Children and Education in World Cinema

Classroom Activities

Instructional Overview

This unit begins with gathering some background information to determine the level of understanding among the students. Developing a set of terms and vocabulary will be essential to having meaningful discussions about the images, clips, and films the students will be analyzing and explaining to each other. From that foundational session, students will then begin to view film clips that provide clear images of facial expressions depicting the six emotions that are the focus of this unit.

For example, among these clips, are some from Ten Minutes Older, which show very young children’s faces as they watch a puppet show that we, the film viewer never see. Only the children’s expressions are shown in the frames. These clips will produce a great discussion on what emotions the children at the puppet show were experiencing. The students will themselves practice making similar facial expressions in small hand-held mirrors. This will help them experience how our faces feel, and how our muscles move when we produce different facial expressions. The unit then turns to the film, Inside Out, where students will learn that we all have lots of emotions, which we can learn to identify, manage, and understand in ourselves and others. The movie, Shrek, will give students an opportunity to observe and identify how emotions change over time, through a variety of experiences. Finally, students will make a personal photo album that will include their own facial expressions that demonstrate the emotions of happy, sad, afraid, angry, surprise, and disgust.

Essential Questions

What is the relationship between images of the characters in the films and the stories in which they appear? How can we describe what moment within a story an image depicts?

How does the expression on the faces of characters tell you what they are feeling? What emotions can we recognize and name to describe those feelings?

Activity One – Introduction to Feeling/Emotions

Objective: Students will share their background knowledge of what emotion is connected to a facial expression.

Materials: large chart of the graphic below, student copies of graphic below, colored pencils

Discuss the words feelings and emotions. Ask what students know about the two words and how could the class determine definitions for them. Document the responses for continued reference throughout the unit. Introduce each “feelings” word in the graphic one at a time, work together to define it, and have students give examples of times they have experienced that feeling.  Using the icon-style faces, such as the traditional “smiley face,” draw a corresponding facial expression for each emotion. One reference source for examples is “emojis,” the icons used to indicate mood in texting or emailing. Students will have great familiarity with these choices. If possible, project some options on a smart board to decide as a group how to “design the face.”

Happy	Sad	Afraid	Angry	Surprised	Disgust

Figure 1: Chart for drawing and characterizing facial expressions

Activity Two – Recognizing Facial Expressions

Objective: Students will connect their facial expressions to an emotion

Materials: Small hand-held mirrors, one per child, access to films and film clips

Clip from Ten Minutes Older (1:38 – 5:12)

Clip from The Red Balloon – 34 minutes

Trailer for Ponette - 2:28 minutes

Trailer for Where is the Friend’s House? - 2:41 minutes

Trailer for Like Stars on Earth, 1:15 minutes

To Be and to Have, 0:00 – 20:00 minutes

Trailer for Not One Less, 1:30 minutes

Students will view the selected film clips and make determinations about emotions. For films not readily available or ones that need subscriptions for viewing, use the trailers located on the IMDB website. Most are a few minutes at most and have moments in which the characters are in close-up shots and can be paused for analysis and imitation.

The clips from Ten Minutes Older follow one child who is viewing a puppet show. Students will notice the various emotions the child shows through his authentic reactions to what he is watching. After viewing the first film, discuss the many feelings the child was experiencing. How do you know? How was his face changing throughout the clip? Using the small mirrors, have the students imitate the facial expressions they saw from the boy in the film. Have them watch how their own faces change as they practice each emotion.

Repeat the experience with the selections listed.

Activity Three – We Have Lots of Emotions (Inside Out)

Objectives: In this lesson, students will work to:

Identify their own feelings.

Think through what it means for emotions to have context.

Acknowledge the value of having a range of emotions.

Connect their own personal experiences to the movie's messages.

Identify their own perspective and be curious about the perspectives of others.

Think about the ways they currently self-regulate and explore possibilities for other ways.

Think about helpful versus unhelpful responses to emotions from themselves and others.

There are several options for viewing clips and connected activities and discussions. Choose some or all to discuss how Riley experiences her emotions. Most of my students have seen the movie in full. Screening the whole movie before these activities and discussions would be helpful for understanding and continuity.

Clip #1: When Dad says Riley can't have dessert if she doesn't eat her broccoli, Anger "blows his top." (3:48-4:06)

Use this scene to talk about idioms. Have kids draw another emotion-related idiom (ex. cry your eyes out, bent out of shape, spaced out, down in the dumps, etc.).

Clip #2: Riley sees her new house, and she experiences a range of emotions. (8:43-9:50)

Discuss: How do emotions influence how Riley feels about the new house? How can she go from feeling sad about her new room to feeling excited about how it will look? The room didn't change -- what did change, and how?

Clip #3: A joyful memory becomes sad, as Riley remembers a moment from the trip. (11:51-12:54)

Explain to students that this movie was inspired by a real 11-year-old. Her dad wanted to show her what it's like to have complicated feelings as you grow up. Ask students: Do you think he did a good job? What would you do differently?

Clip #4: Joy argues with the other emotions about how Riley should feel on the first night after the move, using the phrase, "It could be worse." (16:01-17:14)

Riley has her own room in a house in San Francisco, which is more than many people have. Ask students: Is Joy right -- could it be worse? Should Riley not feel angry, sad, or scared? Does thinking about how things could be worse change how you feel? Why or why not?

Clip #5: Mom thanks Riley for being their "happy little girl" and wants them both to keep smiling for Dad. (17:10-18:06)

Riley isn't feeling happy when her mom calls her their "happy little girl." She wants Riley to "put on a happy face." Ask students: Have you ever kept smiling even when you weren't happy? What did it feel like? Did it help the situation? Did it help you?

Clip #6: Joy asks Sadness to stay confined inside of a circle and not participate in Riley's first day at her new school. (20:50-21:27)

Joy wants to keep Sadness in a tiny circle during Riley's first day at her new school. Ask students: What's the result? In real life, can we keep our emotions exactly where we want them?

Clip #7: Riley starts crying in class as she talks about her home in Minnesota, and Joy tries to prevent a sad memory from becoming a core memory. (22:09-26:08)

Even though she didn't want to, Riley cries in class. Ask students: How much control do we actually have over our emotions?

Clip #10: Riley suddenly feels angry while talking to her friend from Minnesota. (36:00-36:36)

Ask students: After Riley slams her computer, how do you think her friend felt? When we lose control of our feelings and do something that hurts someone else, we may not have meant to hurt them. If we didn't mean to, are we still responsible? What can we do next?

Clip #11: Both Joy and Sadness try to comfort Bing Bong when his wagon is thrown in the dump, and Sadness is the one to succeed. (47:04-49:39)

Having empathy is about understanding what someone else is feeling. Ask students: Why does Bing Bong respond to Sadness but not Joy? Ask students: Why are movies great ways to see other people's perspectives and practice empathy?

Clip #12: Joy and Bing Bong are stuck in the memory dump. Joy feels sad herself (and realizes that emotions work together), and Bing Bong sacrifices himself to make sure Joy can escape. (1:06:27-1:13:35)

Introduce students to the idea of nostalgia. Ask them: How do you feel when you think about happy memories from when you may be fading?

Activity Four – Character’s Feelings and How They Change (Shrek)

Objective: Students will recognize that characters' feelings change with time and experiences.

Materials: Large chart for class, student copies of graphic below, pencils, colored pencils

Students will view the film in 15-minute increments. The film will resume at the paused location for each subsequent session. After each session, the students will note, either by word or drawing, the emotion each character is experiencing at that moment in the film.

Figure 2: Chart for tracking characters’ feelings throughout the film Shrek

Activity Five – Optional Culminating Project

Writer’s Workshop Project: Personal Photo Albums of Feelings/Emotions

Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding that facial expressions are connected to emotions.

Materials: Small booklet, purchased or school-made, photo printing access for 7-8 pictures per student, digital device (phone, camera, iPad) for taking pictures

Because this activity will require a financial component, use this project if it works in your current classroom situation.