[eng] Multiple approaches to teaching English as a Foreign Language have been
implemented. From a communicative perspective, the use of authentic materials
in the classroom is key to motivating students and enhancing their language
skills. In a Spanish secondary school environment, several competences must
also be developed. This paper explores the way a Content-Based Learning
approach in the EFL classroom, using literature and cinema as source
materials, is effective in teaching both language and competence-based skills.
A review on the use of literature and cinema in EFL is first presented, followed
by an exploration of approaches to covering culture, critical thinking, social and
emotional learning, and content-based learning in the EFL classroom. A didactic
proposal that integrates these approaches is then suggested, including sample
activities and materials. In eight sessions, the proposal revolves around the
figure of the tragic hero in literature and cinema, as illustrated in the characters
of Star Wars’ Anakin Skywalker and Kylo Ren, Shakespeare’s Macbeth and
King Lear, Sophocles’ Oedipus, Euripides’ Medea, and Okonkwo, from Chinua
Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart.