Developing the Speaking Skill and Cultural Awareness in the EFL Classroom Using TV Series: Discussing Sense8 with Restorative Circles

Abstract

[eng] Considering one’s teenage years are a very formative stage in a person’s life, teachers at secondary education level should aim at including opportunities for their students’ personal development together with academic contents to make their progress through high school as enriching as possible. For this reason, Coeducation appeared very recently, a program based on deconstructing inequality that the EFL subject has a lot of potential of applying to its contents. To do that, extensive exposure to TV series proves useful according to linguistic, cultural, and motivational reasons. They are a relevant authentic material which can act as a source of English acquisition, they can include many topics that lead to cultural awareness, and they enhance motivation. This last characteristic is crucial to develop the speaking skill, which is not usually connected to TV series. To relate them, debates could be considered an efficient bridge, but they are uncontrollable and unguided. However, there is an alternative resource that compensates their drawbacks: restorative circles. With a pedagogical nature, this versatile resource allows classroom cohesion and interaction in a safe space while working on any topic or oral production content established in the EFL curriculum. For this reason, this dissertation develops a didactic proposal in which, during a whole year, students will watch the TV series Sense8 and use it as an alternative source of EFL knowledge to the typical textbook. To discuss the episodes, work on their topics, and develop the different communicative functions while raising cultural awareness, restorative circles will take place. As a result, this proposal will allow personal and academic development, which will make the EFL acquisition process more complete.