Mountain students make short films to learn literature
(Baonghean.vn) - High school students in Tuong Duong district transformed into characters in typical literary works through short film clips written and directed by the students themselves.
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| A scene from the short film "A Phu's Wife" created by students. Photo cut from clip |
Since the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, with the motto of bringing literary works into life, teacher Nguyen Quoc Phong, a Literature teacher at Tuong Duong 2 High School, has encouraged students to "transform into the works" so that they can explore, experience and create. Through the adaptation of literary works in the program into short films, teachers and students have had extremely interesting experiences with exciting and enthusiastic lessons.
By dividing the class into 4 study groups, each group chooses a work that they have learned or are about to learn in the program, reads, writes a script, and then adapts it into a short film clip with a duration of 5 to 10 minutes. During the adaptation process, the teacher gives feedback, corrects, supplements, and co-creates with the actors who are playing their favorite characters for the first time.
| Short film Husband and Wife A Phu. |
After nearly a year of implementation, by the end of April 2018, Mr. Phong's active class had published 4 short film clips. Each film clip of the students has become an extremely useful "teaching tool", helping teachers and the students to easily convey and remember the plot, feel and deeply understand the hidden values in each literary work. The students got to see a limping Chi Pheo from the short story of the same name by Nam Cao, an impressive young man Trang and Miss Thi from "The Picked-up Wife" by Kim Lan, and then an abusive husband and a resigned wife from the work "The Boat Out at Sea" by writer Nguyen Minh Chau.
The short film “A Phu’s Wife” has left a lasting impression on the students and teachers at this mountainous school in Tuong Duong. The film brings viewers many images of the mountainous region with mountains, forests, streams, costumes and even the native language of the children themselves.
| Excerpt from the movie Chi Pheo performed by students. |
Mr. Phong said that each of the students' films is the product of their own reading, summarizing, and writing of the script. In particular, the students downloaded video-making software to their smartphones, then found the scenes, processed, inserted music, dialogue, and narration. The completion time for each work is one month.
“The fact that the students in the mountainous region can read together, then adapt a literary work into a film and act as actors makes them extremely excited. Thanks to that, many of them are more enthusiastic about studying than usual, and also love the subject more,” added Mr. Phong.
Lo Thi Tra My, a 12th grade A2 student, said: “We had some really funny filming sessions. This was the first time I really felt emotional when approaching a short story. This is the most memorable memory for me in my Literature studies so far.”
“If learning was like this, everyone would want to go to school”, “I can’t forget this work”… are the extremely positive responses from the students of class 12A2 after successfully completing their tasks.
When the film clips are completed, in addition to using them to teach the classes he is in charge of, Mr. Phong also shares them with his colleagues in the Literature group to use in class.
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| A scene from the short film A Phu's Wife, acted out and produced by students. Photo cut from clip |
“In addition to this form, Mr. Phong also often uses strange methods when teaching. The creative reading comprehension method he applies has brought interesting lessons to students. Thanks to that, students at the school enjoy studying Literature more, and their learning results have improved significantly” - Ms. Tran Thi Giang, Head of the Literature - Foreign Language Group, Tuong Duong 2 High School said.
“According to the general trend, the phenomenon of students not being interested in Literature is quite common. In addition to social reasons, stereotypical and mechanical teaching is one of the reasons that erodes students' love for literature. Therefore, the school needs teachers who are always creative and dare to apply new teaching methods like Mr. Phong” - Mr. Tran Dinh Manh, Principal of Tuong Duong 2 High School shared.
