To think this is stupid in an English lesson in year 7?

[justmeandmeandonlyme]

My daughter who is 11 years old in year 7 has told me she has been watching hunger games in her English lesson. She said she was nearly crying because of the people dying in it ( I have watched the full series Of hunger games Myself) and she thought it was real.. she is only 11 bad doesn’t watch things like that at home. But am I being unreasonable to think this is not even remotely educational in an english lesson??? I just don’t see how watching a film like that is going to teach kids anything apart from how to sit and cry at a film?

showme I'm not a potential literature grad by any means but I have read very widely, and I do see where you're coming from to an extent. Game of thrones and the hog father are the only film/ tv adaptations that spring to mind as being still great when I've read the book prior to watching. At the least adaptations are a let down, at worst I get infuriated by the fact they miss/ change what to me are crucial elements.

But in fairness there are plenty of adaptations I've watched before ever hearing of the book, and quite often it has been watching that has led me to find and love the original book. And more often than not led me to read the relevant non fiction on the topic too. But I can think of very few where I watched as a child/teen and dismissed the book as being boring without trying it.

However even for books that are mainstream, it's fair to say some dc either won't have heard of them or won't consider them interesting, and watching first can inspire them to do so.

PotatoSalad, I agree that English lessons should focus on the text themselves. But I think that sometimes films can be very useful as supporting materials, to enable students to grasp the possibilities of the text, and to see what art is about. I also makes it easier for (many) children to become interested in texts and art.

For example, I think that watching Akira Kurosawa's Ran is a fantastic idea for anyone who's interested in King Lear and/or Macbeth.

You're right. The school system at times is odd though.
I remember watching a film in early secondary which seemed totally inappropriate and not suitable for our age or class. We knew it wasn't real but we also didn't have the choice to walk out and do something more productive in my eyes.
Home schooling calls to me more every day for those years.

I have heard teachers say that they are getting more complaints these days from parents, about texts that have been taught for decades. More parents seem to want to shelter children from life itself.

I've watched the HG films all of them with my dd(12 at the time) has she read the books. We watched Harry Potter films and she enjoyed the Prisoner of Azkaban although I found that one quite "dark" She didn't see it that way just enjoyed the "story" ( she was junior school age). I have never purposely let my children watch films that were disturbing/horror (usually watched with older sibling first) but can remember my son being very upset at the scener in Dumbo where the mum gets chained up he cried and hid behind the sofa! I think a lot of the Disney stories are quite dark and yet we let our early years children watch them without a second thought and they get that it's not real but empathise/laugh/cry. I would be concerned if at year 7 my child didn't have some concept of real life/imagination as it's a hard old world out here and we are subjected to horrors on the tv/news/streets daily?

DS was introduced by his primary school to The Hunger Games in Y6 (the book, rather than the film), and was totally enthralled by it. He then watched the films and loved them too.

(I could not watch the films at all as I am a big wuss.)