Real English® DVD Video & Video Workbooks for Classroom Use On this page you will find the Real English® Video Cassette Contents and full details about the Real English® Video Test. Mark Ellison Taylor of the EFLWEB has written a critical review of the Real English® Video series. Here are a few excerpts printed with his permission. "Classroom English is all too often 'perfect' – slow short phrases spoken by teachers... This is fine until we actually meet genuine Anglo–Saxons, to discover that nobody, in the real world, speaks 'classroom English'. It is for this reason that Mike Marzio and his interviewers went out into the real world and found real world people to speak their Real English for them. Passers–by, tourists, businessmen and children on the streets of New York, London and Dublin and a dozen other cities are all interviewed. The collection of responses is an effective and entertaining tool for the classroom. Changing accents and the good humour of both interviewer and interviewee ensure that the sequences are always engaging. Even teachers will find it entertaining. For each video there is a Video Workbook printed in black and white so that teachers can photocopy the exercises for students. The exercises relate to the sequences on video. All three books use illustrations to enhance the exercises. Transcripts of the videos and answer keys are also included at the back of each book. The Marzio School has designed the scheme so that it can be used with or without a teacher – as part of a teaching curriculum, or at home, for self–study. The instructions in the front of each book ask you to watch each sequence 2 or 3 times and then complete the corresponding exercise in the book. Each sequence contains several interviews. If you have problems understanding the sequences you are directed to watch the video again, pausing after each interview you have not understood. Once completed, you can check your answers in the back of the book. To verify further that you have understood what has been said, you can follow the transcript to the video. Video 1 is 38 minutes long and contains 14 sequences. Hi; Name; ABC; From; How old; Married; Job; Liberty Street; Colour; This is; Time; Weather; Astrological Sign; Five Nationalities and Bye. These provide practice of greetings, possessive adjectives, the alphabet, addresses and telephone numbers, possessive pronouns, the weather, maps and adjectives describing people. A problem with classroom-based teaching is the absence of variety. If students cannot understand the language outside the classroom because they have become so familiar with the accents of their own teacher, the course has failed. This series meets this requirement by bringing practice with real people to the classroom. The videos are broken up with musical interludes – Folk-ish guitar songs that often lead nicely into each new sequence. The sequence number and title also appear on screen. This makes finding your place in the video easy if you plan to use parts of it over the course of a term. Visual landmarks are also well used. In one interview in the exercise on 'Time', you can clearly see the time on Big Ben. A New York cop is asked his name in a bustling New York street. The screen changes colour appropriately as interviewees are asked about their favourite colour. Pictures of star signs are shown during the 'Astrological Sign' sequence. The second video in the series is, at 32 minutes, slightly shorter in running time than its companions. It contains 15 sequences. These include Doing; Wearing; Going to a place; Can you play; Can you cook; What else can you do; Directions 'lost in England'; Have got; Do you have?; Do (work); Do (fun); Time and frequency; Live; Like; How long does it take; Bath; and Think of English. These provide practice of the present continuous, Can, Directions, and the present simple. Pictures of maps of cities or countries are used skillfully to identify the site of each place in the 'Live' excercise. The 38-minute Video 3 contains 21 sequences including Like to do; Like doing; Going to do; Born; Good at school?; Yesterday; When did you meet?; When you left school?; Used to do; Comparatives; Superlatives; The most beautiful language; Have done; For / Since; Abroad; Have been / Did; Have been doing; Best Year; If you won...?; Achieve and Coincidence. These provide practice of the simple past, the present perfect and conditionals. To prevent these fast paced interviews from dulling the senses, humour is introduced. There are a few visual jokes. For example, when the interviewer attempts to elicit a response from a vagrant holding a beer. My favourite sequence had the interviewer walk up to unsuspecting interviewees and ask 'What are you doing?' in the Doing Exercise of Video 2. The friendly tone is helped also by the often merry attitude of the interviewees themselves. Not an unhappy soul in the place. This makes all three videos attractive to watch. The use of interviewees from several non-English speaking countries will help an EFL student to identify with them. All three videos are well produced by the Marzio School. Often they are edited to highlight the contrast between nationalities. The archetypal British gentleman is followed by young American tourists, a German is followed by a French shopper. Usefully they come in VHS Pal, Secam and NTSC. So wherever you are in the world, there should be a version