Yoruba Film and the Teaching of Yoruba Culture in a Second Language Class

Abstract: Since the culture of film came to Nigeria during the colonial era, it has remained one of the greatest means of representing, documenting and teaching the Nigerian culture, language and tradition. Film interacts with educational, economic, social and religious activities directly or indirectly. The study suggests that audiovisual teaching methodology remains highly productive in stimulating learning. Hence there have been some scholarly evaluations on the place of film in education. Some scholars have explored film as a resource for teaching organizational behaviour and management theories and concepts, while others evaluate the use of film in improving teaching skills. Among the various structural and operational methods being adopted in the classroom, film literature stands out, most especially in secondlanguage teaching. Aside from being a great resource for teaching, the film also enhances learning the language, culture and tradition of a particular set of people. This essay investigates the relevance of Nollywood-Yoruba film in the classroom with an emphasis on the linguistics, philosophical and cultural adequacy of film literature through the artistry of Tunde Kelani, Niji Akanni and Kunle Afolayan. It then explores the possibility of film enhancing first and second-language teaching and learning procedures specifically. Through a purposively selected artistry of the three filmmakers, the essay draws attention to the advantages of using film narratives as one of the best instructional materials in the classroom. The submission of the essay is that second language instructors should adopt film as a teaching tool; hence, it should be incorporated into the second language curriculum.