Welcome to the Movie Lab!
We offer the following to the 
UAEU community. Please join us!
Everyone loves an astronaut (especially if they are hometown heroes like Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi).
If you are feeling like a trip to the moon and the stars, check out an astronaut movie. Watch a determined kid follow a dream, or rocket scientists behind the scenes. Bite your nails during the catastrophes.
As always, keep looking for something that inspires YOU. These are just suggestions — some of them have learning materials to go with…..
This 1995 movie depicts the disastrous 1970 mission to the moon. Is the mission impossible? Will our heroes even make it out alive? Also, listen for some famous lines in movie history:
Find your own favorites, and enjoy!!
Painting by Laila Hamed, student, UAEU College of HSS, 2019
Guest Author Movie ReviewI didn’t expect all of this, but Black Panther gave me back something precious. I never told anyone it existed, but after seeing the film, I know that someone understood it needed to be spoken to, even after all these years.I grew up with mostly male cousins and a brother. They all had Tonka trucks and I was given dolls. But, I wanted to play with Tonka trucks. Badly.
#BlackPanther gave me a space ship and a spear and told me that a Tonka truck was beneath me.
My cousins and I loved to climb trees and do pull-ups and other stunts like back flips off of branches. But one day, I was told that girls my age don’t climb trees.
#BlackPanther whispered that it understood that I wanted to build my strength just like my cousins were doing and that all warriors needed strength. In #Wakanda, I could train side by side forever.
When I was a girl and wanted to be a super hero I was forced to play the girl characters and they never were as strong as the men and they never looked like me.
#BlackPanther gave me a woman so dark-skinned and bold that even the animals bow at her feet. The General is the superhero that I always saw in my dreams. A black woman so powerful that when she fought, no one knew who would win. Unlike the women characters that I grew up on.
I grew up in a conservative church where I was taught to cover myself because of men.
#BlackPanther reminded me of the time I went to a study group for the NOI (The Nation of Islam) and was told that I don’t cover myself for men, that I cover myself because I KNOW my own beauty and strength and I control who sees all that Allah has given me. I left every meeting feeling like I hadn’t known my full potential before that moment. But now I know it and I am forever changed. I left #Wakanda reminded of my greatness.
#BlackPanther answered the call “somebody, anybody, sing a black girl’s song” for me and I am satisfied.
I am satisfied because my daughter won’t have to be told that girls don’t play with tools of power, like I was.
She won’t be told that being a princess is the only option she has in the land of make believe. (I hated being a princess).
She won’t be made to feel like she needs long blonde hair or any hair at all for that matter to be beautiful. She’ll know that she is already beautiful and powerful.
She’ll know that in the land of make believe when she comes to the battlefield that she comes with as much, if not more, power than the men.
While she’s too young to get it now at 2 years old, I marvel knowing that she’ll never have to experience the disappointment of some of her dreams, like I did. #BlackPanther gave me back a few of my dreams deferred and I am thankful.
Ashe.
Phyllisa Deroze is a professor of English at UAE University in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
Six Tips for Language – Learning with Movies –
Happy viewing, happy learning.
Check out our home page for links to more websites with worksheets and learning ideas – Here are some of them:
These skills based lessons utilize movies or scenes from movies. The targeted skills focus mostly on writing, but other skills, including vocabulary, are also integrated. Most of the lessons are based on YouTube clips or readily available films. Contributors include J. Rachidi – C. Fiorite – Leila Mouhanna
Worksheet: Wadjda – Prob-Solve Worksheet
The printer-friendly worksheet (linked above) accompanies the film Wadjda, and is suitable for an intermediate level course, such as UFP Level 3 Writing. The worksheet includes:
Worksheet Contributor: Janet Rachidi
Narrative Writing: A Terrible Day: This lesson is suitable for low intermediate level (such as a Foundation Level 1).
Handout includes:
September 16, 2016
I saw the cutest thing on my Facebook feed the other day. It was a short video of a child, young enough to be in diapers, watching what looked like his very favorite thing in the world: a scene from the movie “Rocky,” in which Rocky Balboa (played
by Sylvester Stallone) is training hard for his big match. Sylvester / Rocky is doing push-ups and punches, skipping and squatting, waving and jumping – and behold! The baby is not just watching all of this, he is enthusiastically acting out every move to perfection. When Rocky does a one-armed push-up on the TV, the little guy does exactly the same thing, at the exact same time. As one comment on YouTube observed, he even transfers his weight to the opposite leg while he punches, like a real pro.
As you probably know, Rocky is not exactly the latest computer-generated flick out of Hollywood. Does that matter to our little hero? Not at all! He found something he liked, and he’s mastering it with devotion. He didn’t take a course, or do his homework, but he is learning those moves!! — by practicing with a movie that he loves.
Then there is this great scene from “I Am Legend” where we learn with astonishment that the Will Smith character loves the movie “Shrek” so much that he’s memorized the entire thing. What does he say about his feat? “I like Shrek,” he says. That’s it. He likes Shrek.
One of the most important lessons we have learned in the three years of the Movie Lab is that people have individual preferences (not to mention different schedules). This past year, we developed a DVD library that has many different kinds of films.
Find something YOU like enough to practice it again and again. Before you know it, you’ll be a champ.
For the current list (titles only), click: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwZKnrx7Vcphb3RTZmt2MTVWX3c/view?usp=sharing New titles are highlighted in yellow. Titles marked (*) are those for which there are teaching materials on the blog.
For details and trailers of many these movies (newest movies may not have not been added yet) visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ho9EvGFvNWmKx2wvLPQAVZ7Mtmn2S4zIW0ug0k2IgWQ/viewform?c=0&w=1
These links and the teaching materials are available at wordpress.com in the tab/page named “DVD Library” Movies can be viewed in ILC C5 0028.Learning materials (vocab quizlets, ppts, worksheets) for many movies: www.uaeumovielab.wordpress.com.
For teachers: check out new short-film lesson plans from Kieran Donaghy, July 17, 2016. I just watched “Paperman” and it’s sweet:http://kierandonaghy.com/seven-best-animations-language-cl…/
Also, visit the Movie Lab blog and Movie Lab facebook page — please join!
Join us — this is a really unique movie that explains advanced scientific ideas for people of all ages…..
See the Trailer here
Join us December 14, 2-4:30 p.m. in C1-0005, for GUARDIANS of the GALAXY, a 2014 sci-fi adventure with Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana. See the preview below:
Other news:
Join us Monday, November 9, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m., C1-0052. Afterward, please join our discussions on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
Overview:
When her father unexpectedly passes away, young Ella finds herself s alone with her unkind stepmother and step-sisters. She never gives up hope, and, with help from friends, Ella’s fortunes begin to change on one enchanged evening.
The all-star cast includes Kenneth Branagh as the king, and Helena Bonham-Carter as Fairy Godmother. See the Preview below and check out some vocabulary.
Related Vocabulary
Movie Lab 