PROJECT ACTIVITIES
FILM SCREENING SERIES
In February-May 2015, LAKMA invited teachers and students of English to a monthly film screening series. This activity was part of the international project Cooperation and Innovation in Teacher Associations (CITA https://citaproject.wordpress.com) carried out within the Erasmus+ programme funded by the EU in which LAKMA is currently participating in partnership with APABAL (Association of English Teachers of the Balearic Islands) and IATEFL-Hungary (International Association of English Teachers-Hungary). According to the project action plan, each association should try to implement activities based on the other partners’ good practices. LAKMA has decided to try film screenings – the activity successfully organized by the Spanish colleagues.
The film screening series was organised in cooperation with and kindly hosted by the US Embassy in Vilnius. In total, there were 4 film screenings offered every second Friday of each project month. The screenings were open for everyone and free of charge. The participants were shown American films made after literary works: Blue Jasmine, The Great Gatsby, The Blind Side and To Kill a Mockingbird. Each screening was preceeded by an introduction and followed by a discussion. On average, each session was attended by 30 people (approximately 80% of all registered in advance). Attendees of all screenings were issued a certificate of attendance. The events were moderated by LAKMA volunteers Daiva Janavičienė, Teri McCarthy, Eglė Pertronienė and Loreta Zavadskienė.
After the first film show, the participants were asked to fill in a short feedback form. The results of this small-scale survey were encouraging – the participants were quite satisfied with the event and were looking forward to the following film screenings.
All in all, this film screening series proved to be a successful initiative of LAKMA. The participats saw it as an attractive social event which also helped them to increase their linguistic competence in English. As for the association, the event enabled us to achieve one of our purposes – to provide the local community with professional support in learning English as well as to raise a greater interest of English teachers in LAKMA’s activities and also their motivation to join the association.