A common task in the final exams is to compare the given text/character/conflict with another literary figure/conflict etc. students are familiar with.
In order to refer to a wide range of literary examples my English advanced course was supposed to analyse a selected film and prepare a short presentation including:
- a short summary of the plot
- presentation of the topic in relation to “Multiculturalism in Great Britain“
- selection and analysis of one film scene/sequence that highlights the problematic situation
- brief comparison with reality
Implementation
Lesson 1:
a) Introduction of the concept of multiculturalism in Great Britain on the basis of a factual text and David Cameron´s speech on the failure of multiculturalism in GB
b) Collection of factors that contributed to the alleged failure of multiculturalism in GB as presented in the text and the video.
c) presentation of film project; watching the trailers of the following films:
My Son the Fanatic
Brick Lane
East is East
It´s a free world
group formation (4-5 students) on the basis of film choice; presentation of requirements (see above)
I have also added some further material to each film especially to support the last task “reference/comparison to reality”
Homework: each students had to watch the movie (I provided one copy and they were supposed to organize the sharing)
Lesson 2 and 3 : preparation
Lesson 4: presentations
The lesson is divided into 2 sessions with two parallel presentations. So each group has to choose 2 students giving the presentation and the other two are attending the other, parallel presentation. Each students is provided with a document in order to take notes. After 20 minutes, there is a break of 10 minutes followed by the second session.
Afterwards, all groups come together and exchange their notes, impressions and information, so that in the end each student has an overview of 4 films with different perspectives on the topic “Multiculturalism in Great Britain”.
THE HIGHLIGHT
Since the year 13 is about to do their final exams, they attend the different presentations as a revision for their exams. The reaction of my students changed from being fearful and not very amused to “okay, let´s do it” creating a highly motivated working atmosphere.
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