Free English Lesson Plan: Video Analysis
- Ashley Jane Seymour
- Apr 23
- 7 min read
This post is designed help you improve your language acquisition by analysing a video from the popular 2006 movie, The Devil Wears Prada
Readers can use these steps for other video or audio clips. It's a great way to build vocabulary, listening comprehension and naturalised use of phrases, while also giving a deeper understanding of English in native contexts.
I recommend using this method on videos that are less than 5 minutes long. This allows you to go through the conversation in detail, and have enough time to understand any new English you may find.
Step 1: Watch and listen for key information
When you first look at an audiovisual piece, it helps to first consider the content without the pressure of understanding every word or phrase. Use what you can already understand about the conversation to form your first explanation about the video. This will be helpful when making sense of difficult phrases or expressions.
As you watch or listen for the first time, ask yourself the following questions:
Who is involved in the piece? What are they doing? If you are watching a video, what is around the characters that can give us clues about their conversation? Write down a short description of what is happening.
How do the people sound? What is their tone of voice? This is the emotional clue to the content. Consider identifying playful versus serious conversations, formal versus friendly, or positive versus negative tone. If there is a non-English word that comes to mind, translate it and note it down, it will help for future descriptions.
If you are watching a video, consider the character's body language for more clues about tone. Body language is the way somebody uses their body to show their emotions in a situation.
Application
In this case, a man and a woman appear to be having a conversation in a design office. There appears to be magazine articles posted on the walls, and the center table is lit up for examining pictures. We can hear a "clack" of heeled shoes in the beginning, which also might suggest a corporate context.
The tone is serious, but emotional. The woman's voice is stuffy, and a little scratchy, as if she has been crying. Her voice becomes louder and softer throughout the video. When the man talks, his tone is balanced, and if you listen to the sharp pronunciation he uses at the end of his words, you can hear a stern, dismissive response. While you don't need to use this vocabulary to explain the tone, the idea of the conversation should be clear in the emotions of the characters: The woman is emotional and the man is responding quite harshly.
Let's look at the body language. The woman, Andy, appears quite tense. Her face remains in a frown for most of the piece, and when she moves her arms, she holds them firmly at her side. The man, Nigel, is much more relaxed in his body language. He raises his eyebrows frequently, but otherwise holds a blank, unemotional expression. As he points to Andy, he moves his arms casually. The man appears confident, and dismissive of Andy's emotions. This is why video study is so helpful; we don't need spoken language to see the basics of the conversation.
What do we take from all of this? Before we really engage with the language, we already know the characters are having a conversation with two very different approaches. The woman is sharing a negative emotional experience, and the man responds sternly, not sharing the same response as the woman. Once Nigel has finished speaking, there is a pause. It appears the woman has realised something, and we see this change as she smiles for the first time. It appears the source of her emotionality has disappeared because of something the man said.
Okay, so we have a basic understanding of what happened, time to dive deeper into the language.
Step 2: Study key vocabulary
By this point, you probably picked up on a lot of what was spoken about already, but could still use some more information. We want to explore the core phrases in this piece, as it will give us the detail we need to really apply the language in future English practice.
Rewatch the video. Most streaming services offer two important features to help us follow what is said in a conversation: 1.) Subtitles, to different levels of accuracy, and 2.) Playback speed, where most services allow you to set the video to 0.75x speed, which I find very helpful when trying to break down a video.
What words or phrases stand out for you? This can include vocabulary you don't understand, as well as phrases you think are significant to understanding the piece. Ask yourself, what is spoken that adds something we can learn about the conversation?
Here is a table I made with what stood out for me and one of my students. We've made two columns, one for each character, to reflect their unique language in this conversation:
Andy (Woman) | Nigel (Man) |
"She hates me" | “You're whining” |
"Unacknowledged" | “Wake up” |
“Vicious” | “Just a magazine”/ “just doing her job” |
“Not fair” | “Beacon of hope” |
“Killing myself trying” | “No idea” |
“Deign” | |
"Gold star" |
There may be more phrases that stood out, or were important for you. Without watching the movie, it is quite clear there is another character in focus here. Andy is very concerned about this relationship, and we see her use "she hates me" and "vicious". This indicate her issues with this other woman. In talking about her problem, Andy's vocabulary is very dramatic: "killing myself trying", "not fair", "unacknowledged", showing us her negativity towards both her work, and the woman she is worried "hates" her.
Nigel's language is more symbolic, and this is where AI, or a good language teacher, can be helpful. Phrases such as "you want a gold star" and "beacon of hope" have strong associations. The first is referring to a common practice in school, rewarding children with gold star stickers for good behaviour, while the second refers to the maritime practice of using lighthouse beacons to reveal land in dark conditions. In the clip, Nigel is comparing experiences to these two, not directly talking about these situations. Nigel is suggesting Andy is childish for her need to be approved without working well for her boss, the "gold star" attitude. In the "beacon of hope" segment, he is explaining the significance of the magazine's mission for people who need it.
It helps to understand as many of these phrases as possible. However, do not get stuck on things that aren't easy to understand after research. Listening practice is about understanding the main message of a piece, so technical expressions or missing information can distract you from completing the study or acquiring new language. If something is too unclear after this stage, move on. You have the information from step 1 to understand what you need to improve your comprehension in step 2, and put the pieces together in step 3.
Step 3: Listen again for comprehension
Now that you've got the details to understand the more complicated moments of the piece, we can now listen to everything at full speed. You can choose to keep the subtitles on or off for this playthrough, but most of what you hear should now be familiar to you. Now, try to put the language from step 2 with the actions and tone you identify in step 1. As writing and speaking practice, it helps to recite a description of the conversation that you've written to summarise the piece.
In this summary, you can explain:
What are the characters talking about? What is the focus of the conversation?
What is the conflict or problem in the piece? Why has this issue been raised?
How do the characters respond in the piece? What are they like? You can even use examples from the conversation.
How does the conversation end? What has happened throughout the conversation?
If I used these questions to describe the above piece, I would write the following:
"A woman, Andy, is upset because of the issues she's having with someone at her work. She tearfully explains to a coworker, Nigel, that she feels this coworker "hates her", and feels "unacknowledged" while "killing herself trying". Nigel seems unconcerned by Andy's distress, raising his eyebrows and accusing Andy of "whining". He suggests Andy is being childish for wanting approval from her coworker, while not appreciating the significance of the opportunity she has, stating, "I could find a replacement for you in 5 minutes", and "you think this is just a magazine". In the end , Andy appears to have a realisation, raising her voice to ask Nigel a question. She is smiling as she does so, perhaps to try and charm Nigel into accepting a request."
As a language learner, use a description that comes easily to you. Try to incorporate language you've researched through the exercise, and if necessary, search for new expressions to explain your thoughts on the situation. Translating your own words, and using an AI to provide a variety of English options that fit for the situation can be very helpful in expanding your vocabulary.
After completing this lesson, you will have not only expanded your vocabulary, but also learnt more about the context in which you can use this vocabulary. Now that you've applied the language of the video to a specific purpose, it becomes easier for you to use it properly in the future.
Some bonus exercises
For those who want to take their production a little further, I recommend selecting a few phrases spoken in the piece and repeating them a few times. What's even better is if you can practice your own conversation that uses the target phrase, even if it just by yourself.
In addition, consider how you would respond to Andy if you were Nigel in this situation. Out loud, practice a conversation in which you respond to Andy's problem. What would you say to her? How would you respond and guide her in this situation? This will also enhance your conversational skills.
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