ESL Movie Guide Worksheets on "My Neighbor Totoro"

Product description

From the author

This three-page My Neighbor Totoro movie guide supports intermediate and advanced English learners with film-information fields, ten words and meanings, and seven character descriptions.

A timeline, favorite-scene reflection and personal review lead into a prompt for three diary pages from a chosen character’s viewpoint. Supply the film and separate writing paper.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Record basic film information (director, genre, voice cast, release year) for My Neighbor Totoro.
Describe each of seven named characters from the film in the student's own words.
Write three diary pages as a chosen character from My Neighbor Totoro, retelling three scenes and capturing that character's thoughts and emotions.

Teaching tips

Preview the labeled vocabulary, character, timeline, favorite-scene and review sections before viewing. Supply separate paper for the three diary pages.
The character list (Satsuki, Mei, Granny, Kanta Ōgaki, Father, Mother, Catbus) can double as a pre-viewing character-name preview for students unfamiliar with the film.
Since the three-page diary extension calls for a longer written response than the rest of the guide, save it as a follow-up task once students have finished the film-info and character sections for My Neighbor Totoro.

Skills covered

Film-information recall — students record the director, genre, voice cast, and release year.
Character description — students write a description for each of seven named characters.
Perspective-taking narrative writing — students retell Totoro scenes in first person as a chosen character from the film.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What does the closing diary-writing task ask students to do for My Neighbor Totoro?

Imagine themselves as one of My Neighbor Totoro's characters — Satsuki, Mei, or another cast member they connected with — and write three diary-style pages, each representing a different scene, retelling events from that character's point of view.

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Curriculum

Standards, concepts & topics

Standards

W.7.3

Core concepts

My Neighbor Totoro characters
Film information recall
Perspective-taking writing

Topics

ESL movie guide My Neighbor Totoro Reading response Character study Film review

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Categories this resource belongs to

Creative Writing Prompts Descriptive Writing Prompts Personal Narrative Writing Prompts Short Story Writing Prompts Journal Writing Prompts Dialogue Writing Prompts

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ESL Movie Guide Worksheets on "My Neighbor Totoro" - Studio Ghibli

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