teacher’s resource: aurélie laflamme’s diary · teacher’s resource: aurélie laflamme’s...

Teacher’s Resource: Aurélie Laflamme’s Diary3rd Level, S1-S3Curriculum for Excellence links: English, Literacy, Health & Wellbeing

Created by Gill Paton

Discovery Film Festival: Sat 22 October - Sun 6 November 2011discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

© Dundee Contemporary Arts 2011With support from DCA Cinema and DCA Community & Education Team

Introduction

Discovery Learning Resources give you exciting classroom activities to enhance Curriculum for Excellence delivery. This resource provides you with a film synopsis, things to help prepare your class for seeing the film, follow up activities and useful references. We hope that you and your pupils have fun and enjoy learning with this resource.

They are created by classroom teachers and education professionals. Each resources aims to:

• support and extend working with film in the classroom

• help prepare teachers for a class visit to a Discovery Film Festival film and to extend the impact of that visit

• develop confidence in Moving Image Education approaches and working with 21st Century Literacy/moving image texts

Each resource is free and available to download from discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk/resources or via the Discovery Film Festival area on GLOW, which can be found within the Dundee 21st Century Literacy Group.

Teacher’s note on content:This is a beautifully sympathetic but humorous film, Aurélie’s problems will be familiar to most teenagers. Aurélie’s father’s death is shown but sensitively handled. The trailer can be watched at www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8DZdAuac80&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL (please note it does not have subtitles). The film contains three mild expletives.

01 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

Synopsis

Aurélie Laflamme’s Diary (Le journal d’Aurélie Laflamme)Director: Christian LaurenceCanada 2010 / 1h48m

Aurélie has a lot of worries. Feeling rather alien in her all girls’ school, she struggles to maintain interest in her lessons, falls in and out with her best friend and is embarrassed by a tampon falling out of her bag in front of a boy she rather likes.

If only Aurélie could talk to her mother about all this; but ever since her father died, Aurélie and her mother have been quite distant.

Frustrated by her mother’s insistence on a spotlessly clean and tidy house, horrified by the discovery that her mother wears thongs and may be dating her school principle, Aurélie struggles to communicate her feelings.

Instead, believing that she may be an alien, Aurélie confides in her diary.


Before your visit to the cinema

1. Class discussion of the film trailer

Watch the trailer at:www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8DZdAuac80&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Discuss what type of film the trailer suggests.

What ‘genre’ of film might it be?

What are Aurélie’s problems?

Can the class predict elements of the plot?

2. Explore diaries through history and their value as a personal tool and historical document

Discuss and list famous diaries and diarists that feature in our history or current culture (e.g. Samuel Pepys, Lewis Carroll, Virginia Woolf, Harry S Truman, Big Brother video diaries on television, The Vampire Diaries, maybe even Facebook entries).

How have diaries contributed to our knowledge of history or other cultures?www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/diaries_01.shtml is a useful site.

How do we all keep diaries today – does making a video diary or commenting on Twitter/Facebook count as a diary?

How many pupils keep secret diaries ?


After your visit to the cinema

1. Discuss Aurélie’s problems

Are they realistic?

Which is the biggest problem she faces?

2. Writing Activities

a. Letter writing: ‘Dear Agony Aunt/ Uncle…’

As a class, list all Aurélie’s problems (her inability to talk to her mother, her worry about who her mother might be dating, her problems concentrating at school, her fallout with Kat, her feelings for Nicholas).

In small groups, ask the children to choose one of her problems.

Write a letter from Aurélie to an agony aunt or uncle.

Each member of the group should then write a reply, advising her.

It may be beneficial to look at some examples from magazines (suitable problems for class discussions!) to get an idea of the style and tone of the reply.

Once finished, a selection of pupils should be invited to read out their reply.

Class should discuss appropriateness of response.

By considering the type of text I am creating, I can independently select ideas and relevant information for different purposes, and organise essential information or ideas and any supporting detail in a logical order. I can use suitable vocabulary to communicate effectively with my audience. LIT 3-26a

I can engage and/or influence readers through my use of language, style and tone as appropriate to genre. ENG 3-27a


b. Alien-style Diary Aurélie can only confide in her diary. She feels alien and writes her diary from the perspective of an extra-terrestrial reporting back to her home planet.

Write a diary entry in the style of an alien reporting back.

Choose some mundane human activity (e.g. going to the supermarket, getting on the bus, wearing uniform to school).

If more alien perspective is needed as a stimulus, check out 3rd Rock from the Sun (TV programme), The Brother from Another Planet (film), Starman (film) or E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (film). These all deal with the theme of aliens on earth.

Having explored the elements which writers use, I can create texts in different genres by: • integrating the conventions of my chosen genre successfully and/or• using convincing and appropriate structures and/or• creating interesting and convincing characters and/or• building convincing settings which come to life.ENG 3-31a


c) Alliterative Tales

Aurélie manages to get an ‘A’ in her French test by writing a poem which uses alliteration (with words beginning with the letter ‘a’).

Her teacher describes it as ‘impressive and surreal.’

Ask pupils to write their own alliterative tale using any letter.

It can be as surreal as it needs to be but the alliteration should include nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.

This could be extended into a storyboarding activity with images.

I can use a range of strategies and resources and spell most of the words I need to use, including specialist vocabulary, and ensure that my spelling is accurate. LIT 3-21a

I can engage and/or influence readers through my use of language, style and tone as appropriate to genre. ENG 3-27a


Evaluating this resource

We hope that you found this resource useful and appropriate. We welcome film reviews, letters from pupils, documentation of classwork and your feedback; email them to [email protected] or post them to Discovery Film Festival, DCA, 152 Nethergate, DD1 4DY

Would you make a good Discovery Film Festival Case Study?

We are seeking a number of simple Case Studies in how teachers have used or are using Discovery films in the classroom across Curriculum for Excellence and across the Levels.

Any case studies that we develop would be intended for presentation on GLOW, the Creativity Portal and on Discovery Film Festival and participating venues’s website. We have a simple template to be completed and are keen to have classwork and documentation included.

If you would like to be a Discovery Case Study please email [email protected]


teacher’s resource: aurélie laflamme’s diary · teacher’s resource: aurélie laflamme’s...

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