Vocabulary Review 1

Vocabulary Review 1

This review lesson focuses on vocabulary. The lesson covers material from three films: Star Wars, Rushmore, and Back to the Future.

Lesson plan

Reported Speech Review Lesson

Reported Speech

Here are two review/grammar lessons for practicing reported speech. This is commonly a difficult part of speech for Japanese ESL students to master. The contents of the Lesson plan 1 also connect with some of the films previously covered in class.

Lesson plan 1 (Movies)
Lesson plan 2 (General)

Song from the musical "West Side Story" (1961)

"America"

The kids have been pressing me to do a musical in class, and I finally caved to their demands. My two stipulations, however, were that the musical had to touch on social issues and also have good music (as decided by me, an "objective" critic who seldom listens to songs from musicals). The compromise was West Side Story, which I think nicely fits the above two criteria. Links to the song, "America," and accompanying lesson plan are below.

Video

Lesson plan

Lvl: Advanced

Subjects: Discrimination; Racism; Minorities

Scenes from the Film "E.T." (1982)

Scene 1: "It was nothing like that!"

After a fairly long hiatus from posting over summer break, I am back with a fresh set of film lessons. This first one is from the fantastic 1982 Steven Spielberg film, E.T. The film beautifully captures the struggles and challenges of a young boy growing up, and emphasizes the importance of friendship and compassion. Rated, uh, I guess PG, for language, whatever that means.

Video

Lesson plan

Film summary

Scene 2: "Across the Moon"

Although there's hardly any dialogue, this is perhaps one of the most iconic scenes from the film, and thus, I felt, worth a view. Elliott and E.T. fly across the moon.

Video

Lvl: Intermediate

Subjects: Growing up; loneliness; family

Scene from "Casablanca (1942)"

"Here's lookin' at you kid"

This is perhaps the most famous scene from the 1942 Hollywood classic, Casablanca. On a purely objective level, it's probably a good idea to have some knowledge of this film, since it is still frequently referenced and makes appearances in pop culture today. Speaking more subjectively, I particularly like HB's line about the problems of three little people not amounting to "a hill of beans in this crazy world." Truer words were never spoken. 

Video

Lesson plan

Lvl: Advanced
Subjects: Leaving; love; romance; self-sacrifice

Scenes from "Ocean's Eleven"

"A Liar and a Thief"

This scene occurs just after Danny has gotten out of prison. He's come back to patch up things with his wife Tess after their long separation. The conversation between them, typical of the Ocean's series, is full of irony, sarcasm, and back-and-forth jokes between the two. There is also great call back to the "liar and thief" line later in the film (see the scene below).

Video


"Personal Effects"

This scene comes at the end of the film after the gang has successfully pulled off their heist. The reunion between Danny and Tess marks a happy ending for the film, and the presence of Benedict's goons at the end leaves the series open for a sequel. 

Video

Lesson plan for both scenes

Scenes from the movie Titanic

"First-class dinner" scene

Here's a scene from the movie Titanic (1997) in which Jack has been invited by Rose to attend dinner in the first class. Links to the video and accompanying lesson plan are below.

Video

Lesson plan 

Film summary
Sample Written Summary

Lvl: Beginner

Subjects: Class; discrimination; overcoming difficulties