ENGLISH FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 2013-2014: Christian Denslow's The Blind Photographer (2011)

Winner of Best South African Short Film, by Christian Denslow on Vimeo.

Lesson Plan

LESSON No. 01 [2012-11-08]
Introduction: teacher, students, module contents and assessment criteria.
Formative assessment: Placement Test.

LESSON No. 02 [2012-11-15]
Placement Test results - CEFR levels.
'Do you like to take photographs?' - answering a questionnaire and discussing. 'Fun with Photography' - comprehension.
'Street Photography Do's and Don'ts' - watching and discussing a video.

LESSON No. 03 [2012-11-22]
'Photography Terms' - reading comprehension and translation of a paragraph. Generalization: 'Taking Pictures'.
The parts of a digital camera - blind labelling and matching names and definitions with a diagram.
'Impossible Photography' - watching and discussing a TED Talks video.

LESSON No. 04 [2012-11-29]
Warm-up activity: 'Two truths and a lie'.
Comprehension and generalization: Camera care.
'David Griffin: How Photography Connects Us' - watching and discussing a TED Talks video.

LESSON No. 05 [2012-12-06]
Warm-up activity: 'Yes,... and...'.
Comprehension: Photographing Animals. Generalization: Using a Darkroom.
Telling a story: ordering jumbled pictures and writing captions.

LESSON No. 06 [2012-12-13]
Warm-up activity : Wordball and other word association games.
Vocabulary study: software, applications and tools used for graphics and design.Reading comprehension and vocabulary exercises.
Audiovisual skills: watching a Christmas-related film with English subtitles.

LESSON No. 07 [2013-01-03]
The lesson did not take place due to the absence of a quorum.

LESSON No. 08 [2013-01-10]
Warm-up - 'Alphabet scene' - preparing and roleplaying a dialogue using the letters of the alphabet in sequence.
Vocabulary study and exercises: image editing and graphic design semantic fields.
Watching the South African short film 'The Blind Photographer'. Writing a short essay on the film - expressing ideas and feelings about the role of the photographer in society.

LESSON No. 09 [2013-01-17]
Warm-up activity: 'Name five'.
Reading and discussing last lesson's essays on 'The Blind Photographer'.
English for emails: practice. Telling apart more and less formal messages. Writing an enquiry and giving a reply.
English for presentations: practice. Body language; identifying the subject of different presentations; writing sentences to state the purpose of a presentation.

LESSON No. 10 [2013-01-24]
Project Work: oral presentation and discussion of the individual portfolios:
Project #1: 'A day in the park'
Project #2: 'Urbanism'
Project #3: 'Cascais Seawall'
Project #4: 'Views from Padrão dos Descobrimentos'

LESSON No. 11 [2013-01-31]
Project Work: oral presentation and discussion of the individual portfolios:
Project #5: 'The southern line'
Project #6: 'One day in Belém'
Project #7: 'Portuguese medieval fairs'
Project #8: 'Differently to see'

LESSON No. 12 [2013-02-07]
Project Work: oral presentation and discussion of the individual portfolios:
Project #9: 'One day in Bairro Alto'
Project #10: 'Urban factory'
Project #11: 'My way home'

LESSON No. 13 [2013-02-14]
Summing up and revising the modular contents to prepare the students for the written test.

LESSON No. 14 [2013-02-21]
Summative assessment: Written test.

LESSON No. 15 [2013-02-28]
Correction of the written test.
Evaluation of the portfolios.
Self-assessment.

Thursday 3 January 2013

Christian Denslow's The Blind Photographer (2011)