This very moving and provocative account of describes Koko’s life with researcher Penny Patterson. Covering: earlier work by Kat Beach with Washoe; methods to teach Koko ASL; details of the project’s criteria for defining success; rate of sign acquisition compared to human infants; use of gestures by wild gorillas; modifications of ASL to suit gorilla dexterity; Koko’s gorilla companion Michael – his ASL take-up; contrasted with Clever Hans the counting horse; how it was shown that Clever Hans couldn’t count; blind tests to assess Koko’s accuracy; signs used to show emotions; Koko’s fascination with cats and apparent desire for motherhood; apparent grief after a cat’s death; interactions with ‘funnyman’ Robin Williams; Koko and Michael use ASL to tell lies; links between ASL and spoken language comprehension; Motor Theory of Speech Perception explained; signing rhyming words for unknown signs; Koko’s paintings; Koko’s death and controversial final message. The film is uncritical of Patterson’s work, which is widely discredited elsewhere. Used as is, this resource gives an inspiring insight into the potential for communication between species. For older students, especially those studying science, philosophy, or linguistics, I would recommend following up with a more critically acute view. (See also Why Koko the Gorilla Can’t Talk). Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “Koko The Talking Gorilla”. 14 questions for the 24-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files. Link to film on all sheets.

2020 (pandemic, political turbulence and environmental problems) compared with 536 (volcanic winter, plague). Using contemporary sources and modern scientific evidence, the film reconstructs the events and consequences of 536: a massive volcanic eruption; global cooling, darkness, crop failure. Human responses to the events of the time including burial of treasure, Fimbulvetr and Ragnarök. The Plague of Justinian. Comparisons with 1348 Black Death, 1918 H1N1 Spanish Flu, and Covid 19. Estimated mortalities (gross and rates) compared. 536 volcanic event compared to 1815 Mount Tambora eruption. Effects on visual arts, Frankenstein. Bacterial Cholera in Asia. How would such an eruption affect us today? Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “YOU THINK 2020 IS BAD… Wait ‘Til You Hear About The Worst Year Ever”. 15 questions for the 26-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files. Link to video on all sheets.

This engaging and provocative documentary explores whether dumping of ‘inert’ waste to create reefs is an environmental benefit. The film covers: the current scale of marine pollution; the legal situation pre- and post- 1972, The Broward Artificial Reef Fort Lauderdale plan. Osborne Artificial Reef – a failure, reasons explained. Nova Southeastern University clean-up operation. US military clean-up operation. Industrial Divers Corporation clean-up operation. 4Ocean clean-up operation. Effectiveness and costs compared. Cannes – Antibes artificial reef. French state / Michelin clean-up operation, costs and effectiveness. Evidence that artificial reefs actually reduce biodiversity. Neptune Memorial Reef: sustainability: cremation, concrete manufacture. USS Oriskany scuppered to form a reef off Pensacola. Are artificial reels an environmental benefit, or a way to get rid of waste? A thorough introduction to the question. Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “They Dumped 2 Million Tires Into The Ocean. Fifty Years Later You Won’t Believe the Results!”. 13 questions for the 22-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files. Link to film on all sheets.

I use this film to discuss the importance of reliable sources. The film showcases twenty laws. Given the difficulty of attesting them, the film clearly flags up instances where there is substantial doubt. In lessons I compare this film’s sources (i.e. none) with those of, e.g. “The Great War” channel (fully listed sources) and ask students to consider why there are no or few sources for films about North Korea. I then go on to type “North Korea” into the fact-checking site Snopes dot com, where a variety of current topics will be described as “not proven” – almost always for lack of evidence. # The laws discussed in the film are: capital punishment for public figures falling asleep on duty; bicycles banned, women banned from riding bikes; jeans banned; trousers (except for work) banned for women; 28 state-approved hairstyles; Kim Jong-Un banned as a name except or the leader, Kim Ju-ae also banned except for his daughter; an international call can warrant a death sentence; sale or rent of homes illegal, black-market trading of the ipsajung; smiling on July 8th banned every year.; North Korean intranet – Kwangmyong; jobs for life, without retirement, imposed by the state; no freedom of religion, fake state-run churches for show; triplets taken from families for the first four years of life; kin punishment, the three-generation sentence; the Juche calendar; families must clean their portraits of the leaders with a special duster; state-owned TV and possible 2021 execution of man found to be watching Squid Games; few or no international brands, Samtaesong burgers, luxury western goods available for political elite in the Daesong Department Store; a mother jailed for rescuing her children from a house-fire but not rescuing the leaders' portraits; Kim Jong-Il changed the rules of basketball. Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “North Korea’s CRAZIEST Laws”. 17 questions for the 28-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files. Link to video on all sheets.

