Using Disney Films for Geography!

Last week I came across a tweet sharing this picture:


I thought it would be a brilliant way for children to learn about the location of different countries around the world. 

Before we looked at the map, I asked the class to list as many animated Disney films (excluding Pixar) as they could think of. We shared some of our ideas and discussed the origins of some of these stories. Some were books, others fairy tales, legends or folk tales. 

This gave us a link with Literacy to discuss different types of stories, how most films are derived from written texts and also looking at some famous authors.
We also talked about whether they could remember where in the world the film was set. 

I then shared the map with the children and gave them time to look and see whether they knew any of the countries themselves. They had to make estimated guesses as to where they thought each film was set.


After they had had a go at trying the name all the countries, they then were able to choose from a few iPad apps such as globe or google maps to locate the exact location of each film. As a differentiation tool - some found countries; others states or towns.



It gave the children a nice way to link some of their favourite films and deepen their understanding of names and locations of countries around the world! A lovely little lesson!





Comments

  1. Anonymous20 November 2014 at 01:44

    Love the concept bit this map drives me crazy because of its errors. Cinderella is in spain. They disk soaks in the movie and you can even find Cindy in Spain in "it's a small world" in the parks. Sleeping Beauty is English, Philip is even named after a famous Duke. There's a few others. But what a fun project for the kids nonetheless

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11 January 2015 at 22:19

    Can you add a link to the picture please?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11 January 2015 at 22:59

    One of the most popular versions of Cinderella was written in French by Charles Perrault in 1697, under the name Cendrillon. The popularity of his tale was due to his additions to the story, including the pumpkin, the fairy-godmother and the introduction of glass slippers. Similarly, Sleeping Beauty is based upon La Belle au bois dormant (The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood), again by Charles Perrault. The Brothers Grimm adapted Perrault's stories, and so there is also justification for Germany being the country of origin.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11 January 2015 at 23:00

    Great idea for World Geography by the way. I will be using it...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Karen12 January 2015 at 18:28

    Great idea for a geography lesson! Really struggling to work out how you have linked The Little Mermaid to Cuba, though.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown25 September 2015 at 05:35

    I thought the Little Mermaid would be in Denmark.

    ReplyDelete

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