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LA Film: Intermediate Lesson

Title: Latin American Film

Arizona State Standards:

  • Reading: Strand 2- Concept 1 (identify main ideas, author’s purpose) Strand 3- Concept 1(analyze non-fiction) Strand 2- Concept 2 (Compare and contrast historical and cultural perspectives)
  • Writing: Strand 2-Concepts 1,2,4,5 (Grades 4 & 5) Strand 2 Concepts 1,2,5 (Grades 6, 7, 8) Strand 3-Concept 1 (Creative writing) Strand 2- Concept 1 (Grades 4 & 5), Strand 3-Concept 2 (Grades 5-8) Strand 3- Concept 2 (Grades 5-8) Concept 6 (Grades 6-8) (Summarize info) Strand 2-Concept 1 (Grades 4 & 5) Strand 3-Concepts 2 & 6 (Grades 4-8) (Research Skills)
  • Listening and Speaking: LS-E1, LS-E2, LS-E4 (shares, presents, responds), VP-E1-E3 (analyze, plan, develop, compare and contrast)
  • History: 1SS-E8(research tools)
  • Geography: 3SS-E4 (using geographic tools) 3SS-E5 (regions) 3SS-E6 (social interaction, migration) 3SS-E8 (applying skills)
  • Arts: 1AV-E1(communicate through art) 2AV-F1 (communication through art) 2AV-F2/F3/E3/E4/3AV-E3(cultural & historical expression) 2AV-E2 (art careers) 3AV-E1 (purpose of art)

Goals & Objectives:

Students will...

  • Identify the context of a film and draw relations between the film and everyday life.
  • Express their opinion about a film and write a critique.
  • Locate Brazil on a map and discuss distance.
  • Identify characters, themes and setting of a film.
  • Use film language to discuss the film

Length of lesson: Two one hour periods or one block period

Materials &Preparation:

  • handouts in lesson/ Film “Central Station” (at any video or DVD store)
  • paper
  • envelopes

Lesson:

First Period:

  • What is the longest trip you have ever taken? Where did you go and with whom?
    Have you ever made an important friendship on a trip? Give students time to share their stories.
  • Tell students they are going to watch a film about the journey of a woman and a boy from Rio de Janeiro to Brazil’s interior. Do they know where Brazil is on a map? Mark the journey of the protagonists for students to see the distance.
  • Ask students to brainstorm what they know about Brazil. Is it a big or a small country? What is it known for? What are the names of the most important cities?
  • Show students the beginning of the movie, while Dora, the female protagonist is writing letters for people at the train station. Ask students, where is the first scene taking place? Why does she write letters for them? Explain to students that Dora is writing letters at Rio de Janeiro’s train station ‘Central Station’, one of the most dangerous locations in the city and the only alternative for the poorer people to go to work everyday. Explain to students that when the filmmakers set the table at the station to start filming, people stopped by thinking that it was a real stand. This did not stop the actress, who actually started writing their letters. The improvised footing from this moment is what students can see the first five minutes of the film.
  • Play the film in class and ask students to bring a one-page movie critique for the next session, which should include: a brief summary of the film and the student’s critique, including specific examples.

Second Period:

  • Read with students’ handout #1 on ‘The Language of Film’. Ask them to identify some of the techniques in the movie ‘Central Station’.
  • Who are the main characters in the film? What are they like? What is the setting for the film? What are the main themes of the film? What do the two protagonists discover at the end of their journey? Discuss.
  • Give students copies of handout #2. Read the first part of the handout and compare the themes mentioned by the author with the themes students identified. Do they agree that today’s society does not appreciate the values of friendship, companionship and understanding? Ask students to write down their answers and share some in class.
  • Read the second part of the handout. How did the director find Vinicius de Oliveira? What are the values that the director identifies in the boy? What was Vinicius background?
  • Get information on a homeless shelter or a children’s organization in your city. In pairs, students write letters to the children in the shelter. One student dictates while the other writes and both decorate the letter and the envelope. How did it feel to have somebody else write your letter? In what ways was it a good experience? In what ways was it frustrating? Mail the letters out.

Evaluation:

  1. Evaluate students’ individual and group participation;
  2. Give students a participation grade for their attentiveness while watching the film;
  3. Assess the quality of student responses to the various questions throughout the lesson;
  4. Grade their film critiques and their letters for content and form.

Extensions:

  1. Students can conduct research on the city of Rio de Janeiro and the situation of abandoned children in the city.
  2. Students could design a comic strip illustrating the journey of the two protagonists.
  3. Students can make up write and perform a different ending for the story and explain why they chose that ending.