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September 19, 2009

Windmills and about being positive.

I was planning lessons related to French and African countries as part of a professional development day on elementary school. When I was trying to find ideas to incorporate in my lessons, I remembered I watched this moving video about a man in Malawi building a windmill on his own just by reading some books about windmills. I could not really use this video in my French lesson as it is all in English but I thought it would be useful for the grade 5 (9-10 years old) homeroom teacher who will teach about Africa.
This video shows what humans can achieve with few resources but with the will to accomplish something big.
When I am in a negative mood or feel I won't make it, I just remember this Malawian guy who did so much with so little!



What about you? what do you use to make yourself feel positive?

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Filed under  //   Africa   African countries   books   elementary school   grade 5   Malawi   Malawian   positive   resources   video   windmill  

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May 20, 2009

About the film Marock.

Recently, I enjoyed watching this controversial Moroccan movie by the female Muslim director Laila Marrakchi.

"The title Marock is a play on words based on the French name of Morocco Maroc and Rock as in Rock'n Roll.
Set in Casablanca, a Moroccan Muslim teen falls for a handsome and progressive-minded Jewish boy. High school is drawing to a close for 17-year-old Rita (Morjana Alaoui) and her carefree friends. When Rita meets fun-loving Youri (Matthieu Boujenah) and the pair hit it off, her liberal Muslim family's open-minds soon begin to close when they discover that their daughter's new boyfriend is Jewish." from Wikipedia.

I thought the tone was a bit naive as it is about teenagers and first love but behind the romance, we discover Morocco today. A country divided between rich and poor and where rich youngsters are living the same kind of life as youngsters in the western part. We also discover a liberal country where girls and women are quite freed from Muslim tights but where there is a strong divide between religious groups, in this case Muslims and Jewish. What stroke me was that Rita's brother comes back from the UK more Muslim than when he was living in Morocco. I thought the ending was a bit coward. Laila Marrakchi did not want to confront with a a difficult choice and so chose an "easier" way to end the film! But I will let you watch it and decide ;)

I also think it is a good film for French learners as wealthy Moroccan people still speak French most of the time and go to prestigious French schools to study. It makes you aware of the strong French legacy in Northern Africa.


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Filed under  //   Africa   film   French   Jewish   Morocco   Muslim   Northern Africa   religion  

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