“Lola rennt” Stundenplan:

Notes:

  • This lesson was planned with high school aged second level students as the audience.
  • It takes approximately ten 50 min class periods to complete. It’s a good break after a unit heavy in grammar, or right before a break when the kids get squirrelly.
  • Because the movie is almost exactly 80 minutes long, it works very well to watch it in 20 minute sections for four days. Be sure to stop the movie on day 2 before the love scene ends to keep the suspense of not knowing what will happen.
  • This unit requires about two 50 minute periods in the computer lab. (Also, make sure that the links provided are accessible in your school and not blocked.)
  • For students who are absent during viewing days, I have recently discovered that Lola rennt can be viewed at in its four 20 minute sections.

Schedule

Day / Plan / Time
Day 1 / Pass out student workbook packets
Discuss how packet works
-(Do not tell students that the same thing will happen over and over)
-tracking characters
-listing examples of symbolism
-attention to themes
-EC- for student who finds messed up scene (editing -rainy taxi)
Go over character list and assign characters to each student
Use dictionaries to translate first 4 quotes. P. 2
Discuss translation of quotes
HW: 1) Look up words on vocabulary list. / 5min
10 min
10 min
15 min
10
Day 2 / Check homework
Answer any questions about vocabulary.
Finish discussion of Day 1’s quotes. Have students translate questions on page 2 & fifth quote on page 3. Discuss the answers to the questions and the last quote.
Explain that only the person with the spiral stair case in Lola’s apartment will have to character list notes today. Everyone else should simply watch for the themes.
Watch First ¼ of movie. / 5min
5min
20 min
20 min
Day 3 / Discuss first ¼ of Movie – Symbols
Tell all students to take Character List notes under “Zweite Teil”.
Watch “Zweite Teil” 2nd ¼ of movie.
Stop movie before “love scene” ends.
Answer questions; go over any info students need (without giving away the movie!) / 25 min
20 min.
5 min.
Day 4 / Review Zweite Teil Character Liste & Symbolism from 2nd ¼ of movie.
Take quiz or discuss answers from matching exercises.
Discuss answers from matching worksheet (part B)
Watch “Dritte Teil” 3rd ¼ of movie. / 15 min.
15 min.
20min.
Day 5 / Review Dritte Teil Character Liste & Symbolism from 3nd ¼ of movie.
Watch “Viert Teil” 4th¼ of movie.
Discuss upcoming project, internet activity for next week, etc. / 20 min.
20 min.
10 min.
Day 6 / Review answers for Vierte Teil 4th¼ of movie
Discussion
Finish going over any incomplete part of packet. Ask students if they have questions over any portion of packet. / 20 min.
15 min.
15 min.
Day 7 / Take another Quiz – vocab and content
In computer lab; instruct students to go over Internet Activity pages in packet (p. 10) / 20 min.
40 min.
Day 8 / In computer lab; Give students time to work on Lola’s Berlin project (p. 11 of workbook packet). Be sure to present students with a sample of finished product so they know what they are aiming for. / 50 min.
Day 9 / Review Worksheet Packet; answer questions
Review for Test / 30
20
Day 10 / Test / 40
Additional Optional Days
Day 11 / Work with Lola Rennt Soundtrack/ Song Lyrics
Day 12 / Have students present their Lola’s Berlin Maps. Discuss/ show pictures of other landmarks in Berlin and where they are relevant to where Lola ran.
Hyde Flippo has added another page to the about.com site called BOURNE in Berlin. This link explores locations Berlin Locations shown in another Franka Potente Movie, the Bourne Supremacy.
Talk further about Checkpoint Charlie and what it was to Germans escaping from East Germany.

