TSU English 2 SBP

ENGLISH

TEACHER SUPPORT UNIT 2

Films, TV and Music

English Teacher Support Unit 2

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FILMS, TV AND MUSIC

BEFORE WE START... The Second TSU

Before We Start

Now that you have successfully implemented the first Teacher Support Unit (TSU), have you noticed any change in your students – more smiles, more questions, more efforts to speak a few words in English, more efforts to respond to your questions…?

By now, your students would:

• Be able to give short responses to questions (Yes, No, I can, I know, I don’t know…)

• Have a stock of words related to Family & Friends which they can both read and write (the theme of TSU 1)

• Be able to identify friends’ names,

• Be able to describe pictures in simple words and sentences

• Be able to copy in a meaningful context

• Frame simple questions and simple sentences

• Guess the meanings of words with the help of contextual clues?

The next step Quite an achievement, isn’t it? But the journey in helping your students master English has just begun.

Let’s move on to Teacher Support Unit (TSU) -2. In this unit too there are a number of listening activities which will help students broaden and deepen their understanding of English. But the focus here shifts from listening to encouraging students to speak. Again, we take the students from word level activities to sentence level activities and finally to speaking several sentences together to express an idea. We also continue, what we started in TSU 1, with


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simple writing activities where students copy words or write known words in meaningful contexts.

For TSU -2, we have chosen a theme that any student (and you too!) would love – Films, Music and Television (TV) and…Mobiles! Would there be a single student in your class who is not going to be excited about this theme? Sure, we can hear you saying that some students have not used mobiles, but that is ok, we will make sure they participate in activities.

How many English words would your students know related to this theme? 10, 20...30? Let’s check it out with Activity 1. Who knows, we may be in for a pleasant surprise.

Activity 1 (Whole Class / Group work

Ask the students to write down English words they know that are related to Films, TV, Music and Mobile. They can do this in their notebooks. You could offer a couple of words in each category to get them started.

• Give them 5 minutes to come up with words related to the themes.

• Now ask them to close their notebooks and form groups of 4 each or 3 each depending on the strength of the class. (Do you remember the tips on forming groups in TSU 1? Check back if you need to.)

• Tell the students that each group will come up with 4 lists of words - one for each category of the theme. Ask individuals in each group to compare their lists and prepare a master list of words. They should pick up words from each group member's list, deleting the words that are repeated. Give them 10-15 minutes for this.

• Now, each group should present its list. Ask other groups to note down words that are missing in their lists. The class will now have a single master-list of words related to the theme.

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How many words did they know? Were you pleasantly surprised? Did any of these words come up?

What will you do if students can write the words only in Odia? Will you allow them to write in Odia and then write the English words on the board?

You could ask them to write in whichever language they are comfortable, when they work individually. When they get into groups to work on the master list they can try to write the English equivalents. There may be some children in the group who can write in English and they can help the others.

'Peer learning' or learning from each other, is a well known classroom strategy. It is a great way for students to learn. And it will take the pressure off you!

What is your opinion of peer learning? Does it work with your students?


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Film: Director, Actor, Film, Hero, Villain, Acting, Comedy, Joke, Songs, Action, Housefull, Hit, Flop;

Music: Song, Playback, Mike, Flute, Guitar, Sitar, Drums, Singer, Voice, Tune, Radio, FM, Studio, Recording

TV: Sports, Channel, Cricket, Serial, Advertisement, Remote, Screen, Switch On, Colour TV;

Mobile: Call, Missed Call, SMS, Picture, Bluetooth, Download, Pre-paid, Post-paid, Local Call, SIM card, Battery, Charge… Who says they don’t know English!)

Now, how can we take advantage of the students' familiarity with the themes and build their language skills further based on the vocabulary they have generated?

Here are some suggestions on what you can do.

a. Say to the students: I have a five letter word in my mind related to TV (e.g., REMOTE). Can you say what it is? Give them hints one by one:

It is related to TV, it is a three letter word in Odia, you can write the first letter on the board followed by blanks R_ _ _ _ _ and ask them to give you more letters that can possibly fit in the blanks. After three letters some of them may guess the word.

b. Ask the students: How many words can you say that show some kind of action related to the theme? (e.g., acting, singing, playing [an instrument], watching, switching on, switching off…)

Do you think it would be useful to tell them that these action words are verbs?

Can you ask them to make sentences using these verbs? Perhaps you can model a few sentences and then ask the students to make similar sentences? E.g. Imagine that we are watching a cricket match. What is happening on the screen? Sachin is batting. Malinga is bowling to him. The fielders are getting ready for the ball.

