Stand By Me - showed this to my high school grade 2 students and they really enjoyed it. Lots of comedy, touching moments and some strong language, get approval from your co-teacher first. It's nothing they don't say outside of class anyway.

Star Trek (2009) - every class I showed this to LOVED it, very exciting and fast-paced, they stayed 10 minutes after class just so they could see more. None of them had ever heard of Star Trek too, they kept thinking it was a Starcraft movie :-P

I teach advanced Middle School 4 times a week (2 classes twice a week), late at night (9.30pm to 10.15pm). I do films and TV shows with them as their brains are pretty dead after a day of school and 5 hours of hagwon...

My basic lesson plan is to give them scripts, then play 5 minutes of the show/film. Discuss what happened, how emotions/relationshsips/story arc has changed. Then I go over the language in the script, playing each line after I've explained it or got them to break it down etc. Then I replay that whole segemnt, and we discuss what will happen next. If we have time we watch the next scene.

Each class is 45minutes, and they have to do a short write up for homework on the movie and plot points etc.

I've done:

the Simpsons - this went well, I tried a couple of different apporaches with each scene. One was jsut simple watching and discussing the action. Another was going through explaining the cultural refernces with photos and handouts. The first was easiest for them, but the sceond kind of bombed, understandably I guess as most of them have no idea about AMerican politics etc. One or two really liked it and wantd to know more, but 90% of the class were zoned out. So after a few classes I stuck with just discussions and homework sheets about the story.

Black Books - a british sitcom in a bookstore. This went downr eally well. The three main characters are all very differetn and have different UK accents. The language was a bit hard at tiems, but I explained it and they annotated their script print outs etc. Theres lots of slapstick and facial gestures and OTT body language to keep it engaging, and bzarre storylines.

Flipped - high school romantic comedy in 1950s USA showing two sides to the romance, how the girls feelings change and the boys change. Very good fro class discussions as the boy hates the girl at first, and shows how each scene he falls for her more, but the girl starts off loving the boys but each scene likes him less and less. Also deals with a subplot regarding the girls autistic brother.

Ghost Town - romantic comedy about a dentist (ricky gervais) who sees ghosts, and how it changes him from a cold hearted man to one cpaable of love. Similar i guess to christmas carol! Still, funny and has some good scenes of slapstick and coming up with plans to win a girl etc.


Next, I'm thinking of Bend it Like Beckham, sw it recommended in here though it mght be good. plus im british and i love showing them british things.

If not that, then The Truman Show, again, saw it suggested in this thread and like the discussion possibilities.

These ideas have been very helpful as I am considering which movies I could show to the high school boys at my school.

Although I am undecided on whether I will end up playing this to my students, as I'm not sure if the whole movie will keep them entertained (even if I would like to watch it myself), but to anyone who wishes to entice the students to describe either seasons, colours, emotions, semiotics/symbolism from a short clip, there is a scene from 'Notting Hill' (1997, Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts) which rather swiftly depicts the four seasons during a short walk through an outside market. There isn't any dialogue, just the dulcet tones of Bill Withers singing "Ain't No Sunshine".  I've been in classes at home where this scene has been used to expertly lure the students to come up with an abundance of adjectives/nouns/sentences from such a short piece of footage.

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) is excellent for technical HS.

I work at a mixed Middle School and teach a Screen class a dozen times per week, so I've been able to experiment with lots of different films. Here's a list of what has worked and what hasn't:

Big Hits
The Matrix- It came out the same year they were born, so most of them have never seen it. A bit intense (I only play it for 3rd graders) but nothing they haven't seen.

Jurassic Park- It takes a while for it to getting going, but once it does, it doesn't stop. Nothing like seeing a whole class of Korean kids jump out of their seats.

Men In Black- Good mix of action, science fiction, and comedy.

Spirited Away- Probably the best Miyazaki in terms of sustaining everyone's attention regardless of ability.

Star Trek (2009)- Science Fiction that very few of them had seen, with lots of action and humor.

Just Okay
Howl's Moving Castle- A little too meditative and quiet for most of my students, although it certainly has it's moments.

Truman Show- Most kids enjoyed it, although they had a tendency to zone out for large chunks of time.

Duds
Fantastic Mr. Fox- I thought this one would be a hit, but they bored out of their minds. Very different rhythm than a typical animated film.

Kiki's Delivery Service- All Miyazaki is not created equal. A total snoozefest.

Groundhog Day- A select few found the conceit interesting, but most thought it looked "old" and wasn't very funny. You can't teach taste, I guess.


Hope this helps. If you're curious about content (Scream and Kick Ass in a school?), IMDB lists the Korean Certification for rating consistency. Unsurprisingly, I find their system is more consistent than the MPAA. All of these films are a 12 Rating or below.

Coach Carter

This movie is based on a real story of a high school basket ball team.
It is very interesting and also educational !!

I showed "The World's Fastest Indian" (Anthony Hopkins) last semester to my Tech HS boys.  It was a hit with all of my classes, and they are a royal p.i.t.a. this year.  I'll be keeping that one on my computer for future viewing  :D.

The BBC Sherlock Holmes TV series was a smash hit in all level high classes.

For me, School of Rock worked really well. As well as Jumper.  I've wanted to try Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but not sure it will go down well. Anyone tried it?

Quote from: kendrathomas88 on May 17, 2012, 11:24:29 AM

As an African American, I would like to expose my high school girls to African American culture. All they see in the media are bad things and I want to expose them to some postive things. Does anyone have any ideas on what kinds of African American movies I can show my class??....and not any stereotypical ones either.

I haven't seen it, but maybe "The Great Debaters" would be good.

I haven't seen it, but what about Akeelah and the Bee?

They're old, but what about episodes of the Cosby Show, A Different World, That's So Raven, Sister Sister, or the Fresh Prince of Bel Air? Maybe Will Smith could keep their attention?