Idea #105: Would you like some popcorn with your movie?
11May 19, 2012 by Kara
I love to use movies when motivation is low, and the end of the year is the perfect time! Now, I still want them to be learning and using Spanish, even if the movie is in English. I want the movie to be deep in culture and something new to them. I have shown Disney movies in the target language before, but they seemed to get less language learning from it and there is no target culture. Some of my favorites are “Evita,” “In the Time of the Butterflies,” and “Real Women Have Curves.”
Before we start the movie, I show the trailer (usually in TL), and then we do centers or jigsaw groups to learn some basics about the background info like where the country is on a map, the weather and climate, the flag, the time period, important characters, the money (I have real money for them to touch), major attractions and cities. I make these really hands on. They color the flag, label a map, use Google Earth or Tourwrist app, count and convert the money, read a tourist booklet, check out a website, see pics from when I went there, go to the Weather Channel site or app, etc.
My general movie-watching lesson plan is to watch 30 minutes of the movie and talk about it in Spanish. I give them the questions after the movie in the TL. We answer them together because this is how I introduce the new vocabulary. For example, in “Evita” her father dies in the opening scene. When I ask “What happened to Evita’s dad?”, they say in English “He died.” We all write down “Su padre murió.” A few students ask about the new endings (conjugations), and I will explain it to them. However I’ve found that they pick up the past tense quickly when we do it in this context.
Before we start the movie on the second day, I like to give them the events that occurred on individual pieces of paper. They put them in chronological order like a timeline. We can then make it look like a plot graph with the climax and resolution as we go. I also have general background and character statements. They group those together. This supports our lovely English standards too.
When ever there is extra time, they are working on a project in the TL. I like to give a choice board so they can explore what is interesting to them. I know that I’m on Wikipedia every time I watch a movie that is based on real events, so why not let them?
Finally, they write or present (which can be really cute when they dress up) a movie critique as the summative assessment. IMBd is a good site and app to have them check out before doing this. Again, this supports the English standards. Our English teacher helped me create this and I modified it to their proficiency levels. She said it can even be used in their English portfolios! Two birds with one stone.
One new idea I’m going to try is giving them tickets for correct answers and timelines so they can “buy” popcorn and drinks before the movie. They will have to ask in Spanish too, of course!
What movies do you like to use in class? What do you do with them in the target language?
Megan
rachel573
Kara
Great ideas!
I show the film in it’s entirety, with questions gor the students to complete while they watch. I present background information to them as a pre-viewing activity. I try to show films that in some way relate to the unit that is being studied, and that have young people as the protagonist.
Some of my favorites:
Stand and Deliver
Real Women Have Curves
La Misma Luna
The Bronze Screen
American Experience/PBS documentary on Roberto Clemente
Walkout
Machuca
Do local banks carry currencies for the “lesser countries” — say, El Salvador, Peru or the D.R.? I’m pretty sure you can get euros and Mexican pesetas.
I know that the bank at our airport does. Also I think you can order any currency at other banks. It takes some time, but they can get it.
I’d like to suggest an additional film: El Norte. It looks at plight of undocumented aliens fleeing massacres in their own countries and a lot of it is naturally in Spanish.
I actually do use the Disney movies in Spanish and I do work before the movie using our vocabulary to describe the characters and the action. I also pull new vocabulary related to the movie. Students describe pictures of scenes in the movie and true/false, fill in the blank about the characters, etc. I also select lines/quotes from the movie and do activities with those beforehand. They figure out what the lines mean, who said them, etc. I do the chronological order thing, too. The Spanish 2 teacher uses the types of movies you suggest. I’m going to send her your ideas.
Other movies that I like to use are: “Habanastation” (which you can find on Youtube) about two young boys in Havana, Cuba, and “Sugar” about a guy from the D.R. that comes to the U.S. to play baseball. My students really liked both of these movies.
Someone suggested the “Sugar” movie to me due to its connection to baseball (Perfect for the Spanish I THematic Unit on Sports/Leisure Activities, right?) Well, it’s rated R! I am not sure how I could get a way with it…are you allowed to show it in your district? Do you have to have permission from the parentsfirst?
In the past, I had to get principal and then parental permission. I had to explain why it was R and I was asked if those parts could be skipped. I’ve only had one parent refuse so that student went to the library to do research in the topic.
Thanks, Kara! I figured it would be something like that.
I found one this year called The Colors of the Mountain…filmed in Colombia about a group of young boys and some rebel conflict. It was rated NR but was really clean! Authentic language, geography and culture. The kids either loved or hated it because like a lot of foreign films, it just kind of stops instead of ends perfectly like all of Hollywood.
I’ll check it out!