7 School Themed Shorts for Movie Talks

Movie Talks are one of my absolute favorite activities to give my students comprehensible input! A Movie Talk is definitely fun and engaging, but the students get a TON of practice! These School Themed Shorts for Movie Talks are great to include in your school unit for a clip chat!

What is a Movie Talk?

Movie Talk is a language learning technique developed by Dr. Ashley Hastings. Basically, you play a short, muted video clip while you describe it in comprehensible language for your students.

One of the best parts about a Movie Talk is that you can talk about pretty much anything in the clip. This makes it easy to fit a lot of objectives! If you’re not familiar with a Movie Talk, check out my post here for more info on how to get started!

School Themed Shorts for Movie Talks

As with anything, make sure you preview the video! You know your school situation and your students best. What is appropriate for one setting and one age group might not work so well for another. Hopefully at least one of these will work for your setting!

MOVISTAR “el mejor de la clase”

Little Jesus – La Magia (Official Music Video)

Kara Jacobs has shared a bunch of resources for this video on her site. Check them out here!

Android Rock, Paper, Scissors

Cuerdas

What a classroom looks like in 27 countries around the world

Robarte un Beso

This is another music video option. There are scenes in it telling a little love story that takes place in a school so you could pull those out and then listen to the song later!

Extend the Conversation with School Themed Shorts for Movie Talks

If you are already using school themed shorts for Movie Talks, you are probably seeing how much language you can pull from just one clip. But what happens after the Movie Talk? Don’t let all that input go to waste. Stretch the experience by turning those clips into writing prompts, partner interviews, or group retells.

Have students write a “missing scene” from the video or create dialogue that could go with the action. These types of post-viewing tasks help them process the vocabulary and structures they just heard while also giving them space to be creative. When you build out your school themed shorts for Movie Talks into a mini unit, you get more repetition, more connections, and more language production.

Plus, you can always revisit a clip later in the year with a different focus—past tense, comparisons, or even cultural perspectives.

School Lunches from Around the World Make American Students Want to Study Abroad

I probably wouldn’t play this video straight through, but it could be good to skip to the clips with the snippets of food to look and discuss. This could also be great for your food unit!

Save this post for later!

Looking for more resources for your school unit?

This blog post has authentic school schedules so you can do some comparison activities with your students!

Check out this blog post with 14 comprehensible readings to look at school subjects and classes with your novice learners!

Check out this blog post for five Spanish class activities to practice school vocabulary!

Use the Clips for Authentic Connections

One of the best parts of using school themed shorts for Movie Talks is how naturally they bring in authentic context. Instead of memorizing vocabulary out of nowhere, students are seeing it in action. Think about showing school lunches from different countries, then having students compare their own routines. Or pause during a classroom scene and ask what each person is doing using target verbs.

This helps students move beyond just understanding the words. They begin interpreting behavior, making cultural comparisons, and building empathy.

With the right clip, your class is not just watching, they are reacting, predicting, and connecting. And that is the kind of energy that makes learning stick. If you try any new school themed shorts for Movie Talks, let me know. I always love finding new favorites!

Want more Movie Talk Resources?

Check out these posts!