Overview

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Tests

1) California Traffic

2) Human Rights

    (+Participles)

3) Vergleichsarbeit

   (Technology/pdf)

4) State Quarters/ def.art.

5) Animal Farm

Nachschreibarbeit

Programme tip: Friday, July 10, 22:00 to 22:30 BBC 4: The Big Read: Battle of the Books

Teaching Ideas: Suggested Before Viewing Questions and Activities

ALL ABOUT ORWELL

Characters in TurnerNetworkTelevision's ANIMAL FARM

Ideas for team work

Quiz on Animal Farm (for attendants of the TNT video presentation)

1. What is your favorite scene in the movie? Say why.

2. Describe a scene that does not meet your expectations. Make suggestions for an alternative rendering.

3. What special effects are used in the 1999 version of AF?

4. In what way does the movie differ from the book? What cuts have been made? Any changes to the chronological order of events?

One user comment on www.imdb.com reads:

Tamerlane, sacred soil of Virginia, Date: 31 March 2003

They killed it

This miniseries is an abomination. It totally missed the point of Orwells [sic] book. The writers took a whole lot of artistic liscense [sic] to make this load of pig dung. People who put animal farm [sic] to film or cartoon seem to hate the ending. Its [sic] supposed to end in a certain way, not dragging out into meaningless subplots and extensions. The book was supposed to be about the betrayal of Communist ideals in the Soviet Union rather than some dumbed down version of Babe.

Write an answer to this commentator.

"And now, comrades, I will tell you about my dream of last night. I cannot describe that dream to you. It was a dream of the earth as it will be when Man has vanished. But it reminded me of something that I had long forgotten. Many years ago, when I was a little pig, my mother and the other sows used to sing an old song of which they knew only the tune and the first three words. I had known that tune in my infancy, but it had long since passed out of my mind. Last night, however, it came back to me in m y dream. And what is more, the words of the song also came back—words, I am certain, which were sung by the animals of long ago and have been lost to memory for generations. I will sing you that song now, comrades. I am old and my voice is hoarse, but when I have taught you the tune, you can sing it better for yourselves. It is called Beasts of England."

Old Major cleared his throat and began to sing. As he had said, his voice was hoarse, but he sang well enough, and it was a stirring tune, something between Clementine and La Cucaracha. The words ran:  

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,

Beasts of every land and clime,

Hearken to my joyful tidings

Of the golden future time.

Soon or late the day is coming,

Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown,

And the fruitful fields of England

Shall be trod by beasts alone.

Rings shall vanish from our noses,

And the harness from our back,

Bit and spur shall rust forever,

Cruel whips no more shall crack.

Riches more than mind can picture,

Wheat and barley, oats and hay,

Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels

Shall be ours upon that day.

Bright will shine the fields of England,

Purer shall its waters be,

Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes

On the day that sets us free.

For that day we all must labour,

Though we die before it break;

Cows and horses, geese and turkeys,

All must toil for freedom's sake.

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,

Beasts of every land and clime,

Hearken well and spread my tidings

Of the golden future time.

The singing of this song threw the animals into the wildest excitement. Almost before Major had reached the end, they had begun singing it for themselves. Even the stupidest of them had already picked up the tune and a few of the words, and as for the clever ones, such as the pigs and dogs, they had the entire song by heart within a few minutes. And then, after a few preliminary tries, the whole farm burst out into Beasts of England in tremendous unison. The cows lowed it, the dogs whined it, the sheep bleated it, the horses whinnied it, the ducks quacked it. They were so delighted with the song that they sang it right through five times in succession, and might have continued singing it all night if they had not been interrupted.

John F. Kennedy: "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a 'Berliner'")

delivered 26 June 1963, West Berlin

Audio mp3 of Entire Address

 I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress, and to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.

Two thousand years ago, two thousand years ago,  the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum." Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

(I appreciate my interpreter translating my German.)

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world.

Let them come to Berlin.

There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future.

Let them come to Berlin.

And there are some who say, in Europe and elsewhere, we can work with the Communists.

Let them come to Berlin.

And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress.

Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect. But we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in -- to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say on behalf of my countrymen who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride, that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope, and the determination of the city of West Berlin.

While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system -- for all the world to see -- we take no satisfaction in it; for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.

What is true of this city is true of Germany: real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people.

You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you, as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin.

And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner."

 Old Man River  miniproject

US State Mint:

50 State Quarters

Friday, May 23, 2003: 19:30 to 20:00 Travel Channel

Example Texts/ Find connectives and underline them.

Text A):

The Bush administration continues to press for a war on Iraq, bullying members of the United Nations even as it threatens to go forward alone. A significant percent of Americans and all our allies agree: a unilateral strike against Baghdad is both unwarranted and potentially disastrous.

This content file offers readers breaking news, the best analysis, activism resources, and timely information they need to resist this precipitous rush to war.

Source: www.alternet.org/waroniraq/

Text B)

I can't believe we're watching the war live Bush Watches Some of Baghdad Bombardment on TV

The White House came up with this after the Press Corps went literally crazy asking Ari Fleischer this question.
Apparently, those morons don't think the war is "real" for the Commander in Chief unless he sees it on CNN!
However, the TV coverage also explains why I haven't been blogging much...
watching this war happen "live" has had me mesmerized--I admit it.
It's "reality TV" to the max.
And with those reporters being imbedded with the troops, their reports really are the news of the war.
If you can filter out the Liberal cr*p (which is definitely the case with Fox News), it's almost "pure" news, for a change!
[I happened to flip over to MSNBC and caught Bush-hater Bryan Williams comparing our "Shock and Awe" bombing of Baghdad to the fire-bombing of Dresden during WWII.
Happily, somebody in the Pentagon caught this,too, because Rummy had some choice words for Bryan (even though he didn't mention him by name, "you know who you are") about such remarks at his daily press conference this afternoon! Rummy is so great!]