My Big Fat Greek Wedding

FAMILY: RELATIONSHIPS AND TYPES IMMIGRATION / MULTICULTURALISM A) HAVE A LOOK AT THESE PICTURES AND IDENTIFY THEIR FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS:

GUS Portokalos

MARIA Portokalos

NICK Portokalos

TOULA Portokalos

VOULA

RODNEY Miller

HARRIET Miller

IAN Miller

1. TOULA is the old lady’s ____________________ and Nick is her ____________________. They are the old lady’s ____________________ and she is their ____________________.

2. Gus and Maria are TOULA’s ____________________ and ____________________ or, quite simply, her ____________________. TOULA is their ____________________ and Nick is their ____________________.

3. TOULA’s ___________________ is called Nick and so Toula is Nick’s ____________________.

4. TOULA is Voula’s ____________________. Voula is TOULA’s ____________________ and Voula’s

husband

is

her

____________________.

Their

children

are

TOULA’s

____________________.

5. TOULA Portokalos and Ian Miller fall in love. When they get married, Rodney and Harriet will be her In-laws, in other words, Rodney will be TOULA’s ____________________ and Harriet her _______________________; she will be their ____________________. http://www.clubeinglesoure.blogspot.pt

Alexandra Duarte

B) IDENTIFY THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAMILIES BY MATCHING THE EXAMPLES (1 to 6) AND THE SITUATIONS (a to f): 1. A nuclear family

1

a) A family headed by one parent, usually a woman.

2. An extended family

2

b) A family with an adult who is a stepparent after a second marriage.

3. A childless couple

3

c) A traditional family comprising a father, mother and children.

4. A single-parent family

4

d) A couple who cannot have children of their own and decide to adopt.

5. A blended family

5

e) A couple who cannot have / wish no children.

6. A couple with adopted children

6

f) A

family

that

includes

other

relatives besides parents+children.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING

A) READ THE FOLLOWING QUOTES FROM THE FILM MENTIONED ABOVE: Toula Portokalos: There are three things that every Greek woman must do in life: marry Greek boys, make Greek babies, and feed everyone. …

Toula Portokalos: Ma, Dad is so stubborn. What he says goes. "Ah, the man is the head of the house!"

Maria Portokalos: Let me tell you something, Toula. The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants. …

Ian Miller: What do you do for Christmas with your family?

Toula Portokalos: Uh, my mom makes roast lamb.

Ian Miller: Mmm... with mint jelly?

Toula Portokalos: No. [pause] Ian Miller: And...?

Toula Portokalos: And... [pause] Toula Portokalos: I'm Greek, right? http://www.clubeinglesoure.blogspot.pt

Alexandra Duarte

Ian Miller: Right?

Toula Portokalos: So, what happens is my dad and uncles, they fight over who gets to eat the lamb brain. And then my aunt Voula forks the eyeball and chases me around with it, try to get me to eat it, 'cause it's gonna make me smart. So, you have two cousins, I have 27 first cousins. Just 27 first cousins alone! And my whole family is big and loud. And everybody is in each other's lives and business. All the time! Like, you never just have a minute alone, just to think, 'Cause we're always together, just eating, eating, eating! The only other people we know are Greeks, 'cause Greeks marry Greeks to breed more Greeks, to be loud breeding Greek eaters.

Ian Miller: Wow.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259446/quotes 1. According to these quotes, what can you infer from the Greek culture in what concerns …

GREEK CULTURE FAMILY SIZE

GENDER ROLES

FAMILY AND DATING RELATIONSHIPS EATING HABITS

2. Now check this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQC6cLJhTek&feature=related and then answer

2.1 What type is TOULA’s family? And Ian’s? _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2.2 Which of these two families (the Greek and the American) is closest to your own? Explain. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2.3 How important is family for you? Account for your answer. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ http://www.clubeinglesoure.blogspot.pt

Alexandra Duarte

B) BASED ON ALL THE INFORMATION YOU ALREADY HAVE AND WITH THE WORDS BELOW, FILL IN THE GAPS IN ORDER TO HAVE THE FILM SYNOPSIS: fall in love

WASP

cultures

Greek-American

Greek

father

non-Greek

Toula Portokalos is a 30 year old ______________________ (1) woman who works in her family's restaurant, Dancing Zorba's, in Chicago.

