French Toast

As we have a workshop on 25th inst., how about conjuring up a lesson plan?

Robin's French connection (Lesson plan)!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lq60QtFZcmJSy51_63Cmh5rVbZHZy8fTGmqrueQOkIXegkMEonOEKhcDt_rN/edit?usp=sharing

Sarah’s contribution for French Roast

I think the French Roast animated video could lend itself really well to a lesson (or several lessons) on basic screenwriting for theatrical/cinematic works.  Of course, the ideal students of this type of lesson would be those with near-advanced English writing skills who have a special interest in this topic. After studying the elements and conventions of an existing screenplay (and maybe also viewing a scene related to it),  the class could begin a group project to create their own screenplay for  the French Roast piece.  Perhaps each student could choose (or be assigned) a part of the script for which they would have to produce a text. (A typical screenplay/script has many parts; each with their own standards, conventions and writing styles).  For example, the

"Scene Heading" and "Action" sections require descriptive writing which sets a scene, its normally  written in "real time" with the active voice, in the present tense, etc... The "Character Name" section is a description of the characters of the film and their motivations.  The "Dialogue" section is the text that explain what the characters say to each other, to themselves (as thoughts), what the narrator says, etc.. and could be written from a variety of different perspectives, (first person, third person omniscent, etc.).

Other ideas are to have the students write to practice tenses..What happened to each of the charcters just before/after they appeared in the film?  What will happen to them?

Or,you could challenge the students memory and motivate them through competition by having them write (in groups) a description of everything that was on the table, or hanging on the wall in the first scene, etc.

Students could also try to stump each other by asking (in correctly written questions, of course) the others, for example, "What color was the waiters handkerchief?"

I think the use of videos in class, especially silent ones, provide lots of lesson planning opportunities, as well as a great change of pace for the class, that the students also really enjoy.

Thanks Sarah!