Sie sind hier:

A lesson for Carl

Gruppenarbeit

class:

Film Up

date:

If you need help with the vocabulary, you can use one of the dictionaries on the teacher´s desk.

If you need (more) ideas, you can ...

use the sheet "A lesson for Carl – some guiding questions (group B)"
use the sheet "A lesson for Carl – some ideas (group C)"

Film Up: A lesson for Carl – communication exercise

Discuss the following questions with your partner:

Why has Carl never completely read Ellie´s adventure book before?
What does Carl learn from the book?
What have Carl´s experiences with Russell and Muntz taught him about his life with Ellie?
Why does Carl throw out a lot of his belongings after having read Ellie´s adventure book?

class:

Film Up

date:

Film Up: A lesson for Carl – some guiding questions (group B)

The following questions are suggestions that you can use in your discussion. Feel free to ignore the ones you don´t like or come up with your own ideas.

Question 1:

Does he think Ellie was happy with him? Think of reasons.
What about the promise he gave her?
What about the difference(s) between Carl´s and Ellie´s characters?

Question 2:

How did Ellie feel about her life with Carl?
When Ellie was alive, did Carl know about her feelings, her hopes and fears?

Question 3:

What about his responsibility to Russell?
What about keeping promises?
What about his opinion of Carl Muntz?
What has the trip to South America taught Carl about himself?
Are Russell, Dug, and Kevin his friends?

Question 4:

Are there only practical reasons?

class:

Film Up

date:

Film Up: A lesson for Carl – some ideas (group C)

!!! The following statements are suggestions that you can use in your discussion. They are not necessarily the correct answers to the questions. Feel free to diasagree with them or come up with your own ideas !!!

Question 1:

He thought Ellie was unhappy with him.
He thought he had ruined Ellie´s life.
He was ashamed that he had not kept his promise to take Ellie to South America.
He was afraid that during their marriage Ellie had more dreams which she couldn´t make come true.
He felt guilty because Ellie didn´t have any children.
He didn´t want to face the fact that Ellie was so much cooler than he himself.

Question 2:

Even after Ellie´s death, Carl wants to keep his promise to her.
Ellie loved him and was very happy with him.
Ellie saw her married life as a big adventure.
As an adult she changed her attitude towards life.
He has learned to forgive himself.

Question 3:

He has broken several promises:

to Ellie; that he would take her to South America;
to Kevin: that he would take her to her children;
to Russell: that he would not leave Kevin.

His (and Ellie´s) admiration for Muntz was a very bad idea.
He himself is much tougher than he had thought.
It is more difficult to be responsible for a child than he had imagined.
People (and animals) still like and need him (Russell / Kevin / Dug).
Although Ellie is dead, he can still enjoy his life.