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Post by Dr. Gonzo on Dec 20, 2005 1:18:19 GMT 7
Here's where I downloaded movies, music, lataest Simpsons etc. whilst in PRC. www.free-winmx.com/Most were bought from purveyors of quality DVDs on a nearby pavement. Slightly more upmarket shops usually had a bigger range. Don't know where you are Chips, but most of us here have little trouble buying a supriring array of some remarkable stuff.
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Post by Lotus Eater on Dec 20, 2005 1:56:30 GMT 7
Ask the students where the DVD black market it - they'll take you and you can spend some productive hours in there!
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nolefan
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Post by nolefan on Dec 20, 2005 2:47:09 GMT 7
i get them at my local DVD shop... 7rmb a pop. Most of the DVDs they have are real fakes with all languages, menus,etc... a lot of them are missing the extra but for 7 kwais, can't complain. I tend to not buy movies that were just released as they will be videotaped from some cinema in France or Russia so i give them about 4 months to have a decent copy. If i really want to watch something today, i download it off of bittorrent.
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Post by Mr Nobody on Dec 20, 2005 13:19:53 GMT 7
All the above, except our pirated DVDs are only 5-6 rmb. Walk like a man tonight. I'll submit a one line report on it.
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Post by Chips Downe on Dec 20, 2005 22:26:58 GMT 7
Y6 in Zhengzhou... I've only once seen a couple of people with boxes on the pavement. Hardly any of my students ever come from this city, when we go out I have to lead them around... and they have no time and no facilities for watching DVDs as far as I know... the school shows them a movie once a week... you can imagine the type of movies...
After one shop, I got a student to ask the second taxi driver where we could buy DVds and he took us to a place which only sold DVD players. (and white goods) I've spent quite a bit on taxis looking for DVD shops... recently a few have closed or tried to take us to a backroom (Bush's visit?) but they've still had the same crap. There are three shops within walking distance still open... in one I have never found anything worth watching, the other got me all excited with a promise of new arrivals last week and I ended up buying two, one in Russian, without the advertised translation. I'd kill for a copy of anything with Frank Drebbin... they actually used to get a laugh from (selected) students in previous schools... (lots of visual gags). 'The Terminal' with Tom Hanks looked promising, but after 5 minutes I was thinking "no, it's not like that at all..." I must start a new thread asking for advice about Beijing airport... one of the reasons I stay in China I sometimes think...
Very thanks for the websites!
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Post by Dr. Gonzo on Dec 21, 2005 4:15:36 GMT 7
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Newbs
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Post by Newbs on Dec 21, 2005 10:22:15 GMT 7
Thanks Dr G, looks like it's the goods.
Also early this year Burl (I think) posted a really good potted lesson plan for teaching video/film. Gee it was good and damned if I can find it. If anyone can help it'd be much appreciated.
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Post by con's fly is open on Dec 21, 2005 11:36:36 GMT 7
Hey, that is good.
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nolefan
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Post by nolefan on Dec 21, 2005 17:17:22 GMT 7
Dr. G,
much obliged for that link. there's some good stuff on there and i will definitely use it from now on..
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Post by joe on Dec 22, 2005 14:31:44 GMT 7
There's a discussion going on at work now about teaching movies. We have an AV room with an open door and a film that loops endlessly for a week. The movie class is for one hour at the end of the week, and the next day there's a new film. So, what and how to teach?
I assume that using a whole film to teach language points is a waste of two hours -- a two or three minute video clip is enough for that -- unless there is some language constantly present in the film -- accent, maybe, or style.
I feel that if the students are watching a whole film in English (without Chinese subtitles), then they're looking for the cultural experience -- the text, in other words (and maybe some immersion in high-speed accented speech) -- and I assume the students will have next to no background. So I concentrate on "ways in" to the film: the who, what, when, where questions, why do they all wear leather, why is that man covered in blood, where are the police, and so on.
For those reasons I like brief presentations from me backgrounding the film according to my interest, frequently interrupted to pose some, hopefully, discussion questions, like the ones from Gonzo's link:
# What did you see? # What did you hear? # Where and when is this film set? How do you know? # What do you know about this period? # Who are the main characters? How do you know? # What is this film going to be about ? How do you know?
Those questions work okay because the class always starts at the same time but where in the movie the class starts depends on where it has reached in its loop.
The backbone of the presentation is a handout we work through -- a language-tailored synopsis, which allows more detailed development of the discussion questions and also can provide a few answers --, and usually the talky part of the lesson lasts 30 minutes if I'm lucky in what the students will come up with in talking to each other.
As far as I know that's about all I can do with the set up here.
Your comments are welcome.
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Ruth
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Post by Ruth on Dec 29, 2005 19:29:40 GMT 7
Thanks Dr. G for the link and the tips.
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Post by Missi on Jul 5, 2006 7:44:57 GMT 7
I know this is an old thread, and I wanted to put in my two sense as I chatted about it upstairs in the LL.
I don't show movies in class. I hate having to wait a full week to finish a movie and I know my students would hate it as well. So we watch TV shows in my class. The TV study we have done over the past four years has been Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Its usually 43mins long and fits in perfectly to a single lesson. I usually follow Buffy and Angels relationship, and discuss temptation, consequences, responsibilities and growing up in the classroom. And the vocab? Monsters and Vampires are the most popular topics in the classroom. I have students using slang from Buffy all the time or quoting lines from the show.
I hate the fact that children in China are not taught about responsibility and consequences (maybe they are where you live but not here). So part of what I do is relate most of my lessons to what is watched or what will be watched on TV. And if they work with me, they get to watch the next Buffy.
Another part of why the students love Buffy, is when they start to watch it she is 16 and so are they. They can relate to what she is going through. The understand that the demons Buffy fights are similar to the problems in their lives. Problems with authority figures, friends, how they feel that no one understands them.
I am looking at showing a different TV show to them next year, such as Roswell or Smallville, I haven't decided yet. At a previous summer camp I showed Dark Angel. I am trying to find TV shows where the main character is a teenager trying to go through daily life and going through teenager's problems.
I have found this very successful, watching TV shows in the classroom. The English teachers allow their classes to watch a full length movie related to their unit every month.
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Miss Maggles
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Post by Miss Maggles on Jul 9, 2006 17:48:15 GMT 7
On another site recently I chatted to a guy who is putting together a book on this topic and seemed to have a good grasp of what is needed along with the dvds, script etc. He said he would be publishing this year. There is also a set of books out there that do a similar thing complete with dvds written by a chinese guy and published through Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
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Post by Mr Nobody on Jul 10, 2006 21:01:48 GMT 7
I get them to tell me the story of the movie as homework. Means they have to have structure and they have to logically approach it rather than the touchy feely stuff they usually use. It works a treat, also allows the boys, who do it more easily, a chance to perform well compared to the girls, who have more problems with this.
You have to stress that you want the story, the usual way is for them to say what they learned or what it made them feel or their opinions etc. No movie reviews.
Then you can spend a lesson or two on the various issues they had trouble with, and other stuff like that. Last time I also used this homework to give an exercise on removing conjunctions as words starting sentences, and teaching paragraphing, and it worked well, especially the paragraphing. They now use paragraphs very well, but the conjunction thing escapes them a little. (When describing a series of events, there is a lot of .So .... But.... And.... rather than proper sentence structure. I emphasize that in casual writing and speaking this is ok, but I want them to learn the proper way, then they can choose. Worked reasonably well. I will work on it again next semester.)
So that was like, three double periods used for really good effect. Especially since they had to discuss all this in English.
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Post by Ajarn on Jul 15, 2006 10:21:22 GMT 7
Here is a link [ www.dianying.com/ft/chinesetitles/A.php ] to a website which provides the Chinese name for foreign movies. When you want to buy, or order, a particular movie, copy and paste the Chinese name into Word, print it out and take it to your local DVD supplier. You can download a program called DVD Copy from the internet which allows you to copy a DVD movie onto your hard drive in VCD / .wma / .avi / .rmvb / formats, burn it onto a regular CD and play it on virtually any computer. The serial number for the program (which is provided as a 14 day trial) is also floating around in hyperspace. The most successful movie I have shown in class is The Amazing Panda Adventure. 10% shot in the States, 90% in Sichuan. A 13 year old American boy lives in the US with his divorced mother. His father, a vet, is doing voluntary service with Save the Panda Foundation in Sichuan. The boy visits his father during Spring Break and befriends a 13 year old Chinese girl, the grand-daughter of a Foundation worker. A Panda cub is taken by poachers and the boy & girl set off to (successfully) retrieve the animal and return the animal to the Save the Panda camp, all the while being pursued by the poachers. Thrills, spills, fun and adventure dotted with boy-girl discussions about west / east values and culture issues. Garfield is a good film that shows contemporary western lifestyles (if a little cheesy) using non-offensive, real-to-life dialogue.
