Enjoy the thrill of the movies with this ESL activity! Not only can learners talk about their favorite films, but in creating riddles about their chosen movies, they can practice the skills of context clues and deductive reasoning. This...

If your ESL pupils love talking about movies, here is an activity ideal for providing practice with both informational reading and elements of a story. Given fictional movie posters, they decipher the information and put it into a...

Is Luke Skywalker the archetype of a literary hero? Follow the path of the Hero's Journey with an engaging instructional activity that details the plot structure, applies it to Star Wars: A New Hope, and invites class members to...

Students define and interpret the elements found in a short story. Then they identify the elements of plot found in a short story. Students also apply knowledge of plot to an original work of fiction. Finally, they identify the...

There is nothing more exciting than allowing learners to express themselves through a creative medium. In groups, they write narrative stories, focusing on building a strong storyline and dialogue. Next, they transform their stories into...

Explore the fascinating ways in which authors use specific literary devices to create interesting and realistic texts. Using non-fiction articles with the subject of rogue waves, an excerpt from The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger,...

Class members have an opportunity to compare how a film and a play handle the same source material by viewing the opening chapters of George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope and acts I and II of Ian Doescher's play, William...

How can you tell if a character is a villain? What about a hero? Work on literary analysis with an engaging language arts worksheet. After completing an activity about the four types of conflict, learners fill out a character map about a...

From actor to volume, the 90 terms on a theatre vocabulary list are must knows for any student of the dramatic arts.

Ninth graders review the parts of a plot sequence for a short story. They think of a famous Disney movie and plot the events of the movie in the correct plot sequence. They do the same for a comic strip, labeling the exposition, rising...

In this Of Mice and Men viewing guide worksheet, learners study movie terminology as they read brief descriptions and respond to 26 short answer questions as the watch the film based on Steinbeck's novel.

The Great Gatsby, The Jungle and study HRC's Teaching the American Twenties-The Dream Factory are the focus of this lesson, Your students will rewrite a small scene from the novel into a dramatic film scene and then create a modern...

Students identify the elements of science fiction and write their own example.  In this Journey to the Center of the Earth lesson students complete several activities about science fiction, authors and novels.

Like most Fun Trivia quizzes, this quiz tests the takers ability to recall specific and often trivial elements of plot. Although it may be a useful tool to check for completion of the reading, the content should be reviewed before it is...

Students watch the movie Jane Eyre and complete a viewing log. They take a test on their findings.

What do Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch, and Frosty the Snowman have in common? They're all characters from beloved holiday movies that viewers revisit in the play Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!). Scholars conduct research...

Learners use old "B-Movies" as a springboard to discuss and analyze traditional plot structures. They form groups and make their own 'movie' to demonstrate their knowledge.

Young scholars create a movie flyer to advertise the novel that the class has just finished reading in small groups. They search the Internet, format their flyer, select a slogan for their film, write a brief plot summary, without giving...

Students study how artists tell stories using visual images by identifying and comparing elements of narrative (setting, characters, and plot) in a painting and a Greek vase.

Students look closely at a poster of a Rembrandt painting and/or a transparency of a Greek vase, both of which represent the mythological story of the abduction of Europa. Studnets consider how two artists interpreted the same subject in...

Students assess the elements of J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series that have made it such a success. They incorporate these elements into a short film, incorporating such concepts as pop culture mythology, urban legend and archetypes.

Help your class recognize classic literature with universal themes. They will demonstrate their familiarity with Pride and Prejudice by updating a selected scene from it to the 21st century. Tip: Bring in a modern movie clip that shows...

How does Oliver Twist, the novel written by Charles Dickens, compare with its screenplay adaptation? Although the activity doesn't require learners to have read the novel, the similarities and differences of the highlighted passages...

Young scholars focus on different ways director and cinematographers use the camera to convey meaning, setting, tone, point of view, personal style, as well as telling a story.