Projekt SPORAZUMEVANJE V TUJIH JEZIKIH: Uvajanje inovativnih pristopov k poučevanju tujih jezikov z vključevanjem tujih učiteljev v izvedbeni kurikulum

Šola: GIMNAZIJA BEŽIGRAD

PRILOGA 3 H KONČNEMU POROČILU

Naslov priloge Primeri iz prakse Avtor/-ji: Alenka Budihna,Barbara Gostiša Pretnar, James Clinton Smoot

UČNA PRIPRAVA

Unit title: Satire and cartoons English teachers Timing Activity Assesment Assignment Resources

1 period Watching the Note taking Episodes: South cartoon and Park 806 Goobacks discussing/analizing

Family Guy 607 2 period Watching the Note taking Padre de Familia cartoon and discussing/analyzing

Satirical techniques 3 period reviewing the key Discussion, pair handout scenes to find out work the satirical elements Episode and completing the character worksheet worksheets

5 period creating an episode Finding another Multi-media similar satirical computer room, use episode and of sources from the presenting it web

Reflection The kernel of this unit are two American satirical cartoons, South Park and Family Guy. Both cartoons present strong social criticism in sophisticated, although very different ways. These are the “texts” on which all the activities in the unit are based. Because these texts are very funny, they are immediately interesting to students, but this humor serves as a Trojan horse for complex storytelling which is the actual object of the unit. It’s funny, but why? What are the creators of these cartoons really saying? These are the basic questions.

 Preliminary activity is to ask students to write, either in class or at home, a half page of free writing about South Park. The cartoon is broadcast on Slovenian television networks and is available from other sources, so there is a reasonable chance that students have seen an episode. If students have not seen an episode, they have heard about the cartoon and write what they have heard. The text is already familiar to most students, so the lessons proceed from something they already know, or think they know. These half-page texts are used as the basis for class discussion with the teacher writing down salient elements and making connections on the board. Elements are developed as themes to establish a common frame for discussion after viewing episode 806, “Goobacks,” an episode on immigration.  Students are asked to take notes before the first viewing of the episode and told to figure out what the episode is about. The teacher stops the video at strategic points to explain complex, culturally specific parodies that are either visually represented or language based. Attention is also drawn to frame composition and visual language. The remaining time of the lesson is a discussion of what the episode is about. This is a trick question, the first level of analysis. When students are asked what the episode is about, they almost always begin summarizing the plot. When this happens the teacher says, “It’s not about that,” and asks another student. This continues until someone says “immigration.” This is the first level of analysis, moving from the immediate content of the text to the message of the text. Students are given an episode worksheet to complete before the next lesson on the theme of immigration in the episode.  A handout is given at the beginning of class on the four satirical techniques, parody, exaggeration, incongruity and reversal. These terms form the basic analytical language that will be used. Using their worksheets, students find examples of each technique in the episode. The general technique of reversal in South Park, that the children are wiser than the adults is given as an example.  Narrative structure is then introduced using the classical model from drama students are already familiar with. The dramatic arc is drawn on the blackboard and examples from drama are discussed, chiefly Shakespeare. This classic dramatic structure is then applied to the South Park episode to find the climactic moment when the action of the story is shifted toward resolution of conflict. Scene structure is discussed and its analogs in prose such as chapters. The text is shown to have mechanics that build a narrative with a message. The episode is replayed and stopped at scene ends so students can number and take notes on the scenes in the cartoon. Isolated into scenes, the scenes are then discussed for their particular mechanics. Movement is from the global to the local finally resting on the individual frame.  Students chose a scene from the episode and write a 250-word essay analyzing the scene in using the four satirical techniques as the analytical language. These are corrected and returned. Class discussion reinforces correct usage of the terminology and papers on the same scene are compared and debated.  Using the framework of scene analysis, students are put into groups to compose satirical comedy sketches. Teachers work the room to assist in the preparation of the script that will convey a critical message through comedy. These sketches run 3-5 minutes and then are performed in class and assessed by the teachers.  In preparation for the viewing of the Family Guy episode, students are introduced to the postmodern aesthetic of bricolage and repetition. While the narrative structure of South Park follows the classical three-act pattern to the point of gross exaggeration, Family Guy operates by gross violation of the classical narrative. Examples from the students’ own experience of non-conventional narratives in film are discussed, flashback techniques, reverse chronology, parallel narratives, open versus closed endings, and how they effect the way the viewer understands the message of the film. The Family Guy episode is also about immigration, but has a different message conveyed through radically different narrative techniques. The theme establishes a commonality between the episodes.  Padre de Familia is shown to the class scene by scene, each scene ending with an establishing shot of the Griffin family home. The more obvious parodies are explained and important popular cultural references established. Because of its postmodern structure, the analysis of Family Guy must proceed from the details to the general level, parody by parody, incongruity by incongruity. Peter Griffin as the “everyman” character is discussed with his dual nature as a parody of the everyman of 50s and 60s American TV family dramas and situation comedies and as an exaggeration of the American everyman as a potential actuality. While the South Park episode has a very clear plotline delivering its message, Family Guy is dispersed and fragmented containing many specific criticism in isolated scenes that do not necessarily relate to the main theme of the episode. Individual sequences are isolated and analyzed on a second viewing with careful attention paid to visual composition and imagery.  A final assignment is given where students are to find a video satirical text other than the episodes watched in class to write a 500-word analytic paper. In the paper the students must identify the global message of the video text, its critical message, and then demonstrate its articulation through the four satirical techniques. It is an exercise in applying the analytic schema used in class to a text of the student’s choice.

Naslov teme: Satire and cartoons Učitelji angleščine Ura Aktivnost Ocenjevanje Naloge Viri

1 ura Ogled risanke in zapisovanje Episodes: South diskusija/analiza Park 806 Goobacks

Family Guy 607 2 ura Ogled risanke in zapisovanje Padre de Familia diskusija/analiza

3 ura Ponovitev ključnih diskusija, delo v Izroček – opis dogodkov in dvojicah osebe ugotavljanje satiričnih elementov

5 period Dopolnjevanje delovnih Poišči podoben Delo poteka v multi listov; primer satirične medijski učilnici; episode na internet viri so iz interneta Sestavi podobno in predstavi epizodo sošolcem