Here are the highlights from the course I put together. This was a short little seminar I gave in Columbus OH many years ago. Casablanca is a "clean" movie and there shouldn't be any awkward moments in this film. I showed it to a mixed bag of students (Japanese, Yemen, & Korean.)
Readers Theater (fluency practice) - for big classes break them up into enough small groups so each person will be able to pick a character. The link to the script is here
http://www.vincasa.com/indexscreenplay.html and here
http://www.godamongdirectors.com/scripts/casablanca.pdf and here
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Casablanca.pdfIf you want to model it to the class use pages 42-44 on the PDF script. There is a short but meaningful dialogue between Rick and Ilsa.
Another practical but effective idea is to turn off the sound and have the students stand near the monitor to read their assigned role while their clip is playing. During the opening montage, choose a student to play the narrators part. Be sure to introduce the new vocabulary word - "Superimpose."
Additional tips for using Reader's Theater, as well as a source for free Reader's Theater scrips, can be found here
http://www.aaronshep.com/#resources hmmmm...he moved things around on his site. Be prepared to dig for the "tips."
Vocabulary - as you read through the script be aware of potential vocabulary words that can be introduced to the students in an authentic way.
Suggest that they create their own "personal Casablanca dictionary" that they can devote entirely to new vocabulary words from the movie.
Summary - Students write a short summary of the clip they watch. They can add it in their "Casablanca Dictionary" and take turns sharing it in class. Depending on the size of your group you can break them up into small groups and circulate while they share it with their group.
Main Idea - This is different from the Summary. Students need to tell you the main idea of the clip. See if they can figure out the main focus of what is going on. Introduce new vocabulary words as they come up, view the clip before, during and after each script reading. Some clips will be harder to pin down than others, but the main thing here is to get them to verbalize something that will tell you if they understood what was going on. If they have a lot of questions, then they probably didn't get the main idea. If that is the case, see if you can get another student to explain it to the class so the others can catch on.
Synonyms & Antonyms - Remind the students of the difference between and Synonyms & and Antonyms. Create a chart describing the characteristics of a character.
Example - Rick
heroic: synonym - brave, antonym - coward
Brainstorm with the class a list of useful words.
Have students categorize them. (ex: Positive VS. Negative characteristics)
You can springboard this activity to lead into a character focus, comparison and contrasting with a Venn diagram, Evil Twin, diamante poem, haiku poem, personification poem and the character writes (If you need these writing activities leave a post and I'll give you the details)
Retell - This activity helps build fluency and also checks for listening comprehension. This is just a slight variation of the summary activity described above. In this exercise the students retell what they viewed from the clip. Then have them read the script and then view the clip again. Now they use their own words to describe the characters and the action on the screen. It is OK to throw them a few hints while they are processing what to say.
Point of View - Focus on the emotions of the characters.
Ask the students to:
-describe Rick's emotions about Ilsa
-describe Ilsa's emotions about Rick
-describe Sam's feelings about Rick
-describe how Lazlo feels about Ilsa
-describe how Yvonne feels about Rick
-describe how Captain Renult feels about Rick
Next ask them higher ordered thinking questions such as:
-describe how you feel about Rick
-describe how you feel about Ugarte
-describe how you feel about Senior Ferrari
Intonation Practice - Pick lines from the script to practice intonation. Model it for the students. Stress different words in the sentence to manipulate the meaning. Intonation helps build fluency and helps to show emotions .(You can use the short exchange between Ugarte and Rick on the bottom of page 12 and the top of page 13 of the PDF file as an example.)
What if... - Ask them "What if..." questions.
For example, ask them
what if...-Ilsa came to Casablanca without Lazlo?
-Rick would have been involved with Yvonne when Ilsa showed up?
-Ugarte had never stolen the "official documents" from the couriers?
-Sam would have left Rick and gone back to America?
-Ilsa would have gotten on the train with Rick?
The possibilities are endless. You can come up with new "What if..." questions for each clip. Ask students to think up their own "What if..." questions to share with the class.
Pair Work - Assign questions for each pair. (I prefer sentence strips - you can type them up and then cut them up into strips and store them in envelopes for the next time you teach the lesson.) While one is answering the question the other is writing down what they say and vice-a-versa. Then the pair reports back to the class. If your class is huge then put them in small groups and let them share with the group while you circulate.
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Square/3472/playitagainsam.html (If the link doesn't work, I can cut and paste it for you. Just let me Know.)
Context Clues - When your class is reviewing the script see if they can figure out the meaning of the word by looking at the surrounding text.
Idiom Review - Try this link
http://eslnotes.com/movies/pdf/casablanca.pdf or this one
http://eslnotes.com/movies/html/casablanca.htmlThese describe some of the more obvious idioms. I had a bunch more but I'm not sure if I still have them. You will find lots more idioms with your class. Just hang on to them for future reference.
Additional Links:
Well it seems as if all my resource links are out dated. Except for this one.
http://www.vincasa.com/ Take your time exploring this site. It is really good and has a lot of resources, like vintage radio plays, alternative scenes, music and mistakes.