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MovieTalk and activities: Amazing Acrobat Thief Kid!

October 23, 2014

If you follow The Comprehensible Classroom on Facebook, you may have already seen this video. (If not, visit our Facebook page now and "like" us!") This video is perfect for MovieTalk because the action repeats several times within the video clip. (That's also what I love about the short film Destiny, which I've blogged about before.)

Here is a MovieTalk guide in English along with an outline of three different activities that you could use with it. Two things:

  1. I would have typed up everything in Spanish, too, but my time is so limited these days that I couldn't do it in both languages, and it's helpful to more readers if I do it in English. Translate into your target language, and send me a copy if you do so that I can post it (credit to you) for others to use! [email protected]
  2. I wouldn't recommend doing all of the activities. MovieTalk will establish the meaning for new vocab like "footprints", so students will be able to handle it in the activities. I'd just pick one activity to do, but all three are here for you if you wish to use them all :)

To be done in the target language. Unfamiliar with MovieTalk? Click here for an overview.

:00 This is a boy. How old is he? [discuss and come to a consensus] He is white. He has brown hair. He is wearing a red shirt. He has a paint brush and a can of yellow paint. This is a wall. There are footprints on the wall. The footprints are yellow, too.

:02 There is another boy, too. He is also white. He also has brown hair. He is also (10) years old. He is also wearing a red shirt. He is on a ladder.

:04 The two boys are not identical, but they are almost identical. This boy has two shoes. The shoes have yellow paint on them. The two boys made the yellow footprints on the wall with the two shoes. Why? [discuss and come to a consensus]

:05 This is a woman. She is an old woman. Is she a hispanic woman? [discuss and come to a consensus] She has gray, curly hair. She is wearing a blue shirt. She is wearing gray pants. She is wearing a handkerchief on her head. She is wearing a watch. She has a purse. The purse is black. What is she doing? [discuss and come to a consensus] Is there another person? Yes! Here is one of the boys. He is wearing a red shirt. He is wearing shorts. He is wearing white shoes. He is hiding behind a red car. He is looking at the old woman.

:07/:08 The old woman is talking to a man. The man is wearing a suit. The man is wearing glasses. Is the man black? [discuss and come to a consensus] The man is walking. Where is he going? [discuss and come to a consensus]

:11 What does the boy do? [ask for ideas] Yes! He is hiding behind the car. Then, he runs toward the old woman. The old woman doesn’t see the boy. He grabs her purse. The old woman is surprised! The boy runs away with the old woman’s purse.

:13 The woman talks to the man in the suit. What does she say? [discuss and come to a consensus]] The man run towards the old woman. He runs after/chases the boy.

:16 The boy runs. There is a tray of paint on the ground. The paint in the tray is yellow. While the boy runs, he steps in a tray of yellow paint. Now, there is yellow paint on his white shoes. The boy keeps running.

:17 The boy runs around the corner of the building. On this side of the building, there is a garbage can next to the building. The garbage can is green. There is a hole in the garbage can. There are two boxes next to the garbage can. There is a white sheet on the ground in front of the garbage can. There are yellow footprints on the wall of the building. There is another person hiding. The man wearing the suit is on one side of the building, and the boy in the red shirt is on this side of the building. The man wearing the suit does not see the boy. The man wearing the suit does not see the garbage can. The man wearing the suit does not see the sheet. The man wearing the suit does not see the boxes. The boy steps on the white sheet. The boy goes into the hole in the garbage can. He hides in the garbage can.

:19 The boy grabs the boxes. The boy moves the boxes toward the garbage can. Now, we do not see the hole in the garbage can. We do not see the boy. The other person grabs the white sheet. Now, we do not see the white sheet. We only see the yellow footprints on the wall.

:21 This is a woman. Is she an old woman? [discuss and come to a consensus] Is she an Asian woman? [discuss and come to a consensus] She has blonde hair. Is it natural blonde hair? [discuss and come to a consensus] She is wearing a blue shirt. She is wearing a white scarf. She is wearing black pants. She has a purse. Her purse is tan. She is running. She wants to help the old woman. She sees the yellow paint.

