I think Movie Talk is going to be a big hitter for us next year. Some have been testing it out this spring. We would do well to get it going at a higher level next year. I think those going to iFLT have put it on the agenda. Accordingly, here is a very encouraging article from chill on it:
I have not yet worked out all of the kinks in my use of Movie Talk, but I am getting positive vibes back from my French 2 students. They were up for a change of pace and watching the classic “Parapluies de Cherbourg” seems to have encouraged membership to the “club of French speakers” . It’s like they were “frenchified” or something. There is a certain level of “sophistication” that they felt as a result of discussing a French film in French. Yesterday they had tons of questions about the actors and wanted to look them up on their phones. There was so much culture in the film that they saw that we never got to discuss, but they saw it. One of my 4%ers came to me after class to tell me that Movie Talk was great because it opened up so many possibilities for learning new structures and vocabulary – from the mouths of babes! Via Film Aerobics, I was able to use a reading about the war in Algeria, discuss changes in cultural mores, the changes that access to technology may have had on the doomed relationship, map skills, there is lots that can be discussed in the TL using a film. They got a bunch of structures – I did not have enough time to concentrate on each part of the film. I focused mainly on the main events. Taking screen shots of certain scenes allowed me to assess listening, speaking, and writing. Using Michele Whaley’s new embedded reading template was an interesting exercise in distilling the story to its bare bones and adding in some details. Another benefit was the chance to recycle old stuff and introduce some longer or more complex structures like apres avoir quitte Cherbourg, Genvieve est allee a Paris; est arrivee devant l’opera en courant; lui a interdit; a desobei; n’a pas fait attention; a menti; essaye d’oublier, a fini par se marier avec Madeleine, elle veut que Genvieve attende Roland, and lots more. I was worried that the movie would be a little too much of a “chick flick” for the guys, but they were equally upset with the ending. I prefaced the film by telling the guys that sitting through a “chick flick” was a life skill that would pay off big time later in life. They were good sports.They all were fine with the singing. The main Legrand “tube” from the movie is shot through with the future tense which allowed me to show it without even discussing it much. I did take one period to get through a chunk of film to get to the end, but it was worth it and kept the discussion from dragging on too long and running out of energy. I took a chance on this old school film and it seems to have paid off. It was a good way to get to the end of the year.