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[un]

For those who have access to DVD for 5 minutes at a time:

I have just begun using segment-by-segment of Michael Moore's SICKO. Truly an empowering/liberating learning environment can be cultivated with that movie. A particur element, in the spirit of Krashen, is that the movie has:
*real message
*real interest

With people telling their actual stories/dilemmas...rather than actors...there is a special dynamic...the voices are real...not acted!
The attention of the students...as I watch their eyes while I stand off to the side..these kids are really attentive!!!

We use segments in succession...each focusing upon a particular case. ..showing it twice...with subtitles in both English and Chinese (via the computer). Then I have them role play:
*as patient and insurance company
*as patient and reporter
*as patient and friend

Rather than merely relating/narrating the story, the individual in pairs/small groups play roles. This is a powerful/easily-developed dynamic.

Also...many role play ideas on the Promoting Change thread on this Job-Related page.

[beck's]

I think SICKO is an excellent choice to base role plays on if the teacher has as his hidden agenda the intent to use his position as an educator to bash America and everything American.

Chinese students are notoriously uncritical and naive. They tend to believe anything that the teacher presents, especially if the teacher has an anti-America bias. I think anyone using Moore's propaganda film should explain to the students that the United States is a world leader in medical innovation. In the last ten years (according to the NYTimes) 12 Nobel Prizes in medicine have gone to American researchers working in the U.S., 3 have gone to foreign born scientists working in the U.S. and just 7 have gone to researchers outside the country.

The N.Y. Times points out that, "the six most important medical innovations of the last 25 years, according to a 2001 poll of physicians, were magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography (CT scan); ACE inhibitors, used in the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure; balloon angioplasty; statins to lower cholesterol levels; mammography; and coronary artery bypass grafts. Balloon angioplasty came from Europe, four innovations on the list were developed in American hospitals or by American companies (although statins were based on earlier Japanese research), and mammography was first developed in Germany and then improved in the United States. Even when the initial research is done overseas, the American system leads in converting new ideas into workable commercial technologies."

More importantly though, I think that any teacher using SICKO should stress that Moore was nominated for an Academy Award for his effort and that criticism of the status quo is often rewarded in America. Just in passing, one wonders what would happen to a documentary film maker like Moore in China or in that other socialist utopia so lauded by Moore, Cuba. Again in passing, I hear that the Cubans will now be allowed, by their government to operate cell phones and surf the internet. Whoopie Sh-t.

[un]

Role Play linked with movie scenes allows learners to develop empathy, and thinking/feeling outside the box.

Using the marvelous www.metacritic.com allows the learners (and teachers) to real-ize that there are many perspectives offered by equally "famous: critics, regarding "popular" movies...depending upon their value systems...both conscious and unconscious.

Consider the different movie review snippets from the Website. I'm having the students do collaborative projects, in the spirit of Martin Wolf's Holistic English, linking speaking/listening/reading/writing. I have the students copy 2 metacritic reviews (of contrasting evaluation levels, High--Low) and include Chinese translations of the difficult wEnglish words. We will make booklets from their homework.

THEN...with a wide range of crticial opinions, the learners will learn to (as good lawyers can) argue/discuss from various perspectives/perceptions/opinions...even biases. Key is to be conscious of the value systems they are adopting.

Consider the vocabulary-rich range of opinions BELOW:

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