Can they do the same with making a call on the mobile? You can ask one student to mime using the mobile phone and ask the students to say what she is doing.


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Did it work?

interesting difficult boring

c. Tell the students: I am going to say a sentence that is incomplete. You have to fill the gap with one of the words from the list. (I saw a ____ in the theatre. I came home and ____ on the TV to watch the cricket match. My ____ fell down and stopped functioning…)

Do you think this is a useful language activity? In what way?

d. The students have already classified the words under four heads – Mobile, Films, TV and Music? Now, ask them to do this activity. E.g. Pick a word under the ‘Mobile’ category, pick a word from ‘Music’ category and connect the two in the same sentence. (For e.g., I sent an SMS to download my favourite song).

Can they make two related sentences using four words from the list? (They can do it in Odia too). Now, this is a more difficult activity. So don’t worry if they don’t get it right. You can continue with variations of the first three suggestions).

Did your students enjoy these activities?

You could actually ask them if they were surprised at the number of English words they knew. (This awareness would surely boost their confidence and self-esteem, two critical elements for learning English.)

What is the focus of this activity?.................................................................

Did you make any modifications or try out variations?.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


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It is now time to move to an even more exciting topic – FILMS.

Before beginning the activity, write down the names of at least about 8-10 'recent' - less than 2 years old – Hindi and Odia film titles on pieces of paper – one name on one piece of paper. Put the pieces in a small box (your chalk box is good for this). Here are some titles you could use: Chennai Express, Race 2, Dhoom 3, Satyagraha, Table No 21, Himmatwala, Zanjeer, Akash Vani. You could add more to this list.

Activity 2 (Group work)

Ask the students to form groups of three. One person from each group should come up, pick up a piece of paper and go back to the group.

After all the groups have collected their pieces, give them 5-7 minutes to think of how to 'mime' the title. One of the group members does the mime. The rest of the class (excluding members of the mimic’s group) guesses the title of the film. It is somewhat like the ‘Dumb Charades’, a popular miming game.

If they are unclear, you can demonstrate with one title. (e.g., Bhaag Milka Bhaag – you can enact running. Can you think of a way for students to guess Milka?

Do you think this can be used in the language class? Think about it.

Can you think of a way to generate English with this activity? For e.g. translating the titles into English: Run Milka Run. You can ask students if all the titles sound good in translation or if they sound funny. (You can reflect on the fact that direct translations can sometimes sound quite silly.)

Did it work?





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Activity 3 (Whole Class)

Choose any of the film titles that was enacted. Write it down on the board. Now, how many words can the students say that are related to the title?

E.g., Table no 21: chair, bench, wood, legs, sit, dining, writing, books, carpenter

Murder: jail, court, judge, law, judgment, police station, constable, inspector, detective

Satyagraha: Gandhi, salt, protest, slogan, fasting

As the students come up with the words, keep writing them down on the blackboard. Once you have 10-15 words on the blackboard, you can try out these activities:

a. Ask the students to join any two words and make a sentence. (Look at activity 1d above.)

b. Ask them to guess the word you have in mind, by giving them hints. (Look at activity 1a above.)

c. Ask students to form groups. Now, on a strip of paper, write down any four words from the list on the blackboard. Make as many such strips as there are groups. Each strip must have a different set of words. Put them into your chalk box. Ask a member of each group to come forward and select a piece of paper Ask the group to enact a scene using all the 4 words given. Others have to describe the scene and try to figure out which movie it would best fit into. It will obviously not fit into any one film because the words have been randomly chosen. So the students could say, 'I think this would fit into Dhoom.' (Allow them to do their descriptions in Odia but when they do so, try to translate that into English and say it aloud for others).

d. In Activity 3c, students acted out a scene they created using words you chose for them. In this activity students choose their own words and create stories.

Form groups with three or four students in each group. Ask each group to connect 2-3 words from different films and create a small story / event. (You can demonstrate with this, taking words from the films mentioned earlier: The labourers, who did not get paid by the management, went on a fast. The police inspector came and put them in jail. They were taken to a court the next day where the judge released them).

One person from each group presents the story.

After the students have presented their stories, you could discuss with them the merits of each group’s story and ask them to select the ones they liked the best.

Which activity worked better - 3c or d?


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Activity 4

Organise students into groups of 3 or 4. Ask them to come up with names of Hindi movies that are in English.

(Here are some titles that you might want to know: Wanted, My name is Khan, Once upon a time in Mumbai, 3 Idiots, Race, Fashion, Page 3, Corporate, A Wednesday, Monsoon Wedding, Karthik Calling Karthik, Knockout, Fire, 1947 Earth, Jab we Met…)

As we have done before, you can ask them to come up with sentences using two or more words, come up with a story involving 3 – 4 words, etc.

