4.1 Introduction
4.2 Guidelines
literature
4.3 Tasks
for literature
4.4 Three
poems
4.5 The
Little Prince
4.6 Malamud's
Black
4.7 Guidelines
for films
4.8 Tasks
for films
4.9 Guidelines
songs
4.10 Stranger
than you
4.11 Bibliography
4.7 Guidelines for using films to develop
intercultural competence
Christiane Peck
In the present section you will find general ideas or guidelines to help
you explore and exploit films to develop intercultural competence. The
chapter is divided into three sections, starting with previewing activities,
including four association games, then ideas for while-viewing activities
from jigsaw viewing to script writing and acting out, and finally, a section
on post-viewing tasks to help students process the experience gained from
the film and from the discussion activities themselves.
I. Previewing activities
Objectives:
To increase the students' motivation
To raise interest for the film by informing students about the background
of the film
To find out what students already know about the topic/film or what they
think they know
To include a personal approach
To start discussing and challenging stereotypes
I.1 Associations with the title
Tell the class the title of the film. Ask them to write down on paper
strips in big letters a sentence including the title. One after the
other, students come to the front of the class, and read their sentences.
Then they put them up on the board or pin board. Afterwards the statements
can be clustered according to similarity of content. (After having seen
the whole film students will compare their initial personal associations
with the title and the actual content of the film.)
I.2 Associations with the advertising poster
Show the students the advertising poster.
a) The students describe the advertising poster in small groups and
discuss what the topic of the film could be.
b) Everyone or students in pairs write an imaginary plot for the film.
I.3 Associations with the plot
Give the class some but not too many ideas about the film (time, place,
main characters. ). You can for example read out part of the summary
of the film from the official website or a passage from a review. Students
are asked to continue a probable version of the plot of the film. Then
they compare their versions in small groups.
I.4 Associations with the main characters
Show the class photos of the main characters or short sequences that
introduce the protagonists without telling their names. Ask the students
to give them names, characterize them (in pairs or in small groups)
and write a brief summary of a possible plot of the film.
II. While-viewing tasks (Analysis and
Transfer)
Objectives:
To hear, to see, to experience other cultures in an authentic way
To develop listening comprehension,
To make students imagination work,
To develop students' observation and interpretation skills,
To make students think critically and adopt multiple perspectives.
Preparations: Choose some sequences that deal with intercultural differences
in one or several of the following areas:
- Body-language, gestures
- Cultural identity
- Culture in the street
- Code-switching
- Celebrations, customs
- Family life
- Gender issues
- Generation gap
- Stereotypes, nationalism, racism
Depending on the content of the sequence choose one of the following
techniques:
II.1 Viewing and hearing
Set previewing questions, then play the scene. Discuss the answers
to the questions in the class or in groups. If necessary play the scene
again.
Further intercultural tasks for the students:
- Try to find reasons why the characters act the way they
do.
- Transfer the information of the scene to your own
cultural context and imagine what this
scene would be
like in your country.
- Write a short script and act the scene out in front of
the class.
If the scene deals with gender issues make the students change the perspective:
- Imagine how a girl or boy, woman or man would have
acted in the same scene in your culture. Role-play
the
scene.
If the topic of the scene will return in other sequences of
the film tell the class to
- Imagine how the story will go on.
- Give the characters of the film some practical advice
to
act successfully.
Then play the next scene/s. The students will compare their ideas with
the reality presented in the film and discuss the possible aims of the
director.
II.2 Silent viewing
This technique can be used especially when focusing on body-language
and gestures that are typical for a certain socio cultural context.
Before the students are shown a sequence without sound they are asked
to pay attention to the situation of the scene keeping the following
questions in mind:
Where are the characters?
Why are they there?
What are they doing?
After having shared their ideas in small groups, the sequence will be
played again. The viewing task this time is to concentrate on the character's
facial expression, body-language and gestures. The students discuss
in small groups what these non-verbal forms of expression might mean
in this concrete context.
Further acting tasks for the groups:
- Freeze some of the character's movements and imagine
an internal monologue for each state. One student
takes
the position of the character and another says what
the
character is thinking..
- Role-play the scene improvising a dialogue.
When the characters proceed to code-switching it can
be interesting to show the class the sequence without sound. The first
previewing task is to describe the situation. After the second show
students are asked to predict when the individual characters switch
to another language according to the situation or the body-language.
In groups the class could invent dialogues in two different languages
in a role-play . Finally, the sequence will be played with sound. Students
check their predictions.
The students whose parents are immigrants afterwards might tell the
others if and when they tend to switch into their mother tongue.
Questions that may help to start the conversation:
- Can you write in your mother tongue or have you
mastered only the spoken form?
- In which language do you count?
- In which language do you dream?
