(Content of activities with skills/levels/duration distribution)

Rationale

This unit gives the students a multimedia exposure to critical issues related to the use of the Internet and computers in our society. The activities can be divided into three categories: previewing activities, actual film viewing, and post-viewing synthesizing and analyzing activities. This series of activities thereby provides the students with the opportunity to discuss how computers have impacted our society, to research a movie on the Internet prior to viewing it, to become familiar with computer terminology, and to discuss their reaction to the film and its implications.

Level

English: High intermediate to Advanced

Computer: Beginning (although Advanced students would find it a meaningful unit in applying other skills)

Aims

In an integrated way, help students review all language skills. In addition to these skills, computer skills are also used (browsing, creating a document, and printing)

Skills Practiced

English Skills used: listening, speaking, writing, culture, critical observation and analysis.

Computer skills used: browsing (following links), printing web pages, searching for information within a site(searching the IMDB data base), creating a document, email, and printing a word processing document.

Class Time

Previewing: Five to seven one hour classes. Additional time for homework assignments.

Film viewing: Although the duration of the film is 119 minutes, time taken to view the film will be three or more hours, depending on what activities the teacher decides to include (see CAVEATS).

Postviewing: Three or four one hour class meetings.

Preparation Time

2-4 hours the first time it is taught to preview film and activites

Procedure

Previewing Activites:

1. Warm-up: Students get prepared by discussing the issues relevant to the film, The Net.

a)At some time prior to beginning the Unit on The Net students should be given the "English Idioms and Expressions Activity" to complete. The teacher will decide how many words the students are responsible for depending on the number of students in the class and how many words each one needs to research so that all the words/expressions are covered. The students can then share their answers orally and in writing with the rest of the students who have the complete list of expressions.

b)In small groups, students discuss/brainstorm answers to the question of what things are controlled by or connected to or operated by computers in their countries and what they think is controlled by computers in the U.S. The teacher makes a chart on the OVP or the black board of the different countries the students come from. (20 minutes)

c)As a whole class, the groups share their answers to the questions and these answers are placed in the chart on the board. (15 minutes)

d)Students discuss the questions: "Are Hollywood movies realistic? Is real life like a movie?" (10 minutes)

e)Students are shown the computer message warning them about sending passwords. The teacher explains the meaning of the vocabulary words in this message and briefly discusses the possible consequences of this message, if ignored. (15 MINUTES)

*When using Netscape, this message is shown by the computer to warn the user that the information that is being sent is not secure and could be observed by a third party. It is therefore very important not to send confidential information such as credit card numbers and the like. There are supposedly confidental ways of sending such information via the Internet and the computer also informs the user when the transmission is considered to be secure.

f)For homework students are asked to read and discuss an article which relates to security on the Internet ("You're being watched" and "Hacking into the Pentagon") Half of the students read one of the articles and half of the students read the other. The next day they will share with a partner who read the other article the main points of their article. (20 minutes in class, 1 hour at home)

g)As a class, students discuss the issue of being watched while browsing on the web and how this might affect one's behavior while doing. Students and the instructor can exchange experiences, concerns, and feelings about the potential risks involved in using the Internet. (15 minutes)

h)Have the students listen to the theme song "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and review the lyrics. Ask them to consider (make prediction or guess) why the producer may have chosen this song to be the theme song of this movie. (20 minutes)

2. Accessing the Net:

a)Students go to their computers and complete "The Net Scavemger Hunt" activity to expose them to the kinds of information available about the movie on the World Wide Web, as well as to familiarize them with the basic plot of the movie. (1-2 hours depending on the students. Remainder can be assigned as homework, if possible)

b)Students print out the "questions to answer while watching the movie" (10 minutes)

3. Viewing the Film: Students watch the film and answer the questions from the web page. Teacher should pause and make sure the students found the answers to the questions as the movie progresses. Other activities can also be done, depending on teacher preference. (see CAVEATS)

4. Post viewing:

After watching the film, the students are instructed to email their answers to the questions to their teacher and their email partner. If there are differences between the email partners' answers they could discuss in person or via email how they arrived at their answers. (one half hour to one hour, depending on the students typing skill)

Writing Movie Reviews:

At the computer, students will use the Internet to find movie reviews of The Net. First they will go to the following address: http://us.imdb.com and look up the movie the Net by looking for films by the actress, Sandra Bullock.

