Gallipoli: A film study

For the past weeks students have been looking at the Gallipoli campaign.  They each have a small exercise book to track their journey into history. 

We also looked at The Australian War Memorial and its significance to the Australian people.

Last week students worked on pre- film activities so that they can more fully understand this iconic Australian film. Students worked on some of the dialogues that occur in the film, colloquial language and the concept of the British Empire. Each pair had an element to explore and present to their classmates. For some students this involved a small amount of research on topics such as The Light Horse Brigade, the British Empire, the money of the day, the Ladies Patriotic Auxilliary, whilst others had to present a dialogue and explain what it meant.

The following lesson each student was given a still from the movie and had to predict and discuss what they could see in the photo.

August Thursday 7th students viewed the first two parts of the film. Then today Tuesday the 11th,  they watched the third segment which focused on the landing at Gallipoli.

When they had finished their paired work they had to find the other group who had the 
same set of descriptions and share their outcomes. Each group of 4 or 5 then presented their work to the class. This was a reading, and a vocabulary building activity. All eight groups' work is up on display in the art area.  Next job is presenting a character study; and the finished product can take a number of forms. Students drew their character out of a hat. On Wednesday we will focus on how to write up/present a detailed character description with direct reference to the film.

I negotiated with students the different form that their character presentations could take. This is a snapshot of our brainstorm session. Products  are due next Wednesday 27th.


Character Study  (Using product and process differentiation)

The purpose of this is for students to showcase their knowledge of either Frank or Archy, making specific reference to the film. Students drew their character out of the crocodile-banded hat. The presentation can be done by way of one of the following products:

1. an in depth written text using paragraphs or an essay

2. photostory OR powerpoint

3. an interview using fat and skinny questions

4. portrait with some extra information verbal or in text or a mix/information poster

5. a radio interview

6. a diorama

7. an animation

8. a series of comic strips showing major happenings in the film

Example of a statement made about a character with direct reference to the film:

Archy is very patriotic and this is shown by his enthusiasm to go to war. He is desperate to join up and tries twice to enlist, having success on his second attempt with some help from Frank.