Microsoft Word Lesson plans Year doc

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Lesson Plans Year 2 Module:	INTEGRATED SKILLS II
Topic:	Social issues: Helping Elderly People Lesson 3
Time:	80 minutes
Aims:	to let students explore features of a filmmaker statement and helping them to formulate their own statements to let students practice designing film posters

Activity 1 Filmmaker statement
Time: 35-40 minutes
Objectives: to let students explore features of a filmmaker’s statement and practice writing their own statements.
Materials: handout 1
Procedure:

• 
  Ask students the following questions:
  

~ What is a filmmaker’s statement? What information does it usually contain?

• 
  Establish that a filmmaker’s statement might describe the plot of the documentary, reveals the characters, attitude of the author, his/her biography etc.
  
• 
  Now distribute handout 1 and ask students to read the filmmaker’s statement written by Leslie Tai and answer the questions on the board.
  
• 
  Write down the following questions on the board:
  

1. 
   Who are the three women described in the film and where do they live?
   
2. 
   Do you agree with author’s opinion stating "Becoming an American, after all, meant learning to live for oneself and not becoming embittered by the shackles of duty”? Why?
   
3. 
   Why the film is entitled "Lonely Lotus”?
   
4. 
   Do you want to watch this film after reading the statement? If not, how it should be changed to attract your attention?
   

• 
  Invite students to get into their project teams and to write the filmmaker’s statement for their films. Ask students to imagine that a similar film is made by an Uzbek/Russian filmmaker and ask them to rewrite the given filmmaker’s statement, but keeping the first sentence: This is a personal documentary about my grandmother, my mother, and I.
  
• 
  Allow about 20-30 minutes for the groupwork. Provide feedback if necessary.
  
• 
  Tell students they can finish writing the filmmaker statement by next lesson.
  

Activity 2 Film poster
Time: 20 minutes
Objectives: to let students explore features of a poster for a documentary film Materials: Handouts 2 and 3
Procedure:

• 
  Show the poster for the documentary film "Young @Heart”. Ask students to look at the poster and predict what the film is about.
  
• 
  Ask students to read an article about the film and check their predictions.
  
• 
  Ask the following questions:
  

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©British Council 2013


Lesson Plans Year 2


~ What kind of people are the members of “Young@Heart”?
~ Why is it named “Young@Heart”?
~ What made them form this group?
~ Who do you think watches their performances?
~ Imagine you are in Northampton, Massachusetts; would you like to go to their concert?
~ Are there similar groups of elderly citizens in Uzbekistan?
~ What kind of songs do they sing?
~ Would you like to be a member of a singing group in your old age?

• 
  State that interested students can watch the documentary film “Young@Heart” at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2075263257/.
  
• 
  Now distribute Handout 3. Ask students to look again at the film poster on Handout 2 and other posters on Handout 3. Ask them to analyse them considering the questions on Handout 3.
  
• 
  Invite students to discuss characteristics of a good film poster in their groups.
  
• 
  Elicit characteristics of a good film poster in plenary and write down the answers on the board.
  

Activity 3 Film poster
Time: 20 minutes
Objectives: to let students practice designing a film poster Materials:
Procedure:

• 
  Invite students to create their own film posters in their project groups.
  
• 
  Provide feedback if necessary.
  
• 
  Tell students they can finish designing the poster by next lesson.
  

Round-up

• 
  Summarize the lesson and remind students to be ready for the premiere of their films and prepare their film-maker’s statement, film posters and written reflections.
  

©British Council 2013


38

Lesson Plans Year 2

Integrated Skills, Elderly People, Lesson 3
Handout 1, Activity 1


Filmmaker’s Statement
This is a personal documentary about my grandmother, my mother, and I.
My grandmother, a student-in-exile during the War of Resistance against Japan, was brought up by the circumstances of war. My mother was raised in the Taiwan military housing complex of the exiled KMT, and later immigrated to America. I was born in America and raised by my grandmother.
My mother was always stuck between the older generation, born in the Mainland, and the younger generation, born in America. She never hinted at the existence of her inner world, but she often told me she would never expect me to take care of her when she got old. Not like she did for my grandmother. Becoming an American, after all, meant learning to live for oneself and not becoming embittered by the shackles of duty.
Mother remarried. Grandma moved to Sunny View Retirement Home. I grew up and went as far away as I could? Back to China. It appeared that three generations of Chinese-American women had achieved the physical separation necessary to lead our independent lives.
Every day, Grandma has her morning instant coffee, goes down to have the tasteless American food served in the seniors’ cafeteria, where it’s always chicken for lunch. She listens to old songs, sifts through her debilitating collection of decades of clothing that have gone out of style and come back again, and all the little trinkets she can’t bear to give away. She can’t find anything anymore. There is nowhere to stand, nowhere to sit, nowhere to sleep.
On her 84th birthday this year, Grandpa came to her in a dream, and told her he would come back for her in two years. This time I came back from Beijing to spend time with her. Mother is fully retired and has changed a lot. Grandma takes her daily walks, laments about her poor English. In the daytime she is the peacemaker between my mother and I; at nighttime she prays for us. All I can do is pick her up and bring her over to Mother’s house for dinner, as I sense all of our roles shifting. And it makes me wonder, who are these three generations of mother and daughter living for, if not themselves?
Filmmaker’s Biography
Leslie Tai graduated from UCLA in 2006 with a Bachelors’ degree in Design | Media Arts, and followed the Advanced Documentary Workshop at UCLA’s film school. She arrived in Beijing at the end of 2007 with a U.S. Fulbright Fellowship. As a volunteer interpreter and workshop participant at CCD Workstation, Leslie completed her first feature length documentary film, Sister Heaven Sister Earth, which premiered at CCD Workstation’s May Festival 2009.


©British Council 2013


39

Lesson Plans Year 2

Integrated Skills, Elderly People, Lesson 3
Handout 2, Activity 2





Over the last 25
years, there has
existed a group
of senior citizens
living in
Northampton,
Massachusetts,
who refuse to let
age and ill health
get them down.
Young@Heart is
a documentary
based on the
lives of the
current singing
group of 24
senior citizens,
brought to the
big screen by
British
filmmaker,
Stephen Walker,
who saw their
performance in
London.


Young@Heart is not your ordinary singing chorus, because they sing rock, punk, disco, and the average age is 81 with the oldest being 92 year old Eileen Hall. The documentary follows the group over a six-week rigorous rehearsal schedule, plus practicing at home for an upcoming sold-out concert in their home town. The group has many songs in their repertoire, but Bob Cilman, the stern but sympathetic chorus director, has added several songs for the new concert. These are not easy for the group to learn such as "Yes We Can", "Schizophrenia" and "I Got You or (I Feel Good)". After several weeks of practice, the group is on their way to the local jail to give a performance, when they learn that one of their members passed away the night before. It is devastating for them, but they have learned that the show must go on. They all pull together and practice even harder to get ready for their evening performance. That night, their concert is a rousing success, and ends with a standing ovation.





NB! You can watch the documentary film "Young@Heart” at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2075263257/