I can’t wait to see the new Baz Luhrmann version of The Great Gatsby, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. You might remember Luhrmann’s modern adaptation of Romeo+ Juliet, the one with the original playscript and a really powerful soundtrack. That film inspired a lot of teenagers to study Shakespeare. In May The Great Gatsby is coming out and it can serve as an excellent opportunity to motivate your students to read the novel before the premiere or even after, if they up resistance.

Your students may not be familiar with F. Scott Fitzgerald but the film trailer should be powerful enough to initiate an interesting discussion. You can also do our extension activities to research the world of the book.

With this in mind I’ve put together a lesson plan based on our rThe Great Gatsby reader (adapted by David A. Hill and illustrated by Catty Flores) and the film (using the trailer) which I hope you enjoy using in your class to raise interest, start a discussion and activate background knowledge.

• Level: CEF B1, Cambridge PET, Trinity 5, 6
• Age: 13 +
• Themes: Human interest, Mystery

What you’ll need:

The official trailer here. Download two worksheets in PDF format to print:

• Our worksheet based on the film trailer with research projects: Film Trailer Worksheet
• Extension activities using samples from the book: Extension Worksheet

You can do the extension activities in class or it can be an excellent research activity for your students to do at home.