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The Maker film

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The Maker - This beautiful animation will shatter your heart

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Teaching short film

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Teaching with short films is a great way to engage struggling readers and English language learners. Using a short film as a text is a scaffold that enables struggling students to actively participate in discussions with peers about literary terms, without the barrier of their difficulty comprehending complex text and/or language. I also find that using short films to introduce a literary device helps students to recognize and understand it more easily when they encounter it in a text.

Why I Love Short Films:
Movie rentals cost about $5 on Amazon and iTunes, for $1.99-$2.99 you can own a short film in your video library. Many short films are available online, for free, and showcase the work of students ("Home Sweet Home" is an example of this) and I like supporting the students' accomplishments, of any age. With short films, you spend less time on the
*It is important to set the purpose for viewing the film beforehand.

movie watching and more time on the learning and discussion. Because they are really short, the films can be watched multiple times for close and careful analysis.

Close Reading A Short Film

First viewing: Get the "gist" of it

Second viewing: Watch for plot elements and fill in the plot map.

Third viewing: Watch for (discussion question) followed by give one get one, turn and talk, or a think pair share type of discussion activity

Fourth viewing: Watch for (specific literary device) followed by an activity involving a graphic organizer with a writing prompt

﻿ I have created a series of lessons on short films and have many that are currently in-progress. In short, there is enough material here for a week's worth of lessons, or you can pick and choose the learning that you want to focus on for a single day's lesson.
Each film lesson comes with:
1. An overview of key literary terms emphasized in the film

I am working towards creating a unit of 30+ films for a course based on the analysis of short films, which can be used to implement "Short of the Week" in your classroom, or as an elective class. This set of lessons will include a project in which students select a short film of their choice, not covered in class, and then create and teach a lesson around a literary device that is evident in the film. It will also include a final project of creating a short film using stop motion animation. I hope to have it the course completed this summer. For now, you can check out the five films I am highlighting in this post, and grab a hyperdoc (digital version) of my latest film project.
2. An essential question, which can be used for a writing prompt at the end of the lesson
3. Discussion prompts, which can be used with a variety of discussion strategies
4. A plot map (filled in) and a blank form for use as a student worksheet
5. Literary analysis skills worksheets (I have included some samples below)
6. Writing prompts for more in-depth analysis
7. Suggestions for extending the lesson (projects that will take more than a single day)
*These extensions can also be assigned as homework projects or extra credit.
8.Connections to other stories in film or literature
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1. "One Man Band" In this film two street performers compete for a little girl's coin. The music getting more and more frenzied really emphasizes the rising action of the plot. This is also a good film for introducing motif, theme, tone, mood, suspense, and poetic justice. The story also works well to use in contrast with the film "Forever Mime" which also has two characters competing for someone's favor, but in a different way. The lesson on making this comparison is available with "Forever Mime". Another area of literary analysis that I like to emphasize in this film is the evolution of a character.

2. "For the Birds" This four minute film is about a group of snooty birds roosting on a telephone wire that do not want a goofy bird joining them. The film is great for discussions about theme, conflict, suspense, foreshadowing, characterization, and poetic justice. In this lesson I've also included an activity about "Easter Eggs" and the difference between an "Easter Egg" and allusion. Pixar loves their "Easter Eggs" and their short films are great for this type of topic. This film also lends itself to more serious discussion about society.
​ Essential Question: In a culture where we are inundated with ideas and images of "what we should be," how does one stay true to who they are, and avoid the pressure to change in order to fit in
The birds in this film have very distinct personalities without ever actually speaking. It is amazing the messages that can be conveyed without the use of a single word-another reason why I love short films. It seems only natural to have a game of character charades to see if we can communicate character traits without using words as well. I like to play games as often as possible in the classroom.

