During the announcement of this year's Oscars nominees, a song called Lost Stars was mentioned as a nominee for the best original song category. The song is taken from the movie entitled Begin Again, starring Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden, etc. I had known about this movie for a while when I heard about the nomination, but I hadn't seen it and knew nothing about the song. After the announcement, I listened to the song and immediately fell in love with it. And then I decided to see the movie, and then I fell in love with it too.
So Begin Again is about two lonely people, Gretta (Knightley) and Dan (Ruffalo). Gretta is a talented singer-songwriter who gets betrayed by her rock star boyfriend Dave (Levine) while Dan is a music producer who gets fired by his business partner. Dan thinks Gretta is the great discovery that can help him get his job back. Then, they start working on Gretta's demo with their friends, but the process turns out to be more than just a recording process: it makes the two realize what they really want in this life, what they want to do with their music, and so much more.
This movie made me cry A LOT. This is not even a sad movie but I did cry so much. It is just so natural and sweet and cute; it just touches my heart. The story is about music and, to be honest, I'm not really a "music" person. But this story makes me see music through the eyes of the people who love it so deeply. I can see how music magically fixes a broken family, how it makes a broken teenage girl smile again, how it can make you understand things that cannot be spoken, how it contains all the feelings inside its writer's heart. It's just beautiful.
It is so easy for me to relate to Gretta. She is lonely and loves someone, who wastes her love, like a fool. She turns her feelings into songs and doesn't care about what people think about her songs because they are hers, not theirs. She gets tempted by that foolish love when her ex boyfriend wants her back but then she realizes that it's not what she wants. My favorite Gretta scene is near the end of the movie, where Dave sings their song, Lost Stars, and Gretta watches him with a smile. The happiness in her face slowly fades and then she runs away. Her heart is broken. I'm not sure about this because it's never explicitly explained in the movie, but I think, at that moment, she realizes that she doesn't want to be with Dave anymore. I think she realizes that things can never go back to they way they used to be. I could really feel her heartbreak in that scene. And then cried like a baby haha.
Keira Knightley plays Gretta very naturally and beautifully in this movie, but James Corden, who plays Steve, is definitely the scene-stealer. I really love his scenes with Keira. They're so natural and don't look like they're scripted. Their scenes together look like a video of two real, drunk friends chatting. And then there's Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Dan's daughter, Violet. Her character always tries to look tough and careless but she is actually really sweet at heart. I just can't stand her cuteness.
Another thing that I adore from this movie is, of course, Lost Stars, the song. I really love the Adam Levine version (that's the one in the scene that made me cry) but Keira's version is also nice and so natural. Ehm how many times have I said the word "natural"? Well the movie IS really natural.
So I think Begin Again deserves more recognition and everyone should see it. The movie is so beautiful. It is the kind of movie that would make you smile and cry at the same time; the kind that brings warmth to your heart.
I saw The Imitation Game! It is, similar The Theory of Everything, a biopic of a genius British man with a lovable British actor playing the lead role that gets nominated in all the awards this year. If Theory has Stephen Hawking, this one has Alan Turing, a British mathematician who is known as the father of computer science. The movie focuses on Turing's contribution in the British government's secret project during World War II. Turing and a group of code breakers must decode messages that are sent by the Germans which contain the information about their upcoming attacks to England. Turing's work helps save so many people and shorten the war, but no one knows about his heroic act because the government decides to keep it a secret. Ironically, Turing gets recognized and punished by the government for being gay, which is illegal at that time.
The movie's most memorable quote
First of all, I do NOT understand anything about the encryption and the computer science things that they talk about in this movie (hahahaha). So please don't expect me to talk about it.
The most fascinating thing about this movie for me is the main character, Alan Turing, and the way he is portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. He is, like, the most human character I've ever seen in a movie. He has all the sides in human personality. He is smart, but very arrogant. He can be the most irritating person in the world, but he can be ridiculously funny as well. Sometimes he appears to be heartless, but at other times he shows that he has the capability to care so much about something, or someone. He achieves something that no one can even imagine, but he experiences painful loss too. Sometimes he looks like a robot that has no feelings, but at one moment we get to see him crying his heart out like... a human. There is one scene where Turing asks, "What am I? Am I a machine? Am I a person?". I find the questions very heartbreaking because, like I've stated, he is the most human character I've ever seen. The screenwriter writes the character very well, and Mr Cumberbatch plays it beautifully. I'm amazed.
