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Monday 1 January 2018

Summer Learning Journey

A Period of Change (1870 - 1950)

Day 2 - The Roaring 20's (The 1920's)


Activity 1 | Popular Culture - The Silent Movie


The 1920s saw a massive surge in the number of people going to the movies. Huge new cinemas were built in both Auckland (The Civic Theatre) and Dunedin (Empire De Luxe).  The most popular type of movies showing at local NZ cinemas were ‘silent’ films. Gold Rush is an example of an iconic silent film. It features a famous actor named Charlie Chaplin.


Watch the trailer for Gold Rush. On your blog, tell us what you think the movie is about. There are no words spoken movie so you will need to pay careful attention to what the actors are doing! Do you think you would enjoy watching a silent film? Why/Why not?


The Gold Rush | Charlie Chaplin


I think this movie is about four different people in search for Gold.

To be honest, I wouldn't necessarily watch Silent movies, but this movie looked very funny, so I'll make a exception.


Activity 2 | Art Deco





In the 1920s a new artistic movement emerged in New Zealand (and around the world). It was called ‘Art Deco.’ The picture to the right is a classic example of an ‘Art Deco’ piece. Take a close look at the painting. Do you like it?


On your blog, give the painting a rating out of 5 stars (1 star = terrible painting, 2 stars = pretty bad painting, 3 stars = okay painting, 4 stars = good painting and 5 stars = amazing painting). After you’ve rated the painting out of 5, tell us why you gave it that rating.


Right: Self Portrait By Tamara de Lempicka


My Ranking: 5/5


I think this painting is very creative and beautiful. I love the shading and highlighting which makes the painting look even more realistic.


Bonus Activity | Crossing the Tasman


In 1928, a crew of four men flew, for the first time, across the Tasman from Australia to New Zealand. One of the men on board the Southern Cross airplane was a New Zealander named T.H. McWilliams.

His job was to operate the radio in the airplane. Unfortunately, the radio stopped working shortly after take-off and the rain and ice were so heavy that the pilot, Kingsford Smith, couldn’t see out of his front windscreen. Yikes! Fortunately, the plane made it all the way across the Tasman landing in Christchurch after a 14 hour trip.


Imagine that you were a member of the flight crew. Write a poem that describes how you would have

felt when you landed safely in Christchurch after such a long trip. Remember, there are lots of

different types of poems, and they don’t all have to rhyme. You can read more about different types of poems by clicking here.


My Poem | Across the Tasman


F Frightened

L Light Headed

I Impaitent

G Grumpy from the long ride

H Happy to finally land


T Tired

2 comments:

  1. Hey Mei, thank you for sharing your thoughts on the silent films. I am not sure I would enjoy watching silent films, I think I would get bored. I need people talking to hold my attention. To me, it seems really dated as well. It's a big contrast to the movies that come out today with special effects and realistic scenes.

    Have you seen any good movies lately?

    Thank you for rating and writing a short review about the painting for activity two. I also quite like the highlighting on the car. Her outfit is a bit strange don't you think?

    I like how her red lipstick contrasts effectively with the other duller colours that the artist has used.

    Thanks, Billy

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  2. Kia Ora Mei,

    My name is Jordan and I'm the Kootuitui (Papakura, South Auckland) cluster manager. Thanks so much for sharing your poem with us, it's unique and wonderful.
    I particularly like that you've gone with an Acrostic poem; it is the first one that I've seen yet, so well done!

    I like that you go from being tired and a bit groggy, to being happy to have landed but then tired from the flight. It makes sense, because that's exactly what happens to some people. I often experience jet lag like symptoms when I fly.

    Speaking of which, have you ever crossed the Tasman?

    Keep up the great work!

    Cheers,

    Jordan.

    ReplyDelete