"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it" Alfred Hitchcock.

I am a film lover - especially Pixar films. I think they are great - the animation is really well done and the storylines are entertaining...even for an adult!
Some of my students were showing some Pixar short films on the internet recently and we came across one know as "Presto". I really liked it so started wondering how I could use it with other students who hadn't seen the film...and finally had a brain wave! Hope you like it.

Firstly, I split the class in two. Half the class were magicians and the other half were rabbits. The students then had to pair up (magician and rabbits) and get into role. The story is that the magician has the control over the lives of the rabbits, but the rabbits don't was to go on stage. The pairs have to try to negotiate an outcome. The main objective is that they come to an agreement of terms and conditions of the rabbit going on stage BUT remembering at all times that the magicians is really the one who calls the shots. You will probably find that in the end the "rabbits" give in to a lot of their demands and accept that the magician will give them a carrot or something similar if they go on and do the act. Also, the students (and I did this with adults) really get into role!

After you listen and watch the debates, you can then show the students the clip, and then ask them what was the difference in their roles and the roles they saw?

Following this, the students get back into role but this time the rabbits are in control (as per the clip). The magicians now have to sweet talk the rabbits into continuing to work with them.

It's lots of fun - give it a try.

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought" - Wallace Stevens.

Delayed bloggin of late! Apologies but school's been a bit hectic at the end of term!

So summer has arrived, and yesterday was summer solstice so I thought about a lesson that could incorporate this ancient tradition and the end of term.

Firstly, you need to elicit the meaning of Solstice from the students (maybe hinting that it comes from Latin). Then you can explain to them the root of the word:
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4807555635768398200

Sol = sun
Stice = to stand still

From this, see if they can figure out why the first day of summer is thus known in groups.(As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky). The groups then present their ideas to the class and see who is closest to the truth!

Then, send the students on an information quest on different computers to compare view points.
One groups finds out about the astrological aspects by visiting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_solstice
Group two finds out about the pagan origins by visiting http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/summersolstice.shtml
Group three learns about religions and their adaptation on the solstice by visiting http://www.religioustolerance.org/summer_solstice.htm

The groups then explain what they learned to each other - giving the different view points.

Finally, the whole class develops their own interpretation of the solstice, a "Modern Day Solstice".