A library of cautionary tales for your design or art students. Around forty ugly, terrifying, or useless products showcased. Some were created to provoke, some are genuine mistakes. All will provide inspiration. A fast-paced, entertaining, and slightly cheeky film, you may want to appraise the content before use in the classroom: we all know how some parents can be. Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “Most Uncomfortable Products Ever Designed - Part 3”. 16 questions for the 21-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files. Links to video on all sheets.

A trove of cautionary tales for your design or art students. Thirty well-meaning but ultimately unfortunate designs: unforeseen problems, uncanny valley, user-hostile, poor specs, but mostly just plain UGLY: Fiat Multipla, Walkie Talkie skyscraper, Boeing-Vertol Model 235, 2014 Colombian Women’s Cycling uniforms, NASA Helios Prototype, Apple Macintosh TV, Bentley’s Ego laptop, The National Library of Kosovo, Johammer J1, Hanson Robotics’ Sophie, Bangkok’s Elephant Building, LingsCars.com website, Mercedes Urbanetic, Voronoi mega-yacht, Northrop Tacit Blue, Lego mini-figures, Sonic the Hedgehog film, Castilla-La Mancha Park footbridge, Jang WooSeok’s Take Kiss Out coffee lids, SolidAlliance Choikawadeco Mouse, Trautwein’s Yin Yang Couple Bathtub, Jyo John Mulloor motorbike helmets, Pierced Glasses, The Face Slimmer Exercise Mouthpiece, Boeing 707 Phalcon, Aero Spacelines Super Guppy, Dual LCD screen phone, Ronnie Van Hout’s “Quasi”, Reliant’s Bond Bug, Voight V-173. Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “Ugliest Design Mistakes Ever Made”. 14 questions for the 21-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

This documentary is structured to allow students to evaluate various factors in the build-up to WW2, and explicitly asks if any was necessary factor, or would WW2 have happened without it? Including: the early Nazi Party – the SS and the SA, the Beer Hall Putsch and Mein Kampf, racial superiority Lebensraum; Rearmament, militarisation of the Rhineland, the Hossbach Memorandum, alliance with Mussolini, agitation in Austria, Anschluss, Sudetenland occupation, the Munich Agreement, invasions of Czechoslovakia; Chamberlain’s pact with Poland; Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact; Poland invaded. Appeasement evaluated: evidence from Chamberlain, Churchill, and Benes. Was the Treaty of Versailles too harsh? British forces overstretched in its Empire, unready for WW2. US isolationism. Find the film by searching YouTube’s Tangwaap channel for “How far was Hitler responsible for causing the Second World War?”. 16 questions for the 20-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files. Links to TWO sources of the film on all sheets: please make sure you can access the film before downloading.

An engaging timeline of life on earth before dinosaurs. With a constant eye on abiotic factors (atmospheric and oceanic oxygen and carbon dioxide, temperature, continental configuration) and their impacts upon evolution. From the Hadean to the Triassic via all the charismatic species and significant events: single-celled organisms, Rodinia, Gondwana the Cambrian explosion, trilobites. fish, Yunnanozoon, Opabinia, Anomalocaris. The Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event, GOBE. Eurypterids, Pentecopterus, Cameroceras. Algae and moss, the beginnings of terrestrial invasion. Carbon dioxide sequestered, The Ordovician ice age. Silurian: Carcinosoma, movable jaws, coral reefs, vascular land-plants, land-animals: myriapods. Devonian: sharks, placoderms, Dunkleosteus. Woody trees, Tiktaalik, Ichthyostega, insects and spiders. Carboniferous: Arthropleura, Meganeura, Diplocaulus. Terrestrial eggs with hard shells. Pangea. Permian: synapsids, sauropsids, Dimetrodon, gorgonopsians. Scutosaurus, Cotylorhynchus. The Great Dying, The Triassic: Sharivopteryx. pterosaurs., archosaurs Postosuchus…the very first dinosaurs. Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “What Was Earth Like Before Dinosaurs?”. 14 questions for the 35-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files. Link to video on all sheets.