just for you. Real English videos are, without question, extremely useful resources for any EFL teacher's bag of tricks." From a review by Mark Ellison Taylor quoted with permission. The videocassettes were taped and edited by Mike Marzio with Charlie McBride. The video workbooks were written by Helen King, Mike Marzio, Alex Rossi, and Hilary Venekas. Video Cassette Contents Real English® Video Cassette 1 144-page Workbook included, 38 minutes 1.1 - Hi! Greetings, verb to be affirmative, negative, interrogative 1.2 - Name Possessive adjectives, contractions, first name, last name 1.3 - A B C Alphabet, can/could you spell that?, numbers, addresses, telephone numbers 1.4 - From Where are you from? Who, what, which, nationality, adjectives-opposites 1.5 - How old Numbers, how old? ages, about, between, how much? foreign currencies 1.6 - Married Married, single, divorced, separated, engaged, how much/many, why, because 1.7 - Job Jobs, imperatives, object pronouns 1.8 - Color/colour Colours, fruits, vegetables, clothes, whose? 1.9 - This is This is.., members of the family, this/that, these/those, possessive pronouns 1.10 - Time Time (British & American), days of the week, months, dates, prepositions 1.11 - Weather Weather, what...like, adverbs of frequency, seasons, cardinal points, maps 1.12 - Astrological sign Astrological signs, what...like, dates, when? 1.13 - 5 Nationalities Adjectives describing people, is there/are there, some/any 1.14 - Bye! Farewells, replying "thank you", final activities Real English Video Cassette 2 155-page Workbook included, 32 minutes 2. The present continuous: 2.1 Doing 2.2 Wearing 2.3 Going (to a place) 3. Can: 3.1 Can you play...? 3.2 Can you cook...? 3.3 What else can you do? 4. Directions: Lost in England 4.1 Have got 4.2 Do you have 5. The present simple: 5.1 Do (work) 5.2 Do (fun) 5.3 Time and frequency 5.4 Live 5.5 Like (something) 5.6 How long does it take 5.7 Think of the English Real English Video Cassette 3 148-page Workbook included, 33 minutes 6.1 Like to do 6.2 Like Doing 7. Going to (do, be) 8. Was, were 8.1 Born 8.2 Good at school 9. The simple past 9.1 Yesterday 9.2 When did you meet? 9.3 When you left school? 10. Used to do 11.1 Comparatives 11.2 Superlatives 11.3 The most beautiful language 12. The present perfect 12.1 Have done 12.2 For, since 12.3 Abroad 12.4 Have been, did 12.5 Have been doing 13. Best year 14. If you won...? 15. Achieve 16. Coincidence Real English® Videocassettes Real English® 1, 2 or 3 Prices Video Cassette 1 with 144-page photocopiable workbook & Instructor's Guide: 139 Euros  Video Cassette 2 with 155-page photocopiable workbook & Instructor's Guide: 139 Euros  Video Cassette 3 with 148-page photocopiable workbook & Instructor's Guide: 139 Euros  Order all three cassettes & workbooks for 349 Euros!  Available in VHS Secam, Pal or NTSC Or one DVD (containing all three videos) includes Instructor Guide and one copy of each student workbook & permission to make unlimited copies:  349 Euros!  Please contact mike@realenglish.com for all orders. The Real English Video Test The Real English® Video Test is a practical evaluation tool in authentic, spontaneous English for learners at an intermediate or advanced level. It can be administered with or without the presence of a teacher. The Real English® Video Test is supplied with two types of tests in the form of a booklet, and includes a booklet containing notes for the teacher/administrator: Oral comprehension/MC test The learner watches the video (50 sequences), reads the questions, pauses his VCR, and then circles A, B, C, D, or E on the Answer Sheet. Without having to rewind, he sees each sequence twice. He is instructed that if he desires, he can rewind the video cassette 3 times to see each sequence 8 times (2 x 4 viewings) total. In a self-learning situation, or for use as an exercise, the student can then correct himself using the answer form supplied. Otherwise, the teacher can keep the answer sheet and correct the test himself. Comprehension and writing test Written answers are to proovided by the student to 50 questions. In this case, the Real English® Video Test is used to check not only oral comprehension and reading, but also writing skills. This version must be corrected by a teacher. In each test the level of difficulty is progressive. The results are expressed as a percentage. What's the Advantage of the Video Test? The student can find out, before traveling to an English-speaking country (or before having intensive conversations with native speakers of English), how well or badly he would probably fare in the real world. The Real English® Video Test checks the student's level in the basic skills but adds a third dimension: has he had any real contact with normal people speaking naturally, or has his experience been limited to his teacher speaking slowly and clearly? What Accents are Heard in the Real English® Video Test? The people in the videos were filmed in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the United States. The Video Test is approximately 50% American English, and 50% British, Scottish and Irish. Real English® Video Test Videocassette VHS SECAM or Pal 25 minutes - 139 Euros  The photocopiable test files are included in this price. Order the Real English® Video Test today! Please contact mike@realenglish.com for all orders. Use the Currency Converter to check today's exchange rate.