Besides the insanely famous and talented Benedict Cumberbatch, there is a group of other actors who are really fun to watch in this movie. There is the beautiful Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke, the only woman in Turing's team. The character is, like, the coolest woman. She's intelligent, very determined, sensitive, kind and, of course, breathtakingly beautiful (Keira always looks beautiful in 1940s make up and costume, doesn't she?). And then there is Matthew Goode as Hugh Alexander, who is very charming and smart (I love guys who is smart and charming haha). I enjoy watching Allen Leech as John too. There is a shocking thing about John that is revealed near the end of the movie and it really shocks me because he is always very likable throughout the movie.
I tend to forget mentioning this aspect in my reviews but I don't forget this time, the score of this movie is so beautiful! It is composed by the famous composer Alexandre Desplat, who also worked on my other favorite films such as Harry Potter and Benjamin Button. I also love the costumes and the sets of the movie. This movie is so good for your eyes to see.
Lastly, I think the story that this movie delivers is still relevant in our era. In this era, we can still see people get discriminated and even punished for being gay, for being fat, for having a skin color that is different from other people, for choosing a certain religion and for doing other little, personal things. We can still see how people's extraordinary talents and great achievements get completely ignored while the little, personal things about them get judged. This movie can make us think again about how we treat other people.
To conclude, The Imitation Game is remarkable. The message, the performances, the story and the characters are crafted so beautifully and carefully, which creates something very powerful.
The 72nd Golden Globe Awards was held yesterday and I am so happy because one of my favorite actors Eddie Redmayne won in the Best Actor - Drama category! Emma Stone didn't win the best supporting actress title but I think it's awesome enough for her just to be nominated, and she looked stunning in her jumpsuit!
Another winner from Theory of Everything team is composer Johann Johannsson. He composed the score for the Stephen Hawking movie and won in the Best Score category. I know nothing about the technical things in music, but I think he truly deserves this award. The music is just so beautiful and soothing. Listening to the score of Theory of Everything always reminds me of the main message of the movie: "While there is life, there is hope." I think it's amazing that Mr Johannsson could capture that message in the score.
So here's the Golden Globe winning score of The Theory of Everything by Johann Johannsson. My personal favorite is the first track, Cambridge, 1963. Enjoy!
Besides making a list of new year resolutions, making a list of anticipated movies is also a must for me at the beginning of every year. Making that list just makes me so excited to start the new year, and excitement is a good thing to start a new year with, right? So here are the 2015 movies that I can't wait to see.
15. FIFTY SHADES OF GREY Release Date : February 13 2015 (USA) Director : Sam Taylor-Wood Cast : Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, etc. Synopsis : A literature student (Johnson) has her life twisted as she begins having a steamy love affair with a charming businessman, Christian Grey (Dornan). Why I want to see it : Well, I just want to know what makes the story (which is based on a book series that beats Harry Potter as the best-selling book series of all time) so phenomenal despite the negative reviews that it receives.
14. SPECTRE Release Date : November 6 2015 (USA) Director : Sam Mendes Cast : Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Monica Belluci, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, etc. Synopsis : James Bond (Craig) must work to reveal the truth behind a cryptic message. Why I want to see it : I've never actually seen a Bond movie until I saw Skyfall, which I think is great. Knowing that the director and the main cast of Skyfall are returning for this one makes me optimistic about this movie.
13. IN THE HEART OF THE SEA Release Date : March 13 2015 Director : Ron Howard Cast : Chris Hemsworth, Ben Whishaw, Cillian Murphy, etc. Synopsis : A group of whalers encounters a giant whale (it's a whale and it's giant; it must be SO big...), gets attacked by it and struggles to stay alive in the open sea. Why I want to see it : When I spotted the phrase "a giant whale", I thought this was a fantasy movie. But, nope, it's based on a true story that inspires the novel Moby Dick. That makes me want to know the story. The trailer looks good too.
