social work students» and the book «А friend indeed». We saw the movie about Bill Sackter and we were excited by your ideas! You gave a new chance for people with disabilities to become full-fledged members of society... ”

The professor gave feedback to every letter:

“Dear Kristina, Lena, Nastya and Elvira

I appreciated receiving your reactions to the "Bill Story", it has been a very special part of my life and to a modest extent now part of your life, Bill inspired me to continue to devote full time to work with persons with disabilities following my retirement from the University, it has been 17 years of challenging work, i will be sure to pass on your remarks to Barry and Lane, Barry is still very active as a film writer and Lane works full time as a medical videographer, thank you again for sharing your comments, sincerely, tom walz. ”;

“Dear students, thank you for sharing your reactions to the story of Bill, i will be happy to pass on your remarks to Barry, Bev and Lane, ifyou found the story inspirational, you can imagine how much more of an impact knowing Bill and being with him daily for the final eight years of his life was for me, it inspired me to continue my work with persons with disability following my retirement from the University, you might want to check out one of our projects on the internet (www .idcwg.org), an on line Gallery which showcases the arts and craft work ofpersons with disabilities, you will even find four young women from Perm on the Gallery, best wishes on your studies, sincerely, tom walz.»

To consider the educational value of the cross-cultural project in the present research we have also analyzed the contexts of 80 individual reviews, comments and personal letters of the students and identified five most frequently used categories: Emotions, feelings, empathy; Friendship and Love; Personal Achievements; Impact on the Society; Impact on Students.

The examples of the category Emotions, feelings, empathy are as follows:“7 could not hold back my tears... ”, I was moved, “It was touching”, “We could feel that everybody really missed him”. The music is very touching as well as the story of Bill. “It touched me to the core of my soil for its content and personal attitude to the main character. ”

The category Friendship and Love can be illustrated in these contexts: “he had a lot of friends ”, “People and children loved Bill because he was generous, loving, non-violent, unique”; “Sheltering a stranger in your home is a very important step which not everyone can decide to do. Friendship between Bill, Barry and Bev shows what the true friendship should be and how people should treat each other. ”

The next category is Personal Achievements: «to find a vocation in life or a natural talent and to develop it - is enough to provide personal development and a good life for people with mental retardation ”, “The film helps us understand that you must never back down and try to achieve your goal. ”

The category Impact on the Society ” is represented in the following quotations:

It shows all the world how to fly high when you want to be useful and help our imperfect world; “In spite of his mental disability, his contribution to the American society was significant. Thanks to Bill the attitude towards people with disabilities began to change. ” . Bill is a hero for people with disabilities and a symbol of hope for all people.

And finally, here are some examples of the category “Impact on Students”:

It makes us think about many things: whether we live righteously, whether “values” of our modern society are so important, or there is something that is more important than gadgets, money and status?

“The story of his life teaches that every person despite all the difficulties can live a decent life and find their place in this world. ”

“In my opinion, it is very important that today we understand that these people are part of our society and we need to help them to adapt to modern conditions of life. ”

These categories demonstrate a huge educational and pedagogical impact the documentary has on the students’ personal and professional growth and both their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to leam the language.

The final stage of the project is Extension work (skills development: speaking and presenting). At this stage the student do a research on the programs for persons with disabilities in Russia and compare the two social work systems relating to this vulnerable category of population. The results of their study are presented at a students’ annual scientific and practical cross-cultural conference.The students are recommended to focus on such issues as The Americans with Disabilities Act, some of the provisions of the act, programs and services for the disabled in Russia and the USA, the laws which protect the rights of people with disabilities in the Russian legislation, etc., thus encouraging them to use some comparative analysis of the social work systems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the possibilities for using film in the ESP cross-cultural projects are endless. A strong tendency towards the use of authentic materials and tasks makes such projects a valuable tool for exploiting linguistic aspects of the language, investigating cultural differences, expanding the learner’s knowledge of a certain field of life or science, namely, social work. Films can be an important factor for maintaining and increasing the students’ motivation.