Watching a movie in class is always a treat for both students and teachers, but what if enjoying a film could be educational as well? There are several academic benefits that go along with movies, such as memory performance. Students may get tired of hearing about the same topic in class, but when they are exposed to it in a film, they are intrigued all over again. They are able to retain information they see in videos better than what they read in books or hear in a lecture.
There are also countless opportunities for completing worksheets and activities after the movie is over, from listening practice to reading and writing. It's a great way to combine entertainment with education, no matter which grade level you teach. In this movie worksheet roundup, we've compiled the hottest activities for students, covering films like The Lion King, Maleficent, Home Alone, and Hamiltion the Musical!
10 Movie Worksheets
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1
Hamilton the Musical
Hamilton was an instant hit as soon as it went to Broadway, winning awards and turning into an international sensation. This worksheet dives into the origins of Hamilton and is accompanied by a short YouTube video. Students will get the chance to learn about American history, how the musical came to be, and what makes it so unique. They will also get to practice reading and new vocabularly. In addition to showing the video, you can play a couple of songs from the musical to the class, and if you have time, you can even stream the entire musical via Disney+. This activity is recommended for high school students.
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2
Bill Nye: Electricity
Bill Nye videos are fantastic for all generations. And while his movies are typically used to teach students basic science topics, this activity is geared towards speaking and listening for ESL students. While watching the video, students will follow along on their worksheet and answer the questions to the best of their ability. Then, there are vocabularly words the students can read over like discharge, voltage, and power plant. Go over the answers as a class and create a speaking activity from the electricity terms. There are so many ways you can use this worksheet! The activity was created for intermediate or advanced students.
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3
Less Stuff, More Happiness
- Showing TED talks to your class is a great way to teach new concepts and vocabularly, as well as expose students to valuable life lessons. In this video worksheet, you'll show your students a talk by Graham Hill about possessions. He poses the question "can having less stuff, in less room, lead to more happiness?" The worksheet includes a pre-actvity for students to work on that will prime them for the subject matter. Once they have filled out that section and understand what each of the phrases mean, give them instructions for part two, which they will complete while they watch the movie. After the video is finished, you can go over the true and false answers as a class. This video is a great way to practice conversations using the new vocabularly and concepts your students have learned.
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4
Super Size Me
Super Size Me is an age-old movie that's been used in the classroom for years. It's a movie about the fast food industry and how eating processed food from these restaurants impacts the human body. Showing the movie is usually a success for teachers because the information is extremely relevant, interesting, and even shocking to students. The worksheet is split up into a few sections. First, students will need to complete the facts, then choose the correct answer, and put the sentences in order. It's best to have the class fill out the worksheet while they are watching the movie so you can have a group discussion about it after. Super Size Me and the accompanying activity are best for pre-intermediate or intermediate students.
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5
The Lion King
The Lion King is a classic for all ages, but this particular movie worksheet is perfect for elementary-aged kids. After watching The Lion King, students should work on the fill-in-the-blank activity, where they will look at an image of each main character and recall their names. Then, they will use the word bank to fill in adjectives that describe the characters, such as funny, dangerous, fat, and thin. This movie worksheet is a great activity for ESL students who are just learning adjectives and ways to describe people and things.
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6
It's Movie Time
While this worksheet doesn't follow a movie, it's all about talking about movies, genres, and actors. This speaking activity is created for teenage students, namely freshman and sophomore students. The activity is built like a board game, where students have to move from one box to the next to answer questions about their favorite movies and related subjects. From start to finish, there are 24 boxes. Students can pair up, teachers can play one-on-one with students, or you can work as a group, but the purpose is to have students answer the questions out loud to get practice reading, interpretting common vocabularly, and speaking.
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7
Famous People - Van Gogh
Teach your students all about Van Gogh and his life with this movie worksheet! You'll start off by playing the YouTube video for the class and have them answer follow-up questions, identify some of Van Gogh's most famous paintings that are mentioned in the video, and describe the artist's bedroom as it is depicted in one of his works. The activity will not only give students a background on the famous artist, but it will help improve their listening skills and give them practice on there is/are and prepositions of place.
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8
Maleficent
Students will love to get the chance to watch Maleficent in class! This worksheet provides comprehesive practice for listening, reading, and writing with three different activities that they will complete before watching, while watching, and after watching. The "before" section preps students to think about the plotline before Maleficent begins, which is the story of Sleeping Beauty (if they have never seen it, that's okay). Then, they will follow along closely with the movie to answer a series of questions about the setting, characters, and plot. Finally, students will get the opportunity to be creative and draw their favorite part of the movie.
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9
Guess the Movie
This movie worksheet doesn't require you to play a film in class, but it's a fun way to get your students talking about popular movies and their storylines. The activity is primarily for speaking and reading practice. Students will read over five different prompts that discuss well-known movies such as Harry Potter and the Scocerer's Stone, The Fault in our Stars, Despicable Me, Saw, and Divergent. They can work individually or in groups, and this should be an ungraded, practice assignment since students will likely have not seen every movie on the list. Either way, it's fun for them to guess!
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10
Home Alone
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Everyone loves Home Alone! Teachers can either play the movie in class or have students watch it at home. Either way, students will need get to engage in a fun activity afterward where they are challenged with putting events from the movie in order, as well as answering comprehension questions and learning about slang. It's a great seasonal activity to have students complete when it's nearing the holidays.
For more fun and engaging ways to teach vocab, listening, and reading, check out these top 10 rhyming worksheets.
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