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This is documentary by Yoko Okumura about her mother, Yuko. Yuko is obsessed by strawberries. she loves them and loving strawberries can save the world. The passion for strawberries is real and you can feel it when Yuko talks about her favorite fruit. Students will of course discuss fruit but also passions and what makes them happy.
This video by E.J. McLeavey-Fisher is about an Instagramer who takes pictures of dogs in New York. In the film the Instagramer explains how he gets nice pictures of dogs and why he enjoys doing it. Students will discuss pets, Instagram and what they would do if they suddenly had a lot of free time.
In this beautiful animated stop motion short by Tom and Hani, a girl is having trouble giving up on childhood. She wants to stay with her toys. Students will discuss the movie, childhood memories, growing up and, with the grammar ‘used to’ tell others about how life and they were different when they were children.
Plan:
Start with the warm up picture worksheet
Introduce the movie with the worksheet and discuss
In this video from Al Jazeera English they show and talk about the national sport of Niger – wrestling. Students will discuss sport, practice and preparation. This is an easy class, suitable for lower level students.
In this short film from the BBC a woman living in Siberia discusses why she likes her traditional way of life and what she feels she should do to be a ‘good girl’. This is a one page short lesson that is suitable for lower level students. There is no transcript because subtitles are on the video.
In this video from Nerdwriter the Diderot Effect is discussed. This effect is the feeling you get when you buy a new, expensive, better thing and now all your old stuff looks bad. It causes people to keep buying more and more things. Students will discuss this effect and their own buying habits. This is an advanced lesson.
In this lesson on the theme of mindfulness students will talk about all the little, happy, things that have happened to them in their lives recently. Then they watch and discuss a video on an art project called 365 Days Grateful by Hailey Bartholomew. They can follow up by watching and discussing her TEDTalk.
This is a lesson for advanced students on the theme of psychology.
This is a lesson for advanced students on the theme of psychology. It is both fun and interesting to discuss what you would do and what other people did in a dangerous situation.