II.3 Jigsaw Viewing
Divide the class into two groups A and B. Group A will go to another
room to listen only to the soundtrack of the scene. Group B will view
the scene without sound. The sequence may be played two times. Both
groups are asked to think about the following questions:
Who are the people?
Where are the people?
Why are they there?
What are they doing?
How do they feel?
Before the two groups come together they discuss their answers to the
questions in their own groups. Then pairs of As and Bs will compare
their impressions. If necessary students may discuss their interpretations
in the class before they see and hear the scene.
II.4 Viewing, describing, listening
This technique is especially useful for scenes that deal with the culture
in the street.
If the sound doesn't carry any important information
you can turn it off. The students pair off. Student A is sitting with
his/her back to the TV screen. Student B can see the film.
B describes to A what he/she sees focusing especially on the culture
in the street.
Afterwards, both A and B view the scene once again, paying attention
to as many details as possible. After that, the class tries to find
differences between the culture presented in the film and the conditions
in their own country in pairs or as a whole class discussion. Finally,
students could give reasons why they would prefer to live in one or
the other culture.
III. Post viewing activities
It is of great importance to follow-up a viewing activity with one or
two tasks that help students discuss and evaluate the experience. Here
are some ideas to help this process:
III.1 Personal
opinion about the film
"Four-corners-discussion":
The four corners of the classroom are marked with papers with
the following symbols
+ + stands for I really liked the film
a lot
+ I liked the film
- I didn't
like the film
- - I didn't like the film
at all
Tasks:
a) Go to the corner of the room that represents your opinion about the
film.
b) Discuss in your group what you liked and disliked.
c) One representative of the group reports your statements to the class
in the final discussion.
III.2 Summary of the film
a) Depending on their level of proficiency the students write a summary
of the film individually, in pairs or as a whole class activity on the
board with the teacher's help.
b) They compare it to their summary of the previewing activity (I.3)
and discuss in small groups what the differences are and why.
c) Then they are given the summary of the film from the official homepage
of the film and summaries in other languages they speak. They are asked
to read and compare what different aspects of the film are stressed
in which language.
III.3 Topics of the film
Tasks:
a) Make a list with the central topics of the film.
b) Find a provocative or stereotypical statement about each of the topics
and write it on a sheet of paper.
These are some examples of a provocative statement taken from the film
Real women have curves:
- When you come to a country as an immigrant, you have
no
right to protest against the social conditions
there.
- Immigrants should use their mother tongue as little
as
possible in order to facilitate their integration
into the
culture of their new homeland.
- Assuming the American way of life is a big chance
for
immigrant children.
- .....
These statements will be used for the final discussion mentioned under
III.4.
III.4 Final discussion about the main topics
of the film
Room arrangement: Chairs arranged in two concentric circles
Activity: Discuss in pairs the provocative statements mentioned
under III.3.
(If the students didn't do the task above, the teacher should
give them various pre-formulated statements.)
Tasks:
a) Position the chairs in the classroom into two circles, so that the
chairs of the inner circle are
facing the chairs of the outer circle.
b) Each pair will get a provocative statement about the content of the
film: Discuss the statement with your partner.
c) Every 2 minutes, there will be a signal. All the students move to
the seat on their right leaving the paper strip with the statement on
the chair. The newly formed pairs discuss the next statement.
III.5 Creative writing and group activities
Here are some suggestions for creative writing and group activities.
Ask your students to write
- a diary entry of the main character
- a letter of a main character to another one
- a newspaper article about an incident that happened in
the film
- a film review
- a short story based on the film
- the screen-play for another scene to be acted out
- part two of the film or just a summary of what could
happen after the last scene of the film they just
viewed
- the script for and act out an interview with the actors
or
actresses.
Ask your students to imagine the story had taken place in their own
country and they should
- write an imaginary plot for an adapted version film
appropriate for their own culture
- rewrite concrete scenes taken from the film adapting
them to the students' own cultural context'.
Play a hot seat activity:
The students sit in a semi-circle. One person is sitting in front of
the group. She or he has slipped into the role of a main character of
the film. The others ask her or him questions. The questions as well
as the answers to possible questions can be prepared beforehand in two
groups.
IV. Bibliography
Allan, Margaret: Teaching English with Video.
Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers. Bath 1985.
Geddes, Marion; Sturtridge, Gill (ed.):
Practical Language Teaching no. 7. Video in the Language
Classroom. Heinemann Educational Books. London 1982.
Liebelt, Wolf: Anregungen für den Umgang mit
Video im Fremdsprachenunterricht.
In: Praxis des neusprachlichen Unterricht 1989 (36), 250 /
261.
Schallhorn, Karola (ed.): The new Summit. Texts
and Methods. Schöningh Verlag. Paderborn 2002.
next chapter: 4.8 Tasks
for films
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