Daily Notes - Points to Discuss

Day 1

Pass out packets

Discuss how packet works

Assign or have each student sign up for a character to track (see list below)

Translate first four quotes

Begin discussion of quotes

  • Lola rennt quote
  • Ask students if they have experienced this?
  • Ask them if they have seen the movie “The Butterfly Effect” What is the Butterfly Effect, and The Domino Effect.’
  • Discuss the movie “Ground Hog Day” – Main Character improved the outcome in his life by making some small (and some large) alterations in his actions.
  • T.S. Eliot -quote from the 5th stanza of the poem "Little Gidding". T.S. Eliot is Tykwer's favorite poet.
  • Ask students if they have ever experienced this before? Do they remember how the first day of school felt as a freshman, and then they lived and experienced a full year. They were in the same place/position the beginning of their sophomore year, but the outlook may have seemed different to them for what they have learned.
  • Ask for examples they might have
  • Mention the movie “The Wizzard of Oz” where Dorthy had a negative opinion of Kansas, and then after “experiencing” her trip through Oz, she found herself back in Kansas, where nothing was different, but she was different, and then viewed Kansas differently.
  • Sepp Herberger – Was a soccer trainer and manager. He coached the West German National Team to win the 1954 FIFA World Cup. He is known as “The Wonder of Bern” (there is a German Movie about him). He is significant in Germany because winning the 1954 world cup gave the German people a new sense of national pride and unity.
  • 1st Quote – After one game, despite what may have happened positively or negatively, you already must be thinking of and training for the next game.
  • 2nd Quote – Two things are certain/fixed in the game- everything else is up to you. Many games are won or lost in the last few seconds. ‘It’s not over, until it’s over’.

Quotes are spoken at the beginning of the movie by the bank guard (Schuster)

HW: Look up words on vocabulary list

Day 2

Check Homework

Answer any questions about vocabulary

Finish discussion of Day 1’s quotes. Have students translate long quote on page 3. Go over and discuss.

Explain that only the person that is tracking the spiral staircase w/ dog part of the character list needs to fill out their list on the first day of watching.

Watch first 1/4th of film (up until Lola walks out the door of the apartment complex for the first time.)

Day 3

Discuss first ¼ of film content, symbolism, and themes

  • How did the movie being? What kind of clock was it? (unfriendly) Time is not Lola’s friend.
  • When did they see clocks, spirals, colors (red, yellow & green), and breaking glass – fill out put answers on Themes pages #4-5
  • Did anyone notice an editing error in the first scene? When Manni is waiting for Lola it’s a nice day, when he is in the cab it is raining, when he gets out of the cab it’s nice again.
  • Why did Mani get off the U-Bahn? Discuss the idea of “Schwarzfahren” and what it is. The “Strafe” if you ride without a ticket, or without validating your ticket. (Also, the 1978 Oscar winning short film “Der Schwarzfahrer” by Pepe Danquart is viewable on at
  • What does the cartoon character say at the beginning of the first segment? – He says, "Rien ne va plus," French for "No more bets." (You’ll see it again at the casino in the last part of the movie.)

Tell all students that for the second day of watching, all student will see their character and/or scene and will need to take notes under “Zweite Teil”

Watch “Zweite Teil” 2nd ¼ of movie.

Stop movie before “love scene” ends (the suspense is fun to keep from that day to the next.)

Answer questions; go over any info students need (without giving away the movie).

Day 4

Review Zweite Teil Character Liste & Symbolismus from 2nd ¼ of movie.

This is a good point for a simple vocab quiz.

Discuss answers from matching worksheets (part B)

Watch Dritte Teil 3rd ¼ of movie.

Day 5

Review Dritte Teil 3rd ¼ of movie.

  • At this point you should start pointing asking students questions which get them to notice the differences between the Zweite Teil and the Dritte Teil. They should start to see how small changes in Lola’s actions can make big differences.
  • z. B. Differences:
  • In the 3rd ¼ of the movie the man with the Dog trips Lola which slows her down a bit, changing her encounter with each of the same characters: Meyer’s car and the other car crash at different part of the car, Lola gets to her father’s office before Jutta can give the news about being pregnant, etc.
  • In the 2nd ¼ when Lola robs the bank with Manni, she asks him how to take the safety off and use the gun, however in the 3rd Part, when she goes to her father’s office, and robs the bank, she somehow already knows how to use the gun.

Watch Vierte Teil – 4th ¼of the movie.

