Taare Zameen Par = Like stars on earth (film)

Taare Zameen Par is a 2007 Bollywood drama film directed and procuced by Aamir Khan.

The film explores the life and imagination of 8-year-old Ishaan (Darsheel Safary). Although he excels in the arts, his poor academic performance leads his parents to send him to a boarding school. Ishaan's new art teacher (Aamir Khan) suspects that he is dyslexic, and helps him to overcome his disability.

The film made its theatrical debut in India on 21 December 2007. Less than two years later Walt Disney Home Entertainment released an international edition DVD titled Like Stars on Earth, marking the first purchase of distribution rights for an Indian film by a global company.

Taare Zameen Par has received several awards, including the Filmfare Best Film Award for 2008 and the 2008 National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. It was India's official entry for the 2009 Academy Awards Best Foreign Film, and the film's failure to progress to the nominations short list sparked a debate about why no Indian film has ever won an Oscar. Media outlets made comparisons between Taare Zameen Par and the British drama Slumdog Millionaire, which won several Oscars that same year.

On Friday March 18th, the pupils of 3rd Upper Secondary school "Miltos  Kountouras" participating in the eTwinning project "Dyslexia and Social Exclusion" attended the film in IT LAB. More details about the film HERE.

Ms St. Soubassi, english teacher in our school, prepared the students to watch the film. She coordinated the discussion on the subject "social exclusion & dyslexic pupils" and evaluated the worksheets of the children.

Here it is the worksheet:


Worksheet: side 1	worksheet: side 2
On Monday March 21th, in the IT LAB the pupils will watch some other videos about dyslexia, will search for famous dyslexic people and will draw paintings,  cartoons and designs about dyslexic people, their attitudes and their relationships with the other.  Look at our newer posts...	Worksheets

DYSLEXIA and SOCIAL EXCLUSION
We watched the dyslexia film and noticed the following:
Children with learning difficulties are threatened by social exclusion because:

• They are left behind 
• They can’t participate in class activities 
• They have no friends

Also, the hero is a dyslexic boy who is:
skillful, not very dexterous, adventurous, brave, emotionally intelligent, artistic, sensitive, creative, lonely, detached, aggressive, defiant, a liar, sometimes truant, nervous and a pet lover.
His talents are that he can make puzzles, paint, make fireworks and orientate himself. He can also understand poetry, although he can't read, write and calculate. On the other hand, he can’t memorise and answer when pressed or understand istructions.  He can't focus and play ball games.

He feels happy when he can freely explore and create. He feels frustrated when he fails, angry, stressed, lonely and also abandoned, sad and depressed. His family feel confused, apprehensive, condemned, disappointed, angry and guilty.

How can we help him? We can try and understand him, accept him as he is, seek expert support for him and us and, more importantly, not insult him but support him. We should explain things in his way and provide special education and last protect him from being bullied.