I’ve tried a lot of things to get my 7th grade ESL students to use their vocabulary. These native Chinese speakers would rather memorize the longest sentence in a novel, from William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom (over 1200 words), than lose face mispronouncing a word. And yes, some want to take on that challenge.
However, my middle schoolers got excited making movie posters and trailers based on historical events of their choice. The five nominees are:
The Bombing of Dresden, a heartbreaking drama
The Great Casualties, starring Taylor Swift
The Irate Holy Cow (no animals were killed during the production)
The Inevitable Tragedy on the Titanic featuring Mr. Bean and Zombies
And the Irate Fighting on the Titanic, the untold story
Now for their award winning performances…
Students might have taken creative license with their ideas. But hey, it’s a vocabulary class, not world history. And I bet you can spot some of the words. The KI-Academy wants to thank these websites for making these projects possible:
FreeSound.org , the ultimate source for free easy-to-download sound effects.
BigHugeLabs.com a free website to create movie posters, magazine covers and other fun projects
And a special thanks to Ben Bin, the IT guy who installed software on the student laptops and Ding Ding, in the art department, for making an Oscar out of an old Christmas ornament, spray paint and water bottle.
Please cast your vote below!
Mr Bean!
‘Gotta go with Mr. Bean for diction and audio mix, although I did enjoy the cow too. Thought it desperately needed some ragtime piano.
Mr. Bean all the way!