TODAY I RISE

My dear students, we are at the end of our journey together. If we read the news, the world still seems to be full of hatred, violence, revenge, injustice and madness. I want instead to end the school year with something contemporary to convey a positive message .

I’ve therefore decided to show you this short movie (click link) Today, I Rise’ by Alexandra Feldner, that will only take you a few minutes to watch, but hope will inspire you forever.

  1. We’re going to WATCH the FILM WITHOUT SOUND. What do you think the film is about?  How does the film make you feel?
  2. Now we’re WATCHING IT WITH SOUND ON. In your group decide what the message of the film is. Write it down and be ready to report to the rest of the class.

Here’s the PDF of the paper with the text I’ve given you in class.

The short film and poem seem to be inspired by the poem Still I Rise by Maya Angelou -(April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014 was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist) which is about the centuries of mistreatment and oppression of black people, and about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.

  • Can you find any similarities between the two poems?

I have finally chosen Michelle Obama’s last official speech addressing to young people like you.

INDIVIDUAL TASK: Make a personal comment connecting “Today I rise” to your daily life. Anything you cannot accept the way it is and can change? Anything you’d like to improve or do differently? Anything you’d like to commit to? LEAVE IT AS A COMMENT BELOW.

May the future bring you love and peace or al least bring you the wisdom to accept its imperfections.


STUDENTS’ CREATIONS

HI! Summer Holidays are called HOLY (sacri) days but reading a classic in English can be fun fun. Also  the creation of a VIDEO on a literary topic you’ve particularly loved so that it can be useful for the future students or the ones of the SCUOLA IN OSPEDALE would be awesome!  Share it on this Padlet. You can then show it to your new teacher 🙂

3CLIN 

  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley as a classic and the others from your own recommendations in your shared Google docs. Free here also with audio
  • Emily Brontë Wuthering Heights
  • Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

4CLIN : 

  • Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray as a classic and/or
  • Aldous Huxley, Brave New World oppure in italiano classici mondadori
  • George Orwell, 1984
  • S.Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
  •  Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse
  • Dave Eggers, The Circle  (distopia)

Here at Project GUTEMBERG you can find books downloadable for free.  500 Free Ebooks 🙂 Check it out! It’s very important that you keep practicing every day, not to forget all the things you’ve learnt so far JWatch movies in the original language with subtitles as much as you can.

TO PRACTISE YOUR WRITING skills: this website by Cambridge is fantastic! If you sign in you can keep the score of your progress. Stay in the FREE zone! https://writeandimprove.com

TO REVISE YOUR GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY:

Last but not least here’s a screenshot of some Apps for the iPad to practise your English. 🙂