Movies to help with oral English?

[owenkrout]

I would like to have some input. Especially from the Chinese members of the board, though anybody's input is appreciated.

 

My students here complain that they have little chance to hear English and they talked me into doing an English language movie night for them. Partially some free entertainment and partially a way to help them improve their listening skills. I plan to turn off the Chinese subtitles and use English subtitles. The question mainly is, what movies would you suggest as being interesting to kids less than half my age and would at the same time give them some cultural insights and language practice? I have about 250 DVDs now and would be willing to spend the money to buy any that I don't have if I think that they would be expecially useful.

[Myles]

Aloha from Hawaii,

I suggest South Park as something to watch. It is not proper english but it enjoyable

and will prepare your students for a lower level of communication.

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

[Jiefly]

How about "Forest Gump"? It contains many cultural things but the English Gump speaks has the accent.

[danswayne]

I just showed the Joy Luck Club to my class today and they loved it, of course I have all girls for students. The movie is also a little long at 2 hours 20 minutes.

[tonado]

Aloha from Hawaii,

I suggest South Park as something to watch.  It is not proper english but it enjoyable

and will prepare your students for a lower level of communication.

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

South Park is a series of cartoon for Adult/mature audience. They are very funny but China may not allow them.

[tonado]

I recommend "Sound of Music" and "Big".

[owenkrout]

After you've been in China long enough, you rule out Sound of Music and Titanic. I have heard and seen those enough to last me the rest of my life! Your right, South Park would be a good way to get myself fired! Just as well with me, I can't stand it anyway. Now the Simpsons is another matter, but I think maybe that one is off limits also. Probably just because the censors don't know what to make of it.

 

I appreciate all the suggestions. I have Forrest Gump, but the only alloted me two hours. Guess I could do it in two settings. The accent is not too heavy and it does them good to hear some of the variety.

[Lurker]

For an easy-to-follow storyline, there's Castaway with Tom Hanks. The plotline is straightforward, and about midway through there's a large chunk with no dialogue whatsoever.

[April]

many people,mostly university students,learn English,especially American English by watching movies and listening to American popular songs;I don't feel that helps me to learn English,though i also watched lots of American movies,but all with Chinese subtitle;

I'm bad at listening to English,tell u guys a secret,i can easliy fall into sleep by listening to it,if it has nothing to do with me.I'm here in USA nearly a month,TV is something like a background sound to me which won't bother me at any work,the only problem is that if i watch it on the sofa,before i understand what the show is about,i'm in my dream.So i also can't say listening to VOA is a good way to learn English,even i do hear some friends benefit a lot from VOA.

My English teachers played some movies for us as a tool for teaching English also,but most of us just were interested in the movies,which usually had chinese subtitles,not the English.We tried to ask the teacher to give more movies for we love to get classes into watching movies.

To learn English by movies should be a good way and i hoped there're some with English subtitle which will really help,also,they should be some movies where characters speak clear English,not to fast or too local to catch,i still remember one movie SLEEPLESS SEATTLE" i watched then,which is really a good one for this purpose;

Also,if u can get some shows like SIMPSON or SOAP OPERA,it'll also help to learn living Engish.Many Japanese majors get to speak very good Janpanese by watching those tons of SOAP OPERA,most are love stories;for girls,it's easy to get interested in those and move on with it,so they will really try to hear and understand,which is what really helps u to learn something;and because they're all of daily English,with simple but useful words,which will be easy to learn and remember.

[PJ]

Owen,

 

In terms of learning, I would recommend movies that are more "kid oriented" but that adults would enjoy as well. Disney movies such as Lion King or Beauty and the Beast.

 

When I was learning Cantonese, a really helpful movie I saw was "My Life as McDull", it's a cartoon, and used more simple phrases but enjoyable for grown-ups. Either that, or I am just immature.

 

Also, for interesting insight into the hip-hop culture of America, I would recommend 8 Mile. I think it would be fascinating to people in China to see how many people in America have morphed the concept of rapid-fire delivery of rhythmic phrases into an art.

