FilmBlog

Politeness in The Graduate

Here's a lesson plan for teaching polite request forms based on a scenes from The Graduate and here's a quiz based on the same movie.

Movie Riddles

A activity to get ESL students talking about movies from Boggle's World.

Feature Film Lesson Plans

Graham Stanley has produced lesson plans/worksheets for 3 films: Vertigo, Breakfast At Tiffany's and Shallow Grave. He says:
"You can use these lesson plans/worksheets as I'm doing, as the basis of classes with an advanced group without additional material. They will have difficulty in understanding some of the dialogue without transcription or repeated listenings, but many of the lesson plans feature transcripts of sections of the film and there are links to screenplays (where available)."

Karin's ESL Partyland - Teaching with Film and Video

5 movie lessons: Vertigo, All The President's Men, Do The Right Thing, Bonnie & Clyde and Dead Man Walking.

6 Film Scenes

Skip Downing has ideas for using 6 film scenes including Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Movie Reviews (Critical Response)

"In this CLAS lesson, students choose any movie and pretend they're selling it door-to-door. They will write a lively one-page sales pitch for the item they are peddling."

The Blockbuster Movie Lesson Plan

"This lesson introduces students to the phenomenon of the 'blockbuster' movie – its history, characteristics and influences. Students will also explore the role of audience in the creation of a 'blockbuster' and analyze their own responses to current blockbuster films. Students will learn about the process involved in turning a film into a blockbuster by devising promotional campaigns for an imaginary movie." Also available as a PDF file.

Groundhog Day Lesson Plan

Here's a lesson plan for Groundhog Day, one of my favourite movies. From Linell Davis of Nanjing University English department who has also written a short guide on teaching with movies.

Screening the Silver Screen

"In this lesson, students examine the style and techniques of the 'Movie Guide' column found every Friday in the Weekend section of The New York Times. Using the reviews in 'Movie Guide' as a model for writing, students develop their own descriptive, persuasive movie reviews for favorite films."

From The New York Times Learning Network.

The Movie Reviewer

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone provides the timely vehicle to introduce the basics of movie review writing. An interview with Washington Post movie reviewer Desson Howe gives a glimpse into the life of a critic. It is clear that Howe has academic training and a love of movies. Movie trivia questions get students thinking about their own knowledge of movies and the economics of the motion picture industry. Teachers are provided guidelines for movie review writers, film vocabulary and a checklist for students to use when writing their first movie reviews. Word Study focuses on movie lingo. In the Money vocabulary and Post articles are used in the enrichment activity that introduces students to the business side of franchises, product placement and endorsements. Just for fun, a Harry Potter matching challenge is provided."

Downloadable as PDF from The Washington Post.