Candice Lam
Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
Target level of students:
Primary 4 Students
Generic skills:
Reading, Speaking and Writing
Title of the film:
Toy Story
Year of production:
1995
Director:
John Lasseter
Language:
English
A brief synopsis of Toy Story:
Woody, an old-fashioned cowboy doll, is Andy’s favourite toy and he is like a leader of all
Andy’s toy. However, Andy gets a new toy called Buzz Lightyear for his birthday and Buzz
becomes Andy’s favourite toy. Buzz does not understand that he is a toy, and he thinks he is a
real space ranger. Woody feels insecure and upset because he is replaced by Buzz.
One day, Buzz and Woody has a fight and they are both stolen by Sid, the toy-torturing boy
next door. They must cooperate in order to escape. After all the things that get through, they
become friends.
Rationale of choosing this film:
There are two reasons for choosing this film.
First, it is a popular animation and it won the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. It is famous
among students, therefore, they will find it easier to follow when they watch the English
version in class. Besides, the interesting storyline and the attractive characters can arouse
students’ interest.
Apart from the popularity of the film, the message behind is also worth teaching. Nowadays,
parents are treating their children so well, children can easily get what they want. Most of
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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them do not think it is necessary to cherish what they have. By watching this film, it reminds
them to treasure their toys as well as to cooperate with others to overcome the difficulties.
Reasons for designing these tasks:
The tasks are designed for Primary 4 students and the content matches what they are learning
from the textbook. In the first school term, students learn the topics about ‘hobby’, ‘jobs’ and
‘food’. And they learn how to make comparison. In worksheet 1, comparison is used in the
questions, and, in worksheet 2, the speaking task requires students to introduce the new friend
of Woody by describing his outlook and telling his hobby and favourite food, these tasks act
as a consolidation of what they have learnt from the textbook. For worksheet 2, students also
have to use their creativity when designing the toy, therefore, even the weaker students can
contribute and use some simple words to describe the toy.
For worksheet 3, the writing task links with the message of the film, reminding students to
cherish their toys.
For worksheet 4, it is another writing task. Students have to choose their favourite character
and write something about them. Even though it is also a writing task, no guided questions
will be provided as they have done worksheet 2 and 3, which are quite similar to worksheet 4.
Teaching steps:
Teacher takes about 3 to 4 lessons for the whole teaching set. Four worksheets are designed
for this film to enhance students’ reading, speaking and writing skills.
Worksheet 1 is a reading task. This worksheet will be used before watching the film. The task
introduces the main characters of the film in order to give students a brief idea of the film.
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Students have to read the sentences and match it with the names of the characters. After
matching the names, teacher can ask students to guess the relationship between those
characters and predict what will happen among them. Teacher can also use it as a revision to
remind students how to form sentences with comparative and superlative.
After finishing worksheet 1, the ‘pre’ task, teacher can play the film. Teacher pauses the film
from time to time and asks some questions to check students’ understanding. The questions
can be very simple like Do you think Woody like Buzz? or Is Woody still the favourite toy of
Andy?. For more capable students, more difficult questions, like How can Woody and Buzz
escape from Sid’s house? can be asked.
Worksheet 2 is used after watching the film. Students are required to create a friend for
Woody. In order to get everyone involved and help the weaker students, they will work in
groups of four and create the ‘friend’ together. Then, teacher will put them into different
groups and introduce the ‘friend’ to students from other groups. Teacher will walk around
and assess students’ performance. After that, teacher can choose some students to present
their toy to the whole class, and teacher can give feedback to them.
Worksheet 3 is a writing task. Students have to write a letter to their favourite toy. It will be
an in-class activity. Teacher will first revise the format of a letter with the students. Then,
teacher can guide students to draw a mind-map of what they are going to write. (E.g. in the
introduction, state the purpose of writing this letter.) When students are writing the letter,
teacher can walk around and help the weaker students. After marking all the writing, teacher
can select and stick the good works on the board as a compliment.
Last but not least, students will be required to do worksheet 4 on their own as homework.
They are asked to write some about their favourite character in Toy Story. However, no
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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guidelines will be given and students have to work individually. Same as worksheet 3, good
works will be selected and shown on the board so that students can learn from each other.
Assessment:
For worksheet 1, the reading task, students will be assessed by their answers of the four
questions to see whether they understand the sentences or not.
This is the rubric for worksheet 2, the speaking task.
Criteria
Performance
Good
1) Grammar
2) Vocabulary
Average
Need improvement
One or two errors,
Noticeable errors that
Communication is
but communication
is mostly clear
occasionally confuse
meaning
impeded. Too many errors
in the speech for a student
at this level
Correct selection of
Noticeable vocabulary
Many vocabulary errors.
words. Meaning is
errors that occasionally
Listeners’ attention is
clear.
confuse meaning.
diverted to the errors rather
Reliance on simple
than the message. Meaning is
vocabulary to
often unclear or broken.
communicate.
3) Fluency
No hesitations at all
Occasional hesitations
Several short periods of
but recovered well.
silence. Several gaps that
disrupt the flow of
information. Listeners’
attention is diverted to the
gaps rather than the message.
4) Pronunciation
One or two errors, but
Several pronunciation
Too many errors in this task
communication is
errors, but main ideas are
for a student at this level.
mostly clear.
understood without
Communication is impeded.
problem.
5) Presentation
skills
Good time
Fair in time
Seriously overrun or the
management. The
management.
presentation is too short. The
voice is clear and loud
Sometimes, the
voice is too soft that other
enough for everyone to
audiences may not be
students cannot really hear.
hear. Suitable body
able to hear what the
Moving and being nervous
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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movement and facial
expression.
student is talking about
all the time.
but the main ideas are
understood
6) Design of the
toy
Very creative and
Either creative or
colourful
colourful
This is the rubric for worksheet 3 and 4, the writing tasks.
Score
Criteria