A spectacular review of extreme camouflage: cryptic colouration, transparency, mimicry, chromatophores, and behaviour, in predators and prey in their environments around the world. Strategies explained using examples including Sepioteuthis squid, glass squid, satanic leaf-tailed gecko, spider-tailed horned viper, pygmy seahorse, buff tip moth, goldenrod spider, common baron caterpillar, giant leaf insect, dead leaf butterfly, stonefish, monkfish, Cystisoma, eel, wraparound spider, atlas moth. Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “Invisible Animals in the World That Surprise Scientists”. 15 questions for the 26-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

A dazzling and beautiful film. Various satellites, many spectacular phenomena shown and explained. Including the shadow of a solar eclipse, polar eclipse, 16 sunrises and sunsets a day for ISS passengers. Northern Lights, NASA’s astronaut radiation protocols. Chelyabinsk meteor. meteor showers. Images across the electromagnetic spectrum. The frozen River Dnieper. Hurricanes: Ida, Laura, Dorian’s 30-mile-wide eye. Active volcanoes: Hunga Tonga-Hunga’s effect on the ionosphere and mesosphere, Raikoke 2019, the umbrella effect. 2009 Sarychev Volcano pyroclastic flow. Ice-sheet monitoring: Petermann Glacier, Petermann Ice Island; Baffin Bay. Sediments in Kazakhstan’s Delta Oasis; Lake Balkhash starting to shrink. Wildfires :2019-2020 Australian bushfire smoke impacting Chile and Argentina. 2020 Western United States fire season – composite and IR pictures. 2018 California Camp Fire. Saharan dust blown to Brazil, depositing phosphorus. Urbanisation: the growth of Qatar. Light pollution in Japan and China. Find the film by searching YouTube’s BE AMAZED channel for “Amazing Events Seen from Space”. 16 questions for the 30-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

An engaging and thorough account of Viking raids AND battles: reasons, attitudes, tactics, weapons etc. Covering: raiding as survival, British monasteries easy prey, Lindisfarne and Alcuin’s account. Battles and tactics; ambush, shield-wall, berserkers, hirds, the Boar Snout. Weapons: axes, swords, bows and arrows, daggers, spear. Shields. Shield-maidens: DNA evidence for Viking women in battle. Size of Viking armies. Helmets: scarcity, and absence of horns. The Gjermundbu Helmet, Karl Amiel Doppler and Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Horses – lack of evidence for use in battle. Battle of Sulcoit. Lagertha and Ragnar. Find the film by searching YouTube’s Weird History channel for “Viking Raids | What It Was Like to Be On the Front Lines”. 16 questions for the 16-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

An engaging and thorough account of Semmelweis’ heroic and tragic career: his discovery, challenges, rejection, death, and legacy. Covering: handwashing now commonplace, esp. in medicine. Semmelweis’ early career in obstetrics, and teaching. Observation of high deathrates with physician assistance. Puerperal / childbed / doctor’s fever: symptoms and prognosis. Very low mortality for home-births. Link to poor hygiene in autopsies identified. New antiseptic protocol introduced, death rates fall. Class- and gender-based resistance from doctors elsewhere. Germ theory vs. miasma theory. Semmelweis unable to explain why sterilisation works. Frustration, poor mental health. Sacked from Vienna General Hospital. Becomes depressed; alcoholism; possible Alzheimer’s; committed to a mental institution. Terrible treatment including violence. Death. Pasteur and Lister provided evidence of germs. Semmelweis vindicated; legacy. Find the film by searching YouTube’s Weird History channel for “How a 19th Century Doctor Tried to Get His Peers To Wash Their Hands”. 14 questions for the 13-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Excellent subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

In this very timely film, students and teachers are interviewed about the use of artificial intelligence in education. What will become of teaching and learning? The film compares the pros and cons of banning, and allowing, AI. The “calculator analogy” , and its limits, is discussed, along with current models of the science of learning, and where AI might sit within the process. Extensive sources, fully cited on the YT page. Find the film on YouTube by searching the Vox Channel for “AI can do your homework. Now what?”. 15 questions for the 17-min film. Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Questions right up to the end , no slack time! Excellent subtitles, scripted, not auto-generated. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files. Link to video on all sheets - please make sure you can access the video before you download the worksheets.

