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Q: A month to go and I've hit the wall. Gunna show a film. Seeking advice re which of these.
Contract's up on June 30th and that day can come as quickly as it likes. As long as it's fast.
I'm actually going to be quite busy with a speaking test and a written test for all classes so that will kill 3 weeks.
I also have 2 x 2 elective classes each week which are mainly full of students who don't want to do anything else. And I'm over these classes.
So I think I'll show them a film. Or 2. Six years of teaching English in China and I've shown only one before.
It was Bridge to Terabithia and it went down a treat with the 5 students who bothered to pay attention / were capable of paying attention.
Of the 5, one or two even wrote satisfactory summaries.
Oh yeah, I also showed 'UP' last year to a senior elective class. It was a beauty too...some good summaries.
So I've shown 2 films in six years.
These are the films I've got on a stick that I could show... which one would you go for?
The Lego Movie.
Jumanji
Big Hero
Fly Away Home
Antman
Ella Enchanted
Enchanted
The Incredibles
Wall-E
All have English and Chinese subtitles.
The classes are grades 7 and 8, so aged 13 to 15.
Which one? Or ones?
# Arts & Entertainment cat b/c it will be more that than education. (Although 3 or 4 will take some edu from it.)
7 years 47 weeks ago in Arts & Entertainment - China
I played 'Alien'to my 1st year uni students... for the final 45 min class. (I did something else teacher-like for the first 45 mins).
FTR, 45mins is about where the first real 'fun' bit starts 
:D (you know what I'm talking about... 
)
I've also done Star Trek X... but far too much action for it to work :(
movies are problematic for classes because of length.
i usually go for growing pains or friends with chinese subtitles, growing pains was popular with chinese parents in the 90's, not sure why and never have gotten a good explanation for this.
I played 'Alien'to my 1st year uni students... for the final 45 min class. (I did something else teacher-like for the first 45 mins).
FTR, 45mins is about where the first real 'fun' bit starts :D (you know what I'm talking about... )
I've also done Star Trek X... but far too much action for it to work :(
All of those selections seem kinda too young for 13-15...I'd think they'd be more excited to see something like "Fast and Furious #whatever" or a superhero flick...In my 6 years I never showed a complete film..just trailers and clips and built a context around them..whoopie f'n do for me...You could show them "Iron Man 3" and tell them what a pandering piece of crap it was to the chinese market...and so it failed.
If you choose for superhero stuff, then you can't go wrong with Deadpool..... 
SAW 3D
Thats gonna happen with you if you don't shut the f up in my class.
Would probably go with one of the marvel stuff (one that is not blocked liked deadpool)...
If your class is short, just show them first episode of the flash or so
When I show movies in my classes, there are no Chinese subtitles, only English. I gear them up to this of course, as I encourage them from the beginning of the semester to try watching movies without subtitles (This works into my homework assignments)
As such, the movies I show tend to have simple dialog, and a lot of visual gags to keep the students' attention.
Wall-E will loose their attention in the beginning and there may be no coming back from it... even with all of the cute stuff to follow...
The Lego movie could be great, It's made for their generation
Antman, though rather decent might lose their attention in the beginning
Big Hero 6 is a favorite, even with my University students.
Ella Enchanted could go down well if your class is mostly girls.
Enchanted is just a bad movie...
I've had success with the following:
Star Wars VII was a hit with my sophomores.
Zootopia, Kung Fu Panda 2 (Can't vouch for the others), Frozen (Yes they love that bloody song),
I've found older Adam Sandler movies keep the students interested because there's always a visual gag, or comedic relief immediately after a moment of tension.
50 First Dates
Jim Carrey movies are also great, again because of his ridiculous presence.
Yes Man (Forgot about the old lady & her dentures, but it was still well received.)
Bruce Almighty (Although it's based loosely on the idea of Christianity, or any religion with a deity, It seems vague enough to be ok.)
Hope I've helped
Monty Python!!! "How not to be seen" goes over well. Cheese shop sketch is relatively easy to follow (although, the names of cheeses will be lost on them)... and in Dead Parrot sketch, lots of idiomatic language
The amusement side of showing the Hungarian Phrasebook sketch shouldn't be lost on you (though, at the beginning, it will be lost on them )
I find 'ridiculous' humour like Monty Python goes over pretty well.
seansarto:
The "Holy Grail" trailer is pretty ironic and funny as hell..Monty Python did it in chinese as a gag...The British comedy sketches of the 80's did a lot of riffing on the chinese (ex: "I Like Chinese") that I can tell that all the young Brits who want to lay chinese chicks these days are quite apologetic and uncomfortable with..
Shining_brow:
Yeah, but honestly, they riffed on everyone!!! Almost equally (well, other than their own people - and the upper class.... oh, and Yorkies....)
seansarto:
Granted they were ruthless on their own classes..and quite brilliant but I never saw them riff on the Africans...Nor Arab nor Hindii...etc...which = Charm offensive FAIL....
