Eat Pray Love & Desert Flower: Arranged Marriages

Desert Flower's dramatic story and the romantic Eat, Pray, Love have two completely different arranged marriages scenes. They're great to talk about this topic.

Arranged marriage, with its emphasis on compatibility in religious, educational, and financial backgrounds, is most convenient. It's also often pleasing to the parents, since they have approved or even decided on the choice of partner. In some cases, parents will arrange a marriage for business reasons. When a parent engineers a match for a child in order to grow or expand the family business, this is less convenient and compatible. These marriages may fail, being need based and not based in companionship. Often, people who agree to this option only do so because they feel they have no other options or they have previously failed in love.

I. Discuss these questions:






1. How are arranged marriages seen by you and your culture?





2. Would you consider having an arranged marriage for yourself or someone in your family? How so?




3. Why do you think the lowest divorce rates come from countries where arranged marriages are common practice?




4. Is love the most important reason for a couple to get married?





5. Do you consider a marriage in which one of the mates is looking for a better financial situation arranged? Explain it.




6. Do you consider arranged marriages are solutions for illegal immigrants to become legal citizens?






II. Read the statements below and decide if they are true about arranged marriages, according to your own opinion.




( ) There is a deeper trust among the boy and the girl.






( ) There is full family support from both sides.






( ) The bond is stronger and healthier if the families know each other4. Boy and the girl can concentrate on other important






( ) Issues in life, like career and studies, leave the decision on the parents, so the couple can dedicate themselves to their own professional lives while parents decide on the marriage.






( ) The parents take the risk and the most important decision in the boy's and girl's lives.






( ) Arranged marriages encourage caste system, seldom do they look for partners from different social backgrounds.






( ) Parents should choose who is supposed to be the most important person in their children's lives.






( ) It encourages the dependence of children on their parents and does not help in making an individual identity.





( ) They tend to be long-lasting and more stable.




( ) You're likely to develop a close friendship as well as a love relationship with time.





( ) There is the excitement of the unknown and uncontrollable.







III. Watch the segment from the movie Eat, Pray, Love and discuss the questions:










1. Describe the scene.





2. How are the couple's feeling towards their arranged marriage?




3. What is the wedding like?




4. What's your opinion about this marriage? How likely is it to succeed?




5. What do you think will happen to the couple in the future?




6. Why are they having this kind of marriage?






IV. Watch the scene from the movie The Desert Flower and discuss the questions:

1. Describe the scene.




2. How do you know this marriage is arranged?




3. How common is this reason for an arranged marriage?




4. Would you consider this kind of marriage if you needed to move to another country for professional reasons? What about political reasons? And financial reasons?




5. Is it fair that social workers visit immigrants who have married native citizens' homes to check if the marriage is for real? Why (not)?




6. How likely to succeed is this kind of marriage?



MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - EAT PRAY LOVE



MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - DESERT FLOWER

Eat Pray Love & Desert Flower: Arranged Marriages

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 6:10 PM

When in Rome & Made of Honour: Traditions

We always talk about traditions in our classes. These funny scenes are wonderful to lead in the topic.















A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes (like lawyer wigs or military officer spurs), but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings. Wikipedia 



 

I. Read about some people talking about wedding traditions in their countries. Then make a guess to find out which country the traditions come from. Taken from Topic Online Magazine





Countries:

BRAZIL - TURKEY - BELGIUM - COLOMBIA - CHINA - SPAIN - IRAN - EL SALVADOR

1. Wearing White, Giving Flowers, and Throwing Rice In my country, the bride always, or almost always, wears a white dress. The man comes to the house of the bride and give her her bouquet of flowers (also in white or other light colors). They go to the church and the man is inside when the father of the bride brings her to her future husband. And at the end, when they come out, the family throws rice on them. Jolien Debonne



2. Important Details of the Wedding Ceremony The bridegroom can't see the bride wearing her wedding dress before the ceremony. The bride has to wear something old, something new, and something that is borrowed. One more detail is that the rings should be engraved: the name of the bridegroom on the bride's ring and vice-versa. María Celina Brandao



3. One of the Interesting Things in a Chinese Wedding Ceremony A couple always has jokes played on them by their friends or guests. For example, during the ceremony an apple is hung with a thread before the couple. Then people who attend their wedding ask the bride and groom to bite the apple at the same time in order to show they love each other. However, at the moment their lips touch it, one of their friends suddenly pulls it away and the couple's lips meet and they have a big kiss instead of biting the apple before them. Interestingly, this action or behavior always causes a loud laugh. Cheng Limin



