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



Invictus - Movie activity - What Mandela said

As all our attention goes to South Africa today because of the world cup, using Invictus in class might enrich our students understanding and appreciation of this great country. Invictus is based on a true story; One of those stories that sound so impossible that one can find it difficult to believe. Nelson Mandela decided to support a white team to help him unite a country that was on the verge of a civil war. Let's hope that once again sports will help people connect and see the beauty in a rainbow.

1. Talk about the movie, if they have seen it, what it is about. - Make sure students know words to describe a movie. see ideas here.

2. Have an odd one out activity to activate students backgroung knowledge.
3. Have students decide - true / false -historical background information.
4. Have students rewrite true sentences in the direct speech to practice grammar and learn a little about the historical background when Mandela stepped into office.

5. have students watch the scene below and check their answers.

Download the worksheet and movie scene here.

Answer the questions below in pair.

·        Have you seen the movie Invictus?

·        What do you know about the political and economical background?

·        What do you know about Nelson Mandela?

2.    Look at the sentences below and write true of false about the movie Invictus.

a)    In the beginning of the movie Invictus the newsman said that he was in a position to announce that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison. (   )

b)    The recent release of Nelson Mandela triggered a power struggle.

c)    There were reports that the government had been secretly providing guns and that South Africa appeared to be on the verge of a civil war.

d)    Mandela told 100.000 angry young man to take their knives and throw them into the sea.

e)    Black people did not cast a vote in the election.

f)     During his opening speech as the new president Mandela vowed that never again South Afrika would experience oppression.

3.    Rewrite all the true sentences in the direct speech to learn what was really said in real time. Watch the movie segment  on http://tryingoutweb24ed.blogspot.com/2010/06/invictus-movie-activity-what-mandela.html  and check your answers.