Teach With Movies
with Deborah Elliott & James Frieden
A very famous animal-advocate and law professor said, “what I’ve seen over the decades is that when people feel something, they’re ready to learn something.” It’s so true. It opens up the brain.
Debbie and her husband Jim set up a website called ‘Teach With Movies’ 20 years ago to help parents and teachers use films to inspire and motivate students to learn. With the support of specialist teachers, the site now boast over 425 learning guides and resources – an impressive effort for what is a labour-of-love.
This episode is a first for me and this show – where we explore films from a curator’s point of view. Also be aware that spend a fair amount of time talking about FEATURE-length rather than SHORT films, but don’t worry; there are plenty of film ‘snippets’ that can be used. Links to many of Teach With Movies’ resources and notes below.
Listen to the full, 1/2hr podcast, bonus conversation – about the behind-the-scenes history and business of TWM – or watch the 10min highlights on YouTube.
In this episode we discuss short films and feature-film snippets ideal for a range of subject areas.
Suntory Time (extract from Lost in Translation)
- English & Language Arts
- Debbie used it for introducing vocab loquacious & laconic
Water
- Religion (Hinduism) and cultural identity
- Friendship, love and marriage
- Depression & suicide
- TWM notes available
In Her Shoes
- English & Language Arts, poetry
- Themes: Diversity, friendship, sibling relations
- TWM's full guide to using 'snippets' of this feature available
Disclosure statement
Deborah Elliott & James Frieden do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from the review of these particular films, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their positions as founders of the free website “Teach With Movies”.
Other films discussed in the full podcast episode
- Strictly Ballroom
- Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrmann’s version
- Hidden Figures, currently being reviewed for TWM
- Free State of Jones
- Agora
- Iron Jawed Angels
- Behind The Sun
- Man on Fire
Discussed in bonus episode
- Eye in the Sky, on drones in warfare
- Sully, with comment about successfully keeping to broad historical truth while adjusting dramatic tension
- Gentleman’s Agreement, on understanding prejudice
Also noted
The Cornell notes system
Other curated sites dealing with films for use in education discussed
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This show is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network
Recorded using Zencastr
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