Reflective students through a simple resource

As teachers we are always trying to take advantages of any resource we meet. But do we know how to use them? “Modern Times” is a pretty valuable film which shows how people tried their best effort to achieve a better life style. It gives a comprehensive view about Victorian times. Any language teacher must have a clear understanding of England history and the most relevant events because in that way learners will know the context where the language and the culture were developed. But also, educators can make their students reflect about England society and how it has been become in what it is today. I strongly believe that a simple film like “Modern times” can make students reflect about the England society in the past and comprehend the main consequences it had in this country and around the world. To reach a reflective teaching through this film, teachers have to be aware of its disadvantage and advantages. To be clear, I will expose why this film might be considered as a pedagogical tool in order to get a reflective point of view from pupils about the past and present society but not ignoring its disadvantages as well.

As mentioned above, we can take advantages from this film in order to get a comprehensive view about the England past society and make students able to give answers to their questions related to this nation but also to their own country. Questions such as: The industrial revolution brought more disadvantages or advantages to England and in what contexts? What sorts of consequences England industrialization brought to Latin America, especially in Chile? and so on. As English teachers we can invite our students to think a little bit about how meaningful industrialization in England society was and in other countries. For example, nowadays Chile is considered an undeveloped country (in economical terms) in comparison to England; this film might help us to find answers about it. I think it is totally required to look back to the past if we want to make our students comprehend the present. Modern Times shows how industrialization encouraged the economical progress in England. This example of “economical progress” can make our learners understand what sorts of reason move a country to make decisions, for example. What I am trying to say is that, a simple film can become a kind of window where through children can analyze how past influenced the present. If teachers achieve this reflective approach, they would make students get an ample view about the economical England progress and see how it affected their own country which is in this case Chile.

In relation to some disadvantages about the film I would consider as an obstacle the age when it was developed. I am refereeing to the fact of time because Modern times reflect a reality which belongs to a specific moment. If we still bearing in mind our reflective approach as a goal, we have to be conscious that eras are completely different. England industrialization was developed in a particular context with few similarities with England nowadays and students’ country as well. So, how meaningful and reflective can be try to understand the present based on the past if every event happened in different periods? As a consequence of the progress that England government wanted to achieve England people were involved with miserable conditions, with diverse issues, political and economical problems and so on. What was mentioned before, support the idea that context is our barrier at the time of compare two different periods of time. Understand the present based on the past ignoring their different contexts will hamper our hoped reflective approach. The importance of context makes us reflect that educators cannot be completely objective in the comparison of events, for instance: England period was developed in an entirely different context in comparison to Chile. Industrial revolution grew up differently because of the context where countries were involved. As a matter of fact, teachers cannot ignore the cultural, social or economical differences where events were developed. Context must be part of any teacher’s reflective approach.

To conclude, Modern times can be considered as a pedagogical tool because through it teachers can achieve students’ reflection about the main England events and which were the relevant consequences that this process had in this nation and students’ country. However the disadvantages cannot be ignored. Clearly from past events, we can learn and comprehend our today. Nevertheless, the idea of getting a clear understanding about the present based on the past, have to be based on the context where the events were involved; otherwise students will not comprehend why facts developed differently. My position is that this film might become an excellent resource but based on context. Teachers through this valuable film can achieve a successful reflective activity.