Midnight in Paris, To Rome with Love & The Smurfs: Superlatives with Nouns

These three movies show three famous  cities -  Paris, Rome and New York. I used these scenes to compare cities, using nouns. I love Woody Allen - especially Midnight in Paris. I simply had to use these opening scenes. They are lovely.

I. Talk to a partner about the following questions.

1. What is your favorite city in the world? Justify your answer.

2. What must a city have to be perfect for you?

3. What is your opinion about the city you live in? What can be improved?

4. What would you change about the city you live in?

II. Watch the movie segment. Look at the items below. Write P if you think they are more evident in Paris (Midnight in Paris), R in Rome (To Rome with Love) or in NY (The Smurfs). Remember the rules:

Count Nouns	Non-count Nouns
as many ______________ as	as much ___________________ as
the most ______________ of the group	the most __________________ of the group
the fewest ______________ of the group	the least __________________ of the group

 Example:

Superlatives describe a particular quality to the highest degree when compared to the same quality found elsewhere. So, we might say All the cities have a lot of cars in the streets, but I’d say New York has the most cars in the streets. OR Rome has the fewest cars in the streets. OR Paris has as many cars in the streets as New York and Rome.



( ) Cars in the street
( ) Motorcycles in the streets.
( ) Famous monuments
( ) Traffic
( ) Tourists
( ) Advertisement
( ) Taxis
( ) Pollution
( ) Cafes
( ) Entertainment


III. Write sentences, following the example. Compare the three cities shown in the segments.


1 _____________________________________
2 _____________________________________
3 _____________________________________
4 _____________________________________
5 _____________________________________
6 _____________________________________
7 _____________________________________
8 _____________________________________
9 _____________________________________
10 ____________________________________


Midnight in Paris




To Rome with Love




The Smurfs

ANSWERS WILL VARY


WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - TO ROME WITH LOVE

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE SMURFS

The Pacifier: Sequence Words

This activity was provided by Bruno Dias. Thank you, Bruno, for your great contibution. Don't forget to visit his blog, a great resource for English teachers. Here's his short biodata:

My name is Bruno Dias Gonçalves and I´m a 28-year-old English teacher. I´ve been teaching for 9 years basically for adults, but recently I´ve started teaching elementary and high school students. I am also the owner of the blog http://teacherbruno1.blogspot.com where I post many video classes teaching grammar rules and contexts, song classes and video classes.  

I´m graduated in English Language and Specialized in Apllied Linguistics on English Language. 

A class by @TeacherBrunoGon


1- Work with your students the vocabulary relating sequence words.



First – Second – Right after/ before – Afterwards – Next – To finish – Then – When


2- Watch the video and complete the paragraphs.



















Driving part:

____________ he fastens the seat belt, ______________ he says “go”, and ____________ she starts driving the car around the parking lot. ______________ she stops the car, he tells her to go backwards and ______________ she does it.


Girls in the garden:

_____________ he teaches the girls the basic movements, _______________ one of the girls punches him to practice. __________________ he shows three girls how to fights and _________________ all the girls practices as he watches them.  ______________ he says “go” and all the girls start crawling. ________________ one of the girls kick his arm strongly.


Play Rehearsal:

_____________ the couple dance and the director observes, _____________ he advises that they have to improve their performance. ________________ the cast crawls on the floor. ___________________ he shows in a miniature stage how the actors are supposed to work and ___________________ he observes the final moves of two actors on the stage.


Answers may vary

WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE PACIFIER

Jack and Jill: Have You Ever...? - Present Perfect

Adam Sandler has ups and downs. He has an opportunity here to show his acting skills in the roles of twins, performing the scenes of both brother and sister. The movie itself isn't as good as it had promised to be. This scene, though, is great and really funny. My students had a great time. 

I. Watch the segment and  check the actions that you saw in the segment:




1 Eat Mexican food

2 Drink tomato juice 

3 Eat raw jalapeños

4 Play soccer with other girls

5 Dance break music

6 Hurt someone by accident

7 Hit a piñata

8 Swim in a river


II. Take turns asking each other questions about the items in Exercise I.
Follow the example:


S1 - Have you ever eaten Mexican food?

S2 - Yes, I have. 

S1 - When did you eat Mexican food?

S2 - I ate Mexican food last week.

OR

S1 - Have you ever eaten Mexican food?

S2 - No, I haven't.

S2 - Would you like to eat Mexican food?

S2 - Yes, I would OR No, I wouldn't.



















WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - JACK AND JILL
Answer key:

I.

1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Marmaduke: Unrestrictive Relative Clauses

Great movie for dog lovers!



Watch the movie segment and connect the sentences about the characters, using relative clauses. Decide about whom the sentences are about.