Activity 4: On a Winter's Night (Text book activity-Class 9)

If you have already done the above story in class ask one or two of the students to retell the story in class. If you have not done it, then do this activity after you have read and explained the story.

Ask them to imagine that the story is going to be made into a film. Ask them whether the ending of the story, as it is written in the textbook, would be enjoyable to the audience. Could they make it more dramatic? Ask them to work in groups and write an ending for the story that would make it more dramatic. You could even ask them which actors they would choose for the roles of Halku, his wife and the landlord.

If your students are willing to do so, you could ask them to enact the ending for the class.

How would you help your students with their ideas for the ending? You could go from group to group, discuss the ideas with the students and give them suggestions when they get stuck.

Your students need to be encouraged to think 'out of the box'. Do you think that changing the ending of a story is a good way to achieve this?

Could the entire story be readapted for a film? Are there any other texts with which you can do the same thing?

Do you think group work is a good way to get the quieter students participating in class? How would you make sure that some children don't dominate the discussion? For instance, you could encourage the quieter ones to contribute their ideas by asking them some questions as you walk around the class?


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Did it work?


Films are also about aspirations, lifestyles and dreams. When adolescent students watch movies, it is possible that they are comparing their life situations with scenes they see in movies. This provides an opportunity to engage them in conversations to get them to express opinions. This is a wonderful way for them to think about their experiences and make sense of their world at the same time as they are using and developing their language. Remember, language learning happens only when you use and you use language only when you feel there is something worthwhile to talk about or discuss.

Activity 5

Here are some questions you can use for a discussion. Ask your students to write down answers to the following questions. These questions need not be done all in one day. You can do them over a week or more.

• Have you cried during a film? Why?

• Which scene of a film has affected you the most? Why?

• If a Hindi song were to describe your life, what song would it be? (You can choose more than one song.)

• If you are asked to choose one film that you will watch and then you will see no more films in your life, which film would that be? Why?

• If you could be a character from a movie, who would you be and why?

• If you want to change the hero / heroine / villain in any movie, which movie would that be and why?

• If you are to change the ending of the film, what would that be?




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• Which other film’s ending would you like to change and why?

• If your favorite hero /heroine were to spend 8 hours with you from 9 am to 5 pm,

which places would you take him/her? Why would you choose these places?

what 5 questions would you ask him or her?

what would you offer for breakfast, lunch and snacks at home, if he/she demands ‘homely’ food?

how would you introduce your friends / family members to him/her? (you have to describe at least 1 quality of each person).

You can ask students to share their answers after each question has been done. You don't have to do all the questions first and then do a sharing session. For each question you can ask two or three different children so that everyone gets a chance to speak.

Observe your students while they answer these questions. Were they able to understand the questions? Did they ask you for clarifications? If they did, then you are on the right track. This means that students are interested in the task, are keen to work on the questions and are developing the confidence to speak up when they don't understand. All this means that they are learning and that is a reason to celebrate!

Did it work?





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Activity 6

This is another activity that gives students a chance to make up their own endings but this time it is about incidents that can actually happen to people unlike Activity 5 where the ending may or may not happen in real life.

Narrate any incident which has something to do with films (whole class). It need not be real.

(E.g., I put a vessel of rice on the fire. I forgot all about it and went to a movie. Half-way through the movie, I remembered the rice on fire. I had not taken it off the fire and the house was locked. I left the theatre at once, but there was no bus to go home at that hour. The bus would come only 20 minutes later…

What do you think happened?)

Did you get a variety of answers from students? Did any of them relate it to incidents that had happened in their lives ? Do make a note of them.

Did it work?


Let's now move on to another theme that students will enjoy - music.




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Activity 7 (Whole class)

This activity helps students to see connections between the music they enjoy and words in English that describe their own feelings like sadness, happiness, etc. It also helps them to think and speak about the role of music in their own lives and in the lives of other people. When students connect emotionally with ideas and think about things they are familiar with, language flows spontaneously. Music is one topic that students are bound to relate to.

a. Call out a word and ask students which song or musical instrument they associate with that? (Say the words in English first and if they don’t understand it, repeat in Odia).

