Elizabethtown: "Simple Past"

One of the best romantic comedies ever. The soundtrack is fantastic. I love this scene and girls think it is sooooo romantic... In this scene, the main characters spend the whole night talking to each other over the phone and they perform several activities while doing it. It is perfect for the students to practice of the simple past tense.



Make a list of the things you usually do while you are talking over the cell phone:
1. _______________________
2. _______________________
3. _______________________


Watch the movie segment. Pay attention to the activities the main characters performed while they were talking to each other over the phone. Write ( D ) if Drew was the one who performed the following tasks and ( C ) if it was Claire. Write ( B ) if both of them did it.


1 .( ) Open the gate

2. ( ) Make dinner

3. ( ) Change clothes

4. ( ) Go to the bathroom

5. ( ) Polish one's nails

6. ( ) Do the laundry

7. ( ) Look at pictures

8. ( ) Listen to music

9. ( ) Dance

10.( ) Drink beer

11.( ) Turn off the lights

12.( ) Drive a car

13.( ) Put on some lipstick

14.( ) See the sunrise


Now write sentences about Claire and Drew, using the simple past tense.

Ex:
While they were talking on the phone,
1. Claire opened the gate________________________________

2. ________________________________________________


Now write a list of the things they didn't do while they were talking to each other on the phone:

Ex: Drew didn't watch TV.

Claires didn't play tennis.

How to prepare your own video activity:



• Select a segment in which the characters perform several different activities while they are talking over the phone (or any other activity)

• Prepare an exercise in which the students are supposed to identify who perform them

• Ask the students to write down sentences about the characters, using the simple past tense

Watch the movie segment here:




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Saw: Past Modals Speculation – Might/Could/Can't + Have + Past Participle

This is one the scariest movies I have ever seen, but the scene isn't. It is, in fact, great to practice past modals for speculations for the main characters have no idea of how they got to that place.




Watch the video segment and guess what might have happened to the characters.


Check the options you believe are possible explanations for the characters to be in such a place.


( ) They were drugged before taken to that room.

( ) Adam was kidnapped while he was sleeping.

( ) Adam had his kidney removed.

( ) A stranger took Lawrence, the doctor, to that place.

( ) A serial killer planned a horrible death for the characters.

( ) Adam and Lawrence went there because they wanted to.

Now rewrite them, using past modal verbs to express probability/ possibility/ impossibility.

Ex:

They might have been drugged before taken to that room.

Adam can’t have had his kidney removed.

A serial killer must have planned a horrible death for the characters.

How to develop your own video acyivity:



• Select a segment in which the viewer cannot predict what happened before the scene actually takes place

• Prepare an exercise with several possible (or impossible) explanations for the puzzle

• Ask students to rewrite the same sentences, using with the grammar goal





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The Phantom of the Opera: "Used to"

I love the film, the musical, the play, the soundtrack, everything about the Phantom. I cried all the time watching it. Teens don't like it that much, but adults do. Because the scene takes place in Paris centuries ago, I used it to practice the use of "used to".


Watch the video segment and observe how different Paris used to be in 1870. Pay close attention to the following people and objects.


Means of Transportation / Passers-by / Streets / Theater

Actors / Dancers / Musicians / Clothes / Horses


Read the examples and write down your own sentences, using the given cues.

Ex:
People/ elegant carriages. People used to ride on elegant carriages.

Gentlemen/ fancy clothes. Gentlemen used to wear fancy clothes.


Theaters/ crowded. Theaters used to be crowded

1 – A lot of employees/ theater _______________________________________

2 – Musicians/ on the stage _________________________________________

3 – Dancers/ whiskey during the rehearsals_____________________________

4 – Horses/ in the theater __________________________________________

5 – Actors/ operatically ___________________________________________

6 – Singers / rich costumes _________________________________________

How to prepare your own video segment:

Grammar Goal: Used to


• Select a movie segment that takes place in the past

• Costumes, childhood memories, last century towns, historical moments are perfect to assess this grammar goal

• Ask students to observe specific features in the passage

• Prepare an exercise with cues that will help students write sentences with the structures/verbs you want to assess

• Students write sentences, using “used to”





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The Incredibles: "Simple Present"

Write the name of the characters that perform the following activities:

Bob (father) Helen (mother) Jack Jack (baby)

Dash (boy) Violet (girl)


1) Kiss Helen ( )

2) Listen to music ( )

3) Play with racing cars ( )

4) Do the laundry ( )

5) Feed Jack Jack ( )

6) Play football ( )

7) Exercise on the train tracks ( )

8) Read fitness magazines. ( )

9) Vacuum the carpet ( )

I. Write down sentences saying what the Parrs do everyday.

Ex: 1 - Bob kisses Helen every morning.
2 - ___________________________
3 - ___________________________

II . Write down 3 things The Parrs don’t do in the morning.

