Everyone´s a critic

Everyone´s a critic

The objective

To explain and give an opinion about a film

The language

Present simple: It stars..., It´s about..., It takes place in...

Past simple: I saw that film last week.

Present perfect: Have you seen it? No, I haven´t.

Speaking strategies: (see below)

The set-up

Find and print out two film reviews of two different new films of the same genre, graded to the level of your learners. To help ensure no one has seen the films yet, choose films recently released in the US but not yet elsewhere. Check out www.rottentomatoes.com

The low-down

Hand out the film reviews, one to each half of the room, and ask students to underline information which answers the following questions:

• what is the film is about?
  • who are the main characters?
  • what is the central conflict?
  • where and when does it take place?
• is it worth going to see, according to the critic, and why?

You can have them do it alone or in pairs but either way, have them check their answers with another person/pair. Next ask them to write a summary of the information in pairs. Once they are finished, pair them off with someone from the other side of the room so that each pair has one of each of the film reviews. Ask them to begin by saying, "Have you seen _________?" Then explain the film to their partner. Ask them to each explain the films and then find three similarities between the films.

Now what?

Ask students to describe a film they recently saw to a partner without giving the name of the film. Emphasize use of the phrases "It´s about..." "It stars.." "It takes place..." etc. See if the partner can guess the name. When they are finished ask them to change partners again, then again if there´s time.

Time to teach

While the grammar is fairly simple, the planning and execution of narration is quite complicated for students. So help them with strategies for speaking such as discourse markers (well, anyway), linkers (next, then), self-correction, reformulation (re-phrasing), use of fillers (uh, I mean), formulaic expressions (what was surprising, It was incredible), etc.

More talk-time

Have you seen...? Did you like it?

What are your favorite films?

What are your favorite types of films?

Do you like (horror films)?

Do you think films are too commercial nowadays?