Student Guide

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Rick and Morty
Season 3, Episode 1
"The Rickshank Rickdemption"

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

Rick and Morty (S3, E1) Plot Summary

Rick is interrogated via a mind-computer link, inside a galactic federal prison. Summer and Morty attempt to rescue him but they are captured by "SEAL Team Ricks", a group of Special Forces Ricks. They take them to the Citadel of Ricks and decide to [...]

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 3, 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
Before this episode, the Galactic Empire captured Rick. They took over Earth and installed their own government on our planet. Do you think it's possible aliens will ever come to Earth? Would they try to take over our planet?
Q 2
What are some of the most vivid memories you have?
Q 3
Can you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing during any major news events?
Q 4
Which family member are you closest to now? Were you closer to a different family member when you were younger?
Q 5
A lot of separate but connected events happened in this episode. Which parts were confusing or hard to follow the first time you watched it?

Key Expressions

Approx 25 ~ 50 minutes

Review these 23 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 did Morty decide to do? Why did he do that?

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. At the start of this episode, why is Rick in a family restaurant?
  2. Why is Jerry so happy at the start of this episode?
  3. What is the Citadel of Ricks?
  4. How do Morty and Summer find their way to Rick?
  5. How did Rick get out of the Brainalyzer machine?
  6. How did Rick destroy the Galactic Federal Government?

Discussion

20 ~ 30 minutes

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

Q 1
Why do you think Rick is so against the Galactic Government?
Q 2
Do you believe that Rick's wife and daughter could really have been murdered by the other Ricks from other dimensions?
Q 3
At the beginning of this episode, the Smith family is living in something like paradise, except that there is a mandatory curfew and they are forced to eat pills. But people and animals live very long, healthy lives, and nobody is poor. In your opinion, what freedoms do people need to give up to live in a better world?
Q 4
Were you surprised that Beth divorced Jerry and chose to keep her relationship with Rick instead? Why did she do that?

Shadowing Practice

10 ~ 20 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: 18:01

Where there are yellow-highlighted gaps in the passage, press on the gap to see the correct text.
1
But watch closely as Grandpa
_________________
2
by changing a one... to a
____
.
3
Mr. President, the Blemflarck's value just
__________________
.
4
What do you mean?
5
I mean, our single centralized galactic currency
6
just went from being worth one of itself to zero of itself.
7
Calm down, people.
8
Deploy the galactic militia and
___________________
.
9
Yes, sir. Uh, what should I pay them with?
10
Their payment is the honor they'll feel to serve their...
11
Wait. Who's paying me to
________________
?
12
I can answer that: for money.
13
I never thought
________________________
.
14
Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen!
15
There's a solution here you're not seeing.
16
Give me your jacket!
17
Give me those pants!
18
There's no rich people or poor people!
19
I want more jackets!
20
_________________________
controls the galaxy!

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 Summer and the other student is Morty. Summer wants to go save Rick but Morty doesn't want to. He wants Summer to forget Rick because he abandoned them. Morty believes they should stay and have a safe life, but Summer hates life in the Galactic Federation.
Option
2
One student is Rick and the other student is Beth. Rick wants to tell Beth how he felt when his wife and daughter in his dimension were killed by other Ricks. But Beth is not sure she wants to have this conversation, because it reminds her that she is not special and that this Rick is not exactly her father.

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
interrogated
via
a
mind-computer
link,
inside
a
galactic
federal
prison.
Summer
and
Morty
attempt
to
rescue
him
but
they
are
captured
by
"SEAL
Team
Ricks",
an
group
of
Special
Forces
Ricks.
They
take
them
to
the
Citadel
of
Ricks
and
decide
to
assassinate
Rick.
Restart articles practice?
You have found 0 out of 4 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 (').

“To defecate, to poo”
????
?
????
Guess 9 more letters

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