12. CRIMSON PEAK
Release Date : October 16 2015 (USA)
Director : Guillermo del Toro
Cast : Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, etc.
Synopsis : A young author (Wasikowska) is lured by a charming man (Hiddleston) and is brought to his old house. There, she finds some unexpected things, such as a jealous sister (Chastain) and skeletons in the closet.
Why I want to see it : Actually, I'm not a fan of horror movies (or Tom Hiddleston), but this one is directed by Guillermo del Toro, a director who is known for visually stunning films that have unique stories. After seeing the spooky images from this movie, I imagine it would be "a nightmare dressed like a daydream" (Why am I using Taylor Swift's song lyric? Hahaha). Creepy, but beautiful.
11. TOMORROWLAND
Release Date : May 22 2015 (USA)
Director : Brad Bird
Cast : George Clooney, Britt Robertson, etc.
Synopsis : A genius man (Clooney) and a teenage girl (Robertson) team up to unveil the secrets of a mysterious place caught between time and space.
Why I want to see it : I first found out about this movie from its teaser trailer. The trailer doesn't show much but is very, very intriguing. The premise reminds me of Interstellar a bit (especially the ending part), but I bet this one will be more family-friendly because it's a Disney movie.
10. EX MACHINA
Release Date : April 10 2015 (USA)
Director : Alex Garland
Cast : Oscar Isaac, Domhnal Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, etc.
Synopsis : A computer coder (Gleeson) wins a chance to meet the CEO of his company (Isaac) only to find out that he is being used in an experiment that involves a female A.I. (Vikander).
Why I want to see it : The trailer is very intriguing. It's a bit similar to Spike Jonze's Her, I think, but the sci-fi elements seem to be more dominant here.
9. THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Release Date : May 1 2015 (USA) Director : Joss Whedon Cast : Robert Downey Jr., James Spader, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, etc. Synopsis : The superhero gang has to team up once again to face a new enemy named Ultron (Spader) and meets two newcomers, Quicksilver (Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Olsen). Why I want to see it : To be honest, I just want to see Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen. Their characters seem to have big and mysterious roles in the movie, and they are great young actors. It's always nice to see talented young actors take roles in blockbuster movies and bring depth and humanity into the characters.
8. CINDERELLA
Release Date : March 13 2015 (USA)
Director : Kenneth Branagh
Cast : Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Richard Madden, etc.
Synopsis : Well, you know how the story goes...
Why I want to see it : The trailer is very beautiful. I love seeing movies that are visually beautiful. And the director, Kenneth Branagh (aka Professor Lockhart from Harry Potter hahaha), states that his Cinderella won't be a woman whose happiness is determined by whether she finds a man or not. I really love this idea as well.
7. THE LAST FIVE YEARS
Release Date : February 13 2015 (USA)
Director : Richard LaGravenese
Cast : Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan, etc.
Synopsis : A love story of an actress (Kendrick) and a novelist (Jordan) which is told back and forth, from two perspectives, through songs, and ends with failure.
Why I want to see it : It's a musical and I love musicals! I mean, don't you wish you could sing your heart out like those people in musicals? Hahaha. I really like the premise as well; I've never seen a musical with this kind of story. Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan look (and sound) awesome too.
6. SILENCE
Release Date : TBA
Director : Martin Scorsese
Cast : Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, etc
Synopsis : Two Jesuit priests travel to Japan to find their mentor and spread the teachings of Christianity, but have to face violence as they carry out their mission.
Why I want to see it : It's directed by Martin Scorsese, whose movies are mostly Oscar-worthy, and based on a critically acclaimed novel. From the synopsis, it seems like the story is the kind that has an important message. And, yeah, Mr Andrew Garfield and his beard are in it. It's been a long time since I saw Andrew in a non-Spiderman movie like this.
5. JURASSIC WORLD
Release Date : June 12 2015 (USA)
Director : Colin Trevorrow
Cast : Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, etc.
Synopsis : A genetically-modified hybrid dinosaur is created for the legendary theme park to attract more visitors, but the project does not go well.