All her ______________________ (2) Gus wants is for her to get married to a nice ____________________ (3) boy. But Toula is looking for more in life. Her mother convinces Gus to let her take some computer classes at college making him think it's his idea. With those classes, she then takes over her aunt's travel agency where she meets a ____________________ (4), a high school English teacher, Ian Miller.

Ian is a handsome man who notices Toula first at the Greek Restaurant and then again after her transformation. They ____________________ (5) and though Toula feels torn between the two _____________________ (6), they start dating secretly before her family finds out. Her father is livid over her dating a ____________________ (7) but ends up learning to accept Ian as Ian learns to accept Toula’s cultural heritage.

C) THINK AND ANSWER: 1. This movie deals with the dilemmas faced by second generation immigrants, namely GreekAmericans. What dilemmas can there be? Do you think it is also about all kinds of ethnic Americans? How so? _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Have you ever thought of leaving (y)our homeland? Where would you head to? Why? What obstacles would you have to overcome? _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 3. When dealing with the topic of immigration and multiculturalism, expressions such as intolerance/discrimination/segregation‌often come forward. Do you feel there is ever such an attitude from the American family towards the Greek family? If not, what feelings then? _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ http://www.clubeinglesoure.blogspot.pt

Alexandra Duarte

4. Think about other movies that also approach this topic. Is the USA a “melting pot” or more like a “salad bowl”? Explain. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 5. “You know, the root of the word Miller is a Greek word. Miller come from the Greek word "milo," which is mean "apple," so there you go. As many of you know, our name, Portokalos, is come from the Greek word "portokali," which mean "orange." So, okay? Here tonight, we have, ah, apple and orange. We all different, but in the end, we all fruit.”

(check this speech at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrXGnwhZ58c&feature=related) What is/are the important point(s) made by Gus Portokalos in this speech at his daughter’s wedding? What lesson(s) shall we take from it? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ »»»

USE OF ENGLISH

«««

A) ORDER OF ADJECTIVES – adjectives before a noun are usually used in a specific order:

1.

INTENSITY/COMPLETENESS »» slight…

2.

IDENTITY»» well-known…

3.

OPINION»» wonderful…

4. SIZE»» big…

5.

SHAPE»» fat…

6. CONDITION/QUALITY»» rich 7.

AGE»» middle-aged…

8. TEMPERATURE»» hot…

9. COLOUR»» black…

10. ORIGIN»» Greek…

11. TYPE/MATERIAL»» plastic

ORDER THE ADJECTIVES CORRECTLY (and make any necessary changes): a) LONG/FAIR/ BEAUTIFUL, hair. _______________________________________ b) GREY/DIRTY/OLD/GYM, tennis. ________________________________________ c) A BEAUTIFUL/AMERICAN/TALL/BLOND, film star. _______________________________________

d) A SILK/WHITE/FRENCH, dress. _______________________________________ e) A BRITISH/OLD/ WOODEN/WHITE, house.

EXAMPLE: big fat Greek wedding

http://www.clubeinglesoure.blogspot.pt

_______________________________________

Alexandra Duarte

B) GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS, COUNTRIES, NATIONALITIES AND LANGUAGES THE TOWER OF BABEL (1563), Pieter Brueghel the Elder [11:8] So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

[11:9] Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

BIBLE, Book of Genesis

1. There are five common suffixes used to make the nationality adjective: -ish

- ic

-(i)an

-i

-ese

Make nationality / cultural identity / geographical adjectives from these nouns and order them : SPAIN / JAPAN / PORTUGAL / BRAZIL / IRELAND / UKRAINE / ICELAND / PAKISTAN DENMARK / ARABIA / ISRAEL / HUNGARY / VIETNAM / IRAQ / ANTARCTICA

2. MAKE A NOUN: a) A person from DENMARK is a _________________________. b) A person from SWEDEN is a _________________________. c) A person from POLAND is a _________________________. d) A person from THE BRITISH ISLES is __________________________. e) A person from FINLAND is a _________________________.

3. WHAT DO YOU CALL ‌? a) someone who speaks two languages correctly? _________________________. b) the language we learn from birth? ________________________ or ________________________. c) someone who can speak different languages? _________________________. d) the different ways of speaking in one and the same language? _________________________. e) the use or study of a language by non-native speakers? _________________________.

http://www.clubeinglesoure.blogspot.pt

Alexandra Duarte