Pre-reading activities for dystopias
like „Fahrenheit 451“ by Ray
Bradbury
• The focus of the following activities
related to the 6 levels of complexity
by Bloom is on the theme of Censorship
and people being controlled by mass
media without any references to reading
• Intermediate level young or adult learners
Fahrenheit 451
• The novel is the description of a
• “(…) new world in which control of the
masses by the media, overpopulation, and
censorship has taken over the general
population. The individual is not accepted
and the intellectual is considered an
outlaw. Television has replaced the
common perception of family.(…)”
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/f/fahrenheit-451/book-summary
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ebtPK2pJE2U/UhVITnJ81sI/AAAAAAAAGcY/ibsEoPKbvgw/s1600/fahrenheit451.jpg
http://www.garuyo.com/uploads/2012/8/fahrenheit-451-el-terror-de-un-mundo-sin-libros_118267.jpg_24661.670x503.jpg
3b8.medialib.glogster.com/thumbnails/9ecfe0c0adfd1054045bc20a3c234798f9e205c2f1bf1069924b880427c3f4dd/fahrenheit-451-source
http://cdn.pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/files/2010/01/fahrenheit451-1-10.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TN4JYQNZL._SY300_.jpg
http://realizethelies.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/obey_dees.jpg
Pre-reading activities related to
Bloom‘s taxonomy
• (1)The pictures above should be a visual
impulse for the learners to recall anything they
know about books, firemen, medias, burning
books and censorship – <<Describe what you
can see on the pictures and note your ideas
in a brainstorming or a placemet together
with your group members>>
Invite students to hang up their mindmaps on the
walls and have them walk around to see the
others‘.
Knowledge
• (2) Making an inside-outside circle invite
students talk about „why are there people
who want to burn books?“ „why do people
fear censorship?“, „what would happen if
we burned every existing book?“ „do you
prefer television to books and why?“ etc.
and have them talk about each question
during 2 minutes maximum.
Comprehension
• (3) Students are invited to analyze several
short statements and paragraphs taken
from the novel to read them on their own.
<< Resume in your own words what you
have been reading about and how you
could label it to the ideas you have been
sharing with your classmates before>>
Application
• (4) The German poet Heinrich Heine said,
"Where books are burned, they will also
ultimately burn human beings." <<What
did he mean by this?>>
www.teachwithmovies.org%2Fguides%2Ffahrenheit451.html&h=475&w=332&tbnid=BVSrOwtpkL80uM%3A&zoom=1&docid=i9nKgwRh6LDhM&ei=ikuXU4mJJIrs8QGb_4HYBw&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=347&page=1&start=0&
ndsp=20&ved=0CGAQrQMwE
Analysis
• (5) Now students are given the title of the novel
„Fahrenheit 451“ and are working individually
writing a paragraph about how they think the
book might begin and end. The only information
given is the following: <<Montag, a fireman, the
protagonist, is meeting a young woman who tells
him about the past and about book‘s importance
for mankind. She makes him reflect subjects he
had not thought about during his life nor his
relationship with his wife.>>
Synthesis
• (6) Now imagine you have to flee from your hometown
because your own house is being burnt as firemen
discover hidden books in it and – although estimating
you as their collegue – have to follow the orders to not
be dismissed. What would you tell the collegues?
Imagine you are sitting at a round table with some of
them and an ancient boss as well – Discuss together
with them about your point of view and come to a
conclusion concerning censorship, the importance of
books and the medias.
•
(I would give identity cards to the students with a short description of their character
and his/her experiences in this town on it; as well as their attitude towards burning
books)
Evaluation
• For further references and inspiration source here is a link I
would like to share with you as it seems to me quite good for
preparing classes that work on movies. I have to say that
many of my questions in mind according to how to structure,
what to focus on, what items to choose, have been confirmed
by reading the ideas of teachwithmovies on “Fahrenheit 451”
although I also want to comment that I have not read this
material until having finished with my activity.
• I would then definitely include the quotation they give on
Heine that “Where books are burned, they will also ultimately
burn human beings” and see how to organize a discussion on
this by having various students supporting this statement and
others arguing against it – so that they could for example
make a role play according to the novels characters or also
have a tv-show organized in which they are talking about the
recent happenings (supposing that “Fahrenheit 451” just
happened and that they are still looking for the escaped
Montag) etc.
•
http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.teachwithmovies.org%2Fguides%2Ffahrenheit-451files%2FDVD-cover.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.teachwithmovies.org%2Fguides%2Ffahrenheit451.html&h=475&w=332&tbnid=BVSrOwtpkL80uM%3A&zoom=1&docid=i9nKgwRh6LDhM&ei=ikuXU4mJJIrs8QGb_4HYBw&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=347&page=1&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=0
CGAQrQMwEw
• Making this novel being content of a lesson plan,
I would suppose to put it into a bigger complex
of lessons on dystopias such as “Fahrenheit
451”, “Brave New World”, “1984” and have
students read or all the same texts or have each
group of students be reading only one book and
then having them discuss at the end of a range
of lessons on the characteristics in common and
the differences; to make up their minds
concerning the definition of dystopias in contrast
to utopias.