Why I want to see it : I saw one of the previous Jurassic movies when I was a kid and, man, those dinosaurs that eat humans gave me nightmares. The trailer of this new installment looks good, even though the story sounds mediocre. I imagine it would be like the latest version of Godzilla, which doesn't have an innovative story but depicts the dreadful atmosphere of being terrorized by giant monsters very well.
4. MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Release Date : September 18 2015 (USA) Director : Wes Ball Cast : Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Ki Hong Lee, Thomas Sangster, Rosa Salazar, etc. Synopsis : Thomas (O'Brien) and his friends must face another phase of the mysterious trials run by an organization, which is also mysterious, called The Scorch Trials. Why I want to see it : I really love the first book and movie of the saga, The Maze Runner. Even though I didn't enjoy the second book as much as I enjoyed the first one, knowing that Wes Ball and the whole cast are returning for the movie adaptation makes me optimistic about it. The Maze Runner movie is not identical with the book but the changes make me love the story even more. I hope they can do that again with this one.
3. JUPITER ASCENDING Release Date : February 6 2015 (USA) Director : Andy and Lana Wachowski Cast : Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, etc. Synopsis : Ehm the story is so complicated. I hope my explanation is correct. The Earth turns out to be a planet seeded by a royal alien family to be harvested as soon as the people in it (aka us) reach the Darwinian state of perfection. And then there is Jupiter (Kunis), an ordinary woman from Earth who is believed to be the reincarnartion of some kind of queen in the royal family, which threatens the position of Balem (Redmayne), the eldest child in the royal family, and makes him want her dead.
Why I want to see it : The story is an original one, which is so rare these days, and it is written by the Wachowskis, the creators of The Matrix. They successfully mix science-fiction and philosophy in The Matrix so I'm curious about what they have in Jupiter Ascending. What I really want to know is why the main character who comes from Earth is named after another planet (Jupiter). There has to be something about it hahaha. And, yes, Eddie Redmayne plays the villain here.
2. THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 Release Date : November 20 2015 (USA) Director : Francis Lawrence Cast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, etc. Synopsis: This final installment in The Hunger Games saga is the continuation of Mockingjay Part 1 where Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) leads the revolution against the Capitol. Why I want to see it : I want to know how it ends. I haven't read the book but I read somewhere that the ending is not like how non-readers expect, which makes me curious. Well, I need to watch Part 1 first (I missed the movie because I was badly ill when it was released *sigh*).
1. STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS Release Date : December 18 2015 (USA) Director : J.J. Abrams Cast : Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Lupita Nyong'o, Oscar Isaac, etc. Synopsis : Err I don't know, they keep it a secret. Why I want to see it : It's Star Wars everybody! STAR WARS! It is one of my favorite sagas ever. I have no idea how the story would be like because the Darth Vader story, which connects all the previous episodes, has ended. But it's directed by J.J. Abrams and I believe he wouldn't disappoint us. I love what he did with Star Trek and I believe he could resurrect the legendary Star Wars saga in an awesome way. Here's the the first trailer of The Force Awakens, which made me scream and cry hahaha.
Hope these exciting movies can bring some excitement into the new year!
Hello! It's been a while since my last post, huh? I was sick for about a month, I guess, but I still had to work every day so I used most of my free time to rest instead of writing. But I'm better now and I saw The Theory of Everything yesterday, so I'll write about what I think of it. This post contains spoilers, but the movie is based on a true story of a well-known figure so you probably have known the story haha.
The Theory of Everything follows the story of Stephen Hawking, a brilliant physicist who is famous for his book entitled A Brief History of Time. As he starts his career as a physicist, young Stephen (Eddie Redmayne) is slammed by the fact that he has motor neuron disease, an illness that slowly decreases his ability to control the movements of his own muscles. It is not easy for Stephen to deal with his situation, but his brilliant mind refuses to stop and keeps working to reach success. Meanwhile, Stephen's wife, Jane (Felicity Jones), seems to struggle to cope with the situation as well as she has to take care of her disabled husband, raise her children and reach her dreams.