  • Paying homage to Hitchcock- In the 4th ¼ of the movie the painting that hangs in the casino is of the spiraled bun on the back of Kim Nowak’s hair from the movie “Vertigo”. Tykwer is a fan of Hitchcock, and wanted the blank space on the casino wall covered, so he commissioned someone to paint it. He couldn’t remember what she looked like, so he painted the back of her head.
  • What is vertigo? A dizzy, whirling (perhaps spiraling) sensation.
  • Lola’s screaming- Lola’s scream is very reminiscent of Oskar’s in “The Tin Drum,” however while Tykwer admits he can see the similarity, he claims no intentional similarity.
  • Who is in the ambulance at the end of the movie? Herr Schuster, the bank guard. What is Herr Schuster’s connection to Lola? Some believe that the dialog between him and Lola imply that he might be Lola’s real father. Ask students if they remember what Herr Schuster does the last time you see him during the bank robber scene. He grabs his chest, and you can hear a heart beat in the back ground. This is when he has a heart attack. He was in the Ambulance each time.
  • Who is the guy on the bike at the end of the movie? He is the same guy who stole Lola’s bike at the beginning of the movie when she was buying cigarettes in the Kiosk.
  • Lola in Pop Culture
  • April 29, 2001 The Simpsons episode “Trilogy of Error”
  • Episode #410, titled “Run, Gary, Run,” of Early Edition first aired on 18 December 1999
  • That’s so Raven episode “Run, Raven, Run”
  • Yellowcard’s “Ocean Avenue” music video.
  • Many other movies have used music from the Lola soundtrack.

Discuss upcoming project, internet activities for next week.

Day 6

Review all answers from Vierte Teil- 4th ¼ of movie

Discussion

Finish going over any incomplete part of the packet. Ask students if they have questions over any portion of the packet.

Day 7

Take another quiz – vocabulary and content

In computer lab; instruct students to do Internet Activities pages in packet (p. 10).

Day 8

In computer lab; give students time to work on Lola’s Berlin project (p. 11 of workbook packet). Be sure to present students with a sample of finished project so they know what they are aiming for.

Many Photographs of the locations filmed in the movie are viewable from Hyde Flippo at

Hopefully students will see from the project just how far away one location is from another.

Day 9

 Review Worksheet Packet; answer questions

Review for Test

Day 10

Test

If you would like copies of the Quizzes & Tests I’ve used, or an answer key for the Student Worksheet Packet. Please email me at . Any suggestions about what works or doesn’t work for you would be appreciated. If you would like to add activities or make corrections, feel free.

Also, the information in this lesson has been compiled over the last several years. Some of it has been taken from online sources, and some I have created with my students in the classroom. If you feel that there is anything in here that you would like to be credited for, please email and let me know. I believe I’ve done my best to include links under “sources” to the sites where I have retrieved information.

If you find or feel that any content of this lesson violates copyrights, please let me know so I can remove it from this page. Frau K. Müller
Write your name next to the character in the movie that you would like to be responsible for following. Up to two people may choose one character. If some characters are not chosen, we may need to reassign.

Charakter / Name / Name
1. die Mutter mit dem Kind auf der Straße
2. die Nonnen
3. der Kerl auf dem Rad
4. das Auto von Meyers / der Unfall
5. der Bettler/Penner
6. Jutta, die Freundin von Lolas Vater
7. Lolas Vater
8. die Frau im Flur vor Büro Lolas Vatis
9. Der Wächter in der Bank
10. die blinde Frau an der Telefonzelle
11. die alte Frau außenhalb des Banks
12. der Krankenwagen
13. Liebes Szene
14. Manni
15. Lola

Sources:

Answers.com

Flippo, Hyde. About.com (many links including:

Internet Movie Data Base.

Reid, Pamela. Three Day Unit Contributed by Pamela Reid, TinoraHigh School, Defiance, Ohio.

Run Lola Run Official Web Site (English).

Tykwer, tom.

Wikipedia.

Wikipedia.

Lola Rennt Lesson Plan Schedule Page 1 of 9