I watched in amazement the videos relating to the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 which featured, among other things, the “Esquimaux village” where Eskimos showed off “typical Eskimo games” like leapfrop for popular enjoyment, and a sham battle between Native Americans and, I guess, the US cavalry (part 1 and part 2). The things people found exciting back then. I once almost wrote my PhD on shows like that, you know.

But it also contains this lovely little scene, children in the surf at Coney Island. Remember, Helmut, that Russian bar on the boardwalk?

Don’t miss the boats from minute 3:02!

I stumbled across these short silent films while checking what Uwe Klemm at Eventualitätswabe is up to. And you can bet I’ll be using them for storytelling in the coming weeks. But enough for now. Happy weekend to everybody!

But the series certainly isn’t misogynist overall. I’m a big fan. And in my video trawling session this morning I found this one scene that may be atypical, but it’s just so incredibly, unbelievably, extraordinarily good. Sean Penn, Elvis Costello and Harry Dean Stanton join Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer in a support group exclusively for burnt out tough guys, getting softer with age. For the aging tough guys in my life. You rock.

You know you can’t keep lettin’ it get you down
And you can’t keep draggin’ that dead weight around
If there ain’t all that much to lug around
Better run like hell when you hit the ground
When the morning comes
You can’t stop these kids from dancin’
Why would you want to?
Especially when you’re already gettin’ yours
‘Cause if your mind don’t move and your knees don’t bend
Well don’t go blamin’ the kids again.
When the morning comes
Let it go, this too shall pass
(You know you can’t keep lettin’ it get you down)
(No, you can’t keep lettin’ it get you down)

Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of “This Too Shall Pass” off of the album “Of the Blue Colour of the Sky”. The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The “machine” was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs over the course of several months.

PS: Sorry, editing in the making of:

extra viral song video of the week – englisch lernen mit liedern

Mini-documentary:

Album trailer:

Official video:

Target group: Adult education, Business English (group and one-to-one)

Level: multilevel, ca. B2

Language goals: 1. Speaking 2. report writing 3. spy/ thriller vocabulary (a one-to-one student is reading Le Carré) 4. predictions; 5. could/ coudn’t/ was able to (describing general ability vs. single achievements)

Material/ preparation: Go online to www.pigeonimpossible.com. Watch film online. If not possible, download video “Pigeon: Impossible” (use www.savevid.com). Download Press Kit pdf to show film stills on screen. No handouts. Save those trees!

Procedure:

Pre 1: Present title of video “Pigeon: Impossible.” Predict genre. Revisit Mission: Impossible series 1966-1973; 1988-1990; film series with Tom Cruise. Use soundtrack or poster if necessary to help recall.

Pre 2: Hypothesize content of film. Brainstorm spy and Cold War vocabulary (e.g. for reference: to gather intelligence, secret agent, espionage, operation, operative, screen someone, be in disguise, conceal your identity, code/decode, crack codes, cypher/decypher, wiretap, detect surveillance, brief/debrief; Cold War, Berlin Wall, Iron Curtain, Star Wars, rocket, target, cruise missile, explosives)

During: Watch film, and stop at likely places to ask “What will happen next?”

Watch film to about 1:50. Look at still of pigeon inside the briefcase. Collect and write up predictions (note grammar: I think, will probably, is likely to). (If teaching a group, let separate groups develop and present their scenarios.)

Watch to about 2:32 (pigeon has discovered that the suitcase can fly and is armed; man finds bagel again). Again, predict.

Watch to 4:04 (bagel has hit red button, Washington Monument turns into launching pad, rocket is underway to Russia). Again, predict.

Post 1: Reconstruct and summarize what happened: Contrast outcomes with predictions “I/we thought he would… and/but he…”

Post 2: Write “Incident on F Street” on the board. Make three columns. Headers: pigeon could,  man couldn’t, man was able to

Tell students they are the man and will have to write a report to their line manager about the unforseen incident with the pigeon. (If you’re teaching a group, do this in pairs.) Tell them to concentrate on describing what the pigeon

• could do with the additional powers at its disposal,
• what they (as the man) couldn’t do to interfere and
• what they (as the man) were ultimately able to do to stop pigeon and end the incident

Note grammar: contrast “could” for general ability with “was able to” for ability in a specific situation; couldn’t is more natural for negatives.

Have them use the film stills as guides. If they ask for it, watch the whole film again as they finalize their notes. Then they write reports. They pair up with another group to read each other their reports.

At least that’s what I’m planning to do. This is an action enquiry. I’ll let you know how it went later on this week in the comments. If you’re using this film in a different way, or have other ideas about how you would, I’d be delighted to read about it.

Source: New Scientist

science-films

“(Percy Smith) made a gimcrack device made up of a see-saw and two old tin cans. The tin cans slowly filled up with water, and when it would reach the bottom, clunk! it fired the shutter of the camera. And using this extraordinary home-made piece of aparatus, Percy Smith made the very beautiful film, Birth of a Flower.”

“The acrobatic fly was a bit of a close-up film-make, rather than shot through a microscope. And what Percy did was to tie the fly down with a tiny piece of silk thread, and then just pass small objects to the fly. It looked as though the fly was juggling, and that is what the public saw. But in actual fact, Percy came to the conclusion that the fly was just doing what came naturally to it, i.e. trying to walk.”

(I was reading up on Charles Urban when I stumbled upon this film.)