(E.g., Sad – any sad song from any film, sarangi music, etc. Here are some other words you can use - happy, laughter, friendship, affection towards a child, getting a child to sleep (lullaby), patriotic, ambitious, religious music. Can you think of other feelings and emotions that students can connect with?

b. Ask them to make a list of all the things music makes them feel or do - dance, hum along, concentrate on work, smile, cry, etc.

c. Which songs or piece of music do they like? Each student can write down which their favorite song or piece of music is? Next to the song they can write what they feel, see, remember, etc. when they listen to that piece of music? They may choose either Sambalpuri songs or odia songs.

You can also ask one student to sing a song and ask others to write down words for what they feel. Or play a few tunes on your mobile phone and ask them to write down

their feelings when they are listening to them.

Hindi Film music is only one kind of music. Odisha has a rich local music tradition.


You can write on the board some of these dance / music forms– Smabalpuri Bhajan, Latest Odia songs, Raserkali, Dalkhai, mailajada, Kuraiphula etc. Then ask students the following questions:

Are there any musicians in your village? What do they sing about? Does the music have a special name?

Who in the class can sing a non-film song or a local song? Ask the student to sing the song if she/he is willing to do so.


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Did it work?


Activity 9

Group work

• Give students 5 minutes to think about and then tell you the names of music instruments. (Sitar, guitar, flute, drum of some kind, shehnai, Dhol, Nisan, Dulduli, Muhuri etc). Write the names on the board. Now, ask them to generate verbs connected to daily life (walking, running, sitting, standing, combing my hair, dressing, eating, etc). Pick the name of an instrument and connect it with any verb you have chosen. Write on the board, for example, (flute, running).

• Now, can each group to make a sentence using the two words (E.g., When I was running to catch the bus, I heard a catchy tune being played on flute from a house).

Textbook connections can be made focusing on the past continuous tense or sentences beginning with 'when' (adverb clauses).

Here are some more activities related to music which you can do in the class.




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Activity 10 (Group work)

Ask students to work in groups and create a song on the village and set it to music? Ask them to think of one aspect of village life about which they can create a song. What aspect would they choose? (hospitality, togetherness, caring for others, etc….)

What are other ways that you can use the theme of music to generate speaking in the class? Here's one more: if anyone in the class plays any instrument: can he / she bring it to the school and play it in class? Students will be interested to find out how he/she began learning it, etc.

Did it work?


Let’s move to an object that is in everyone’s house – television. Almost all the students in your class watch TV. Isn't that right? And in higher classes like 9 and 10, parents are probably worried about their children watching TV with exams only a few months away. Can we take advantage of an apparent problem and convert that into an effective tool for language learning?


“Stupidity Spotting” in TV ads

First describe some TV ads in detail.

• Actor Shah Rukh Khan in a Fair & Handsome cream ad, gains confidence in himself because his skin is now fairer

• an aspiring air-hostess using a fairness cream to get through the interview;

• an energy drink doing wonders to a student, etc).




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Then ask the students if something is wrong with them. (Discuss, for example, if there is any evidence that skin color actually changes permanently by using those creams). Do they or will they buy the products because of the ads?

Please remember to allow them to speak in Odia because this activity may require some complex language. And don't forget to rephrase in English whenever possible.

Did your students find this interesting? Did they say a number of interesting things about TV ads? Do make a note of them.

Did it work?


Here are a number of activities relate to TV that you can do in the class. Decide which ones you want to try out in the class.

Activity 10

Impact of TV ads

a. You can read out some advertisements to the class and ask students to guess what the product is. (Whole class activity)

b. Ask students what products they have bought based on TV ads? E.g. chips, clothes, etc. Have the products been as good as the advertisement says they are? Ask them to give some examples of their experiences. (Whole class activity)

c. You can ask students to work in groups and create a TV ad for Sambalpuri Saree Chaulibara – Sambalpur ? They can present it the to the class.




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Did it work?


Are there any more activities you can think of about the TV? Write them in the space below.

Now that we have come to the end of TSU 2 can you assess your students?

Tick what they can now do.

1. Can give short responses to questions about films, TV, etc.

2. Will have a stock of words related to TV, cricket, movies, etc

3. Can relate their experience in simple sentences

4. Can make simple sentences using known words

5. Can do actions based on a set of instructions

6. Can copy in a meaningful context

[Type a quote from the document or the summary of an interesting point. You can position the text box anywhere in the document. Use the Text Box Tools tab to change the formatting of the pull quote text box.]




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Finally, please share with us what you think of this TSU. Have you found the activities here doable? Have your students enjoyed engaging with a topic that they are familiar with? Most importantly have you noticed a change in their classroom behavior? Do you notice that more students are speaking now. How many students are comfortable speaking in whole class activities? How many during group work? Did you enjoy taking your students through this TSU? Your feedback is valuable to us.

TSU English 2 SBP

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