Theme: British Animation
Lexical area: Describing characters and expressing opinions

Instructions for language assistants in Italics

Classroom materials

Introduction
This lesson is based on British animation and some tasks require visual aids so it does require a little more preparation on your part than the other Essential UK lessons. The British animation industry has seen something of a boom in recent years with the success of creations such as Bob the Builder, Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit, the film Valiant or the new hi-tech film version of the 1970’s classic The Magic Roundabout.

Task 1 looks at pictures of cartoon characters and Task 2 gets students talking to each other about animation. Task 3 involves watching a clip of some British animation for students to comment on and Task 4 is a reading task about the making of Valiant. Task5 and Task 6 are creative tasks where students have the chance to create a cartoon character and a comic strip.

1. Flash the face
This task requires you to get some pictures of cartoon characters and pictures of characters from animated films. Pick characters from a variety of countires including some that are from the country you teach in or are popular there. You could get the pictures from the internet.

Tell the students you are going to flash them a picture of a famous ‘person’ and you want them to tell you who it is. When they have guessed the characters select a few of the most popular ones and ask students to tell you what they know about them. If you like, add a few British classics from your childhood such as Postman Pat, The Wombles or The Magic Roundabout (depending on your age, your childhood favourites may be different!) If the students don’t know who they are use this information gap for them to ask questions about them.

Task 1 Flash the face
Your teacher is going to show you some pictures. Who are they? What do you know about them?



2. Find the animation fans
This is a find somebody who activity to get students speaking to each other and finding out who is interested in animation. Tell students they have to put different class mates in each row, they can’t just talk to one person. If you have lower levels check they know how to ask the questions before they stand up to mingle with each other and if necessary write them up on the board for students to refer to.

Eg. “do you have a favourite cartoon?”

“have you watched any cartoons this week?”

“are you a good artist?” etc.

Task 2 Find the animation fans

3. Let’s watch a clip!
For this task you will need to have access to a TV and a DVD/video player and a DVD/video of a British animated film or series. See if teachers or students could lend you one or have a look in the local or school library. Check in your school as you may have to reserve the equipment in advance. If it’s the first time you are using video in class, try to have it set up and ready to go before the students arrive to avoid any technical hitches when you have the room full of students! If you have a computer room with a big screen you could download a clip from the internet. Check out the short films on http://www.bbc.co.uk/newtalent/newanimator/

If you have limited time, five minutes of viewing would be enough for students to complete the task. If time isn’t a problem you could watch if you combine with some ‘while you watch’ or ‘after you watch’ tasks. Getting the students to write some true or false sentences about the clip is one simple type of activity..

Task 3 Let’s watch a clip!

You’re going to watch a clip of British animation. As you watch, make notes in the table below.

4. Culture Lab reading: Animation flies home
This is a reading task for higher level students from the (no longer available) British Council Culture Lab site.

Before students do the reading comprehension show them some pictures of the characters from Valiant and use them to explain the title. You’ll find pictures on the same site or go to http://www.valiantmovie.co.uk/

Put students into small groups to do this task. The pre-reading task will help you find out how interested your students are in animated films. If there are a few animation fans, split them up into different groups to do the task to spread the enthusiasm!

Task 4 Culture Lab reading: Animation flies home
This is a reading task for higher levels.

Before you read the text ask your classmates what they know about the following films:

Now you’re going to read about the making of Valiant. Read the text and then discuss the questions below in your group.

• Compared to the Hollywood blockbusters, was Valiant an expensive film to make?
• What’s Valiant about?
• Do you think it’s important to have famous people as the voices of animated characters?
• Do you prefer digital animation or old-fashioned animation? Why?

5. Design your own cartoon character
Tell your students they have got a job with a production company and they are going to design a new character for an animated film. Give an example of a character and ask a student to draw what they think the character would look like. Ask students who like drawing and divide the budding artists up into different groups. When all the groups have finished show the group all the characters and you could have a class vote on which one is the best.

Task 5 Design your own cartoon character
You are working for a film production company and have been asked to create a new cartoon character for an animated film.

Name:

Date of birth:

Nationality:

Job:

Special qualities:

Personality:

Draw your character here:











6. Make your own comic strip
Put students in pairs for this task. If you like, use big A3 paper and get students to make the comic strip as big as they like and use different shapes and designs. The basic comic strip in the classroom materials could be used if you haven’t got much time, but if students are into the task I would get them to make bigger comic strips so they can really go to town.

Task 6 Make your own comic strip
Would you like to be a cartoon artist? Here’s your chance to test your skills and make a cartoon strip.

Internet links

Newsround site asks young people, ‘What’s your favourite cartoon and why?’:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/

The creators of Wallace and Gromit and the Creature Comforts:
http://www.aardman.com/

The dfilm website is great if you have computer access with your students. They can make their own digital movie. It’s really easy to use. If you don’t have computer access you could ask them to make one at home and e-mail it to you:
http://www.dfilm.com/

The British Animations Awards website:
http://www.britishanimationawards.com/

Information about the British Animation Awards 04:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts

Information about the BBC series Animation Nation, about the history of British Animation:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/

The new Magic Roundabout site:
http://www.the-magic-roundabout.com

By Jo Budden