Official Site

• Select a TV serie you love/like/find useful to learn English
• Watch 1 episode a month, for instance, at least once a week: watch it in English and jot down Useful Language.
  OPTION B: watch, e.g. episode 1 in week 1, episode 2 in week 2, then again episode 1 in week 3, episode 2 in week 4, and so on… TIP: Don’t use subtitles the first 3 times you watch it. You want to develop an independent ear!
• Collect and organize your sentences (show your teacher, just in case she spots any mistakes) and then record a podcast episode where you repeat twice each of those sentences
• Share your work in class (Oral Presentation of your List) and send in for publication at the Talking People Podcast.

(About subtitles: please, don’t use  subtitles the first 2 or 3 times you watch an episode - train your ear become independent – life has no subtitles – subtitles in English should only be used to expand vocabulary)

Here is the clearest explanation of all: listen to Episode 001 of Everyday Language – Useful Language at the TP Podcast and here is the transcript. You should do something like this, OK? then you can think about whether you want to create an audio file with it, or else, a video!

More resources: find TV scripts on TP

This project doesn’t require a long explanation:

• Select a movie you love/like/find useful to learn English
• Watch it once or twice a month for at least a couple of months: watch it in English and jot down Useful Language
• Collect and organize your sentences and then record a podcast episode where you repeat twice each of those sentences
• Share your work in class (Oral Presentation of your List) and/or publish it at the Talking People Podcast.

(About subtitles: please, don’t use  subtitles the first 2 or 3 times you watch an episode – train your ear become independent – life has no subtitles – subtitles in English should only be used to expand vocabulary)

Here is the clearest explanation of all: listen to Episode 001 of Everyday Language – Useful Language at the TP Podcast and here is the transcript. You should do something like this, OK? then you can think about whether you want to create an audio file with it, or else, a video!

More resources: find screenplays for your favorite movies

Two students collected once some sentences from this movie, in case you want to have a look!

Barefoot in the Park at Your Stuff! (Talking People)

The Casablanca Project involves… (at least)

• reading the screenplay
• watching the movie

Ideas for the OP:  selecting favorite scene(s) and doing a dramatized reading of the scene(s), watching interviews to the stars’ relatives, esp. Lauren Bacall; watching documentaries about the movie, actors and actresses…, shooting a video / recording an audio with you acting out a scene, selecting famous lines from the movie and creating an activity with them, to help classmates learn them!, learning about the historic period…

Check out the TP Page on Casablanca to find a printer-friendly version of the screenplay and some other resources!

Michelle’s students will be working on these 4 pages in October: Memorable Quotes from Casablanca. (This can also work as a warm-up for people picking this Project.)

We’ll always have Paris

The Song: As Time Goes By

• reading about the world of work
• learning about co-ops in English-speaking countries
• watching videos from a woman who turned a hobby into an online business
• working on how you would set up a co-op, or any kind of business
• working on your language (list of useful language)

Have a look at various kinds of co-ops and then decide which project you would like to develop.

You should read, think and discuss for about a month — with your teammates. Then, agree on what to do, prepare it and present your work in class. For more information, please read above the ReadMe.

Resources

• Types of Work Contracts in Spain
• Employment in England (the UK)
• Jobs in Canada and the USA
• Design Sponge – setting up a business (videos)
• Setting up a co-operative (Britain) 12 pdf pages
• Guide to setting up a co-operative (the USA) 27 pdf pages
• Food co-op toolkit (Britain)
• Guide to co-operative housing: Glossary (Canada)
• History of a Housing Co-op (Britain)
• The Cowley Club – a social centre co-op
• Footprint Workers Co-op (Britain)

Post any interesting links you might find, please! Thanks!

• Bonobos, by Susan Savage (17’28”) – bonobo apes, teaching us about love and nonviolence
• Tacare, a community project in Africa, by Jane Goodall (23’43”)
• Tiny creatures, E.O. Wilson (22’36”)
• Sylvia Earle, oceanografist – let us know what, why (18’16”)
• Life in the deep oceans, by David Gallo (13’23”)
• Frans Lanting’s Lyrical Photos (16’30”) – a poetic collection of photographs that tell the story of our planet

If you can suggest more videos, please, post the links here! Thanks so much!

You can also consider working on a documentary called Life After People; Official site

Reading…

• There Was Once, by Margaret Atwood – 2 pages – with audio at TP podcast
• The Debutante, by Leonora Carrignton (Surrealist Literature) – 2 pages – with audio at TP podcast
• Cat in the Rain, by Ernest Hemingway (The Lost Generation) – 1 page
• My Son the Murderer, by Bernard Malamud – 3 pages
• A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud, by Carson McCullers – 5 pages – with audio at TP podcast
• A Telephone Call, by Dorothy Parker – 3 pages – with audio at TP podcast
• A Perfect Day for Bananafish, by J. D. Salinger – 8 pages – with audio at TP podcast
• Ada, by Gertrude Stein (Cubist Writing) – 1 page – with audio at TP podcast
• How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the States? It Was Easy, by Alice Walker – 2 pages

…and watching videos or listening to podcasts by or about the authors, or with the stories.

This project involves…

• watching her “Reality Show”
• reading and listening to her poem “Strange Fruit”, which includes a brief comment by Michelle on the power to convey meanings in poetry,
• reading about and listening to Billie Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit”, and thinking about both pieces of work (All of those resources can be found at the TP webpage on Joy Harjo)
• and (if you want more) having a look at the Anthology she edited with Gloria Bird (to borrow from your teacher if necessary!), Reinventing the Enemy’s Language. Contemporary Native Women’s Writings of North America.

This project involves (at least):

• Reading an excerpt of the novel Farenheit 451 and listening to another excerpt read by Ray Bradbury. Find all this at the Ray Bradbury TP webpage.
• Reading the novel (£5)
• Watching French director’s Farenheit 451 movie version.

Then prepare your OP! What would you do in class to present these masterpieces?

More: Interested in downloading Michael Moore’s documentary Farenheit 9/11?