Poster of The Theory of Everything
The one aspect that truly shines in this movie is definitely the acting. Eddie Redmayne is totally unrecognizable as Stephen Hawking. I like to watch Eddie's interviews so I'm quite familiar with the way he talks, his voice, his appearance as himself, his accent. But I didn't see those things at all when I saw this movie. In fact, I didn't feel like I was watching Eddie Redmayne. In the movie, the way he talks is different, his voice is different, his physical appearance is different, his accent is different, even the way he moves is different. He looks so thin and vulnerable, and the way he moves his lips and legs makes me cringe because it looks kind of painful. He truly transforms himself into the character that he is portraying. Really fascinating. He deserves an Oscar, or at least an Oscar nomination.
Because all the buzz around this movie centers on Eddie, I was quite surprised to see Felicity Jones's great performance in this movie. I love how she portrays Jane here. She seems very strong and fragile at the same time. The way she plays Jane makes me feel like it is harder for her to deal with Stephen's illness than it is for Stephen himself. My favorite Jane scene is when she visits Stephen after he undergoes a surgery that makes him unable to speak again. Jane visits him in the hospital with a spelling board and tries to teach Stephen how to use it to communicate. Stephen seems to be very devastated because he can't even do a simple thing like speaking, but Jane, even though her hands are shaking and her eyes are wet, tries to be strong and insists that life has not ended for her husband. I think it is a very powerful scene.
Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones as Stephen and Jane
For the story, for me it is like a reflection of what I think about marriage and love. At the beginning, Stephen and Jane love each other. Then, they get married and struggle to face their problems as a couple. And, in the end, they figure out that it is better for them to live separate lives. After their separation, they seem to be happier, less tense, less tired. What happens to them makes me think that maybe it is better if we don't get married. I think it is probably better if we let go of the people that we love and let them live in their own paths, let them reach their dreams and be happy. When Jane and Stephen are married, Jane has to leave everything behind (including her dream of getting a master degree) and does nothing but taking care of her husband and her three children. Isn't it unfair for her? When they let go of each other and become friends, Stephen reaches success as a physicist and Jane is able to live for herself. Isn't that better? I'm not saying that you should stop loving whoever it is that you love and forget them. What I'm saying is, if you love someone, maybe it is better to let that person go instead of keeping that person just for you. I believe every person has their own paths and you can't force them to leave their paths to live a new one with you.
To conclude, The Theory of Everything is a great movie that is full of wonderful, powerful performances. Prepare yourself to see Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones in every award ceremony in the 2015 awards season!
Hello! I saw one of my most anticipated year-end movies today! It's Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. And, as expected, it is a GREAT movie. I've given details about the movie here, but I didn't really know what the movie was about back then. But now that I know, let me explain what the movie is about (without giving spoiler). It's about a time in the near future when the Earth is kind of "broken". The humans are forced to find a new planet to inhabit. With some new findings that support them to do it, some people from NASA are sent to find a new home for us.
Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), Brand (Anne Hathaway) and Romilly (David Gyasi) from Interstellar
I love how deep the movie is. I got emotional when I saw how hard it seemed for Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to leave his 10-year-old daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy) for the mission. I almost cried with Cooper when he finds out that his children have grown up without him, that he will never be able to see them grow. My heart hurt when I realized that it must be very hard for Murphy too to continue living on her own while her father is floating somewhere in the outer space. I was emotionally drained at the end of the movie. This is kind of surprising for me because I thought the one that was going to be drained was my brain, but it turned out that it was my heart. Other Nolan movies are very serious and they require us to really use our brains to follow the stories, but this one is different. I like it, of course. I love having my feelings twisted (hahaha).
Cooper, his daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy) and their great chemistry
I was also surprised to see so many great actors in this movie! I knew that I would see Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Mackenzie Foy, Michael Caine and Jessica Chastain, but I didn't expect to see Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and Topher Grace! I'm happy that I didn't know much about the movie before I saw it today. I got surprised by the stars and many other things from it. I love surprises!
Another thing that I love about this movie is how its story goes. It goes very smoothly; very comfortable to watch. It sucked me into it. The feeling that it gave is similar to the one that I felt when I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Both of the movies run for a looong time, more than 2,5 hours, but they didn't make me bored at all. They both sucked me into it, made me forget everything about my life for a while (I even forgot that I was watching a movie in a cinema when I saw Benjamin Button). I had to teach after seeing Interstellar today and it was so hard because I still felt like I was in another galaxy (hahaha). How could the writers write something like that? Really, really impressive. I would love to learn how they do it.
