Hotel Transylvania

Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American 3D computer animated fantasy comedy film.

It tells the story of count Dracula, the owner of the Hotel Transylvania where only monsters can go. 

On the occasion of the 118^th birthday of his daughter Mavis, Dracula invites some monsters for a party, but the hotel is unexpectedly visited by a “human” young boy, Jonathan. Dracula must protect Mavis from falling in love with him.

Hotel Transylvania 2 was released in 2015 and the story takes place seven years later. The hotel is now open to human guests, too. In the meanwhile, count Dracula had a grandson who is not a pure-blood vampire…

     Hotel Transylvania - Trailer

"The Zing" song

Hotel Transylvania soundtrack 

Let' s meet the main characters

I made this Piktochart poster for you

STUDENTS' TASK

Answer the following questions after watching the film

1. Did you enjoy the film? Why/why not?
2. Which is your favourite character? Why?
3. What is your favourite scene? Why?
4. Would you like to be Jonathan? Would you like to have an experience like his own?
5. What would you do if you were Mavis, would you always obey your overprotective father or would you try to win more freedom?

Answer the questions related to the clip

Cineforum - some movies based on British or American novels for children

If we want to talk about foreign literature in our EFL class, watching some movies could be very useful. I choose six films based on some British and American novels for children. Three of them (Alice in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol and Peter Pan) allow us to talk about the 19th century literature. The others (The Polar Express, The Golden Compass and Harry Potter) can be used to talk about modern or contemporary literature.

In the following Blendspace lesson that I prepared students can learn some information about some authors of books for kids. You can see the trailers of the six movies. Then you can read a list of some movies taken from children novels if you want to go on watching other films and reading other books. Finally there is a presentation of mine with some information about the novels' authors and the major themes of their books. You can also do some quiz.

Click on the link below and have fun!

An English Cineforum: some movies based on novels for children.

Below teachers can find some interesting links about using movies, videos and  novels in their classroom.

Movies and novels in EFL classes: some links for teachers.

I made the above poster with Piktochart

Click on the following image if you want to view my presentation outside the context of the Blendspace lesson. 

Enjoy your

Earth Day - A message from the space...

April, 22 is Earth Day! This day is dedicated to the protection of the environment. Every year more than a billion people in many countries of the world take action to save their planet. During Earth Day celebrations people are informed of ways they can help protect their environment and their natural resources.  

Surf the Earth Day website
http://www.earthday.org/greencities/earth-day-2014/

and watch their video

On the occasion of the Earth Day I have created an interactive infographic using Piktochart (http://piktochart.com/).

It's a work I prepared with my students. We imagined to receive a message from the space ... Someone from a distant planet in the universe wants to warn us...

Click on the link below to view the infographic (there is also a video and a presentation):

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/1600474-a-message-from-planet-x

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

Native American proverb

Cineforum: movies taken from British or American novels for children

 

I've always used movies to improve students' listening comprehension, but I've always preferred movies taken from novels. So I have the chance to talk about literature, as well. 

This is a poster about my cineforum I created with Piktochart. You can save you poster as an image, as the following, or you can make it interactive, as you can see clicking on the next link.

Below you can find the above poster, but now it's interactive...

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/1237601-create-your-own

Below you can have some more information. This time I used Blendspace.

There are links to the movies' trailers, to some information about the novels they are taken from, to sites about movies or books for EFL students. 

          http://blnds.co/1gXfZtP

 "I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians".
Francis Ford Coppola

 

For teachers - Infographics and interactive posters

Posters can easily draw student's attention but they should not be just wall decoration. They should be used to study in deep some topics or to visually organize concepts.
Posters should easily be seen, so you need colours and images. Now you can create you own poster in a few minutes or you can even make it interactive!

This time I tried Piktochart. 
http://piktochart.com/ 

It is very useful to create interactive posters. I already tried Thinglink and Glogster. 

(An example with Thinglink at http://thetravellingteachers.blogspot.it/2014/02/welcome-activities-this-is-our-school.html

An example with Glogster at http://thetravellingteachers.blogspot.it/2014/01/for-teachers-some-digital-tools.html)

You can save your work as an image (.png or .jpeg) or copy the url if you want to use it as an interactive poster. In this case you have to add links, videos, etc. to your project!

The following is an example of a project saved as an image. I've created it to advertise the study tour I am organizing for my students:

This one, instead, is an interactive poster showing our English class activities, with videos and links:

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/1198513-journey-of-love

Have fun with your posters!