Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Wednesday, January 25
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: French cinema
Goal of the class: Use of description and creation of stories. Learn about French cinema.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: inspired by this class: https://languageresidents.pomona.edu/2014/sp14-fr-adv-cinema-cannes-festival-2-classes/ I show a powerpoint with images from famous French movies and the students have to guess the title (the titles will be given on a handout). We will focus on the description, to try to recollect the memories from the previous class.
- Pair work with two scenes from the movie The Artist: one student cannot see the screen so the other has to describe what he sees. In the end, the students who couldn’t see have to explain what they understood.
- Pair work: We watch a short film called “Petit Coeur” without the sound. Students have to invent the dialog.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Scenes from the Artist :
Petit Cœur : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11hv1h_petit-coeur-laureat-du-concours-jeunesse-en-seine_creation?start=1
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The class went great! The warm-up wasn’t very relevant though. The activity with The Artist was a good way to make them talk and use the description.
The short film was fine for the students because the actresses speak very slowly and repeat a lot what’s happening in the movie. The students didn’t have any difficulties to understand and found creative ideas to imagine the dialogues. They loved the ending of the movie!
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Instead of the warm-up I’ve done, maybe a little Time’s Up with movie titles could work better! It would help the students start to think about how to describe movies, which would be more useful for the rest of the class…
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well