Very relevant content
Very creative
Wide range of vocabulary




No grammatical mistakes
No spelling mistakes
At least 50 words
Very beautiful drawing






Very relevant content
Creative
Different vocabulary is used
Good grammar
Few spelling mistakes
At least 40 words

Good drawing
16 – 20





Relevant content
Few grammatical mistakes
Some spelling mistakes
At least 30 words
Colourful picture
11 – 15




Some irrelevant content
Some grammatical and spelling mistakes
At least 20 words
Drawing included
6 – 10



A lot of irrelevant content
A lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes
At least 10 words
1–5


Irrelevant content
Not able to form a grammatical sentence
0

Nothing written on the paper
26 – 30
21 – 25
5
Neither creative nor colourful
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Worksheet 1
Name: _______________(
Woody
)
Class: P.4__ Date: ______________
Buzz Lightyear
Bo Peep
Mr. Potato
Head
The toys above belong to Andy. He is now introducing his toy. Make
friends with them by putting their NAME in the correct places.
His name is 1)__________________.
He is the shortest.
He has the biggest eyes and ears.
His name is 2) ____________________.
He is the tallest.
He is thinner than Buzz Lightyear.
His name is 3)__________________.
He is the strongest.
He has the most powerful weapon.
Her name is 4) ___________________.
She has the longest hair.
She is beautiful.
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Worksheet 1 (Suggested Answer)
Name: _______________(
Woody
)
Class: P.4__ Date: ______________
Buzz Lightyear
Bo Peep
Mr. Potato
Head
The toys above belong to Andy. He is now introducing his toy. Make
friends with them by putting their NAME in the correct places.
His name is 1) Mr. Potato Head.
He is the shortest.
He has the biggest eyes and ears.
His name is 2) Woody.
He is the tallest.
He is thinner than Buzz Lightyear.
His name is 3) Buzz Lightyear.
He is the strongest.
He has the most powerful weapon.
Her name is 4) Bo Peep.
She has the longest hair.
She is beautiful.
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Candice Lam
Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Worksheet 2
Name: _______________(
)
Class: P.4__ Date: ______________
Woody wants to make a new friend and Andy wants you to create a friend
for him. DRAW Woody’s new friend in the box below and
INTRODUCE him / her to your classmates for about a minute.
Here are some questions you may think of when introducing Woody’s new
friend.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
What is his / her name?
Where does he / she come from?
How does he / she look like? (Tall? Short? Fat? Big eyes?)
What is his / her hobby?
What does he / she like to eat?
Does he / she have any family member?
Is there anything special about him / her?
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Candice Lam
Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Worksheet 3
Name: _____________(
)
Class: P.4__ Date: ______________
After watching the film, Toy Story, you realized the importance of cherishing your toys. Therefore, you decided to
write a letter to your favourite toy and tell him / her how thankful you are to have him / her.
Here are some guided questions:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
What is the name of your favourite toy?
Why do you write this letter?
When did you get the toy?
What happened between the toy and you?
Are there any things you would like to tell him / her?
Why is he important to you?
Draw a picture with the toy and you and write the letter on the lines provided.
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Dear _________________,
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Worksheet 3 (Suggested Answer)
Name: _____________(
)
Class: P.4__ Date: ______________
After watching the film, Toy Story, you realized the importance of cherishing your toys. Therefore, you decided to
write a letter to your favourite toy and tell him / her how thankful you are to have him / her.
Here are some guided questions:
7) What is the name of your favourite toy?
8) Why do you write this letter?
9) When did you get the toy?
10) What happened between the toy and you?
11) Are there any things you would like to tell him / her?
12) Why is he important to you?
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Draw a picture with the toy and you and write the letter on the lines provided.
Dear Teddy Bear,
Hello, how are you? Today, I watched a film called Toy Story with Jenny, it was great. After watching the film,
I learned that I have to cherish you, so, I write this letter to you.
My dad gave you to me when I was five. Since then, I put you on the desk next to my bed. You are a good
friend of mine and I love to hold you in my arm when I am sleeping. I can tell you everything because you are
always a good listener.
Thank you for always being with me. I love you.
Love,
Susan
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
Copyrights owned by the author
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Candice Lam
Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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Worksheet 4
My Favourite Character……
Name: _______________(
)
Class: P.4__ Date: ______________
Who is your favourite character in Toy Story? DRAW him / her in the box
below. WRITE 50 words to describe him /her and tell me why you like
him / her.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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Teaching Materials on Toy Story
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