4. The Candle Ceremony There is the "candle ceremony" after the ring ceremony where the groom has to light the candle on his left and the bride lights the candle on her right. When they both have their candles lit, they put them together and light the candle in the middle. Then they have to put out their own candles and this means they become just one body for the rest of their lives. Jimena Baquero



5. Seven When the wedding ceremony service starts, a group of seven men goes to the bride's home. The bride and her family are waiting for seven white cars which escort the bride's car until they arrive at the church. Finally, the bride enters the church and then the nuptial song starts playing. Walter E. Hernández



6. Tradition of the "Grinding Girl" On the night before the marriage ceremony, three or four unmarried girls hold a clean white cloth on the heads of the bride and bridegroom while they are sitting on a sofa or on the ground. Then one of the girls start to grind two big nuggets of sugar together. As she does that, she asks God to repel all evil spirits from the life of the newly married couple. Before this, the families of the girl and the boy should make sure that the "Grinding Girl" is very trustworthy and decent. This will also provides the young unmarried girls with the chance to get married in the coming years! Mahmood Azizi



7. Take Note if You're Getting Married - If a groom's friend cuts a piece of the groom's tie, he'll get married soon. - If the bride wears something blue, she'll have a happy marriage. - If the groom sees the bride's dress, she'll have bad luck during the ceremony. Carmen Caffarena



8. I Can't Read Your Name, So You're Next! When a girl gets married, all her female friends write their names inside her bridal shoes. After the wedding ceremony, if someone's name has been rubbed off and can not be read anymore, it means this person is going to get married next. Arzu Cimitay





Answer Key





1 Belgium 2 Brazil 3 China 4 Colombia 5 El Salvador 6 Iran 7 Spain 8 Turkey





II. Watch the movie segments from the movies When in Rome and Made of Honor and answer the questions about both of the segments.



1. Describe the scene.



2. Describe the tradition the segments show



3. What are the consequences of (not) following the tradition.



4. What went wrong? Did anything unexpected take place?



5.Do you have a similar tradition in your country? Talk about it if your answer is YES.



6. What's your opinion about this tradition?





SEGMENT 1 - WHEN IN ROME






]





SEGMENT 2: MADE OF HONOUR












Talk to a partner:



1. Do you have a family tradition ? Talk about it?



2. Are traditions important? Why (not)?



3. What are some strange traditions you can remember?



4. Would you rather live in a world without traditions or in one where traditions are followed very closely? Explain why.






MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - WHEN IN ROME



MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - MADE OF HONOUR

When in Rome & Made of Honour: Traditions

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 8:11 PM

27 Dresses: Unusual Weddings

This is an attractive romantic comedy that talks about weddings, a perfect theme for our English classes.













I. Talk to a partner about the following questions:





1. Have you ever been to an unusual wedding? Describe it.



2. What are some of the unusual weddings you have heard of?



3. Would you like to be a guest of an extremely unusual wedding ceremony? Why?



4. What's your opinion about this kind of wedding?



5. Would you like your wedding not to be a traditional one? Why (not)?



6. Which kind of marriages last longer? Those in which ceremonies are traditional according to their culture or one in which the ceremony does not follow the usual conventions set by culture? Why?





You may have more warm-up questions about weddings and vocabulary related to it in these two posts published months ago here in the blog.





II. Watch the scene from the movie 27 Dresses. Work in teams. Make a list of all kinds of weddings you manage to remember from the segment.





YOU MUST NOT TAKE NOTES AS YOU WATCH THE SEGMENT.





















III. Complete your list with the information collected by the other members from your group. Who scored more correct answers?





IV. Decide:



Which one is _________________?



the most unusual



the funniest



the most traditional



the most interesting



the craziest










MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - 27 DRESSES

27 Dresses: Unusual Weddings

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 8:32 PM

The Devil's Arithmetic & Defiance: Jewish Weddings

I. You are going to watch a scene of a wedding. This one takes place in 1941, during World War II. The movie is The Devil's Arithmetic. It is a Jewish wedding. Make a guess. Write T if you believe the statement about the wedding will be true or F if will be false.



