Well, what new is there to tell you? Why wasn't I surprised that the vocational group of students I took to the cinema behaved so well??? To tell you the truth, I haven't got reasons to complain: they are talkative, not really hardworking but do what they are asked to and, till now, they haven't been disrespectful, quite the contrary! Taking them to the movies was another way of motivating them to learn English in a different way as well as to bring us closer as a group and I can assure you it was worthwhile for they haven't talked about anything else besides their outing for a whole week! It was great to see their joy leaving school to go to the movies with classmates and teachers; it was great to see their joy eating hamburgers and icecreams at MacDonald's; it was great to see their joy to be able to have some time off at the mall and go shopping; It was as nice for them as it was rewarding for me as a teacher. Not only the students met my expectations - so did the film and the main characters, the famous detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr) and his sidekick, Dr Watson (Jude Law).
Most of the film centers on a climax in the long rivalry between Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarty - often referred to as the Napoleon of Crime - who is no less than the mastermind of a plot to push Europe into war. It's definitely high quality entertainment, a modern action picture played in costume that can only please moviegoers. In what concerns teaching / learning, there is also a lot to explore and a modest example and contribution has just been published in my ISSUU shelf above. Of course we could explore Victorian London, clothing... there's an almost endless array of ways to explore this or any film but all demanding hours of preparation: my choices reflect my attempt to avoid repetitions in my worksheets though I now have different classes.
Interesting for both teachers and students would be to check these links:
http://221bakerstreet.org/ - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's canon and many PDF versions of his stories
http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/ - when Sir ACD first introduced S. Holmes to the reading public in 1887, he could never have imagined that he was creating the most famous detective in the world, much less his address 221 Baker Street which is now a museum, full of memorabilia and worth visiting (if there, don't forget to take a picture with Sherlock Holmes wearing his famous hat!!). By the way, why not try this quiz???
http://www.sherlockian.net/ - a recent site where one can find loads of information by checking the left bar
Pure and happy coincidence was BBC's publication of some articles you really should check if interested in Crime Scene Investigation:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16187225 - at the crime scene – how does it work?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16189713 - at the lab – how does it work?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11794286 - making a case / criticism to TV series
Happy reading :=)
