A Period of Change (1870 - 1950)
Day 2 - The Roaring 20's (The 1920's)
Activity 1 | Popular Culture - The Silent Movie
The 1920s saw a massive surge in the number of people going to the movies. Huge new cinemas were built in both Auckland (The Civic Theatre) and Dunedin (Empire De Luxe). The most popular type of movies showing at local NZ cinemas were ‘silent’ films. Gold Rush is an example of an iconic silent film. It features a famous actor named Charlie Chaplin.
Watch the trailer for Gold Rush. On your blog, tell us what you think the movie is about. There are no words spoken movie so you will need to pay careful attention to what the actors are doing! Do you think you would enjoy watching a silent film? Why/Why not?
The Gold Rush | Charlie Chaplin
I think this movie is about four different people in search for Gold.
To be honest, I wouldn't necessarily watch Silent movies, but this movie looked very funny, so I'll make a exception.
Activity 2 | Art Deco
In the 1920s a new artistic movement emerged in New Zealand (and around the world). It was called ‘Art Deco.’ The picture to the right is a classic example of an ‘Art Deco’ piece. Take a close look at the painting. Do you like it?
On your blog, give the painting a rating out of 5 stars (1 star = terrible painting, 2 stars = pretty bad painting, 3 stars = okay painting, 4 stars = good painting and 5 stars = amazing painting). After you’ve rated the painting out of 5, tell us why you gave it that rating.
Right: Self Portrait By Tamara de Lempicka
My Ranking: 5/5
I think this painting is very creative and beautiful. I love the shading and highlighting which makes the painting look even more realistic.
Bonus Activity | Crossing the Tasman
In 1928, a crew of four men flew, for the first time, across the Tasman from Australia to New Zealand. One of the men on board the Southern Cross airplane was a New Zealander named T.H. McWilliams. His job was to operate the radio in the airplane. Unfortunately, the radio stopped working shortly after take-off and the rain and ice were so heavy that the pilot, Kingsford Smith, couldn’t see out of his front windscreen. Yikes! Fortunately, the plane made it all the way across the Tasman landing in Christchurch after a 14 hour trip.
Imagine that you were a member of the flight crew. Write a poem that describes how you would have felt when you landed safely in Christchurch after such a long trip. Remember, there are lots of different types of poems, and they don’t all have to rhyme. You can read more about different types of poems by clicking here.
My Poem | Across the Tasman
F Frightened
L Light Headed
I Impaitent
G Grumpy from the long ride
H Happy to finally land
T Tired
Hey Aaliyah,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you the painting does look like it deserves a 5/5 star rating.
Your poem is great and it really explains how you felt during and after the flight, Why did you choose to do a acrostic poem?
Katelyn :)
Hey Katelyn,
DeleteI chose an acrostic poem because that was the first poem idea that came to mind. I hope that answers your question.
Aaliyah :)
Hi again Aaliyah, I have enjoyed reading your blog post for these three activities.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your honest opinion about the silent movies. Why do you think you wouldn't be interested in watching silent movies? What are some of your favourite modern movies?
Well done for critiquing the painting and giving it five stars. You have given some superb justifications for giving it such a high rating. What do you think of the lady in the painting? Do you like her outfit? Her red lipstick?
Great job with your acrostic poem! I always enjoy teaching kids to write acrostic poems but they often get stuck on a particular letter. It looks as though you didn't! So well done. I especially like the lines; grumpy from the long ride and tired. I think that those emotions sum up how the soldiers would have been feeling.
Great blogging, keep it up!
Billy
Hey Aaliyah,
ReplyDeleteYour Work is continuously impressing me because for a future Form 2 student I kind of think that you have been doing better than me throughout the past few days.
From my point of view I wouldn't either watch silent movies because there wouldn't be any sound just silence which I am not very good at when it comes to long distant waits.
But to end off I think your poem really described how you would feel if you went on an 14 hour air plane ride.
Mikaela