Movie reviews with a twist. Or just twisted movie reviews?

It's been more than just a little while since I last posted anything. That's not to say I 've been resting on my laurels, I most certainly have not. I've merely been lacking in what some might call free time. Be that as it may, the summer has arrived and I shall be presented with a little more free time. For that very reason I'm going to try and churn out as many ideas I've come up with/adapted over the last six months, in the coming months.

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.

Some of the first to come out were things like NOT Saving Private Ryan and Million Dollar Baby Sitter.

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

Talking Movies

I have got a great pre-advanced class. I only get to see them once a week on a Friday for three hours. Sadly for them next week is parents day so they'll be missing their class. As I'm obviously a very conscientious teacher and know that whilst being away from the classroom, even the best of students will lose touch with the language. For that reason, rather than just setting a whole bunch of homework from the book and past papers I decided to set a movie review as homework.

Whilst having a chat with my DOS, Chris,  we came up with a nice little idea. Rather than just setting them on their way to write about any old film we came up with a lesson plan to really engage our students in the lesson process.

1.Speaking part three with grabactivity

2. Select two movies each, discuss in pairs, down to one.

3. Each pair puts their idea forward. Class decides on final from the four or five selected.

4. Students decided which film to watch.

5. Find real reviews of the film online for them to read at home.


In the next class.


1. In pairs then as a class. Discuss the film.

2. Talk about the language used in the reviews they read as homework.

3. Create a plan.

4. Work in pairs to write review or do a circular writing.

5. Homework. Write your own review.


Right then. I'm off to class. Have a delightful weekend one and all.

'til the next time

H

Guardians of the Galaxy

As it's coming up to Christmas and students are getting a little ragged i decided to bow to their pressure and put a film on over a couple of classes. Obviously, I had to find a film appropriate to their age group and one which I would still be able to enjoy. I plumped for Guardians of The Galaxy.
It really is a wonderful movie.
Anyway, after the first class of watching the film I got students to go away and write 10 words that they related to the film. the next class I got them to predict the ending then after the last 20 minutes of the film we set about writing our reviews.
I decided that spoon feeding them some ideas first, using the words they'd provided, would help things run a little more smoothly.
So here are the materials below. There is a short gap fill, using words from a wordsearch. the solution is attached too. If you want the printable just look here for Guardians of The Galaxy Review. You'll find most of my other materials in and around that area too. Or just do the copy paste thing.

Christmas homework is going to be students writing their own movie review from any of the films they watch over Christmas. Let's see how they do.

USE THE WORDS FROM THE WORDSEARCH BELOW TO COMPLETE THE REVIEW

You might think that Guardians of the Galaxy is just ___________ Marvel superhero action movie.____________, unlike Spiderman, Avengers and each one of the seemingly _______stream of X-men films that have been pumped out by Marvel this masterpiece has something a little bit __________.

Set in the not too distant future in _______space this exceptional film turns comic-book cinema on its head.  It ________Chris Pratt as a Junker in his mid- thirties ______ Peter Quill.

Quill finds _______ in possession of a hugely powerful orb which leads him to all manner of trouble and him having a huge bounty put on his head.  Luckily for him those who are chasing him at first turn out to be those keep him _______.

My favourite ________ in the film is ________Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper. He is a genetically modified Raccoon with a very bad attitude and a love for money and _______weapons. I find him is absolutely _________ and his unlikely relationship with the treeman Groot is a great addition to the comedy of the film.

I would_________ it to people of all ages because it is full of action and is also really funny.  I give Guardians of the Galaxy 4.5 out of 5.

NOW WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEW BELOW

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SOME FILM REVIEW WORDS

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Y

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ALIVE	ANOTHER	CALLED
CHARACTER	DEFINITELY	DIFFERENT
ENDLESS	EVIL	HILARIOUS
HIMSELF	HOWEVER	OUTER
POWERFUL	RECOMMEND	STARS

Solution

+ + + + + L + + + D + + R + H

+ + + + + + U S + I + + E + I

+ + H + + C S F + F + + V + M

+ + + I A E + + R F + + E + S

+ + + L L + + E + E + + W + E

+ + L D L A C + + R W + O + L

+ E N I + O R + + E E O H + F

D E V + M + + I + N + V P + +

+ E + M + + + + O T + R I + +

+ + E + + + + + + U + E + L +

+ N S R A T S + + + S T + + A

D + R E T C A R A H C U + + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + O + + +

+ + D E F I N I T E L Y + + +

+ + + + + A N O T H E R + + +

(Over,Down,Direction)

ALIVE(15,11,NW)

ANOTHER(6,15,E)

CALLED(6,3,SW)

CHARACTER(11,12,W)

DEFINITELY(3,14,E)

DIFFERENT(10,1,S)

ENDLESS(2,8,NE)

EVIL(2,9,NE)

HILARIOUS(3,3,SE)

HIMSELF(15,1,S)

HOWEVER(13,7,N)

OUTER(12,13,N)

POWERFUL(13,8,NW)

RECOMMEND(9,4,SW)

STARS(7,11,W)