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A Virtual Asia-Europe Classroom Net project www.aec.asef.org. Aims. media literacy introducing students to films from different cultures identifying and discussing national stereotypes in films interaction between students while comparing their ideas and thoughts. Why films?.
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Aims • media literacy • introducing students to films from different cultures • identifying and discussing national stereotypes in films • interaction between students while comparing their ideas and thoughts
Why films? The survey from our previous project year clearly showed young people’s tremendous interest in movies.
Tasks for the project year Introductions - group pictures and Top Ten list of most popular films in each school - forum discussions Watch films from new cultures -look for cultural clues (instructions worksheet) - discuss these (is the picture outsiders get accurate?) Film reviews all through the year
Participants COORDINATORS: Kaarina Senior High School, FINLAND Sinikka Laakio-Whybrow & Merja Laine Messukylä Senior High School, FINLAND Maija Ojutkangas & Jonina Altschuler PARTICIPANTS: Kykkos B Lyceum Cyprus, CYPRUS Andromachi Pieridou Deutche Schule Paris, FRANCE Petra Bartel-Schabram Gymnasium Marne Europaschule, GERMANY Frank Beckmann John Bauergymnasiet, SWEDEN Teresa Svarvell Beijing no 55 High School, CHINA Chen Hong Daejeon Eoeun Middle School, REPUBLIC OF KOREA Kyungtak Kim Olongapo City High School, PHILIPPINES Carolina Barrera Sukromne gymnazium, SLOVAKIA Tina Vinjarova IT IS "Stanislao Cannizzaro", ITALY Daniela Ianni St. Michael’s Holy Faith Secondary School, IRELAND Adrienne Webb Kolumbusz Humángimnázium, HUNGARY Borbala Timar Millennia Institute, SINGAPORE Kelvin Yew 14 schools 255 students!
FINLAND Kaarina Senior High School Messukylä Senior High School
introductory task to compare if students in the • different countries like the same films
Topics • students expressed quite mature thoughts on • challenging topics such as: DVD piracy, price of films or • adapting books to movies • - special emphasis onthreading, prompt replies and • creating dialogue with real content • good results! • ’dubbing films’ produced the longest discussion thread
Discussion examples: Dubbing: FOR ” I want to ask you about the dubbing of films in your countries. In some countries the films aren’t dubbed. How is it in your country? p.s.: In Germany all films are dubbed.” ”I like it quite much because in Germany the films are dubbed in a professional way! Every actor has his own voice for every film.” ”Well, in Italy as in Germany the films are all dubbed. I don’t think this is a bad thing because people who go to the cinema, want to stay relaxed and enjoy the film and so they don’t to want to run after subtitles.” ”I like the dubbed films, because it might be easier to watch them. When you watch dubbed movies you are able to look in another direction (not to the TV screen). When the films aren’t dubbed I can’t do that, because I have to read the subtitles. Isn’t it hard to read the text of ’fast-speaking-actors’ like Eddie Murphy?”
Discussion examples:Dubbing - AGAINST ”I think I wouldn’t like it at all if all films in Finland were dubbed. ... And by the way, it’s really good practise and funny way to study foreign languages if you watch films in their original languages.” ”When I was in Italy on vacation from TV came LOST, I thought nice, I can watch that. Then terrible things happened, it was dubbed. I don’t speak Italian and I didn’t understand anything. (In Italy was quite weird because I didn’t hear English almost at all.)” (student from Finland) ”in cyprus people never watch dubbed films and i personally believe that it si a very stupid idea. when i was in italy and france, all films were dubbed, even in cinemas! how can you appreciate the actors if you don’t listen to the real ones? sometimes they even change names!!” ”I like the movies better when they are at the original language. It looks silly when the mouths moves but there’s no sound.” (student from Sweden)
Discussion examples:Dubbing: COMPROMISING ”We would say that the situation in France is the best, because wee have the choice of watching a dubbed version or an original version in cinema.” ”Foreign movies in Korea, from my experience, give choice between captions and dubbing.” ”... so in a story that happens in USA the people should speak English, in a story that happens in Finland people should speak Finnish and so on. However, if I had always seen movies dubbed over...guess it’s just about what you’re used to.”
