Работа с газетной статьёй по теме «Кино»

Серебрякова Наталия Станиславовна

МАОУ СОШ № 10 г.Березники

Учитель английского языка

Working with a newspaper article (topic “Cinema”), upper-intermediate level

To use some authentic materials in class is a very good idea, because they are not specially designed for the teaching purposes and they provide the students with good examples of real language usage. For my lesson I have chosen the article from the newspaper “US Today” of July 15 2011r. I have chosen this article for some reasons.

First, cinema is one of the forms of contemporary art which is most popular with young people.

Second, the contest of the film may be of interest to the age in which young people start thinking about the aims of living: love and friendship, prejudice and tolerance, good and evil…

Both the book and the film talk to the young audience and readers in their language: the language of their imagination and fantasy which becomes the instrument of learning about the real world. The film invites the audience to participate in the action making them their favourite characters.

The level of knowledge of the English language of these students lets them understand most of the contest of the article and take part in the discussion of the topic after reading the article, providing them with the opportunity to develop their oral fluency.

The lesson may be organized in the following way:

1.The first stage of the lesson is introduction to the topic: the teacher gives the students some facts about the film (but doesn’t name it) and invites the students to guess it.

The film has been on for some ten years

The main idea of the film is eternal battle of good and evil

The film tells the story of a boy with unusual abilities

He and his friends live and study in a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The students discuss their ideas in the class.

2 .Reading for gist task: the students look at the advertisement of the film (the film has got and a half out of four) and make predictions why it is so.

Students read the text quickly and in pairs discuss the point, giving examples from the text. The teacher organizes class check.

Another task may be the task to look for the people who made the film. The students give individual answers.

3.Reading for details task: the students read the text and comment “true” or “false”.

Comment “true” or “false”

They decided to break up the book into two parts to make more money of it.

The film’s best moment is the attack on Hogwarts.

Harry’s reunion with his lost friends is the most moving scene in the film.

The author of the article thinks that it is the best of all films about Harry Potter.

The author believes that the epilogue is as good as the story itself.

The author is a bit disappointed by the clash between Voldemort devotees and Potter loyalists.

Students do the task individually, then check in pairs, after that they check it in the whole class.

The next task may be to answer “why” questions. Students give individual answers.

Why questions

Why is the film called the best of all the series?

Why is it so popular with lots of people in lots of countries?

Why “… has Harry Potter’s world always been a moral universe”?

What is the main appeal of the film?

Why would you (not) like to see the film?

4.Post-tasks: in the advertisement the students see the “PG-13” grade of the film. The teacher asks the students to guess what it is and tries to elicit from the students the notion of rating system. Then the teacher asks the students to think of the criteria on which the system is based. Students discuss the point in pairs. After that the teacher organizes the class discussion. The students explain why the film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is rated PG-13. Students work in pairs, then the teacher gets the class check and presents the idea of MPAA.

MPAA film rating system

The MPAA film rating system is a system used in the United States and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content. It is one of various motion picture rating systems used to help patrons decide which movies may be appropriate for children.

The current MPAA movie ratings consist of:

RatedG – GENERAL AUDIENCES: All ages admitted.

RatedPG – PARENTAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED: Some material may not be suitable for children.

RatedPG-13 – PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED: Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

RatedR– RESTRICTED: Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

RatedNC-17 – No one 17 and under admitted. (material of Wikipedia)

Thenext point of discussion may be the very idea of existing of rating system. The teacher may ask the students to express their own opinion on the topic. Students may have different views on the point, so the teacher may provide them with some useful vocabulary of agreement, disagreement, giving the reasons. This may be done by dividing the phrases provided into different groups: agreement, disagreement etc. Then the crosstalk may take place or dialogues of pairs of students. If there is a time limit, the teacher may ask students to write their personal opinion at home.

This article, in my opinion, provides a good topic for discussion with students and expressing their own opinion.

While working with the text the students may also develop some other skills, for example, working with dictionaries. Reading such texts may also provide an opportunity to develop their skill of getting the meaning of the words from the context and work with vocabulary: finding synonyms, antonyms, paraphrasing. It can give the opportunity to practice some grammar: in the story there are some examples of word formation, it may also include analyses of verb forms.

Приложение1.

Адрес публикации: https://www.prodlenka.org/metodicheskie-razrabotki/7628-rabota-s-gazetnoj-statjoj-po-teme-kino