A very detailed and thorough account of the crisis -almost unknown outside the USA- and its consequences (WV is still the third poorest state in the USA). Covering: economic and industrial consequences of WW1, growth of the AFL and UMWA. President Wilson and the unions; ‘company towns’, ‘company stores’, yellow-dog contracts, the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike, Mother Jones, the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency as union busters. Unionization in Matewan, mayor Testerman killed, the Matewan Massacre. Strike, and miners’ poverty. WV Governor calls on Washington to intervene, without success. Hatfield murdered. Charleston rally. A close account of the lead-up to the Battle of Blair Mountain. Federal troops arrive. The aftermath. The New Deal and unionization. All sources fully cited on the YT page. Find the film by searching YouTube’s The Great War channel for “The Battle of Blair Mountain - West Virginia Coal Wars I THE GREAT WAR 1921”. My link omits a brief trailer at the end, the film will stop straight after my sheet’s final question if you use my embedded link. 16 questions for the 20-min film (not inc. the omitted trailer). Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Questions right up to the end (of my embedded link), no slack time! Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

See also my workshets for the East India Company and Clive of India. A very detailed, thorough, and engaging review of Gandhi’s life up to 1921. The film describes Gandhi’s philosophy; British attitude to India post WW1, the beginnings of Indian governance. Indian (inc. Gandhi’s) equivocal support for Britain. Britain’s wider empire troubles. The Amritsar Massacre, Dyer’s role and attitude, a catalyst for independence calls. All sources fully cited on the YT page. Find the film by searching YouTube’s The Great War channel for “The Rise of Mahatma Gandhi (Documentary)”. My link omits a brief trailer at the end, the film will stop straight after my sheet’s final question if you use my embedded link. 15 questions for the 18-min film (not inc. the omitted trailer). Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Questions right up to the end (of my embedded link), no slack time! Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

A very detailed and thorough account of Germany’s failures to gain victory and avoid defeat. Including: Germay’s power in 1914, the Schlieffen Plan, loss at Marne. Britain enters the war. Risks and mistakes they from 1914 to 1917. Successes: Russia, Serbia, Romania, Italy. Ottomans and Bulgarians join the Central Powers. Industry: weapons and fertiliser. Allied mistakes: Lorraine, East Prussia, Gallipoli, Champagne the Somme, Flanders, the Chemin des Dames, Kerensky Offensive. USA joins. Bolshevik Revolution, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Allied misgivings. Operations Michael, Georgette, Blücher-Yorck, Gneisenau, and Friedensturm. The 100 Days Offensive. Germany outnumbered in rifles, tanks, aircraft. German vs. Allied tactics. German morale collapses, mass surrenders. The Schwindler. Kaiser Wilhem abdicates. Hunger in Austria. All sources fully cited on the YT page. Find the film by searching YouTube’s The Great War channel for “Why Germany Lost the First World War (Documentary)”. My link omits a brief trailer at the end, the film will stop straight after my sheet’s final question if you use my embedded link. 16 questions for the 22-min film (not inc. the omitted trailer). Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Questions right up to the end (of my embedded link), no slack time! Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

A very detailed, thorough, and engaging review of the need for, and possibility of, mariculture. The film describes The Green Revolution, its spread, advantages, disadvantages, and limits. Carbon dioxide emissions from farming. Available land and its productivity. Calories and protein: supply and demand compared between plants, land-animals, and marine animals. On-shore and coastal aquaculture: benefits, disadvantages, and limits. Mariculture: possible species, including fish, mollusks and plants. Wild fish stock depletion. Current mariculture projects: Ocean Farm 1 and Deep Blue 1. Lack of discussion of mariculture in political spheres. Plenty of stats shown in easily-understood graphics, all sources fully cited on the YT page. Find the film by searching YouTube’s Atlas Pro channel for “What is the Blue Revolution?”. My link omits a 2-min trailer at the end, the film will stop straight after my sheet’s final question if you use my embedded link. 16 questions for the 17-min film (not inc. the omitted 2-min trailer). Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Questions right up to the end (of my embedded link), no slack time! Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