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Post by AMonk on Aug 17, 2006 3:59:47 GMT 7
Hi Don't know whether or not they're available to you, but my Middle Graders really liked "Mighty Ducks" (I,II,III), "X-Men" (I,II), "Men In Black" (I,II), "Cool Runnings" (about the Jamaican bobsled team), and the "Harry Potter" movies (I,II,III,IV). My Seniors enjoyed "Cannonball Run" (I,II) and "Romeo and Juliet" (Leonardo diCaprio version, of course). They're not necessarily classics - but the kids seemed to enjoy them. AM
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Post by joe on Aug 17, 2006 12:40:01 GMT 7
I have to show a film tonight. It's not for teaching--the students are back two weeks early to prepare showcase classes for the November government inspection. I'm supposed to provide some entertainment. So I'm trying to choose between Whale Rider, a cool but heavily sentimental NZ film about girls and fathers and tribal leaders, and Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events. Pretty sure I'll go with Lemony since I don't want to have to try to get the students to believe that Maoris are people too.
Both films are in the running basically because they're about children. Films about kids seem to go over well with Chinese. Or films with people walking into doors, because the other big hit I've had in showing a film was Tommy Boy. Essentially, Chris farley walks into a lot of doors, and saves his father's company. Hilarity.
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Post by con's fly is open on Aug 18, 2006 1:49:36 GMT 7
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Post by Lotus Eater on Aug 18, 2006 13:00:03 GMT 7
Try "The Princess Bride" - not to be confused with the Princess Diaries. The PB appeals to the guys and girls - romance and fighting and weird characters.
And I like Mark Knopflers song at the end of it as well.
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Post by Dr. Gonzo on Aug 18, 2006 13:23:45 GMT 7
Now, if "Big Fish" is to be found in PRC, and the subtitles aren't gibberish [see "Troy" for an eg of this], try it if your students are capable, then run a unit on Tall Story Telling. I've had a student teacher for the last 3 weeks with my Year 9 students, and it worked really well [in Oz mind]. You don't even have to see the whole thing at once, as the individual tall tales are discreet.....almost.
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Post by Mr Nobody on Aug 19, 2006 9:55:56 GMT 7
Big fish is available, I have a copy. Will check out the subtitles.
Princess Bride wasn't and my copy doesn't have them. They liked it but couldn't understand a lot of it without subtitles.
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Post by Lotus Eater on Sept 5, 2006 21:04:45 GMT 7
I showed my 4th years Smilla's Sense of Snow tonight. They really liked it. The language was relatively easy - just a few words here and there I needed to explain. The subtitles accurate (wow!!) and the plot interesting enough to keep them watching. Female protagonist as a role model for the 2 girls in the class, action and suspense for the guys, great (snow) scenery and good acting for me. Last week I showed them Erin Brockovitch. The boys in particular liked it - not sure why. But they were all interested in the concept of one person taking on a giant. Fits in with almost all mythologies.
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Post by Lotus Eater on Sept 6, 2006 21:33:25 GMT 7
Tonight I showed them Val Kilmer in the Saint - another one they liked - but they have yet to write the analysis on why! But I have to grin - I usually set the place up so it is comfortable and relaxing for them, plus I have either bought softdrinks and nibblies for them or give the money to the monitor if I am too busy and he does it. They are now used to the system - and now THEY come in, arrange the chairs and floor cushions, set up the soft lighting around the room and turn out the big neons. They have noted my weakness for potato chips and so regularly make sure I have my supply. Then on leaving they clean up the rubbish and take it to the garbage on their way out - these boys will make good husbands one day!! They are so much more relaxed in this setting and talk so much more!
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Post by Dr. Gonzo on Sept 10, 2006 5:16:50 GMT 7
Enigma PMd me for some sdvice on using "Big Fish", so I've copied my reply to here, in case anyone else is thinking of using it.
Hi
The B.Ed student doing her teaching practicum with me has just used Big Fish as the basis for a unit with my Australian Year 9 [14 year old] students. What age are yours? Younger Chinese may find it conceptually difficult. I think a writing based unit would work best. Decide on some genre [eg, tall story, legend, biography, newspaper story], provide examples, and identify characteristics of each. Get them to write some short pieces, such as a grandparents biography, or a news story about something they have witnessed. Run the movie, pausing often to get them to focus on particular characters and events. Whiteboard notes: names, details. Then set them an assignment involving several different tasks. A diary of a character, a board game based on the film, a newspaper account of a particular event; all worked well in my class. They can have a lot of fun, but may be reluctant to come to the party initially. You can modify all of this for different age groups and movies. "Bend it Like Beckham" works well, as its themes are universal.
Good luck.
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 12, 2006 14:25:40 GMT 7
My students couldn't do most of that.
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