MR BLOT’S ACADEMY
Krzysztof Gradowski
Poland, 1984
ACTIVITIES
GENERAL DISCUSSION
MAIN SUBJECTS OF THE FILM:
Mr Blot’s Academy as the dream school
The role of imagination and play in Mr Blot’s Academy
SECONDARY SUBJECTS OF THE FILM:
Relationship between reality and fairy tale
What do boys learn in Mr Blot’s Academy?
FILM EXTRACTS
SCENE 1: Entrance into the Fairyland
SCENE 2: Blotography
ACTIVITY 1
QUESTIONS FOR GENERAL DISCUSSION:
What did you like most about Mr Blot’s Academy?
What would you dream school be like?
ACTIVITY 2
QUESTIONS TO INDIVIDUAL SCENES
SCENE 1:
- What did Adaś Niezgódka life look like before he enrolled to Mr Blot’s Academy?
- Name character traits that describe Adaś.
- What is the difference between the real world and the Academy fairytale world?
- What leads Adaś to the fairy tale? Is it only the song?
- What is the first impression the Academy makes?
- How does Mr Blot introduce Adaś to the Academy?
- Is Mr Blot a „dream” teacher?
- What features should a perfect teacher have?
SCENE 2:
- Is Mr Blot’s Academy a traditional feature film?
- What special effects were used in this scene?
- What do you think blotography is for?
- Is it possible to learn and play at the same time?
ACTIVITY 3
Course of classes:
- Agreeing on the need to explain the notion of “peculiarity”.
- Explanation of the meaning of the word “peculiarity”, joint search for synonyms: original, exceptional, etc.
- Asking the question “Why can you say that Mr Blot’s Academy is extraordinary”, meaning: original, peculiar?
- Task is saved as pdf file under the name “Activity 3_Task 4”
- Work in groups. Students get two tasks that they should fulfil on the basis of the film plot. The presentation of collected materials, assessment and argumentation by the members of each group.
ACTIVITY 4
TASK 1
The group answers the questions:
- What does waking up and morning toilet look like? What is so unusual?
(compare with waking up and morning toilet at the summer camp, etc.).
- “Why are the meals in the Academy unusual?” An additional question: How does Mr Blot prepare the meals? Dinner at the Academy and dinner at your home – compare.
- “Why are lessons in the Academy so unusual?” An additional question: What subjects do you learn at school, and what subjects does Mr Blot teach?
TASK 2 (after watching the second scene: “Blotography”).
Before the lesson, the teacher prepares blots on a sheet of paper. A representative of each group draws one page with a blot. Basing on the blotography lesson, the students are trying to find/imagine an animal that can be “hidden” in it.
Together the group make a short poem, not using the name of the animal, to make a riddle.
The group presents the blot and the written poem. The class must guess what animal it is about.