Invictus - Movie Activity -Talking about Great People

T.I.A. Check out wildsafariafrica.com for your Africa vacation, originally uploaded by Chad Galloway Photo.

I love to get inspired by movies, and I find it extremely rewarding to bring cultural relevant material to the EFL classroom to enrich classes. Invictus is inspirational and extremely beautiful. I put this activity together to tune my students in and have them develop a talk on a famous person they admire and reasons for doing so.

I asked them to post their opinions on our class blog. Only one student did so, but his post was also extremely inspirational.

What Mandela Said

• Have you seen Invictus? What is it about?
• Would you like to see it again?Watch a segment and describe what you see.
• What role does soccer play in this movie?
• What do you know about the economical and political situation in Africa when Mandela was elected president?

Segment 1

1. Read the sentences below and decide which ones were challenges Mandela had to face when he first stepped into office. Watch segment 2 to check.

• Soaring crime
• Social tension
• Fear
• Economical issues.
• Soaring violence
• Poverty

Segment 2

Watch segment 3. President Mandela talks to the former employees. Take notes of words you might need to remember in order to retell the segment.

Segment 3

Describe the scene.
Did you like it? How did it make you feel?
Can you name a person you admire? Why do you look up for her or him?
What are/were his/her accomplishments in life?
If you were asked to write a paragraph about him or her. What would you say? Why would you say it?
Download the worksheet here