Student Guide

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Rick and Morty
Season 1, Episode 1
"Pilot"

Warning: this is the teacher's guide - it is NOT for students.

Rick and Morty (S1, E1) Plot Summary

Rick is an old scientist who has a portal gun, which can open doors between dimensions. In a drunken state, Rick takes his grandson, Morty, for a ride in his flying car. He rambles about how he plans to use a neutrino bomb to kill all life on Earth. [...]

Getting Started

2 ~ 4 minutes

Welcome your students to the lesson and ask them what they thought of today's episode.

  1. What did you think of this episode of Rick and Morty?
  2. Can you give Rick and Morty season 1, ep. 1 a star-rating between 1 and 5 stars?
  3. What factors did you consider when giving your rating?
  4. Are there any particular scenes, characters, or details you're looking forward to discussing?

Sections

Warm-Up

5 ~ 20 minutes

Warm up by asking your students to consider some open-ended general questions:

Q 1
At the start of this episode, Rick gets so drunk that he passes out. Have you ever been that drunk before? What does it do to your body?
Q 2
Are you the kind of person who can fall asleep anywhere? Have you ever fallen asleep in the middle of class?
Q 3
Have you ever read or heard any stories about "drug mules" (i.e. people who smuggled drugs from one country to another)? What happened to them?
Q 4
Did your parents ever worry that you were slower than the other kids, or were you actually one of the brightest students?

Key Expressions

Approx 35 ~ 70 minutes

Review these 34 key expressions from the transcript:

How to use this section

Level 1:For each expression, review the meaning and example with your student, then ask your student to listen/repeat the example sentence after you.

Level 2:You can ask your student to create their own example sentences, using the same expression.

Image Prompt

5 minutes

Tell your students that you will show them an image and ask them a question. They will have a limited amount of time to respond.

Countdown
What is happening? How would you react if you were Morty?

Check Understanding

15 ~ 20 minutes

Let's make sure your students watched the episode and understood what was going on.

How to use this section

As the teacher, you can press the "SEE ANSWER" button to check our suggested answers. Students do not see this button.

  1. Why does Morty's head drop into his breakfast? Why does he fall asleep in the middle of math class?
  2. Why does Frank bully Morty?
  3. Where does Morty's mother, Beth, work? What's her job?
  4. Why does Rick take Morty to another dimension? What is he searching for and why does he need Morty?
  5. Why did Morty and Rick have to run from the Interdimensional Customs Agents?
  6. Why did Beth and Jerry decide to let Morty keep spending time with Rick?

Discussion

20 ~ 35 minutes

Lead students in an open-ended discussion of the scenes, themes, plot and characters in the episode

Q 1
Rick and Morty is considered more modern than The Simpsons or Family Guy. Based on this first episode, what do you think makes Rick and Morty a different kind of cartoon?
Q 2
Was there a well known bully at your school? Did they ever bully you? Why do you think bullies attack people?
Q 3
Was Jerry right to be nervous about Beth's attractive co-worker? Why or why not?
Q 4
Rick and Morty are meant to have a mentor/mentee relationship, but in reality Rick is just using Morty. Who is/was a mentor in your life? Have you ever been a mentor to somebody yourself?
Q 5
Have you ever had trouble with Customs & Immigration officers? What would you say if they accused you of trying to transport drugs?

Shadowing Practice

10 ~ 15 minutes

Shadowing is a repetition technique for more natural pronunciation.

How to use this section

Ask your students to memorize this passage from the transcript and repeat it back to you, being careful to match the pronunciation, inflection, and emotion they heard in the show.

This can be assigned as homework or practiced together during class time.

Start playback at time: 14:35

Where there are yellow-highlighted gaps in the passage, press on the gap to see the correct text.
1
I don't like it here. I can't abide bureaucracy.
2
I don't like being told what to do. Did you get those seeds up your butt?
3
Yeah, Rick. Let's just get this over with, okay? These things are pointy, they hurt.
4
That means they're good ones. You're a good kid.
5
Those mega seeds are super valuable to my work, you've been a huge help.
6
I'm gonna be able to do all [burps] kinds of things with them. It's gonna be great.
7
[burps] All kinds of science.
8
Next through.
9
Except you, you go over there.
10
Why?
11
Random check. Go through the new machine.
12
What new machine?
13
It detects stuff all the way up your butt.
14
Run, Morty! [Morty screams]
15
Red alert!

Role Play

10 ~ 20 minutes

Students take the roles of characters and act out the scenes by creating their own version of events

Option
1
One student is Beth and the other is Jerry. Jerry wants to convince Beth to go out for lunch and talk about moving Rick to a nursing home. Beth is busy at work, and she isn't sure she can leave.
Option
2
One student is Rick and the other is Morty. Rick tells Morty they're going to go on many adventures, but Morty just wants to be a normal kid. Can Rick convince Morty?

Grammar Tense Practice

10 ~ 20 minutes

Decide on a tense and ask your student to click on it. They will have to fill in the plot summary in the tense of your choice.

1
Rick is an old scientist who has a portal gun, which can open doors between dimensions....
following that...
_____________
next...
_____________
2
The bomb activates by itself but......
next...
_____________
following that...
_____________
3
To get past Intergalactic Customs, Morty is forced to hide the seeds in his own rectum...
following that...
_____________
next...
_____________
4
Morty shoots one of the insect soldiers...
next...
_____________
and then...
_____________
5
Morty suffers in pain on the floor...
and then...
_____________
next...
_____________

Articles (a/an/the) Practice

5 ~ 30 minutes

Ask your student to click on any incorrect articles, or to click in the space before a word that needs an article.

Some articles may be correct already, but clicking on them will show an alternate option.

Rick
is
the
old
scientist
who
has
a
portal
gun,
which
can
open
doors
between
dimensions.
In
a
drunken
state,
Rick
takes
his
grandson,
Morty,
for
a
ride
in
his
flying
car.
He
rambles
about
how
he
plans
to
use
an
neutrino
bomb
to
kill
all
life
on
Earth.
Restart articles practice?
You have found 0 out of 5 issues

Guessing Game

5 ~ 10 minutes

Ask your student to type letters and try to guess the expression

Some expresssions might have punctuation, like question marks (?), exclamation marks (!), hyphens (-), or single quotation marks (').

“High pressure: there is a lot to win, but there is also a lot to lose.”
???
??????
???
????
Guess 16 more letters

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