Marmaduke
Brian
Phil
Sarah
Debbie
Barbara

1. Ex: MARMADUKE

is a 200-pound dog
hates water

Marmaduke, who is a 200-pound dog, hates water.

2. ____________________

loves to hang out with Marmaduke
is addicted to video games

_______________________________________________


3. ____________________

loves to play ball with Marmaduke
is always on the phone

_______________________________________________


4. ___________________

is Marmaduke's main food kook up
slips Marmaduke a steak here and there

_______________________________________________


5. __________________

is Marmaduke's biggest fan
has got a great laugh

_______________________________________________


6. __________________

is Marmaduke's owner
is a marketing guy for the local pet food company

_______________________________________________

WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - MARMADUKE


Answer Key:




BRIAN
Brian, who is addicted to video games, loves to hang out with Marmaduke

BARBARA
Barbara, who loves to play ball with Marmaduke, is always on the phone

DEBBIE
Debbie, who slips a steak here and there, is his main food hook up.

SARAH
Sarah, who is his biggest fan, has got a great laugh.

PHIL
Phil, who is a marketing guy for the local pet food company, is Marmaduke's owner

The Hunger Games: 2nd Conditional

This activity was provided by Philip Rice and it was published on his awesome blog THE ESL COMMANDO. Thanks, Phil, for such a great activity.

Phil Rice is an instructor at the English Language Institute in Delaware, USA. He has taught English for the past 5 years and in the ESL field for the past 3 years. He enjoys using technology, games, and creativity to help teach students English. His blog can be found at www.eslcommando.com. 

This activity uses listening and the Hunger Games to help students practice the unreal conditional in English. The "If...then" format is used, and students will love to watch the exciting clip of the Hunger Games! This activity gives practice on listening for details, writing sentences,  and then writing a short paragraph. The worksheet  that goes along with the video is downloadable and is below the clip.The formatting looks wrong on the example, but when downloaded into Word, it will look right.Click here  to download, or look below to preview the worksheet.  If you like this, please try out the NEW Man of Steel Classroom Activity!

The Hunger Games ESL Lesson:

Unreal Conditional Activity –

Watch the clip and answer the True/False Questions:

1. T/F: Katniss (the older girl) cares for her sister.
2. T/F: Katniss is chosen for the Hunger Games.
3. T/F: The Hunger Games are wonderful contests.
4. T/F: Only one person can survive the Hunger Games.
5. T/F: Katniss thinks the same way as the blond boy.

As you watch the clip, think of 5 feelings that you would feel if you

were in Katniss’ situation. Then write 5 sentences:

Use the form “If…. , then….”

Ex:  If I were in the Hunger Games, then I would be scared.

1. ---

2. ---

3. ---

4. ---

5. ---

What if you were in a survival situation like Katniss?  If you had to choose 3 things to help you survive in the wilderness what would they be and why?  Write a short paragraph using the unreal conditional form giving clear descriptions and reasons.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Watch clip again at:

http://eslcommando.blogspot.com/2012/04/movie-trailer-esl-grammar-activity.html

WORKSHEET

Answer Key:

T,F,F,T,F

Essay answers will vary.  Focus on the verb forms that the students use.

Clip is found at:

http://eslcommando.blogspot.com/2012/04/movie-trailer-esl-grammar-activity.html

Green Lantern: Passive x Active Voice

I really like super heroes movies. The Green Lantern was not the blockbuster many had expected, but it is dense and The Lantern has an amazing personality and story. I used this scene to contrast the use of active and passive voices.


I. Before watching the segment, try to complete  these sentences with either active or passive forms of the verbs in parentheses.


1. Billions of years ago, a race of immortals ___________ (harness*) the most powerful force in existence.

2. The Guardians of the Universe ___________ (build) a world from where they could watch over all of the existence, the Planet Oa.

3. They ______________ (divide) the universe into 3.600 sectors.

4. A ring powered by the ring of will ____________ (send) to every sector to select a recruit.

5. It _______________ (say) that one must be without fear.

6. These 3.600 recruits ____________ (form) the intergalactic peacekeepers known as the Green Lantern Corps.

 * to bring under conditions for effective use


II. Watch the movie segment and check your answers.

















III. Talk to a partner:

1. What are your favorite super heroes? Why do you like them?

2. What are their super powers?

3. Would you like to have a special super power? Which one would it be?

4. If you had a super power, would you use it to protect your city/people/family, or would you hide it from everyone and use it only when you needed it? Why? 

WORKSHEET
MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - GREEN LANTERN

Answer key:

1. harnessed
2. built
3. divided
4. was sent
5. was said
6. formed A peer of mine said that he had used a slides presentation with links to my passive voice activities. I was sent the link and came across this really cool and thorough class on passive voice. I'm glad Simon Friend used my blog for his video activities. His slides are effective, fun and constructive. Thanks Simon Friend for these really cool slides. Thanks for linking my site to it.