3. "Home Sweet Home" is a n award-winning short thesis film directed by Alejandro Diaz, Pierre Clenet, Romain Mazevet and Stephane Paccolot. Produced at France's Supinfocom Arles, i t is available for free online from or on Short of the Week Vimeo. This film is also included in the collection 8 AnimazingShorts For this film, I have created lessons that focus on theme, anthropomorphism, foreshadowing, setting, tone, and mood. Extensions for this lesson compare "Home Sweet Home" to another house that goes on a journey in Disney Pixar's "Up". There are connections to science as well! The people over at National Geographic actually flew a house with balloons.

The story was inspired by the housing market crash and the urban decay that resulted from the high numbers of foreclosed homes, especially in Detroit, Michigan. In this scene a broken down old garage stumbles upon an abandoned car factory and is clearly reminiscing about a time when this factory produced cars. This all must be inferred, since the story isn't actually being told to us. Yet another reason I love using short films, the lack of words creates excellent opportunities to build those inferential mind muscles.

is a story about two mimes who vie for the attention of a goth girl that works the ticket booth at the House of Horrors. It is also included on the 8 Animazing Shorts collection. It's a great film for introducing nemesis, foil, suspense, conflict, and poetic justice. I included a related activity on close reading an image, which I have written a blog post about before. There is also an activity that connects to "One Man Band", in which the students compare and contrast the different techniques used to create suspense.

5. "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" is a lovely story that inspired a children's book and an iPad app based on the tale. You can click on the title to watch this film on Vimeo. As a teacher, that was once a librarian, I couldn't resist this one. At fifteen minutes, it is a little longer than the films I generally like to use, but it's just such a great story. I do generally like to create lessons for films that are under ten minutes, preferably 5 minutes, just because we watch them multiple times looking for specific evidence related to our topic. The writer was influenced by "The Wizard of Oz", Buster Keaton, Hurricane Katrina, and his own love of books, so it seemed natural to include a note-taking guide for student's to record details from the film that are evidence of these influences. It is also a great film to pair with Disney's "Paperman" for lessons on Anthropomorphism.

My latest and favorite film lesson: "The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger" is a children's fable about the power of advertising, the meaning of life and ultimately the test of a mother's love. Unfortunately, you will not find this film online for free, but my hyperdoc lesson for the film is-just click on the burger (below). The best price that I have found for the film is through iTunes for $2.99.

Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you would like the lessons for the films listed above, or if you are interested in lessons for other films that I didn't mention here. You can download a digital lesson for "The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger" for free by clicking on the image below. Note: the lesson below was created for students to work on the tasks in a Google Slide deck-it isn't formated to be printable or used as worksheets.
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In the lesson for "The Cow that Wanted to be a Hamburger" students analyze commercials after creating a sketchnote about the forms of persuasion used in advertising. (See examples below)

Have you seen a great short film lately? Leave a comment about a short film I have missed out on. Maybe I will create a lesson for it.

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Short Films for Teaching Literary Devices

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Teaching with short films is a great way to engage struggling readers and English language learners. Using a short film as a text is a scaffold that enables struggling students to actively participate in discussions with peers about literary terms, without the barrier of their difficulty comprehending complex text and/or language.

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What can film and video add to the learning experience? Kieran Donaghy, who won the British Council's TeachingEnglish blog award tells us why film is such a good resource and recommends some useful websites, in one of our top five articles of all time, illustrated by artist Jamie Johnson.
Language teachers have been using films in their classes for decades, and there are a number of reasons why film is an excellent teaching and learning tool.
Learning from films is motivating and enjoyable
Motivation is one of the most important factors in determining successful second-language acquisition. Films and TV shows are an integral part of students' lives so it makes perfect sense to bring them into the language classroom. Film, as a motivator, also makes the language learning process more entertaining and enjoyable.
Film provides authentic and varied language
Another benefit of using film is that it provides a source of authentic and varied language. Film provides students with examples of English used in 'real' situations outside the classroom, particularly interactive language - the language of real-life conversation. Film exposes students to natural expressions and the natural flow of speech. If they are not living in an English-speaking environment, perhaps only film and television can provide learners with this real-life language input.
Film gives a visual context
The visuality of film makes it an invaluable language teaching tool, enabling learners to understand more by interpreting the language in a full visual context. Film assists the learners' comprehension by enabling them to listen to language exchanges and see such visual supports as facial expressions and gestures simultaneously. These visual clues support the verbal message and provide a focus of attention.
Variety and flexibility
Film can bring variety and flexibility to the language classroom by extending the range of teaching techniques and resources, helping students to develop all four communicative skills. For example, a whole film or sequence can be used to practise listening and reading, and as a model for speaking and writing. Film can also act as a springboard for follow-up tasks such as discussions, debates on social issues, role plays, reconstructing a dialogue or summarising. It is also possible to bring further variety to the language learning classroom by screening different types of film: feature-length films, short sequences of films, short films, and adverts.

