Talking to Cara about films, movies, her movie club for English learners and a discussion about films and what they mean.
Introduction Transcript
Hello!
In this episode you will be able to listen to a conversation with Cara Leopold all about films.
If you are a long-term listener to this podcast, then you will know Cara. She’s been on this show a few times before.
Just in case you need a reminder, Cara is an English teacher from the UK, currently living in France, and she loves films and uses them to help people learn English. In fact she is the creator of the Leo Listening Movie Club, where she helps advanced, film-loving English learners understand and discuss iconic movies together in order to master conversational English.
Cara Loves films.
I love films too, who doesn’t?
We all love films, don’t we?
And it’s very common to talk about films we’ve seen.
Are you able to do that in English?
I want you to think about what is involved in having a conversation about films in English.
When we talk about films, we do a number of things, including:
- Summarising the plot or story of the film
- Describing the main characters
- Talking about actors and their performances,
- Talking about directors and they way films are directed, edited, locations, effects and music.
- Giving our opinions about films, including the things we like and don’t like
- Discussing the meaning of films, and any social, historical or personal issues which are connected to them.
How do we do those things in English? Are you familiar with the language of cinema and the language of talking about films?
What I want to do with this episode is let you listen to a natural conversation (one that isn’t scripted in advance) about films in order to let you hear all those things being done.
So that’s what this is!
You can use this episode in several ways.
1) Just listen for enjoyment, listen to what we have to say about various different films, and just try to follow the conversation, and practice your general listening skills in the process.
2) Focus on noticing the specific vocabulary or grammar that we use to do all the things I mentioned before. Listen out for the ways we describe, summarise, give opinions and generally share our thoughts about films.
We mention lots of different films in this conversation and one thing which I’m thinking about is that those films might have different titles in your language. I hope you are able to identify the films.
You can see a list of the names of the films we mention on the page for this episode on my website. If you want to check out those movie titles, and perhaps google them to find out what they are called in your language, just go to the episode page on my website and you’ll see all the titles listed there, plus various other links to things which we mention or which you might find useful.
Right then. It’s now time to listen to my conversation with Cara.
I will talk to you again briefly at the end of this but now, let’s get started.
Ending Transcript
Thanks again to Cara.
You can check out her work.
On her website you can see details of the different courses and resources I mentioned before, which involve improving your English with films.
Also check out her YouTube channel where she has been posting videos lately. Some of the videos there include things like:
- The best movies for English learners
- The 5 best podcasts for movie loving English learners
- Should you watch movies in English with or without subtitles?
- How to understand movies in English without subtitles
- And more
Also you will find a link to Cara’s LinkedIn page where she has been writing posts about various things.
Cara Links
- Website – www.leo-listening.com
- LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/caraleopold/?originalSubdomain=fr
- YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@LeoListening
As well as that, on the page for this episode on my website you’ll also find
- Links to those previous episodes of this podcast about using films and TV series to improve your English. That’s episodes 523 and 660
Also! Links to the episodes about Groundhog Day that we mentioned.
Episode 129 (parts 1 & 2) of Daniel Goodson’s podcast “My Fluent Podcast” in which Daniel and Cara discuss Groundhog Day
And a list of all the names of the films Cara and I mentioned in this conversation, in case you wanted to google them to find out what they are called in your language.
Here are a few questions which you could answer in the comment section if you like:
- Have you seen any good films recently?
- Do you prefer films or TV series? Why?
- What films have helped you learn English? How did they help you?
Films we mentioned in this conversation
- Pétaouchnok (The French film starring Philippe Rebbot, who Cara saw at a cafe recently)
- Films which Cara has watched in her film club recently
- Get Out
- Groundhog Day
Jane Austen adaptations - Sense and Sensibility
- Pride and Prejudice
Richard Curtis films - Love Actually
- Four Weddings & A Funeral
- Notting Hill
- About Time
- Yesterday
Danny Boyle films - 28 Days Later
- 28 Weeks Later
Horror films - Paranormal Activity
- Insidious
- John Carpenter films
- Halloween
- The Thing
Paul Verhoven films - Robocop
- Total Recall
David Fincher films - Se7en
- Fight Club
One of my all-time favourite films - Taxi Driver
More recent films - The Barbie Movie
- Killers of the Flower Moon