Sunday, May 8, 2011

Activity 20- Señor Armonia Short Film

This is a short film that can be used for several different purposes in the classroom. It`s less than 4 minutes long and has no dialogues in it.


Level: basic 
Grammar Point: the simple past (regular and irregular verbs)
Skills: speaking,listening, writing, reading (depending on the activity)
Materials needed: the video, slips of paper

Instructions:

 Show students the whole video. Then, split students into small groups and give them a set of slips with verbs in the base form. Tell them they have to remember the actions from the short film and organize the slips according to the order in which those actions happened. Groups,then, report to the class how they organized the sequence of events by saying the sentences in the simple past. Finally show the video again to check which group has organized the sequence more precisely.
Slips:  ALARM CLOCK RING/ GET UP/ WASH HIS FACE/ PUT ON HIS GLASSES/ GET DRESSED/ LEAVE HOME/GET ON THE TRAIN/ GET OFF THE TRAIN/ ARRIVE AT THE THEATER/PLAY HIS TRIANGLE/ TAKE THE TRAIN BACK HOME/ FALL ASLEEP ON THE TRAIN/HAVE DINNER/WATCH TV/ SET HIS ALARM CLOCK/GO TO BED

* Suggestions:
-Elicit and drill the past form of the verbs before showing the video (randomly in order not to spoil the activity)
-As a follow-up, you can ask the students to write a short paragraph describing Señor Armonia`s day.

Variations:
1) If students don`t know the simple past, this activity can be done the same way but using verbs in the present focusing a typical day in Señor Armonia`s routine.
2) Students can watch the movie and later list down all the things Señor Armonia did (no slips). Then, students can compare their ideas and check who has written more sentences.
3) The teacher can do a dictation with the students after they have watched the short film. The teacher says a verb in the base form and students have to write a sentence in the affirmative or negative based on what happened. Ex: drive a car (students would write 'He didn`t drive a car'), play his triangle (students would write 'He played his triangle').

Source: Vinicius Lemos

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