“There are few organizations in the world that can claim more expertise when it comes to storytelling than Pixar. The Disney-owned animation studio is known for its ability to consistently create world-class movies with gripping narrative alongside stunning visuals. Now, Pixar is helping others learn the secrets of great storytelling – for free, in partnership with online education provider Khan Academy.” D. Etherington, Tech Crunch
ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key
image:Tech Crunch
“The two have teamed up to create “Pixar In A Box,” and in this third instalment of the series, lessons are sourced from Pixar directors and story artists including Inside Out and Up director Pete Docter, Brave director Mark Andrews, Inside Out story artist Domee Shi, and Ratatouille animator Sanjay Patel.
The first lesson is available now, and will provide an introduction to storytelling as well as help you hone your initial creation of things like setting and character.
LESSON 1
LESSON 2
The lessons include both videos and activities for students to complete, and provides a general basis on which to build.
LESSON 3
The next installment will focus on Character creation specifically, and others segments will address storyboarding, emotional appeal and more, with releases happening throughout 2017.”
ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post
NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.
Time: Approximately 2 hours.
Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.
Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and learning new vocabulary. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing.
I. Pre-Reading Activities
Predictions: Analyzing headings and photos
Directions: Have students examine the titles of the post and of the actual article. After they examine the photos, ask students to create a list of words and ideas that they think might be related to this article.
II. While Reading Activities
Word Inference
Directions: Students are to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. They may use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance.
- Disney animation is well known world wide.
- They consistently create world-class movies.
- Many films have stunning visuals.
- This is the third installment of the series.
- Sanjay Patel is an animator.
- The first lesson provides an introduction to storytelling.
- The lessons help you hone your initial creation.
- The lessons also provide a general basis on which to build.
- Issues such as storyboarding will be addressed.
- The lessons will focus on technical aspects of movie creation.
ELLteaching 2.0 vocabualry chart
Reading Comprehension
Fill-ins
Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentences taken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.
Pixar’s___Khan___courses ___topics like ___cameras, effects and___but this is the first to___ on the less ___aspects of movie creation. I expect ___will offer me a job upon___ of this course and then I’ll___my Oscar.
WORDLIST: completion, animations, include, Academy, win, Pixar,technical, previous, focus, virtual,
Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage
Directions: The following groups of sentences are from the article. One of the sentences in each group contains a grammatical error. Students are to identify the sentence (1, 2, or 3 ) from each group that contains the grammatical error.
I
- In this lesson you’ll hear from Pixar directors.
- There a difference between good storytelling and great storytelling.
- What makes someone a good storyteller?
II
- The two have teamed up to create stories.
- The lesson are sourced from Pixar.
- The first lesson is available now.
III
- The lessons include many videos.
- There are activity for students to complete.
- The next installment will focus on character creation.
III. Post Reading Activities
WH-How Questions
Directions: Have students use the WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article.
Who or What is the article about?
Where does the action/event take place?
When does the action/event take place?
Why did the action/event occur?
How did the action/event occur?
Questions for Comprehension /Writing
Directions: Place students in groups and have each group list 3 questions they would like to pursue in relation to the article. Have groups exchange questions. Each group tries to answer the questions listed. All responses are shared as a class.
1-Minute Free Writing Exercise
Directions: Allow students 1 minute to write down one new idea they’ve learned from the reading. Ask them to write down one thing they did not understand in the reading. Review the responses as a class. Note: For the lower levels allow more time for this writing activity.
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