Short animated films

Animation (lat. animare= “to give life to”) refers to the artificial creation of the illusion of movement of inanimate objects with the help of animation techniques (cf. Lütge
2017:66).

Benefits of animated short films in the EFL classroom (Klohn 2017:139, Lütge 2017:67):

● Good accessibility

● Time considerations

● Clear narratives/ easy plotlines

● Popularity (learner-centered approach)

● Strong imagery/ more creative ways to display themes

● Viewer distance/ exploring their own lives in a non-threatening way

● Possibility to deal with tougher topics

● Opportunity to create your own movie

FriendSheep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VtARFNISH4

Genres: Short Animation, Comedy

Release date: June 4, 2012

Country of origin: Spain

A wolf, working as a window washer on a skyscraper, realizes there is an office that is run entirely by sheep. He creates a masterful resume and gets hired. At first,
everyone is terrified of him. He puts off his carnivorous nature and begins to be a very adept office worker, even bringing food for the other employees. But, if he were to
just redeem himself, it wouldn't be very interesting.

LehrplanPlus: 7th grade. Topic: aktuelle Ereignisse in Gesellschaft. T=teacher, S=students.

Lesson plan FriendSheep

 Lesson/ Time, Activity Learning objective Classroom Texts, media Additional comments,
Phase min arrangement explanations
Warm up 5 Hot potato  Starting your ESL lesson in the The whole class A ball In this game you pass around an
Topic “Short animated films” right way can set the tone for object- a ball. Set up a timer in
the entire day; your classroom. As each learner
 Jumping straight into a difficult passes around the ‘hot potato’
topic can leave learners feeling they have to think of a word or
overwhelmed; phrase for a topic “Short
 Help learners get their brains animated films”. As soon as
into action. they’ve thought of one, and you
approve, they can pass the ‘hot
potato’ on. Whoever is holding it
when the time goes off is out.
Pre-viewing 5 1. T tells S that they are going to  Activating background Frontal work Though cartoons but with deeper
stage watch an animated short film. information; thoughts.
2. T asks what kind of animated  Predicting the topic of the film
films S have seen and what do and its content.
they know about the genre.
3. T. tells and shows S the name of
the film and asks them what the
film may be about (also the picture
can be shown)
While- 15 1. a. T shows film until 1.07 only  Developing of audio-visual
viewing stage wolf’s grinning face can be seen. comprehension
b. S guess again what the film is  Understanding complex Individual/pair-
about and describe the scenery authentic material (here: a short work
they expect to see. animated movie)
2. a. T. shows film until 4.05: When  Take notes on the process of
wolf appeared with a box identifying theme
b. Everyone writes down one or  Identifying the message of the Individual
two ideas about what is inside. film and argumentation
c. S share their ideas and discuss
reasons for them.
3. a. T shows the film until 4.50
when the hungry wolf looks
around. Pairwork
b. S describe the possible variants
of his behaviour
c. S are asked to predict a possible
ending of the film
4. a. T shows the film until 5.22
 when the screen is black, guessing
what wolf’s thoughts are.
b. Also stating how does the music *If there is enough time or for
and wolf’s appearance change stronger students: discuss how
and with the help of what does the music, camera
methods we distinguish this. movements affect the
5. a. T shows the rest of the film atmosphere and discuss the
with an open-ending changes in wolf’s appearance.
b. S talk about their feelings and
discuss the message of the film. The whole class
Post-viewing 15 1. T hands out worksheets (WS:  Developing social competencies: Groupwork S are divided into 5 groups and
stage The wolf’s thoughts) from working in groups write the wolf’s thoughts.
00.20 till 1.07  Writing comments on the theme
2. Share the ideas about the  Predict the ending
possible endings of the film

*Can also be dubbed

Summing up 5 In a few sentences S repeat the  Summarize the main moments The whole class Can be made with the use of the
content of the film.  Reflexing screenshots from the film.
Homework 3 Create the ending of the film  Evaluating creativity and Individual or in
either with the help of ToonTastic fantasy small groups
App, PPT or paint some scenes or
just in oral form predict what
comes next.
 WS Wolf’s thoughts. Short-animated film “FriendSheep”

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