Students found that the questions in the booklet helped them to understand the plots, themes and characters in the movies and helped them to improve in justifying their answers. On the whole, students found the materials suitably interesting and challenging. Which questions made you think?
In student questionnaires, 75.6% of students gave 4 or 5 out of five when asked if the questions were effective in helping them to understand the movie.
64.4% gave 4 or 5 out of 5 when asked if the work on movies had helped them to improve in giving reasons for answers. 84% gave 4 or 5 out of five when asked if the movie lessons were interesting for them.
In the interviews, students commented on questions which they felt were interesting and had been successful in getting students to discuss and think. A number of questions were mentioned. (please refer to video for details)
Some students, however, commented that the movies shown were “too old”, and that dividing the movie into short sections made it harder to follow and maintain interest.
Discussing questions in class helped students to think and write better Did discussion help with writing?
60% of students gave 4 or 5 out of five when asked if group or pair discussion had helped them think more about the questions, and 68.3% gave 4 or 5 out of five when asked if discussing the questions in class helped them to write better.
Students in the interviews also commented on how the materials had helped them to perform better in the examination, as questions on the movies were included. (please refer to the video for details)
However, some students in the interview also said that there had not been enough discussion and they would have liked more. One student also commented on the evaluation form that “The movie is too long. We do not have enough time for discussion.” Many teachers had found it difficult to get through the material in the time allocated and had cut down on the discussion part as a result.
Language scaffolding helped students to give better spoken and written answers.
Did language work help?
62.8% of students gave 4 or 5 out of five when asked if the language help given had enabled them to write and talk about the movies better.
Students in the interview mentioned some language items which had helped them with writing and speaking. (Please refer to the video for details).
Samples of students’ work
Students’ work shows evidence of ability to justify their opinions, but more detail in providing explanations is still needed.
Extract 1
The student gives his/her opinion and justifies the answer using events in the movie as evidence
Extract 2
The student gives an example of the bad things about being a princess
Extract 3
The student says why he or she agrees or disagrees with some comments made in reviews of the movie
Extract 4 The student gives his/her views on the concept of destiny in “Holes”