Vocabulary Task
Film Genres (and the Emotions They Provoke)
Activity:
1. Ask the students about any television shows or films they’ve seen over the weekend and any emotions that were provoked from these shows (vocabulary for emotions were introduced last).
2. On the overhead projector or another similar resource, have the word and picture/film clip presented next to one another on the same page. For example, for an action film present, a picture/clip from “James Bond” and, for a horror film, present a picture/clip from “The Wolfman.”
By showing this multimedia, not only are the students exposed to a new vocabulary word with a corresponding visual cue, they are exposed to small vignettes of American culture (if movies are American made) and they may make connections with similar movies they’ve seen of their respective culture (of which they may discuss with classmates as a possible homework assignment).
3. Show the pictures and/or movie clips without the words and ask the class what genre each image represents.
4. On the board, write down the genres, e.g. comedy, drama and sci-fi. Next, have a class discussion about the emotions these movies provoke and why.
5. Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4. First, assign each group a genre and have them draw some items they would expect to find in such a film on individual sheets of paper. They are to use these sheets of paper as props for a very short skit they will create and perform in class.
6. The objective is as follows: one group will perform a genre, while the rest of the class reacts with the emotions they believe the skit should provoke. After the performance is finished, the group will orally list the emotions they may have noted from the class and the class will state what genre they believe they were watching.
7. Collect the drawings and asks the class which items they expect belong to a certain film and which items can be a part of multiple films (if the class has the background knowledge of explaining their reasoning, ask them to do so).
8. Ask any volunteers to reenact any emotions they would display in the movie theatre or at home. Discuss any similarities or differences from audiences of your culture, yourself included.
