Movies for Learning: The Sword and the Rose

The Sword and the Rose

https://goo.gl/images/pJwopY

The Sword and the Rose is a Disney historical movie about Mary Tudor, younger sister of Henry VIII during his reign. Hoping to make an alliance with France, Henry VIII wants Mary to marry King Louis VII. Mary is in love with Charles Brandon and so the plot unfolds. 
It is a great way to introduce your students to Henry VIII, The Middle Ages and abuse of power.
Here are the questions for The Sword and the Rose.
Blessings!! Natalie

Movies for Learning: Kidnapped

Movies for Learning - Kidnapped

Our next movie this year was Kidnapped. There are many screen versions of this classic book by Robert Louis Stevenson. Here is the version we used.

"When Scottish young gentleman David Balfour's father dies, he leaves school to collect his inheritance from uncle Ebenezer, who in turn sells the boy as a future slave to a pirate ship. When staunch Stuart dynasty supporter Alan Breck Stewart accidentally boards the ship, he takes David along on his escape back to Edinburgh. They part and meet again repeatedly, mutually helpful against the Redcoats and respectful, although David is loyal to the English crown, but learns about its cruel oppression. Both ultimately face their adversaries." (IMDb)

I hope your students enjoy it.
The questions for Kidnapped are here.
Blessings,
Natalie

Movies for Learning: The Patriot

The Patriot

https://goo.gl/images/pP5fGq

It's a new school year and I have new students! So that means some new movies ;) I will be posting a variety of new movies with questions that you can ask your students to begin a discussion about history and science topics! Our first new movie I used to explore the American Revolution was The Patriot. All of the students really enjoyed this movie and the discussion from it. 
Here are the questions. 
Blessings, Natalie

Movies for Learning: Anna and the King

Anna and the King

https://goo.gl/images/dUvkqF

Our next Movies for Learning session Anna and the King was a great one to explore Dictatorship vs. Monarchy and where the line was drawn between those two political philosophies. There were many struggles in this movie and many scenes to draw out other themes such as honour, love, freedom and humility. The students really enjoyed it!

Here are the questions for Anna and the King.
Blessings,
Natalie

Movies for Learning: The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game

www.cineplex.com

Our next movie was The Imitation Game. This was a challenging movie to look at the concept of heroes and how people are treated despite their contributions to society. Set in WW#2 it was a powerful movie to study for our move through modern history.

www.theguardian.com

It was certainly thought provoking, and well worth watching! The discussion was rich and overall it was a great session.

Here are the Questions to The Imitation Game.

Chariots of Fire

Chariots of Fire

en.wikipedia.org

Our next movie, Chariots of Fire was set in the 1920's. It was an excellent study on so many levels. Learning about how our choices honor God, ourselves or men. 

www.dailymail.co.uk

Eric Liddell's testimony through this film is truly inspiring!! 

Here are the questions to Chariots of Fire.

Flyboys

Flyboys

en.wikipedia.org

Flyboys was quite a contrast to All Quiet on the Western Front! It was great to contrast two different places to serve in WW#1 and the risks in both. You might have lived longer as a soldier but the conditions were horrific, as a pilot your life expectancy was shorter but the conditions were better - that is quite a dilemma to discuss!

www.glogster.com

Again we learned more about WW#1 through this movie - especially elements of the geography of the air battles.

Here are the questions for Flyboys

Movies for Learning: All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front

www.imdb.com

All Quiet on the Western Front was a sobering way to start of the new year.
For Grade 11 all of the videos we are studying are based on modern history starting at WW#1. This was a much heavier film that anything we had seen before. 

www.youtube.com

There was so much to discuss. The movie being told from the German perspective made our students think. From characters to irony we covered several literary themes. We also covered the atrocities of WW#1. I hope you enjoy this movie with your students! 

Here are the questions for All Quiet on the Western Front.

Blessings, Natalie

Chronological World History integrating Canadian History

https://goo.gl/images/6LuA9h

I thought that for those doing a World History Program and wanting to integrate Canadian History this would be helpful. 

As history spreads over time frames, you may want to check to be sure that this is how you would want to include the events. Some of it is subjective as events overlap. This list goes to the end of the 1990's.

Chronological World History integrating Canadian History

Blessings! Natalie

WW#1 Poetry Analysis

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20751951-poems-from-the-first-world-war

Elizabeth analysed several poems from this First World War Poetry anthology. I purchased the anthology on my ipad and she chose the poems from there. She used this free sheet from Fifth Grade Renegade at Teacher Pay Teachers and though it was for younger students we just discussed the poetry in more depth in terms of theme and what meaning the authors were trying to convey. She did several different poems this way and it was a great way to add to our WW#1 studies! Most of the poems in this anthology were written by soldiers so the meaning and emotions were raw. This also make them interesting and engaging.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poetry-Analysis-Template-243926

Chinatown Walking Tour

Exploring Chinatown was such a rich experience with Chris, our tour guide from Discover the Past. Chris really made Chinatown, come alive with stories about the people and the history of the 1800's - early 1900's in Canada's oldest Chinatown.

Our students and parents learned about the founding of the Chinese School, early segregation, the Lee family and how fluent English had helped to make this family wealthy. We learned about Fan Tan Alley and even learned the gambling game Fan Tan. We went to the Sam Kung Temple and learned about the Folk Temples with their many gods. 

As we walked around Chinatown Chris helped us to visualize the size and the vibrancy of Victoria's early Chinatown. He pointed out important buildings and borders. He gave us a sense of the culture, business and politics of the time. He also helped us see how monies sent back to China made a difference to modern day China.

Because Chris had visited Southern China several times, he had a real understanding of the heritage of the people in Victoria's Chinatown's early days. It was a 1.5 hours of enthralling stories and information. Thank you Discover the Past!

Movies as Literature - Young Victoria

It is great to be back after taking the summer off from schooling! One of the highlights for me is to start once again with our Movies as Literature class. Our first class was Young Victoria. In Social Studies this year we will be studying the Victorian era so this movie was as much a Social Studies class as a literature one. 
I have been trying very hard to get the right technology for us. Right now we are in Blackboard Collaborate, but it is a little more restrictive and less desirable than Google Hangouts. I am working on how we can best make our class work! 
I do love to participation of these students! How they comment on each others work, how they share in the questions, and their participation in the session itself has been wonderful. Google Docs has definitely been a great collaboration tool.

Here are the questions to Young Victoria. If you need advice on setting up your virtual English class using movies, just let me know. I would love to help! 
Blessings, Natalie