Given the benefits of using film in the language learning classroom, it is not surprising that many teachers are keen to use film with their students, and an increasing number of them are successfully integrating film into the language-learning syllabus. Until quite recently it was difficult to find pedagogically sound film material to help students improve their language through watching film, and teachers had to spend many hours creating their own materials. However, with the advent of the internet there is now a wealth of online resources for both language teachers and their students. With so many resources, it's sometimes difficult for teachers to see the wood for the trees.
Lesson plans
There are many websites and blogs which provide detailed and well-structured lesson plans based on film and television clips, short films and viral videos, which save the busy teacher a lot of time. Here are my personal favourites.

This is a superb blog by Steve Muir and Tom Spain, which supplies lesson plans based on short videos, especially clips from television series, for teachers of advanced students (C1 and C2).
Lessonstream
Jamie Keddie is a pioneer in the use of video in language teaching, and his website has a wealth of creative and imaginative lesson plans based on short videos.

This excellent blog by Ian James is dedicated to exploiting viral videos in language teaching.
Film English
My own resource site has more than 120 detailed lesson plans based on short films.
Film guides
If you want to show whole films, either in one sitting or over a number of sessions, it's necessary to do quite a lot of work on linguistic, cultural and cinematographic features of the film prior to actually watching the film. Not so long ago, teachers had to spend many hours creating their own film guides, but nowadays there are several sites where teachers can find free, high-quality film guides to use in the language classroom.

An outstanding resource site, created by Raymond Weschler, which provides more than 200 detailed film guides. Each individual guide is a detailed synopsis of a popular classic or contemporary film with an extensive glossary of vocabulary and expressions students come across in the film.
Film in Language Teaching Association
FILTA is an association of language teachers, film educators and researchers, which provides film guides to use in language teaching.

A UK charity, which gives children and young people the opportunity to watch, discuss and review films, supplies hundreds of pedagogically sound, free film guides.
Film Education
A website that produces well-structured and engaging film guides for a wide range of films.
Short films
Creating moving images has never been easier thanks to the digital revolution, the proliferation of mobile devices, the increased ease of capturing and editing video, and the emergence of video distribution sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. This has led to an explosion in the production of short films and their availability. However, due to the sheer quantity of short films, it's often very difficult for teachers to find high-quality short films they can use with their students. Here are my three favourite places for finding creative and innovative short films.
Vimeo Staff Picks
This channel has a great selection of high-quality short films selected by the staff at Vimeo.
Film sites for learners
The internet now offers students the opportunity to improve their lexical, listening and speaking skills through watching short film clips and short films.
English Central
Possibly the best website for students to improve their speaking and pronunciation. This site provides students with videos with subtitles. The students watch the videos, practise vocabulary used in the video, record themselves repeating what they hear, and then get feedback on their pronunciation.
English Attack
Young students can improve their English on this community website, which uses clips from film and TV series.
Learn English Teens Film UK
A British Council website which gives students the opportunity to watch short films made by young people, and do a variety of activities based on the films.
Animated movie makers
There are a number of websites where students can create their own animated short films and practise and improve their writing, vocabulary and speaking. Here are the two sites I've found students like most.

A site where learners can create their own animated short films, write the subtitles and create a voice-over.
Zimmer Twins
Younger learners love this site where they create short cartoon animations, add subtitles and voice-overs.
Subtitling and revoicing
Students can improve their vocabulary, writing and speaking in a fun and engaging way by subtitling and dubbing television and film clips.

