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?

Our year 6's have just read an abridged version of Oliver Twist which had some rather uncomfor table and challenging concepts, including murder and death. Now they are reading about slaves on a plantation and their bid to escape the cruel regime.

Oliver Twist and the Silver Sword are in no way comparable to the Hunger Games!

We read the Silver Sword at 10/11.

RicottaPancakes They were not watching it for fun, but as part of an English lesson.

Oliver Twist and the Silver Sword are in no way comparable to the Hunger Games!

Oliver Twist has murder,domestic violence, orphans, child cruelty, stealing and what amounts to child slavery . Think that just about covers everything and imo much 'worse' than THG. I haven't read the Silver Sword but read Lord of the Flies at school at 11.

Not rtft but get a grip. If at 11 your dd is so sheltered she struggles to understand the difference between reality and a film, then that really is down to you to work on.

Ditto the content of hunger games itself, I know lots of dc who read the trilogy at primary age, not limited to those who were already into adult literature.

An interesting thread. I think that at 11 there are vast differences within a classroom of children. Some will be able to cope with more disturbing concepts and others not. My ds, who used to be constantly reading at that age would have read THG by that age and also all sorts of other 'difficult' texts, eg the HPotters which I have never thought particularly benign. He would have taken all of that in his stride but I know my eldest dd wouldn't have.

I had to have a discussion last week with my youngest dd (8) about the dystopian genre after she overheard a discussion about The Handmaid's Tale I was having. It reminded me of how great those type of novels are for prompting all sorts of thought processes in young people. She was able to understand the concept after I explained what a utopia and dystopia is but she was worried by the concept. So even a younger child can grasp these things. I also explained that dystopian works are often a product of a society at the time and I think that that is a useful point to get across.

FWIW I was really drawn to dystopian stuff at quite a young age and loved BNW, 1984 and Animal Farm however I can remember being absolutely terrified of a mockmentary type of thing about nuclear war called Threads. I would assume that it was my perception of the likelihood of that scenario which made me so frightened as I saw this at a time that nuclear threat seemed imminent.

I think that a child who has not heard of THG by the age of 11 is probably in the minority and the teacher or person who designed the scheme of work thought it would be a great way to engage the class. And as someone else mentioned up thread Katniss is a fantastic female protagonist.

Is anyone actually listening to me?

My dd is year 7 in a state comprehensive. They watched 15 minutes of the hunger games to spark a topic on writing about survival. They did not see anything particularly scary. I am presuming the OP's dd was in exactly the same situation.

At this age they should still be children. I don't understand or agree with trying to make childfen grow up too soon. There are plenty of more suitable films for this age. Plenty of time to be grown up later.

Childhood is a good time to introduce the concepts of death, cruelty, pain, survival.

Children don't need, nor do they benefit from living in a sanitised lala land, where nothing bad ever happens.

I did of mice of men and to me this was much more disturbing themes than hunger games

can I just put it out there that this thread is veering towards the plotline of "Fahrenheit 451'by Ray Bradbury

Loved all your comments Owl. And thanks to all the English teachers who posted - really informative and taught me a lot.

Whether the film is suitable or not is a side issue. Why watch a film in an English lesson full stop? I can understand going to the theatre or even watching a video of a production of a play, so that the text can be understood in the format it was intended to be seen/heard in, but the film or TV adaptation of a book makes no sense. Just read the book!

Films are a perfectly legitimate art form. There is no play of the hunger games.
It would cost a lot to take a whole year group to a play
There wasn't time to read the book

Hth

And again....
THEY ARE NOT STUDYING THE HUNGER GAMES

THEY HAVE USED PART OF THE FILM TO. SPRINGBOARD IDEAS ABOUT WRITING A PIECE OF FICTION ABOUT SURVIVAL

Yeah, so? They can still read the book or use extracts on the book for that.

There is no play of the Hunger Games

No, but there is a book.

Hth.

Well they didn't. And dd really enjoyed it, wrote a brilliant story and got the highest grade for it. So clearly it's working.

Dd tells me that they did read extracts from the book as well.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with watching a film version of a book. Dd2 is at a very high achieving indie and they watched the film of macbeth and the crucible!

Yeah, they are both plays, which was my point...

Macbeth and The Crucible are plays but there are also movies of them.

I don't see it as any worse than the lord of the flies (a group of teenagers killing each other and being absolutely feral, essentially) which I watched in yr 6. It's also a 12A meaning that she's almost old enough to watch it without an adult (but can without an adult).
I do think your child is young for her age, this is a good time to start explaining fact vs fiction and that films can depict scary, sad or distressing things but it's not really happening. Not going in all guns blazing at the teacher

Of course. My opinion is it's fine to show a production of a play, but watching a film (whether that's a film of a book, a play or anything else) doesn't constitute an English lesson. I studied English Literature at university and we were encouraged not to watch a film adaptation of a book because it had the potential to cloud our understanding of the text itself. That has obviously shaped my view on this particular scenario.

It's just a difference of opinion, I don't necessarily think there is a right or wrong answer.

Meant to say,
YANBU to be sad or even a bit disappointed that your child is growing up a bit (and that she was sad). But it's part of her growing up so you'd be U to bring it up with the teacher.
Does anyone remember the short films they'd show in class and assembly? From the last year of primary and up.

They'd (though not explicitly) show a child eg playing chicken and ending up under a train, ODing on drugs, throwing a life jacket into the water near the sea for the shits of it then someone else dying because there wasn't anything to throw out to save them.
Those were distressing and almost always the entire hall or class would be in tears.
Making a child cry happens with a lot of movies, even educational short films which are designed to make your child think twice before endangering themselves (I left school in the last decade so not too long ago).

An innocent protected childhood is such a modern day pretend luxury. There are children all over the world suffering and seeing misery. Watching any film in a safe, dry and warm classroom is not something to so get worked up about!!