Ex: 1 – Jack Jack doesn’t play soccer.
2 – ___________________________
3 - ___________________________

D. In Pairs, write down what the Parrs do every weekend. Use the actions in exercise A or use other ones from your imagination. Write 10 sentences.

E. choose five students. each one will be either Jack, Helen, Bob, Violet or Dash.

F. read your sentences out loud (Ex: Violet Kisses Jack, Bob exercises in the track, Violet plays tennis…) and the characters perform the activities they hear. They change their activities when the reader assigns the character a new activity.

How to Prepare your own video activity:

• Select a scene in which the characters’ routines are evident

• Identify the characters in the segment

• List some of the activities the characters perform in the segment

• Students write the name of the characters who perform such activities

• Students write complete sentences, using the simple present tense

Watch the movie segment here:

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Undertaking Betty: There to be

Watch the video segment and fill in the blanks with there is/ there are/ there isn’t/ there aren’t:

1) ___________ two beds in the couple’s bedroom.

2) ___________ a dresser in their bedroom.

3) ___________ two mirrors over the dresser.

4) ___________ a green telephone in the old lady room.

5) ___________ a TV in her room

6) ___________ a home theater in the house.

7) ___________ two floors.

8) ___________ white cabinets on the kitchen wall.

9) ___________ a swimming pool.

10) ___________ only one table in the kitchen.

11) ___________ an intercom system in the house.

12) ___________ flowers on the window.


Now write sentences using there + to be (affirmative or negative) and cues below:


1) A beautiful garden - There isn’t a beautiful garden in the house.
2) Cats - ______________________________________________
3) Garage - ____________________________________________
4) Stairs - _____________________________________________
5) Cars in front of the house - _______________________________
6) Dogs - _____________________________________________


Discussion these questions. Talk to a partner:

1- Would you like to live in a house like the one in the movie segment? Why/Why not?

2 - Describe your house, using the verb there + to be.

3 - Where would your ideal house be?

4 - What would it look like?

How to prepare your own video activity:

Grammar Goal: There + To Be

• Select a segment in which the scene takes place in an environment (a house, a restaurant, an office, an airport) that can be described, using there is or there are

• Prepare an exercise for the students to fill in the blanks with the grammar goal

• The sentences in the exercise must contain true and false statements

• You may show the segment twice if there are many details to observe

• Students compare their answers after the first viewing

• Students do the written exercise

• Students write sentences about the segment, using the grammar goal.






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The Joy Luck Club: Past Modal Verb - Should: Expressing Regrets

This a great drama full of cultural references. I love this scene because of the American guy who is having dinner with his fiancee's family for the first time and everything he does is culturally inappropriate. It is perfect to express regrets using modals iin the past.

Check what happened in the segment.


( ) The Chinese American woman introduced her fiancé to her mother.

( ) She forgot to warn her fiancé about a few important rules on Chinese manners.

( ) He had a second glass when everybody had had only just a little.

( ) He didn’t take a small spoon of the main dish.

( ) He bragged he was a fast learner.

( ) He criticized her mother’s cooking.

( ) He didn’t say it was the best dish he had ever tasted.

I. Rewrite the sentences using should to express regret:

Ex:

The Chinese American woman shouldn’t have introduced her fiancé to her mother.

She shouldn’t have forgotten to warn him a few important rules on Chinese manners.


II. Now, write two sentences saying should do after this unfortunate dinner.


Ex:

They should stop trying to please her family.

How to prepare your own video activity:

• Choose a movie segment in which the characters do not act properly or regret their actions

• Prepare a checklist of the things he/she did or did not do

• Students work on the content of the segment

• Students write sentences expressing regret - should (not) have done.

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Bicentennial Man: Modal Can - ability

This movie is a classic. It has a touching message and the story is amazing. The language of thes segment is easy and you can have students practice the modal of ability can in a contextualized way.



Discuss the following questions with a partner:

1) Do you think robots will be household maids in the future?

2) Would you like to have a robot as a maid?

3) Do robots have feelings?

4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of having robots as household models?

Complete the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in parentheses, according to the video segment.

1) Andrew _____________ (play) chess.

2) He _____________ (decide) what is best for himself.

3) He ____________ (jump) very high.

4) He ____________ (read) books.

5) He ____________ (feel) what humans feel.

6) Andrew and the girl _____________ (play) the piano.

7) Galatea _____________ (dance) very well.

8) Andrew ____________ (dance) as well as Galatea.

9) Galatea _____________ (fly).

10) Galatea and Andrew _______________ (walk) like humans.

Follow up:

Students talk to each other about whether this is a suitable scenario for the future.

Prepare you own video activity:

Grammar Goal: Can

• Select a segment in which the characters perform activities that show ability
• Prepare a written exercise with blanks for the students to fill in with can/can’t
• Prepare a few questions about the content of the segment for the sake of Communication/listening comprehension
• Students do the assessment exercise after they watch the segment








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