A fun site where learners can add subtitles and voice-overs to Indian television and film clips.

A site where learners can 'revoice' (dub) and 'caption' (subtitle) video clips.

I hope these resources and websites can help you and your students use film critically and creatively in the classroom and beyond.
You can find 120 detailed lesson plans based on short films at Kieran's website Film English. Learners can find a video zone on our LearnEnglish site. Teachers, visit our TeachingEnglish website for more lesson plans and activities, and find out how you can become a TeachingEnglish blogger. This article is one of our top five most-read of all time.
Kieran Donaghy is a freelance writer, international conference speaker and trainer. He has held teaching, teacher training and academic management posts in the UK, Italy, Portugal and Spain. He is the author of books for students and teachers of English as a foreign language. His publications include Film in Action (Delta Publishing), How to Write Film and Video Activities (ELT Teacher 2 Writer) and Films in Health Sciences Education (Publicacions i Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona), and The Image in English Language Teaching (ELT Council).

His website Film English has won a British Council ELTons Award for Innovation in Teacher Resources, the MEDEA Award, and an English-Speaking Union Award. Kieran is the founder and organiser of The Image Conference and co-founder of the Visual Arts Circle, a community of practice for language education professionals interested in the use of the visual arts in language teaching. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Jamie Johnson is an artist and illustrator based in Glasgow, Scotland. He works in painting, collage, drawing and various digital media techniques. Jamie has exhibited his work in galleries around the UK, Europe and North America, most recently as a solo show at Chopping Block Gallery in London. He continues to work with a wide variety of clients as an illustrator and designer, alongside a personal interest in community-based projects.

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How can film help you teach or learn English?

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Teacher and author Kieran Donaghy tells us why film is such a good resource and recommends useful websites in one of our top five articles of all time, illustrated by artist Jamie Johnson.

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In this series, I've talked about the structure of our company, purpose-built for responsiveness and risk-taking, and I've enjoyed sharing a bit about our brand, which serves as our rallying cry. In this installment, I'm excited to dive into how we perform the work we do and why it matters. It isn't enough to talk about what we do: Design and Strategy, Cybersecurity, DevSecOps, Data Exploitation, and Digital Platform implementations, because that just doesn't tell the whole story. The technology space is bursting with smart firms, armed with cutting edge tools and methods, so what makes Steampunk different? If you're a government, industry leader or operator, what does engaging with Steampunk look and feel like?

The Answer is Steampunk Design Intelligence™

As I mentioned above, it's not enough to have the best tools. In my experience in and out of uniform, even the most technical of problems rarely have technological or tool-based causes at the root. Much more commonly we as human beings struggle with problems of poor communication, overlooked requirements, lack of buy-in, mismatched expectations, and under-adoption. As rightfully proud as we all can be for building and maintaining the most powerful and well-equipped military force in human history when we think of our community's greatest (and sometimes most comical) failures it's rarely a material failure, a poor tool, or a misapplied technology which are to blame. Those things are symptoms to be sure, but when we dive deeper we go back to those human themes. These themes can't be engineered out, although many have tried. Instead, we must turn to Steampunk Design Intelligence powered by design thinking to be our guide.

Design Intelligence™ is an approach to problem-solving which ensures the human-impacted by the design is primary - and that the influences and constraints upon that human are considered and mitigated. What results is a solution architecture which is not just ready to be built, people are excited to adopt it.

So how is that different from traditional requirements gathering? Isn't that process supposed to include all of those variables? Well, yes, it should, but it rarely does. Traditional requirements gathering is very effective at documenting parts of the puzzle, but it routinely fails to compensate for vital variables that will impact the overall success of the project as it relates to the human's ability to accomplish their mission, not just contractual success.