 

P.J.

[owenkrout]

I have heard a similar style of rhythmic delivery used in Chinese on TV. I still get lost immediately, but apparently it plays with word meanings too, as rap will do.

 

We had four Korean students at the middle school I was teaching at last year who asked to be scheduled together for the English language talent night performance the school had. Nobody asked what they were going to do apparently. They got up on the stage and did a passable job on an English rap session with break-dancing. The trouble was that they didn't really understand all the language and had apparently practiced off a parental warning video! The Chinese teachers and the administration all about had heart attacks! The Canadian teachers and I were practically rolling on the floor laughing. New rule, all the acts had to be reviewed by a foreign teacher prior to performance.

[Myles]

Aloha from Hawaii,

There also are a lot of old Elvis movies.

Thank you very mush Myles

[Charlotte]

I would like to put in my 2 cents here:

I think any movie that is PG-13 here is good and entertaining. Some R movies are also good. If you give them the carton movies, this helps training so lonely listening, which can be accomplished by radio program. I would like to see the lip movement when I want to imitate.

I can¡¯t help using my daughter as an example: she had only normal high school English when she came in 2001 and I was surprised how much she could understand then. Now after a year in college in China, she is here listening to radio and watching TV with 90% understanding. She virtually watches all movies without subtitles.

The TOEFL test she took here is no easy cake for a Chinese fresh off boat (plane). TOEFL test is all computerized here. The listening part is harder than the paper based. The speed is normal movie talk speed; they don't show you the multiple choices to the question until you after you hear the question. I was a little shocked myself when I tried the sample test questions. But she did very well in listening portion. Her overall score was 257 on 300 total; 213 is equal to 550 on paper-based score here.

To answer April¡¯s question, from my personal experience and my daughter¡¯s, yes listening to English songs and watching movies will be very helpful. It may not show instance result, but in the long run, it does. My daughter is not the type that memorizes vocabulary or read a lot, but she has seen more English movies than my entire office staff put together and knows more American pop singers than many Americans born here. She spent all her pocket money buying those pirated CD/VCD/DVDs. I even scared her about getting caught at the POE. So she let me take some for her when I came last August.

 

Owen, it is a good idea to let them have English subtitle. I would even recommend them to watch it with the English subtitle first and then without it. During the waiting, my daughter took my advice to watch her collections again -- surprised that she did--- and they did help her listening comprehension.

[owenkrout]

I have started with the movie night and have shown two movies. I used Shanghai Noon as a starter. Has an actor they are familiar with and like, starts in Chinese and moves to English, has lots of action and is funny. They loved it. Then showed Castaway. Starts difficult with rapid fire English, but soon becomes very simple English with obvious on screen clues as to what is being said. Also a very good story. Again, they loved it. Had about 35 people the first time with no advertising and about 90 the second time with minimal advertising. I have 150 seats and expect to fill them from now on.

 

Interesting that your daughter is not one of the memorize a huge vocabulary types. That is generally the way English is presented to them here. Learning to use common phrases, such as one would learn through movies is much more useful. I have many students who supposedly know a very large vocabulary, but don't know how to use those words to express a thought.

[Charlotte]

I have many students who supposedly know a very large vocabulary, but don't know how to use those words to express a thought.

A student is considered good at English if they have a big volume of vocabulary in China. But they could not respond to a simple question like "Where do you go to school?" quickly because they can't THINK in the vocabulary they know. To this day, I don't know how many English words or even Chinese words I know .

I always recommend the students including my daughter imitate /not create or translate the terms and phrases. Take the entire sentence/phrase and find the equivalent meaning in Chinese, not the word to word translation. In the movies or soaps, they can also pick up some slangs. It is important to understand the English slangs here, but I suggest they not say them until they are totally familiar with the culture here and know the circustances to use them occasssionally.

 

Hey, good idea to start with the actors and actresses they like.