I love McConaughey's performance! I've never been a fan of this Academy Award winning actor, but I really enjoyed watching him in this one. I feel so related to his character. Cooper is someone who is good at something but the world holds him back and doesn't let him achieve what he can achieve. It sucks when it happens. It makes you feel trapped and it's frustrating. You want more and you know you have the ability to get what you want but you just can't. At some point it can even make you angry. So angry until you are willing to risk anything when an opportunity comes. I kind of know how it feels like.
So, Interstellar is a must-see movie. It has a deep and mesmerizing story, powerful characters and great actors. Definitely worth to watch!
Although I've sworn not to watch An Education again after memorizing every single scene of the movie for my thesis (the movie is the medium of my thesis), I must admit that it is a great movie. It gives us a lot to think about and full of fantastic actors doing fantastic acting. The dialogues of the movie are quite quotable too. One of the most memorable ones, and the one that is related to what I want to talk about in this post, is this one below.
In the scene, Jenny, the main character of the movie, is so convinced that it is right for her to abandon education and career opportunities for marriage (Okay this sentence is SO like my thesis haha). Well she changes her mind later in the story, but, at one point, she thinks abandoning education will be liberating because, for her, studying is "hard and boring".
It's sad that a schoolgirl whose main job is studying thinks that studying is hard and boring. But another thing that is even more saddening than that for me is seeing that many people that I know agree with her.
As a student, I could see that most of my friends hated studying and working on assignments. They always complained when they had to face those two things. Well, it's not surprising that they hate doing those things because, for them, studying means reading textbooks and memorizing everything written there and working on assignments means staying up all night in front of our exercise books or laptops.
As a teacher, I can see that the same notion still lives in people's minds. When I teach, I am expected to keep my students quite and do nothing but reading or working on their tasks. When a student is noisy or moves around a lot, that student will be considered a naughty student by the others. When I disguise my lesson as games and play with my students during a lesson, people will think that we don't study anything in the class. When I give my students some fun activities during the lesson, my lesson will be considered as something that is "not worth it". When a student gets bad scores at school, the student will be considered as the one who deserves to be scolded.
So is studying really hard and boring? In my opinion, it's not.
I think the one that makes studying seem hard and boring is actually that notion that lives in people's minds; the notion that always associates studying with things that are hard and boring. I think studying shouldn't be hard and boring. It should be fun and enjoyable because it's way easier for students to grasp the knowledge when they're happy. I've experienced it as both a student and a teacher.
When I was homeschooled, the homeschooling institution liked to do gatherings and give projects to homeschoolers. The projects usually let us apply the knowledge that we had learnt. The projects were quite fun to do, more fun than I expected. Moreover, they made me realize that education can be considered as successful not when a student is able to get a good score during the final exam, but when a student is able to apply the knowledge that has been learnt to real situations. I also learned that learning doesn't always mean learning math or biology; learning things like friendship, love and team-work can also be considered as learning. When I realized that, I started learning with my heart. When I had to analyze literary works during my time as an English literature student, I absorbed all the things that I learned from them with my heart and felt very rich after that.
When I teach my students, I also like to keep my students as happy as possible. I love to disguise my lessons in games and play with my students. Another thing that I really love doing in the class is storytelling. Storytelling allows the students to relax and enjoy the story but also provides exposure to the target language (English), which means they study and have fun at the same time. And watching my students' jaws drop when they're so focused on the stories is the most fun thing ever (haha). I also like to make deals with my students to keep them happy and make sure that the learning outcomes are achieved. For example, I have a group of students who always ask to be given some time for drawing during the lesson. I grant their wish, but they have to promise that they would finish all the exercises that I give them before that. They keep their promises and I keep mine. Everyone is happy, right?
So I think we should stop associating studying and learning with hard and boring things and change the ways we see them. When I started seeing them in a different way, I found studying and learning very gratifying.
