Schools : Back To The Future ! Talking about science-fiction !

 

Back to the Future II

Robert Zemeckis, 1989

https://www.imdb.com/

Wow! Do you remember Back to the Future? Of course! October 21st is World Back to the Future Day, the date Marty and Doc traveled to from 1985 to 2015. And that has finally arrived.

It's the day Marty McFly traveled to in his life in 1985 with his girlfriend at the beginning of Back to the Future II, driven by his crazy good friend "Doc" Brown.

And as he recalled in a video released today (below), "The future has finally arrived. Yes, it's different than what we all thought. But don't worry. It just means your future hasn't been written yet. None are. future is what you do. Just make it a good one."

Back to the Future II

Robert Zemeckis, 1989

https://www.imdb.com/

The second film is not turning 30 because it is from 1986, but 2015 really marks the thirtieth anniversary of the beginning of the saga and the association of the two anniversaries is the pretext for great celebrations of the World Day of Back to the Future, which will far beyond the return of the Robert Zemeckis saga to some cinemas around the world or its re-release on Blu-Ray and DVD with a new short where Christopher Lloyd returns to the skin of his most iconic character.

In recent months, from the flying hoverboard to the self-tightening sneakers, fans and media have reflected on the audacious vision of the future as seen in 1989 and the predictions that came true (or not).

Back to the Future II

Robert Zemeckis, 1989

https://www.imdb.com/

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd did the same during a five-minute short that marks the launch of Toyota's first hydrogen car and can be seen on a special website.

Michael J. Fox & Christopher Lloyd

 @NYCOMICCON 2022

The reunion touched the audience of fans, who dedicated a prolonged ovation to the two protagonists of "Back to the Future".

The impact reached social networks through photographs and mainly through videos: one of them, which records the moment when a moved Fox hugs Lloyd, who in turn embraces him in a hug, has already had more than 9.5 million views since Sunday.

Michael J. Fox & Christopher Lloyd

 @NYCOMICCON 2022

So touching!! The courage of Michael J. Fox to appear in public despite his Parkinson disease. He always fighting against!

The two actors and friends spoke of the "immediate chemistry" that brought them together during the filming of the first film and the Parkinson's disease that, for many years, has affected Michael J. Fox.

Back to the Future I

Robert Zemeckis, 1985

https://www.imdb.com/

And about this pathology, the eternal Marty McFly says that he always had the support of his friend and colleague. 

"People like Chris have been there for me."

Michael J. Fox

For those more nostalgic, the video of the full conversation can be seen above.

Back to the Future

the game, 2010

https://www.imdb.com/

• Education: The Narrative, science fiction 

39 years later, stars of the movie Back to the Future meet again. Wow!

It's a wonderful and touching moment to include science-fiction into your lessons!

An incredible real story of life joined the science-fiction narrative profiting of this special day and the awesome trilogy Back To The Future too include into school curricula: Sciences and Literature.

Films in school curriculum? 

Of course. Students love to learn using movies as a motivation:

Do you remember Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton in the classroom or Prince of Persia: an interesting narrative text?

Movies offer to students a nice motivation push and interesting digital resource to learn about science-fiction.

Science-fiction gives the students the power of magic through science and literature

A narration let us know something. It tells us what happened. It tell us a story. Our students love hear and see narrations. And they love themes about the future with a great and unusual imagination. 

Films provide the necessary information to understand the educational benefits of digital resources and virtual worlds and to learn how to use them as educational and motivational resources.

As teachers, we can use the interest of science-fiction and these magical films to help students learn to write and, at the same time, meet most of the curriculum standards associated with talk and writing skills. When their heads are into it, young people can write far better than when they are simply doing an assignment. Narratives, perforce, put their heads into the task. 

Games in curricula:

Hey! Don't forget the game ! 

Marty McFly and Doc Brown return in a completely new Back to the Future adventure. Six months after the events of the third film, the DeLorean Time Machine mysteriously returns to Hill Valley - driverless! Marty must go back in time and get aid from a resistant teenage Emmett Brown, or else the space time continuum will forever be unraveled!

G-Souto

21.10.2022

updated 06.06.2024

Copyright © 2022G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : Back To The Future ! Talking about science-fiction ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Schools : Harry Potter fans : Magical Places from the films !

