Want to do a film with second year English. Advice needed!

acequion

I have a very good second year English class of mainly girls,with just a handful of boys. This is a mature bunch of youngsters who enjoy learning and they're a real pleasure to teach.

I'd like to do a film with them as part of the new course but I'm not impressed by most of the ones on the list. They seem a bit too zany,comedies about rock bands and football teams,the kind of stuff that certainly doesn't have mass appeal, but I am certainly open to correction on this.

So I'm veering towards "Life is Beautiful" but would very much welcome any recommendations /advice about any of the films.

Thanks a lot!

Redser87

I teach the upper levels of primary so don't know about the course, but that is one of my favourite movies and I remember watching it first at around that age.
Not sure how much room for manoeuvre there is but it could open up a world of comparisons with various text types - The Boy in the Striped pyjamas for instance, war poetry, maybe other world cinema - Cinema Paradiso perhaps, with Alfredo being comparable to the role of the father. Also not sure how much integration of other subjects you can do but if you have the flexibility to work with the soundtrack as well as the text you could link elements of the soundtrack to poems, get them to decide which poems and tracks go best together.
Not sure if that's what you were looking for so apologies if none of that helps you!

acequion

Redser87 wrote: »

I teach the upper levels of primary so don't know about the course, but that is one of my favourite movies and I remember watching it first at around that age.
Not sure how much room for manoeuvre there is but it could open up a world of comparisons with various text types - The Boy in the Striped pyjamas for instance, war poetry, maybe other world cinema - Cinema Paradiso perhaps, with Alfredo being comparable to the role of the father. Also not sure how much integration of other subjects you can do but if you have the flexibility to work with the soundtrack as well as the text you could link elements of the soundtrack to poems, get them to decide which poems and tracks go best together.
Not sure if that's what you were looking for so apologies if none of that helps you!

No,it's a great help and thanks a million! And while all the above sounds interesting,there wouldn't be enough time to do it all. But I love the idea of exploring aspects of film making with them which would pave the way for senior cycle. These kids are readers so would all be familiar with The Boy in the Striped pyjamas and love discussing such things. I must go and watch the film myself now.

Crazyteacher

My personal favourite is Whale Rider. It opens up discussion on gender and roles of women and men in society and cultural differences. Could be good for your class mix of girls and boys.

mtoutlemonde

I don't know if you read it with your class but my students loved Of mice and men.

acequion

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

I don't know if you read it with your class but my students loved Of mice and men.

Yes,we've done that as one of their novels and they loved it. But for a film you have to pick from the prescribed list.

AJG

I remember doing Back to the Future with a bunch of 2nd years (boys and girls). They really moaned about it when I brought it up that we were going to study it but they ended up loving the film. I found some resources online and ended up adapting them and creating some worksheets, etc. The film lends itself well to study as the plot is engaging, the characters are well developed and there's action, romance, intrigue, etc.