Film Reviews Lesson Plan

Learning Objectives: To practise reading comprehension and learn new vocabulary through a film review text. / Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Completion Time: 60 minutes
Skill/Grammar: Reading, Vocabulary / Age/Level: Upper Intermediate–Advanced
Resources: Film Reviews Text, Films Reviews Vocabulary, Film Reviews Comprehension

Warm-Up (5–10 minutes)

  • Ask students to turn to someone near them and say what the last film they saw was. Ask them to describe it briefly and give a short review of it.
  • If you have done this recently, you could start with a quick game. Give students five categories (e.g. mountains, aliens, animals, soldiers, and prisons) and ask them to note down two different films which feature those things. The first student/pair to complete the list is the winner.

Presentation (20–25 minutes)

  • Tell students that they are going to read some film reviews, but that first they are going to work with some vocabulary from the text.
  • Tell them that they will see some questions in Exercise 1 and that the vocabulary in capitals comes from the text.
  • Allow them to use dictionaries if they like, and tell them they can answer the questions in any way they want.
  • Tell them that they should do Exercise 2 as well, and that it doesn’t matter which order they do the exercises in. Exercise 2 requires them to find one word which correctly fits each group of three sentences.
  • Hand out Film Reviews Vocabulary and give the students between fifteen and twenty minutes to work with the vocabulary.
  • Go through their answers.

KEY:

Exercise 1

Suggested answers

1Because you were nervous or tense about something.

2A joke, or an exaggerated love scene in a film.

3A remake is a new version of a previously released film whereas a cover version is a new version of a previously released song.

4They might have just had a shocking piece of news, seen something shocking or been hit physically.

5Charisma is normally considered a positive trait.

6Afamous or successful person, or perhaps a respected member of the family.

7A story in a film or a play which is not the main story.

8Something awful is bad or terrible whereas something awesome inspires awe, or wonder.

9This answer will depend on the student’s point of view.

10Something totally unexpected happens.

Exercise 2

1adapt

2shot

3closing

4column

Practice (20–25 minutes)

  • Tell students that they are going to read a text containing three film reviews and that you are going to give them some questions to answer.
  • Tell them you would only like them to do Exercise 1 first, as this exercise requires them to scan the text quickly to find names and thus will not take long.
  • Hand out Film Reviews Text and Film Reviews Comprehension and ask students to do the first exercise.
  • Give them five minutes maximum for this.

Note: It might be worth pointing out that the word ‘actor’ can be used for both men and women.

KEY:

Exercise 1

1Sam Neill

2Keanu Reeves

3Peter O’Toole

4Johanna Wokalek

5Ulrich Tukur

6John Cleese

7Jennifer Connelly

8Keanu Reeves

9Jeremy Northam

10The characters in North Face

  • When you have checked their answers, ask them to do Exercise 2. Tell them that they should answer the questions in their own words as far as possible.
  • Give them between ten and fifteen minutes for this exercise.

Note: There are three possible answers to question 3, even though only two are required.

KEY:

Exercise 2

1venal, creepy, unfeeling, opportunism.

2The first half, before the mountaineering scenes, is not very good, but once the film shows the climbing, it is tense, thrilling, and beautiful to watch.

3a) A couple of injured Austrians join the climbers.

b) The weather deteriorates.

c) There is a series of accidents.

4The fact that there is no longer any music.

5The power a film has to change the way a person feels.

6The remake has nothing new to say, and the actors are no better than they were in the original.

7He thinks he is lacking in inspiration.

8Peter O’Toole’s performance.

Closure (5 minutes)

  • Check their answers.
  • If it fits in with your syllabus, you could incorporate this lesson into work on reviews, and even though the three reviews here are of a different length, it might be worth analysing the effectiveness of each review, and asking the students to write both long and short reviews of films they have seen.

To see view the original FT.com text visit

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Author: Philip Harmer