This fascinating film clearly addresses the paradox: why do grasslands lock up more carbon dioxide than forests? The story covers: the extent, cause, and biodiversity of the original Mammoth Steppe; the extinction of the megafauna: climate change vs. over-hunting; the Pleistocene Park project in Siberia; rewilding; the effect of grazing on permafrost; low biodiversity in taiga forests; high biodiversity and carbon sequestration in grasslands. Plenty of stats shown in easily-understood graphics, all sources fully cited on the YT page. Find the film by searching YouTube’s Atlas Pro channel for “Pleistocene Park: The Plan to Revive the Mammoth Steppe to Fight Climate Change”. My link omits a brief trailer at the end, the film will stop straight after my sheet’s final question if you use my embedded link. 15 questions for the 19-min film (not inc. the omitted trailer). Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Questions right up to the end (of my embedded link), no slack time! Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

French language cloze sheet (25 gaps) on the 2024 European Cup Finals! Pupils can fill the gaps, and go on to translate the passage for extra challenge if desired. Uses natural language, including unknown but reasonably guessable (within context) vocab, with a range of tenses. Missing words boxed at the bottom of the sheet; each word used once only. Differentiated four ways, A - least help to D - most help thus: (e.g. missing word is durable) A: gap is __________________ B: gap is d_________________ C: gap is __ __ __ __ __ __ __ D: gap is d __ __ __ __ __ __ (this doesn’t display correctly here, so please see also previews of the bottom corners of the sheets, showing how the differentiation works). “A” version could be given to top-set 16-year-olds and above, “D” version could be completed (gap fill, not translation) by a beginner. All sheets look similar, all levels of differentiation have the same gaps. Answer sheet, easy to mark. I’ve included the Google Translate English translation, to spot whether pupils are getting “extra help”. PDF and DOC of everything. Have a look at the Deep Fake sheets here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/french-cloze-worksheets-differentiated-x4-les-deep-fakes-12999749 38 more in the series including wines, regions, sports, music, politics, history, wildlife, food…

Spanish language cloze sheet (25 gaps) on the 2024 European Cup Finals! Pupils can fill the gaps, and go on to translate the passage for extra challenge if desired. Uses natural language, including unknown but reasonably guessable (within context) vocab, with a range of tenses. Missing words boxed at the bottom of the sheet; each word used once only. See the translation thumbnail for the English text. Differentiated four ways, A - least help to D - most help thus: (e.g. missing word is durable) A: gap is __________________ B: gap is d_________________ C: gap is __ __ __ __ __ __ __ D: gap is d __ __ __ __ __ __ (this doesn’t display correctly here, so please see also previews of the bottom corners of the sheets, showing how the differentiation works). “A” version could be given to top-set 16-year-olds and above, “D” version could be completed (gap fill, not translation) by a beginner. All sheets look similar, all levels of differentiation have the same gaps. Answer sheet, easy to mark. I’ve included the Google Translate English translation, to spot whether pupils are getting “extra help”. PDF and DOC of everything. Have a look at the Deep Fake sheets here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12999708 38 more in the series including wines, regions, sports, music, politics, history, wildlife, food…

A very detailed and thorough account of Wilson’s vision and journey. Using archive footage and a variety of primary sources (all cited fully), this engaging film covers: 14 Points proposed, the League’s ideals, The Paris Peace Conference. Structure of the League, voting rights, vetoes, sanctions. Mandates of classes A, B, and C. US Senate’s opposition, 2/3 majority for ratification; Reservationists and Irreconcilables. Popular support. Wilson’s stroke, his proposal defeated. US Isolationism. “Entangling” alliances. UK sympathetic to US opposition to the League, Lloyd George’s approach; France, Japan, Belgium. Successes: dispute resolution, other civil successes in international cooperation. Find the film by searching YouTube for “The Failed Start of The League of Nations I THE GREAT WAR 1920”. My link omits a 2-min trailer at the end, the film will stop straight after my sheet’s final question if you use my embedded link. 15 questions for the 21-min film (not inc. the omitted 2-min trailer). Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Questions right up to the end (of my embedded link), no slack time! Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.