Foreign Language Dialogue - Four Days in September

 

Students watch an excerpt of a foreign language film without sound and work in groups to craft a sample dialogue utilizing new vocabulary and grammar concepts.

Goal: Grammar development and review

Introduction/Background: In this simple language activity, students employ Portuguese and content knowledge to create a short dialogue that imagines what characters in the film Four Days in September are saying.  (Four Days in September is a Brazilian film based on Fernando Gabeira's book O que é isso, companheiro?) 

  1. Preparation for activity: Students read selections from O que é isso, companheiro? and watch parts of the film in previous classes.
  2. Steps of activity:
    1. Students watch a short excerpt without sound. 
    2.  In pairs or groups of three, they then work together to write a dialogue from the point of view of characters.  This activity can be used as a grammar review by requiring students to use certain constructions.  
    3. After composing the dialogue, students share with the class.  Students might just read the dialogue aloud or act it out.  The instructor corrects any language problems.

Submitted by the instructor to a Portuguese section.

See also: Pair and Share, Presentation, Quick Write, Observational, PORTC, Intermediate Portuguese, Applied/Concrete, Romance Languages and Literatures, Performance, Seawright, Max, Authentic Learning (Simulations, Lab, Field), Expanding Depth and Breadth, Fostering Motivation, Group & Cooperative Learning; Students as Classroom Leaders, Stimulating Students to Think, Learn Foundational Knowledge, Develop Communication Skills, Interpret Primary Sources to Propose a Model or Argument, Develop Subject Specific Intuitions, Full Class, Whole class, Pair, Group, Humanities, Single Class