:23 She sees the footprints. The footprints are yellow. She sees footprints on the ground. She sees footprints on the garbage can. She is confused. Why is she confused? [discuss and come to a consensus]

:27 She sees more footprints. The footprints are on the wall of the building. She sees many footprints. The footprints are walking toward the roof of the building.

:30 She sees the boy on the roof of the building. It is the boy in the red shirt. He has the old woman’s purse. What does the woman want to know? [discuss and come to a consensus]

:35 There is another man. [describe him] The old woman is talking to him. While sheis talking to him, the boy in the red shirt runs toward her and grabs her purse....

Continue describing each of the ‘victims’ and what happens (over and over and over) and discussing the victims’ reactions. Then...

1:24 The boy moves the two boxes. He comes out of the garbage can. He has the black purse in his hand.

1:26 What does the woman think/feel? [discuss and come to a consensus]

Discuss each of the victims’ responses when the trick is revealed.

SEQUENCING ACTIVITY (post-MovieTalk)

Translate these sentences into the target language, scramble them, and give them to students on a worksheet. Students can work individually or in partners to put them back in order--either by numbering them or cutting them apart and physically re-arranging them. Alternatively, you could divide the class into groups of 15, hand out a strip with one of the events written on it to each the students in the group, and have them physically form a human timeline.

  1. A boy hides behind a red car.
  2. The boy runs toward an old woman.
  3. The boy grabs the old woman’s purse.
  4. The old woman yells, “Help me!”
  5. The boy runs away.
  6. A person runs after/chases the boy.
  7. The boy hides in a trash can.
  8. The person sees footprints on the ground.
  9. The person follows the footprints.
  10. The person sees footprints on the building.
  11. The person sees another boy on the roof of the building.
  12. The person thinks that it is the same boy.
  13. The person is very confused.
  14. The original boy comes out of the trash can.
  15. The person understands that there are two boys.

EMBEDDED READING

Translate into the target language and read in sequence from most simple to most detailed.

Version 1:

A boy steals a purse and runs in the other direction. A person sees the boy and runs to help. The boy disappears. The person sees the boy’s footprints. The footprints are on the wall of a building. The person sees the boy on top of the building. The person is confused.

Version 2:

A boy steals a purse from an old woman. The old woman yells for help, and the boy runs in the other direction. A man helps the old woman. The man sees the boy and runs to help the old woman. The boy hides in a trash can. The man doesn’t see the boy. The man only sees the boy’s footprints. The footprints are yellow. The footprints are on the ground. They are on the trash can. They are on the wall of the building. The man follows the footprints and sees the boy. The boy is not on the ground. The boy is on top of the building! The man is very confused.

Version 3:

There are two boys. They are tricky boys! The boys have a plan. An old woman cooperates with them. She participates in their tricky plan! One boy is hiding behind a car. He grabs a purse from the old woman. The woman yells, “Help me!”. A man sees the boy. He wants to help the old woman! He follows the boy. The boy hides in a trash can. There is a hole in the trash can. The boy goes into the hole in the trash can. The man looks for the boy. He doesn’t see the boy. The man only sees the trash can. He doesn’t see the hole in the trash can. He doesn’t know that the boy is in the trash can. He also sees the boy’s footprints. The footprints are yellow. The footprints are on the ground. They are on the trash can. They are on the wall of the building. The man follows the footprints and sees a boy. The man thinks that it is the same boy. It is not the same boy! It is a different boy. The second boy is not on the ground. He is on top of the building! The man is very confused. He doesn’t know that there are two boys. He doesn’t know that the original boy is in the trash can. He doesn’t know that it is a trick! Finally, the original boy comes out of the trash can. He explains the trick to the man. What tricky boys!!

RUNNING DICTATION

Translate events into the target language and write each one on its own piece of computer paper. Instructions for the activity can be found in this post.

  1. A boy grabs a purse and runs.
  2. A man follows the boy.
  3. The boy disappears.
  4. The man sees footprints.
  5. The man follows the footprints with his eyes.
  6. The footprints are on a wall.
  7. The man sees the boy on top of the building.
  8. The man is very confused.
  9. It’s impossible to run on a vertical wall!

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