Showing posts with label connectors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label connectors. Show all posts

Saturday, March 20

My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Transitions x Subordinating Conjunctions

This is one of the best romantic comedies of all times. The cultural conflicts, good humor, and clever plot make it stand out the others. It is full of scenes you can use in your classroom. Here are a few of them, which I used to practice the use of subordinating conjunctions and transitions, the grammar point my Thomas Prime 7 students are learning right now.




I. Watch the first movie segment from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Then choose the best conjunction or transition. Next, decide if the sentences contain a subordinating conjunction or a transition word. The 1st scene shows Toula, the young Greek woman, meeting her American fiance's family for the first time.








1. The American family is quite polite, but they don't like talking very much.


The American family is quite polite. Nevertheless / Otherwise, they don't like talking very much.

( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition

The American family is quite polite, although/ since they don't like talking very much.

( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition


2. Toula showed her future parents-in-law her creative, unusual wedding plans, but they didn't seem very excited about them.


Toula's future parents-in-law didn't seem very excited, even though/however her wedding plans were creative and unusual.


( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition


II. Now watch the second segment from the same movie. Now, Ian, the American guy, meets his fiancee's Greek family.










1. Ian got very surprised with his fiancee's Greek family during the dinner party. The reason is that they are noisy and agitated.


Since / Provided that the Greek family is very loud and agitated, Ian got really surprised during the dinner party.


( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition


The Greek family is very loud and agitated. Therefore / However, Ian got very surprised during the dinner party.


( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition



2. The only way for Ian to be happy after getting married is to get some ear plugs.


Unless / If Ian gets some ear plugs, he won't be happy after getting married.


( ) subordinating conjunctions
( ) transition


Ian must get some ear plugs. Consequently / Otherwise, he won't be happy after marrying Toula.

( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition


3. Being accepted by the Greek family depends on Ian's positive reaction to their different behavior.

As long as / Even though Ian has a positive reaction to their different behavior, He will be accepted.


( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition



4. Toula believes that her Greek family will treat Ian well. They don't care if he doesn't know anything about the Greek culture.


Toula believes that her Greek family will treat Ian well unless / even if he doesn't know anything about the Greek culture.


( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition


5. Toula and Ian have very different families. For this reason, their integration will not be very easy.


Toula and Ian have very different families. Nonetheless / Consequently, their integration will not be very easy.

( ) subordinating conjunction
( ) transition



The integration of Toula's and Ian's families will be difficult since / unless they have very different families.


( ) subordinating conjunctions
( ) transition



III. Now watch the 3rd segment from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Then connect your ideas, using subordinating conjunctions to connect ideas within a sentence and transitions to connect ideas between sentences.







Ex: (provided that - subordinating conjunction)


Toula's mother will understand spoken English well provided that (as long as, only if or if) someone occasionally translates or paraphrases difficult words.


Ex: (otherwise - transition)


Ian's parents had a few drinks. Otherwise, they would not relax during the dinner party.



1. because (or since) - subordinating conjunction

..............................................................................


2. even though (or although) - subordinating conjunction

..............................................................................

3. therefore (or consequently) - transition

...............................................................................

4. However (or nevertheless) - transition

...............................................................................



Answer key:
I.
1. Nevertheless (transition) and although (subordinating conjunction)
2. Even though (subordinating conjunction)

II.
1. Since (subordinating conjunction) and therefore (transition)
2. Unless (subordinating conjunction) and otherwise (transition)
3. As long as (subordinating conjunction)
4. even if (subordinating conjunction)
5. Consequently (transition) and since (subordinating conjunction)


III. Answers will vary.



WORKSHEET

Sunday, May 31

Outlander: Transitional Words or Phrases - Connectors




I don't usually enjoy science fiction movies, but I decided to try this one out. This is a great scene for students to practice the use of connectors, transitional words, and writing a paragraph as well. I integrated grammar, writing, listening and speaking in the lesson plan. The main goal for this activity is to enable students to write a paragraph, using the movie context and the transitional words you are teaching

A. Watch the movie segment, talk to a partner, and put the events of the story in the correct order.


( ) They killed the Moorwens, the beasts that lived on the island, with fire.

( ) As part of his pay, he received a place for his family to live.

( ) He left on a journey.

( ) They hunted down those Moorwens they missed.

( ) They removed and buried all the dead Moorwens.

(1) They took the island they wanted.

( ) This surviving Moorwen killed everyone.

( ) He knew one of the Moorwens had survived

B. The Outlander was a man in conflict because of his memories. Write a paragraph telling his story, using the given transitional words below. In the end, write a concluding sentence justifying why the Outlander is such a sad man.



First

Second

Then

Next

After that

Three weeks later

Subsequently
Afterward

Finally


C. Paragraph writing:



His people was no different from hers, hungry for lands. First, they took the island they wanted


.............................................................................


.............................................................................


............................................................................


............................................................................


...........................................................................


..........................................................................


..........................................................................


..........................................................................


..........................................................................


..........................................................................




For your information:
Answer Key:


The correct sequence is:
2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 1, 7, 8.

The transitions words may vary.

How to prepare your own video activity:

- Select a scene in which a character or a narrtaor is telling a story.

- Write the sequence of the narration out of order.

- Students put the story in the correct order

- Students write a paragraph using the grammar point to connect their sentences in the paragraph.

- Ask them to come up with a topic sentence and/or a concluding sentence for their paragraph.





Worksheet