Job Discussion Forums

LSP · Joined: 09 May 2004 Posts: 56

I'm curious seeing that everyone here has a movie day/week/month with your classes, so what movies do you all watch with them? Personaly I want to bring a few movies that show some of my true American culture instead of mindless action and formula flicks. BTW is there any limit on what I can and can't show?

anthyp · Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 1320 Location: Chicago, IL USA

Great question! I know it's a "mindless action flick," but one of my classes absolutely loved "The Matrix," and didn't mind talking about it afterwards (ostensibly the reason for watching it). I am thinking of showing them "The Godfather" because it portrays an exciting time in America's history, and involves lots of cultural assimilation issues (though I am trying to find something that involves less talking in a non - English language). I know someone (kev?) was showing his students "Dances with Wolves," which has lots of gorgeous shots of the West, yes, and also portrays an important time in our nation's history - but I think it's rather slow for my students.

Ludwig · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:26 am Post subject:

'LSP', out of interest, what is your "true American culture"?

Tao Burp · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 118 Location: CHINA

Try Taxi Driver. I showed it, and then stopped the movie where Deniro is looking in the mirror, "You lookin' at me? You lookin' at me?" From that point, I talked about the staring issue. They got the message after they watched the rest of the film. Very Happy

Seriously, most of them will not understand the English language in the films, just bits and pieces. In my own opinion, you would be better to wait until you come over, and then buy VCDs here dirt cheap; instead of dragging your video cassettes here. If it's on film, it's on VCD here.

Giantbudwiser · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:42 am Post subject:

TRY A WET AND WILD...SIMPLE DIALOG'S IN THERE

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Yeah, I'm showing "Dances With Wolves" to my Senior 2 kids and I think about 95% are just LOVING it. There is romance, action, drama, humor, sadness . . . all the emotions you could want. It is a beautiful piece and does portray some important themes:

1. Assimilation of one man (John Dunbar) into a completely different culture (the Sioux). Not only do they learn about things from him but he also learns many valuable lessons from the Sioux.

2. The importance of learning a different language. I love how they each get confused with each other's languages and how both sides attempt to learn the languages.

I show the movie in English with Chinese subtitles. I wish my students had enough English so I could show with English subtitles, but that is not the case. What I do to make up for this is write up a questionnaire which they have to answer while they watch the movie. Multiple choice questions and short, open-ended questions. (What do you think will happen next type). Then at the end, they have to write an assessment of the movie and we will discuss ideas in class. It's a long movie and it has taken up 4 classtimes so far (45 minute classes) with one more to go tomorrow. Then we spend a period talking about it, so you must have some time to invest.

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

I showed my kids (ages 11-13) "The Dark Crystal" and most of them were afraid of it! "Looks too real! Looks too scary!" were some of the comments I recieved.

Jeez! Rolling Eyes

It's a kids' movie! What was so scary about it...

Kurochan · Joined: 01 Mar 2003 Posts: 944 Location: China