Every other Wednesday we have Film Night. We might show a comedy (Mind Your Language), a documentary (Media That Matters), a music video (Michael Jackson). This past Wednesday we showed an episode of Crossroads Cafe, which is a series for ESL students in the U.S.. The stories take place in a restaurant owned by a Romanian immigrant named Mr. Brashov. Almost all of Mr. Bradshov's employees are immigrants from various countries and the show reflects their lives.
In addition,every month or so we show an English language film on the Debre Markos University campus. This week we featured Teeken, an action movie that the students loved. Not much to learn about American culture or even valuable English, but purely entertainment. The problem is the low level of English of the students. If we show a film with "substance", such as The Help, the students understand so little of the English that they walk out. Not surprizingly, more than 200 students attended Teeken, a movie about fighting. A student explained the storyine in Amharic, but mostly the students just loved the action. Our last movie was Hip Hop Nation, not as well attended, but full of dancing with minimal plot. I hope to find ways to download movies with English subtitles so at least students can get something out of a movie tat I see as educational.
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