Saturday, April 15, 2006

Soylent Green


A lot of the course books we use have a unit on the environment (to tell you the truth a subject that bores most students silly). So here is a a short exercise that make the the subject a little more palatable.

1 Ask students if the world will be better or worse in the future. The students then get into groups according to their answer.

2 They then write down reasons why.

3 Put the students into pairs/groups (one from the "pessimists" with one from the "optimists") and ask them to discuss their opinions.

4 Explain to students that they'll see part of a film that shows a possible version of the future. They have to say what the film maker is trying to tell us.

5 Show the first three minutes of Soylent Green.

(The first part of the film is a photo - montage which shows the world becoming more over-populated and polluted.)

6 Students then discuss their answers with each other. Ask them if they agree with this prediction and why/why not.

This can be used as a warm up exercise for any kind of environmentally orientated kind of lesson. Here is the whole film on Google Video.


If you don't have access to a DVD/VHS in the classroom you can use DVD Shrink and put it on a laptop/desk top.

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