Film viewing - in groups of 4 – each school chose one film to represent their country - DVDs sent or rented if available - compatibility between Europe and Asia a concern -English summaries provided where no subtitles available
Guidelines for film viewing Italian director Francesco Rosi once said ”Cinema bears witness to and is a mirror of the society and reality which produce it.” Films really can be a treasure chest of culture – particularly when watched in a group and discussed after the viewing. Before viewing • It would be a good idea to have a short group discussion on what the students know about the country/culture in question, what they expect to see, what they expect life and people to be like in the film. Teachers can help the students to get oriented. While viewing • Be curious and pay attention to details! • What do you learn about everyday life in the country/culture in question? Are the scenes in the film culturally-bound, or could this take place anywhere? Do you see any unusual customs or traditions? What surprises you about the way people behave? What would you like to ask the students who chose this film for you? • Taking notes might be a good idea! After viewing • If possible, have another short group discussion on the observations students made while viewing. Also discuss whether their pre-viewing expectations turned out to be true or false. Again, teachers can help students to focus. WISHING YOU ALL INTERESTING INTERCULTURAL MOVIE EXPERIENCES!
Guidelines for discussions • 1. What impression of the foreign country do you get from the film? • 2. Do you think the film is full of cultural stereotypes or does it give us an authentic picture of the country? Is the film realistic? • 3. What cultural clues can you find in the film? The following questions might be helpful: • - Where is the story set? (In what country, city – countryside...?) • - Describe the place where the story takes place. • - When does the story take place? (Today, 50 years ago...?) • - Could this have happened in your country? • - What do people do that is typical of this country/city/countryside? (For example; if a school is mentioned, can you contrast it to your school?) • - Do people eat/drink things we wouldn’t eat/drink in your country? • - What’s the climate like? Could it have been your country? • - How do people dress? • - What problems do people have to face? How do they solve them? What would you have done in their situation? Have fun ☺
Movie discussions • especially the Finnish film ’Pearls and Pigs’ elicited a lot • of opinions
Learning about stereotypes ”From my point of view i found the film quite interesting in the sense that it suitably show their culture – the food they eat (drinking alcohol early in the morning), what they usually do during their free time and the way they solved their problems. If i’m not wrong Finland is a cold country unlike other countries that are geographically located near the equator. So i don’t find it unappropriate to drink in the morning.” (student from Singapore) ”at first i have to mention that it is just a film, not a documentary. of course it includes a bit truth, but still it’s quite exaggerated (of course we don’t drink alcohol for breakfast...) but on the other hand, we finns really are keen on drinking alcohol and unfortunately alcoholism is not rare in finland. but you have to remember that there is alcoholism in the other countries too and the majority of finns work and get their bread honestly. so the people in the film represent minority and a bit overdone, humorous way.”
Learning about stereotypes ”It isn’t possible to think that all Finnish people drink beer for breakfast if we only see four boys of this country who do that.” ”I think that this film shows only a little part of the Finnish people, of course. For example the Italian movies about mafia present an ugly part of Italy. But the Italian people aren’t all gangsters and waiters. There are also bad boys, as in the film, in Italy and in any other country!!!!!” ”We were a little uncertain about sending ’Pigs and Pearls’ to you because of the weird humour, but that’s just what we are like. And the whole point of this was getting to know different cultures right? We make fun of ourselves and the people close to us. Humour and laughter is sort of a way to get through rough times. So I hope you dont think that Finns are violent, alcoholic weirdos!”
Best results! ”It was the only Finnish film I had ever seen and this film would encourage me to watch another one in the future.” ”Your film was the first German film I ever watched and I enjoyed it. We went to the cinema yesterday to see another German film, called ”The lives of others”. It changed my opinion on German films as I never thought I’d like them as we have to follow the subtitles, but I really liked it.”
Film reviews - shared templates for English classes
THANK YOU for participating in our project! TEAM FINLAND Coordinators (from left): Sinikka, Jonina, Maija and Merja Kaarina Senior High School Messukylä Senior High School www.kaarina24.fi/lukiohttp://lukiot.tampere.fi/messukyla