Next, the students find the movie reviews under the section "Critics" or "Reviews". There are many to choose from and unless the teacher wants all the students to have different reviews, she/he can leave the selection to the students and chance. The students are instructed to print out one movie review using the "Print" button on the web browser or from the File menu. (one half to one full hour, depending on whether students look at and read more than one review online before printing)

In the classroom, from the examples of movie reviews taken from the Internet,the teacher guides the students in analyzing the contents and structure of movie reviews to see if there is a common format or a similarity in the information given in all the movie reviews (i.e. a standard). (One hour)

The students will answer the following questions:

1. Is there a title?

2. How does the movie review start?

3. Does the movie review author write about the plot (what happened in the movie)?

4. Does the review mention the actors/actresses' acting?

5. Is there a conclusion?

6. Do you know what the author of the review thinks about the film?

After completing this exercise, the students are given the handout for the movie review. This handout is designed to help the students organize their thoughts about the movie and to deliver the information in the same format as most movie reviews. However, the students must advised that their final movie reviews should be written like an article, not as a series of answers to a questions. This is a point that some students don't understand and it may require that they rewrite their review with teacher assistance from the worksheet. (variable: as homework)

The students write their reviews on a word processor and hand them in to the teacher. (in the computer lab: variable. Budget at least one hour)

Possible glitches

1. All the students going to the same web site (The IMDB site) at the same

time can result in "busy" signals. On the Web these messages sometimes say, "The DNS can not be found" or "The server is not accepting requests right now. Try again later". The same kind of messages can occur if the local network is being heavily used. If this happens require the students to work in pairs and/or assign different sites to different groups of students. Explain to the students what a busy signal is and have them try again later.

2. Using computers and technology is always a risky business because there are multiple possibilities for problems to arise. Therefore, you should always have an alternative activity planned in the event that the computer activity fails!

3. The Net can be very confusing because it is fast moving, suspenseful and full of computer and English jargon and expressions. Take the necessary time to make sure the students understand what is happening. Too quick of a viewing can lead to student frustration. Preview the movie so that you are familiar with it before showing the students.

4. Likewise, allow the students the time they need to analyse the movie review contents. They will gain knowledge from this activity if ample time is allowed.

5. Remember that you do not have to control everything in a computer environment in order for learning to take place. Sometimes the glitches and mistakes provide more learning than the planned activities. If nothing else, the students will learn that the world of the Internet is not always orderly and predictable. Likewise, as an instructor you should realize that teaching in a computer lab is much more unpredictable than teaching in a classroom. Being able to tolerate ambiguity and withstand multiple chaos is essential!

Caveats and Options:

This movie is so rich in English and computer learning material. Here are other suggestions for ways of using this movie. Therefore, how much time you spend on the Unit will vary.

1. Key scenes:

Choose scenes which are key to understanding the film.

a) Have the students watch a scene with the sound off and report to a partner who is not looking at the screen what they are seeing. After this activity the scene can be played with the sound on. For the next scene the students switch roles. (This activity allows them to generate vocabulary relevant to the movie and to practice listening and speaking).

b) Stop the film after each key scene and discuss as a class about the names of the characters who were introduced in that scene and describe what they know about these characters. Brainstorm descriptors for each characters personality based on their actions in the film. Students describe the main events in that scene. Write this information on the black board or big pad of paper.

c) Replay scenes to allow the students to understand what is said. One scene that is important to this film is the scene where Angela is using chat and describes what she wants in a man. Her words are repeated back to her by Jack Devlin later in the movie.

d)Give the students a list of scenes from the movie in jumbled order and have them arrange them in chronological order.

2. Themes:

a) Have the students discuss what they think the themes or messages of the film are.

b) Have the students predict what Angela Bennet's life will be like in the future.







This is a unit from a content course on using computers and the Internet for communication in English. The entire course is entitled "Cyberspace English". If you would like more information about this course or how to include such a computer content course in your ESL program, feel free to contact me, Randi Freeman