Harry Potter Magical Places from the Films

Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Beyond

Jody Revenson, 2015

https://www.amazon.com/

Harry Potter: Magical Places from the Films is actually one of the books from the Harry Potter Page to Screen Collector's Edition.

"A comprehensive and delightful look at Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, The Burrow, Azkaban prison and all of the memorable places, both loved and feared, that brought the Harry Potter movies to life - a keepsake treasury bound in a debossed leatherette case and featuring a removable poster and interactive booklet."

"Grand in its design and package, Harry Potter: Magical Places from the Films: Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and Beyond offers an unprecedented look at the creative process that transformed the magical locations of the wizarding world from the page to the big screen."

Harry Potter Magical Places from the Films

Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Beyond

Jody Revenson

https://www.booktopia.com.au/

Book:

The book grants a complete, unprecedented look at the process of adapting those locations for the films. Detailed profiles of each environment pair never-before-seen concept art, behind the scenes photos and film stills with text highlighting filmmaking secrets from the Warner Brothers archives.

The book focuses on the locations and sets. There are environment concept art, stories on how the sets were build, what was filmed there, how the props were created, how the sets relate to the movie and the book, and many other bits of interesting details.

Harry Potter Magical Places from the Films

Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Beyond

Jody Revenson

https://www.booktopia.com.au/

Inside, readers will discover the many challenges the studio faced to build the fantastical sites depicted in Rowling’s books, from Hogwarts castle and its many classrooms and dormitories, to Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic.

This is a large 208-page hardcover film companion. The presentation is beautiful and the same can be said about the layout inside. 

The pages are filled with behind the scenes photography, film stills and lots of commentary. 

Harry Potter Magical Places from the Films

Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Beyond

Jody Revenson

https://www.amazon.com/

Organized by film appearance, Harry Potter: Magical Places from the Films: Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and Beyond takes readers on a behind-the-scenes visual journey through all eight of the Harry Potter films. 

Jody Revenson provides detailed profiles of each location and pairs them with never-before-seen concept art, behind-the-scenes photographs, and film stills with supplementary information that reveals film making secrets from the Warner Bros. archives.

Harry Potter Magical Places from the Films

Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Beyond

Jody Revenson

It also includes real-life scouting locations across the stunning countryside of England, Wales, and Scotland—many of which would later become the settings for Hagrid’s hut, Shell Cottage, the Hogwarts bridge, and other iconic places.

Harry Potter Magical Places from the Films

Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Beyond

Jody Revenson

via Google Images

There are nine chapters:


1. Dursley's House
2.Diagon Alley
3.King's Cross Station
4. Hogwarts Castle
5. Hogwarts Classrooms and Offices
6. Hogwarts Grounds
7.Hogsmeade
8.Ministry of Magic
9. Wizarding Homes

Harry Potter Magical Places from the Films

Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Beyond

Jody Revenson

https://www.amazon.com/

Education:

Students/ Potterheads will no doubt find it extremely satisfying to delve into the information and revisit the Harry Potter world again.

Harry Potter fans who read the books and went to the movies will love to rediscover  all the memorable places that brought the Harry Potter movies to life.

Teachers, why not invite the new readers! The youngest potterheads who begin the Harry Potter magical journey! 

Curricula: English (mother language / foreign language)

Highly recommended to all Harry Potter fans. It's the only way to "visit" all the grounds without being growled by Snape.


G-Souto 

28.09.2019

Copyright © 2019G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : Harry Potter fans ! Magical Places from the films by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Schools : Talking about International Women's Day : Three films on women's role !

Fable

credits:  Christian Schloe

https://www.facebook.com/ChristianSchloeDigitalArt/

"On International Women’s Day, let us all pledge to do everything we can to overcome entrenched prejudice, support engagement and activism, and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment."

 UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

To honour the achievements and contributions of women in the society, people across the globe celebrate International Women's Day on March 8 every year. 

It has been observed since the early 1900s and is now recognised each year on March 8. Is is not affiliated with any one group, but brings together governments, women's organisations, corporations and charities. 

The original aim – to achieve full gender equality for women the world – has still not been realised. A gender pay gap persists across the globe and women are still not present in equal numbers in business or politics. Figures show that globally, women’s education, health and violence towards women is still worse than that of men.

According to the World Economic Forum, the gender gap won't close until 2186.

• Theme 2017

The theme of the Women's Day 2017 is: "Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030.

https://www.unwomen.org/

The idea of this theme is to consider how to accelerate the 2030 Agenda, building momentum for the effective implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals, especially goal number 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; and number 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. The theme will also focus on new commitments under UN Women’s Step It Up initiative, and other existing commitments on gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s human rights.

• Google Doodle:

This International Women's Day, Google Doodle chosen to look to the past to celebrate some of the female pioneers who paved the way to where we are today.

Google Doodle Women's Day 2017 slideshow

https://www.google.com/doodles/

Google slideshow Doodle features a little girl whose grandmother tells her the best bedtime story ever: the tale of her favorite historical heroine. The little girl then visits 13 remarkable women in her imagination, taking us along on a journey that spans centuries and circles the globe. 

Among these 13 women, we can find Sally Ride, American astronaut & the first woman in space; Ada Lovelace, English mathematician, writer, & the world’s first computer programmer; Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis champion who popularized the sport.

Films to explore at school: Women's role

• 20th Century Women

20th Century Women 

Mike Mills, 2016

https://www.imdb.com/

As educational resources to include into school curriculum on this Women's Day, I would like to propose three films: 

20th Century Women. Director Mike Mills tells the story of his own mother, and other two young women from his childood; 

Suffragette. Director Sarah Gravon tells the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State. 

Hidden Figures. Director Theodore Melfi, the story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.

• 20th Century Women

Mike Mills’ autobiographical 20th Century Women is not just about the three women of his title, his own 55-year-old single mother Dorothea (Annette Bening) and the two younger women, Abbie and Julie (Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning). 

Dorothea realizes his young son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zuman), now 15, needs more than just a mother to raise him, so she recruits Abbey and Julie to help out.

20th Century Women 

Mike Mills, 2016

https://www.imdb.com/

Dorothea, his mother, is a free-thinking and independent woman, devoted to raising her son Jamie as a moral individual, but strangely determined not to take action against her unhappiness. Dorothea takes in boarders in her enormous southern California house, which is under continuous renovation, a girl and a man. Here the three women:

"Dorothea, born in 1924, Depression-raised, trained as a pilot in the second world war, the first draughtswoman in her architecture practice, but, sadly, too early a pioneer to make much difference."

20th Century Women 

Mike Mills, 2016

https://www.imdb.com/

Abbey, a would-be photographer with a New Wave haircut, and Julie Jamie’s friend since kindergarten, halfway between worldly and bewildered, and the object of Jamie’s affection.

20th Century Women about  raising a kid by a single mother in the 70's. Could a single woman be a good mother when she has experienced the madness of the 60s and 70s? Does too much freedom kill freedom? 

Dorothea is concerned that she is no longer able to connect with her son. She asks Julie and Abbie to help raise him, stating that he will listen to them since he already has a good relationship with both.

By soliciting the help of two young women, a punk artist and a lovely neighbor, Dorothea hopes to offer Jamie the best education possible. Jamie later learns about his mother's plan and is embarrassed. 

• Sufragette

Suffragette

Sarah Gravon, 2015

https://www.imdb.com/

Sarah Gravon's Suffragette, a historic film about British historical period drama.  Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan, and stars Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw, and Meryl Streep.

Suffragette

Sarah Gravon, 2015

https://www.imdb.com/

History:

In early 20th century Britain, the cause of female suffrage was usually ignored by the press and dismissed by politicians. To gain support for their right to vote, suffragettes turned away from peaceful protest and embraced militant tactics that grew to include window breaking and arson. Their fight for equality, which escalated in violence in 1912 and 1913, is depicted in this film Suffragette. 

The movie shows historical figures and fictional characters interacting as they struggle to get women the vote. 

Six real-life suffragettes (plus one man) who either appear in Suffragette or whose stories are reflected in the film are:

British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, 1911

(1858 - 1928)

credits: Topical Agency/ Getty Images

https://1.mshcdn.com/

Hannah Mitchell (fictional character Maud Watts); Emmeline Pankhurst (real-life character of Emmeline Pankhurst; Edith Ellyn and her husband ( in real-life couple who both supported female suffrage Barbara Ayrton Gould and her husband Gerald Gould); Edith Garrud; Emily Wilding Davison (real-life figure). 

Emily Davison/Natalie Press

https://www.imdb.com/

Davison's death was a watershed moment for suffragettes. Their movement received worldwide attention and 6,000 women turned out for the funeral  - Suffragette even incorporates archival footage of women trailing behind Davison's coffin. Women and men were finally granted equal voting rights in the United Kingdom in 1928.

Suffragette 

Sarah Gavron, 2015

https://www.imdb.com/

“When we spoke to the academics that consulted on the film they said they weren’t surprised that today it’s still hard to get women’s history taken seriously. It took a long time to get on the school curriculum ­– I wasn’t taught anything about it and later read a few lines at the bottom of a history book. I think it’s partly a symptom of inequality and the fact that these stories have been written out of our history.”

Sarah Gravon

“We’re half the human race,” Maud tells the inspector tasked with quelling the protest. “You can’t stop us all.”

• Hidden Figures:

Hidden Figures

Theodore Melfi, 2016

https://www.imdb.com/

Hidden Figures, the story of a team of three African-American women mathematicians and scientists, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan  and Mary Jackson who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the US space program. 

When asked to name her greatest contribution to space exploration, Katherine Johnson talked about the calculations that helped synch Project Apollo’s Lunar Lander with the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module. She also worked on the Space Shuttle and the Earth Resources Satellite, and authored or coauthored 26 research reports.

NASA

• Education:

"The 21st century must be the century of women’s equality."

 UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

Three different films but very inspirational, based on real facts, real women,  pioneers women. 

Suffragette 

Sarah Gavron, 2015

https://www.imdb.com/

Suffragette a drama about the suffragette movement - inequality voting rights for women in the UK. 

20th Century Women about family and identity in US in the 70's. 

Hidden Figures

Theodore Melfi, 2016

https://www.imdb.com/

Hidden Figures, based on the untold true story.

Three touching films based on pioneers women in different areas. I loved the three movies. Absorbing true stories of great women, their courageous, warmth and candor.

Three films we can easily include into school curriculum on Women's Day. 

Suffragette a group of women who fight for equal voting rights. The film does an important job in reminding us of this: a drama about human rights so recently and dearly won.

Suffragette 

Sarah Gavron, 2015

https://www.imdb.com/

Suffragette is a reminder to girls who are casual about democratic gender equality that vote for women were not something that naturally evolved due to the ruling class’s innate decency. They had to be fought for.

20th Century Women, Dorothea the first woman draughtsman in her architecture practice, too early a pioneer perhaps, free-thinking and independent woman, a single mother trying raise her son alone and helped by two independent women

20th Century Women 

Mike Mills, 2016

https://www.imdb.com/

20th Century Women about  raising a kid by a single mother in the 70's. Could a single woman be a good mother when she has experienced the madness of the 60s and 70s? Does too much freedom kill freedom? 

Dorothea is concerned that she is no longer able to connect with her son. She asks Julie and Abbie to help raise him, stating that he will listen to them since he already has a good relationship with both.

By soliciting the help of two young women, a punk artist and a lovely neighbor, Dorothea hopes to offer Jamie the best education possible. Jamie later learns about his mother's plan and is embarrassed. 

Hidden Figures

Theodore Melfi, 2016

https://www.imdb.com/

Hidden Figures. The story of a team of African-American women mathematicians and scientists, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan  and Mary Jackson who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the US space program. 

Hidden Figures

Theodore Melfi, 2016

https://www.imdb.com/

Teachers will explore the three films on their own way, by preparing thematic activities previously. 

Level: Junior High School: +12 years-old.

Curriculum: Cross-curricular

credits: UNESCO

Resources:

• Suffragette: The Real Women Who Inspired the Film; 

•  20th Century Women: My Mother before Me;

• Hidden Figures: Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson & here, Dorothy Vaughan.

Throughout history, women have made extraordinary contributions to their societies. Some are well known, some less so, but all have been trail blazers. 

The discussion of new discoveries and a better understanding of the role of women in many different areas of study such as humanities or science, and how these ideas and findings can lead to new markets for humanities and science knowledge are important aims. 

Constantly evolving education at all ages and levels in our ever-changing world is crucial. 

"UNESCO statistics have shown that women are currently four times less likely than men to master digital skills, even though these skills will be at the centre of future societies."

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General UNESCO

"Equality also lies in ridding the media and collective imagination of prejudice by highlighting the women scientists, artists and politicians who are moving."

UNESCO Former Director-General, Irina Bokova

G-Souto

08.03.2017
update: 08.03.2020

Copyright © 2020G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : Talking about International Women's Day : resources by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.