In our experience, all too often the design capabilities and resources offered to the Defense Department (if, in fact, they're even a part of the solution) are stove-piped from the more tactical technology integration, application development, and infrastructure engineering efforts. Clients are brought into a slick customer visit center to participate in design workshops that paint a great vision, but that vision falls apart in execution because the staff doing the implementation wasn't integrated with the design experts who helped to define the original vision with the client.

That's why our Design Intelligence™ approach is structured to ensure we never lose the value of Design and HCD as an iterative process executed by an integrated team from end to end. For us, it's not enough to engage only development or technical teams in the implementation, or conversely to leave them out of the initial design phases. We know that by efficiently engaging critical stakeholders and experts who represent requirements across the business, security domain, data environment, and technology organization throughout the project, we are going to be much more successful in creating and implementing solutions that are practical and will be accepted by the actual mission users. Furthermore, we make sure we understand the external factors that are driving both the opportunities and constraints for our Defense customers. We go so far as to engage experts from academia and other industries as part of our virtual team to offer our clients emerging views on commercially proven innovation, political headwinds, and opportunities, and financial management strategies to ensure the best return on investment. This is the integration that ensures what we build drives real Mission Impact.

Design Intelligence™ in Action

Now that we've explored the approach Steampunk brings to the fight, let's take a look at tactical execution in that model. If Design Intelligence sounds squishy, it isn't! On the contrary, it's the engine we can use to drive better results to the tactical edge with much more speed and "quality the first time" than traditional approaches.

To make Design Intelligence™ come to life, we integrate all facets of our client's mission organization, technical environment, data architecture, and security mandates into our implementation so we are better able to identify the real challenges (historical and real-time) and potential opportunities before diving into a technology solution. This starts with real research, assessments and analyses of existing processes, technologies, their stakeholders, and other constraints. The client stakeholders, along with our design and technical teams work together, clearly articulating the challenges (technical and non-technical) so we can agree on the mission impacts we need to measure along the way. We use our Steampunk Design Intelligence Studio™ as a focal point for these integrated teams to work on projects, leveraging lessons learned in real-time across all the domains of a problem set. We have an "open door" policy with all existing and prospective clients, so they can get outside their day to day environment, whenever desired, to immerse themselves in our collaborative team space to explore the realm of the possible for their challenges.

For Steampunk, disruption is quite simply about implementing change in a practical way to drive outcomes. We create personas to generate wireframes and prototypes, which are fundamental techniques of smart design - but we differ from a traditional HCD firm. We continually engage the additional internal and external stakeholders we've defined within our research so that we can evolve the design as well as the data, security, and technical components while keeping the political, financial, and environmental constraints always in mind. Doing this in a repeatable way means leveraging smart Agile management principles and DevSecOps automation where applicable, to define acceptance with our expanded set of stakeholder groups as governors of the "definition of done." Our employees are trained on our delivery techniques so that we can bring any resource in to help with a project without missing a beat.

At various stages, starting as early as possible, we hold collaborative workshops to showcase everything from hand-drawn concepts to working prototypes so that each stakeholder can weigh in on the progress and any potential challenges we may not have addressed. These drive improved user acceptance and a practical implementation strategy that should address all the cross-functional environmental variables at play for our customer.

Through this iterative process, we are improving the speed at which we deliver solutions to end-users, while ensuring that all the critical cross-functional stakeholders have had a hand in what the final product should be - driving up acceptance and quality - always in support of the Mission at the tactical edge.

Who's In? Let's Build Something Better Together.

The beauty of Design Intelligence™ is in the insights learned early and often enough in the process to allow our technology implementation to really sing. "Compliance" is for tax attorneys - let's build Mission solutions that delight our Warfighters. For centuries designers strove to develop weapons which became a part of the warrior, moving as they moved, becoming an extension of the warrior themselves. Our technological mission solutions should be no different - we had the tools, now we have the plan, let's build something better together. Design. Disrupt. Repeat. Steampunk.

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In this series, I've talked about the structure of our company, purpose-built for responsiveness and risk-taking, and I've enjoyed sharing a bit about our brand, which serves as our rallying cry. In this installment, I'm excited to dive into how we perform the work we do and why it matters.