The movie review that I would use in my classroom is Lion Heart featuring Zhuo Qiang (Simba), which tells the story of an amazing man that is the first Chinese national working full time at an wild life conservation in Africa. In 2011 Simba left China and moved to Kenya. I was in awe because has dedicated his life to his dream of helping save the lions from extinction. Simba lives a very modest life on a campsite and educates the Maasai village in Kenya using a Community Based Conservation Model, which simply states that if you help a community first then, the community will join them in saving the lions. The Maasai villagers at first were hostile toward the lions when they would harm or kill their livestock. Simba explained that due to the lack of habitat, and loss of their natural prey, the livestock is a target so they need to build stronger fences to protect their livestock.
This is an excellent film to show to my students because it focuses on animals in their natural habitats and extinction. For my 2ndgrade students one of the Relationships in Ecosystems is to make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. Simba speaks a lot about preserving the natural habitat for the lions and other animals. He explains that because the habitat is shrinking the lions go further out of their habitat in search of food. One activity my students can do compare the habitat of a lion to the habitat of a dolphin.
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