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Markness · Joined: 30 Dec 2009 Posts: 738 Location: Chengdu

Tis' the season for minimal lesson plannin'

Howdy folks, anyone have any good recommendations for Christmas movies? I've only got 2 days of classes next week and the pressure from my students to play a movie is finally getting to me! Anyone know of anything good? I am sure I can find movies with Chinese subtitles no problem, it is just a matter of finding one that they will enjoy..

Anyone? Smile

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The animated 1966 movie, which is downloadable on any torrent site. Doesn't need subtitles because the vocab isn't that difficult, and anyone can get the main idea by watching what the characters are doing. It might be a good idea to begin class with a presentation on Christmas so the students understand what it's all about. This movie is only 25 mins, it's entertaining, teaches the true meaning of Christmas, and isn't so long that half the class is sleeping or playing wechat by the time it's over. I show this every year and the students like it.

rogerwilco · Joined: 10 Jun 2010 Posts: 1549

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

dean_a_jones · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 1151 Location: Wuhan, China

Yeah the short stuff is better, and you can discuss them (and if showing more than one, compare). Have used Grinich before as already suggested. Have also used 'Merry Christmas Mr Bean' (again not much vocab needed but lots of different traditions for discussion), 'Charlie Brown Christmas' and 'The Snowman' (British animated, again no dialogue). Got them all on torrents at one point or another. All work quite well for discussions, each having their own merits, and none too long or complicated.

wawaguagua · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 190 Location: China

I think "Home Alone" could work well in an ESL context - You could ask the students to put themselves in the boy's shoes and ask what they would do in his situation (waking up to find his house empty, facing the prospect of home burglary, etc). Discussion about the importance of family, discussion about childhood and if the students ever got separated from their parents when they were young (and what they did about it). It's not very difficult to understand, either. It's a full-length movie, however, so it might be too long.

If you're looking for something very short, a lot of TV sitcoms have one-off holiday episodes that are easy to follow along without understanding the background of the show. I'd have to think about which ones are the most appropriate, though.

currentaffairs · Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 828

Wallace and Gromit.. There is a series of shorts as well as the movies.

ymmv · Joined: 14 Jul 2004 Posts: 387

If you can find "Guasha" it's a great choice. It's the perfect movie to show culture mis-communication between Mericans and Chinese, plus it has a nice Christmas Eve in St. Louis ending. Very useful for class on numerous levels. It's hard to find, I had to have a student hunt it down and make me a copy. You can get at least two classes of lesson material out of it, plus the Christmasy ending.

max71081 · Joined: 05 Aug 2015 Posts: 125

BAD SANTA!!!

LOL, kidding.....I showed "Home Alone" for christmas...students loved the movie...

Markness · Joined: 30 Dec 2009 Posts: 738 Location: Chengdu

Guys, thanks for all of the wonderful replies. Sorry I couldn't reply right away because of internet issues with Daves. Don't know what the problem was but seem to be having issues with the website. Good stuff with all of the recommendations. May go with the "Home Alone" one since there could be an activity to go with it. Who knows though, but thanks so much for your replies!

Mark

BadBeagleBad · Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 4:14 pm Post subject:

The Snowman is a movie without words. You might even use it as a writing exercise for your students. Should be easily downloadable.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

As far as content is concerned just bear in mind V1 4 of your SAFEA contract.
My only other comment is that I don't look for too much 'teachable moment' stuff in end of semester movies. Just expose them to some understandable Oral English.
My students fave is 'The Parent Trap'. There's plenty of physical comedy, understandable plot, the baddie and of course the incomparable Linday Lohan (before she discovered booze and botox).

Day Dreamer · Joined: 09 Dec 2015 Posts: 24

I've done the Dr Seuss's Grinch movie to rave reviews - the classics are called that for a reason

Also the first Charlie Brown Christmas. You may want to fast forward the Linus speech, they usually have no idea what he's talking about

The second movie was mediocre