Today's post came about thanks to one of those silly games I tend to play with a group of friends that lends itself very well to teaching. We decided to make new movie titles by taking old ones and adding just one word.
I took this game into a classroom environment. As a warmer I got students to think of as many films as they could in English. After two minutes I gave them an additional two minutes with their phones to get as long a list as possible.
as soon as they'd got their list at the ready I told them to get started on the game.
Captain South America, Paranormal Sexual Activity, The Rubbish Pianist and African American Beauty were but a few of the titles that popped up.
After their lists had been compiled I asked students to get together and talk about what their films would be like and who'd star in them.
Next up was reading reviews of real films. I gave the students a list Review sites and set them about looking for reviews of some of the films we'd talked about. I also ensured they took some useful chunks of language from the reviews for later use.
All that was left after the discussion was to set the homework. After going through a few movie reviews online I set got them to set about the task of writing their own. using at least 3 phrases they'd come across in the movie reviews we'd read together in class.
The results were nothing short of spectacular. I had by far the largest amount of homework handed in this year with this activity and it was by far and away of the best standard.
I found that doing exam style tasks just a little away from the exam really gives the students a chance to express themselves.
right that's all from me today.
I hope this gives your class something to write about.
Until the next time
