MIDTESOL Matters
January - March 2000

A Publication of Mid-America Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

TEACHING TIPS AND MEMORABLE METHODS
Corner Editor: Ayse G. Stromsdorfer

Using Films: Adaptable Discussion and/or Writing Activities

By Linda Wallace Jones

These activities can be adapted for use with any film. Especially interesting and relevant for ESL classes are movies with intercultural themes.

1. Do "before and after" free-associations. (e.g., Prior to watching a film about Native Americans, such as "Dances with Wolves", ask students to do a 5-minute free-write about what comes to mind when they think of Native Americans; then repeat the exercise after viewing the film.)

2. Students describe visual and audio images which immediately come to mind after seeing the film; use these responses as springboards for discussion.

3. Students work in groups to summarize the story, or some aspect of it. Compare summaries with those of other groups.

4. Give reading assignments related to themes in the film; compare film and literary points of view of similar issues. In what ways was each medium effective in dealing with the subject?

5. Discuss cultural similarities, differences and conflicts observed in the movie.

6. General questions for discussion and/or writing assignments: (These questions can be adapted to specific movies.)

a. Which character in this film would you most like to meet? What would you like to discuss with that person? Create an imagined conversation.

b. Describe a character in the movie. How and why does he/she change? What were his/her motives? thoughts? feelings? (Compose an inner monologue.)

c. What if...(something had happened differently -or- something surprising happens later.)

d. Write a short biography of one of the characters in the movie, imagining what had occurred in his/her life before the movie began, or speculating what might happen later. Share and compare stories with classmates.

e. Examine the relationships of the characters. How did 2 specific characters have an impact on each others’ lives? How did the characters change their attitudes toward each other in the course of the movie? What did they learn from each other? If there were misunderstandings, what caused them? Were they resolved? If so, how? If not, how might the conflicts have been avoided or resolved?

f. Describe some aspect/event of the movie. Then contrast how the same situation might have occurred in your country.

g. Choose a character with whom you did NOT agree or feel sympathetic, and describe the situation from his/her point of view.

h. Be a newspaper critic; write a review of the film.

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