1. Bedken is the unveiling of the bride. ( )





2. Bedken is a tradition to make sure the groom is marrying the right bride. ( )





3. The Huppah symbolizes the home they will build. ( )





4. The bride goes to the ceremony on a carriage. ( )





5. The guests follow her across the town. ( )





6. People throw flowers at her. ( )





7. Several musicians play a happy song to escort her. ( )





8. The bride circles the groom three times ( )





9. Each circle represent their children ( )





10. They exchange gifts ( )





11. They say the wedding vows ( )





12. They drink wine before kissing each other. ( )





13. They kiss each other. ( )





14. They break the wine glass. ( )





15. Everybody dances together. ( )





II. Watch the segment and check whether your guesses were right.






Answers:



All are true, except 8, 9, 15



Incorrect information



8 Three times



9 Their children



15 Everybody dances together





III. Discuss with a partner the following questions about the segment.



1. What's your opinion about this kind of wedding? What adjectives would you use to describe it? Choose at least 5 different adjectives.





2. How different is this wedding from a traditional one in your country? Give details.





3. What were the couple wearing? And the guests?





4. What went wrong?





5. What do you think will happen next?





IV. You are going to watch another Jewish Wedding that also took place during World War II. The movie is called Defiance. While you watch the scene, observe which of the items about a traditional Jewish wedding in exercise V you could see in this segment.












V. Talk about the following questions about Defiance's wedding scene.



1. Do you think that a wedding under these circumstances are valid? Justify it.





2. Why did they get married if there was such a violent war at the moment?





3. Would you mind getting married without a formal ceremony or reception?





4. Did anything go wrong in the wedding?





5. What do you think will happen next?





VI. WRAP UP -



Talk to different partners now. Groups of three students. You have to come to an

agreement and present your answers to the rest of the class.



1. Which of the wedding scenes did most of you prefer and why?





2. Which one was the most romantic, expensive, beautiful, disastrous and unusual? Explain your choices.





3. Imagine that each one of you attended one of those wedding. Choose one of the characters in the segment and pretend you are that person. Tell your friends exactly what you saw, how the ceremony was, what happened, what you liked best and what you disliked about the ceremony. Use all the vocabulary you have learned.





4. Choose a different ending for each of the weddings you have seen before. Be creative and share it with the class.

The Devil's Arithmetic & Defiance: Jewish Weddings

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 6:09 PM

Bride Wars: Weddings

Today I'm starting this new blog. This is my first post, which will be a test. I'd like to see how it works, if you like it, and if I should continue posting new activities. This is a funny movie and you can pre-teach wedding vocabulary, start discussions and predict the topic you will work during the class. If you like it, let me know it so I can continue with the blog. For your preparation, the vocabulary answers have the same color. I hope you like the activity.



















I. Talk to a partner:



1 - Are you married? Tell your partner about your wedding / the last wedding you have been to.



2 - What's your opinion about getting married?



3 - What's your dream wedding? Describe it?



4 - Have you ever been to / heard of an unusual wedding? Talk about it.



5. Is marriage important to you? Justify it.














II. Match the vocabulary with its definition:












1. The name for the man on his wedding day.



2. An agreement made between the couple to get married.



3. A woman on her wedding day.



4. A way to legally end a marriage.




 

5. To ask someone to marry you.





6. The holiday after the wedding.





7. A couple who have just got married.




8. It is exchanged by the couple during the wedding.




 

9. The promises that the bride and groom make to each other during the ceremony.



10. An arrangement of flowers.




11. the girls who traditionally accompany the bride in the church.




 

12. The groom's friend who accompanies him in the ceremony.





13. A list of presents that guests can choose to buy the couple.




14. A garment that covers the head and face






( ) Best man







( ) Engagement




( ) Groom




 

( ) Honeymoon



( ) Bouquet




( ) Bridesmaids



( ) Bride




 

( ) Newly-weds




( ) Propose




 

( ) Divorce



( ) Wedding ring





( ) Wedding vows





( ) Wedding list






( ) Veil











III. Here are the steps of a traditional white wedding in America. Watch the segment of the film Bride Wars and check the items that took place in the ceremony.










( ) The bride is dressed in a long white wedding dress with a train.



( ) Her face is covered in a veil, and she carries a bouquet of flowers.



( ) She is accompanied by a couple of bridesmaids in matching dresses.



( ) The bride's father walks her down the aisle until they reach the priest at the altar.



( ) When they reach the altar, the bride stands with the groom.



( ) The couple exchange rings and are proclaimed "man and wife".



( ) The groom kisses his wife.











IV. Form groups of three students and talk about the following questions about the segment:









1. Is this wedding similar to traditional wedding ceremonies in your country? Explain.








2. Describe what happened in the segment.




3. What went wrong?








4. What do you think will happen after that?









5. Have you ever been to/ heard of a wedding that went wrong? Talk about it.



 

Bride Wars: Weddings

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 5:58 PM