Lesson Ideas on “Men in Black 4: International”

Like all the parts of the sequel of ‘Men in Black’ movies, ‘Men in Black 4 International’ has had a big hype around since its release. As movies of this genre appeal to both adults and teenagers, hereinafter we present some nice lesson plan ideas on it.

1. Warm up

Start the lesson with the UFO discussion. Ask students if they believe that aliens exist and visit the Earth. Then revise modals of deductions and Second Conditional and ask students to discuss questions in pairs:

• What’s your favourite movie or book about UFOs?
• What might aliens look/behave like?
• What would you say to an alien if you met one?
• What would you do if you saw an alien?
• How would our lives and world change if aliens frequently visited the Earth?
• Why would aliens visit the Earth?
• Why might they abduct people?

Play the short movie ‘Lifted” and ask

“Why do you think these aliens try to abduct a man?”

2. Watch the trailer

• Why is the movie called ‘Men in Black 4: International’? (Students need to focus on the word ‘International’)
• What kind of device do men in black hold in their hands? (9th-second scene) In which cases do they use this device?
• What kind of character is the small creature on 2.04 minute? Is he a positive or a negative hero. How have the agents appeared in the desert? (2.10 minute)

Key.

1. Students can see scenes from different parts of the world: London, Paris, the USA, desert
2. This device erases people’s memory. They use the device if they don’t want people to remember anything connected with the job men in black do.
3. He is a positive hero and helps the men in black agents.
4. Their aircraft has crashed.

If you have an opportunity to watch the movie in the lesson:

3. Scene Continuation

It’s time to watch the movie. The teacher sorts out the most exciting and interesting scenes, moments, stops the recording and asks students to guess what will happen after this scene. This discussion will lead to a number of very interesting ideas which can be boarded to stimulate the learners to take part in the discussion and come up with more interesting ideas. When they finish the brainstorming part, the teacher turns the video on and the students watch the continuation. Usually, their reactions are very different. Some shout in excitement and satisfaction that they have guessed, some are disappointed as their answers were far away from the real one. In any case, classroom thrill is guaranteed.

4. Cause-and-Effect Worksheet

A cause-and-effect worksheet asks students to analyze specific plot points in the movie. You might start them off with an example, providing them with the cause, and then explain how that impacted the story or the effect. A basic cause-and-effect worksheet might start with an event and then include a blank space where the students can fill in the effect of that event.

An example can be: 

Event: Molly has seen an alien when she was a child.

Because of this event, ________________. 

Key:

She has decided to become an agent chasing aliens.

5. Start and Stop With Discussion

The teacher stops the movie at key points so that students can respond as a group to questions posted on the board. As an alternative, students can develop a natural discussion after each stop by talking about their emotions, reactions to this or that event from the scene they have watched.

To assess whether this method is effective for your class, the teacher needs to keep track of the students who participate in each discussion. 

6. Changes in the Plot

Students are asked to work in groups and change any scene in the movie. They need to write the sequence of events that will change after they have changed this or that scene. In this way they will develop their creativity and critical thinking skills.

As an alternative to this, they may be assigned to shoot the film anew with less budget and less popular actors. They need to be very creative to think of some better scenes and plot lines to attract the audience. 

If you don’t have an opportunity to watch the movie in the lesson:

5. Movie Stills

Students are divided into two groups. The first group is given the first 12 photos from the photo gallery of this site.

They discuss each photo and the story behind it. In this way, they create a film review. The second group does the same with its photos. They share their reviews open-class.

All these ideas will be of great help while designing lesson plans for not only on the movie ‘Men in Black: International’ but also some other movies. If the teacher has made up his/her mind to have a successful movie lesson, these ideas will hone the learning process and give room for the creative and fun classroom atmosphere.