The Nanny Diaries, The Back-up Plan, Rabbit Hole & License to Wed: Support Groups

These three movies are worth-seeing, but Rabbit Hole is outstanding and has one of Nicole Kidman's best performances. I used it to talk about support groups, or maybe when you have a lesson about overcoming difficulties.

In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. The help may take the form of providing and evaluating relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to and accepting others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks. A support group may also work to inform the public or engage in advocacy. (Wikipedia)


I. Work in Small groups. Read the sentences below and decide whether you agree or disagree with the statements. Then decide whether they are advantages or disadvantages of support groups.


1. Support Groups allow you to share not only problems you may be having but also possible solutions with others who may be going to the same problems as you.

2. Support Groups are a great way to meet others who go through the same ups and downs that you experience.

3. Support Groups are an excellent way to build up friendships.

4. Support Groups allow you and others who care for you to express their feelings.

5. Support Groups tend to bring together people who share only criticisms of people who deal with the problems they are facing.

6. Support Groups leave the attendees feeling worse because they are not given any hope to overcome their problems.

7. Support Groups sometimes have attendees that whine and complain about how bad their problem is, but can not do anything to change it.

8. Support Groups give you hope that things will truly be alright.

9. Support Groups sometimes can lead to arguments and disagreements which can be very harmful to a person's progress who has been facing these problems

10. Support Groups do not always give you useful coping strategies and sometimes leave you feeling empty.

11. Telling their story can be an important part of healing, but hearing someone else's story can be traumatic. Memory is very complex. Hearing a graphic story of someone's trauma can trigger memories, thoughts, and feelings of one's own trauma.

12. Support groups can encourage you to seek professional treatment if you haven't yet. They also may encourage you to take a more active role in your treatment or stick to your treatment plan when you feel like giving up.



13. You may be nervous about sharing personal issues with people you don't know.





II. Talk to a partner.


1. Have you ever participated in a support group? Would you consider joining one? For what reasons?

2. What's your opinion about them?

3. Read some kinds of support groups listed below. Which ones do you consider worth trying in case someone has a problem? Justify your answer.

• Addiction

• AIDS

• Alzheimer's

• Alcoholics Anonymous

• Anxiety disorders

• Breastfeeding

• Brain Attack or Brain Trauma

• Cancer

• Divorce

• Eating disorders

• Ex-gay groups

• Gamblers Anonymous

• Grief

Infertility

• Miscarriage

• Parents of suicide victims

• Sexual abuse survivors

• Sleep disorders

• Suicide prevention

• Women who love too much

• Nannies

• People who have lost their children

• Single mother

III. Watch the segments below. They're from the movies The Nanny Diaries, The Back-up Plan, Rabbit Hole, and License to Wed. For each of the segments, answer the following questions.

1. What is the support group for?

2. Who is conducting the meeting?

3. What kind of audience does it have?

4. How excited are the participants?

5. How helpful do you consider this support group?

6. What are the good the negative sides of the support group?

7. Would you like to be part of the group? Why (not)?

8. What do the movie scenes have in common and how different from each other are they?


THE NANNY DIARIES
 

THE BACK-UP PLAN


RABBIT HOLE



LICENSE TO WED: 

 MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE NANNY DIARIES

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE BACKUP PLAN

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - RABBIT'S HOLE

Love and Other Drugs: Overcoming Difficulties, Parkinson's Disease

This scene from the movie Love and Other Drugs talks about overcoming difficulties and the Parkinson's disease difficult reality. It is important to use the language class to make students aware of issues that concern humanity. When you use the scene, make sure you check if the language used is appropriate for your learners. 


 



I. Work with a partner and decide if you agree with the tips given here. Then select three suggestions you consider to be the most important ones.


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1. Accept full responsibility for the problem- accepting full responsibility for the problem is the first sign of making sure the problem gets solved. Do not blame people, events or circumstances for your situation. One way or another, your choices in life have brought you to this point. Seek to own the problem.

2. Define the problem exactly---Ask yourself: What is the problem exactly? How did it happen? Get the facts! Seek to state your problem in your own words. It helps to provide more clarity on the situation. Also ask, what else is the problem? You'll be surprised to know that what you initially thought was the problem, was in truth something very different.

3. Next ask yourself: what is the worst possible thing that could happen if this problem is not solved? Then proceed to accept the worst. Be prepared to cut your losses. It will calm your mind in such a way that you wont believe!

4. Now with a calmer mind ask yourself: What are the possible solutions to this problem? Make a list! Brainstorm! Evaluate all the possible solutions. You'll be surprised at all the answers that will come to you.

5. Choose the best solution. Then seek to take action immediately. You don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going. Be prepared to accept alternative solutions.

6. Turn over your problem to your higher power. Before you go to bed at night or before a meditation session, turn your problems over to God, the Universe, Divine intelligence or whatever you label your higher power. You'll be surprised at how many new insights you receive, especially in the morning when you wake up.

7. Every Solution has a Problem. Focus on what you desire to achieve and not on what you don't want. Your thoughts, feelings, intentions and actions create your reality. Make sure that you are always thinking of the solution. As long as your goal is clear, those problems will vanish in thin air. Persist until you succeed!

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II. Watch the scene from the movie Love and Other Drugs and discuss the questions:



1. Describe the scene.

2. What is the main character's problem?

3. What did she decide to do to overcome it?

4. How effective is this alternative to overcome a difficult situation?

5. What do you know about the Parkinson's disease now that you did not know before you saw this scene?

6. What are some of the difficulties her boyfriend will probably face if he continues dating her?

7. What would you do if you were in his shoes?

8. What would you do if you were in her shoes?

9. What would you do if you were the man in the conference? Would you tell the cruel truth about your relationship with your wife, remain quiet, or hide the shocking parts of the relationship? Why?


MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS