This activity is aimed at helping students tell the difference between /s/, /z/ (and /ɪz/) in plural endings (the same as in 3rd person singular present simple endings and possessive ‘s). It uses the song “My Favourite Things” from the film The Sound of Music, which makes a long list of plural things the singer allegedly loves.
Students are provided with the phonemic transcription of the singular word. By applying the rule, they can guess what sound(s)/phoneme(s) would be used to pronounce them in the plural. Then, they can check their answers against Julie Andrews’s performance, by paying special attention to the way she pronounces either /s/ or /z/. Can they tell the difference?
In this video you can find real examples of positive comments and adjectives to describe theatre plays and musicals. Many of these adjectives could be used as well to describe films or even books.
The pictures of the billboards were taken in London’s West End only some days ago to illustrate the language related to this topic in real use. Bear in mind, however, that these are all examples of rave reviews (extremely positive reviews), as they want to attract potential audiences.
This is a completely subjective list of films that may be helpful to improve your level of English: whether because the actors and actresses’ accents are clear and nice (or I especially like them anyway), or because the subject matter of the film and the language involved is easy to understand.
The films selected are arranged in chronological order. The ones with this symbol next to the title are the ones I especially recommend in terms of language level and accent.
The Great Dictator (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
To Be or Not To Be (1942)
Roman Holiday (1953) [*****]
Sabrina (1954)
To Catch a Thief (1955)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Charade (1963)
Mary Poppins (1964)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Take the Money and Run (1969)
Radio Days (1987)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Peter’s Friends (1992)
In the Name of the Father (1993)
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) [*****]
Gattaca (1997)
My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
The Full Monty (1997)
Shakespeare in Love (1998) [*****]
Notting Hill (1999)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Billy Elliot (2000)
Moulin Rouge! (2001) [*****]
The Others (2001) [*****]
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) [*****]
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2002) (and the whole Harry Potter saga) [*****]
Foutaises (1989): Court-métrage de Jean Pierre Jeunet, réalisateur de Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, dont la première partie s’inspire de Foutaises.
After the success of our get-together to watch and discuss Fantastic Beasts (and Where to Find Them), we invite you to meet again to watch another film together. This time, we’re going to watch Hidden Figures, a biopic about three talented female African-American NASA engineers who saved the Apollo rocket program.
Some years ago, the WWII propaganda poster “Keep calm and carry on” was discovered (watch this video for the story behind the poster). Apparently, it never saw the light of day, until 2001. Since then, parodies, tributes and cultural appropriations have spread both across the UK and worldwide ad nauseam, as some would argue (read this BBC article).
On a different note, this summer, I could not help but stumble upon Minion-related stuff every minute, wherever I went, even back in Spain. So, imagine my reaction when I came across this:
Some years ago, the WWII propaganda poster “Keep calm and carry on” was discovered (watch this video for the story behind the poster). Apparently, it never saw the light of day, until 2001. Since then, parodies, tributes and cultural appropriations have spread ad nauseam, both in the UK and worldwide, as some would argue (read this BBC article).
On a different note, this summer, I could not help but stumble upon Minion-related stuff every minute, wherever I went, even back in Spain. So, imagine my reaction when I came across this:
