Following on from Monday's Jurassic World crossword, here's a clip from the movie I used with my EM Normandie students. There aren't any dinosaurs in it, but there is a lot of useful language (vocabulary, expressions, grammar). In fact, certain people have said the clip is sexist, but I thought it was pretty funny (even if the characters are stereotypes).
LESSON IDEAS
There are lots of ways you could use this clip. I saw the movie in French (unfortunately), so I gave my students the English transcript (see below) and got them to imagine what the French subtitles would be. This was basically a translation exercise but it did throw up a lot of interesting language points (false friends, slang, question forms, etc.) You could also come up with various comprehension and gap-fill activities, but I wanted my students to concentrate on just watching the clip and trying and understand as much as possible. There are also a lot of potential discussion points:
• How would you describe the characters' characters?
• Is this clip 'sexist'?
• Is it ethically acceptable to clone extinct animals?
• What about cloning humans?
• What is appropriate dress/behaviour for a first date?
• Describe your first date?
• When was the last time you went on a date?
TRANSCRIPT
OWEN: You just went and made a new dinosaur?
CLAIRE: Yeah, it’s kinda what we do here. The exhibit opens to the public in three weeks. Mr Masrani wanted me to consult with you.
OWEN: You wanna consult here, or in my bungalow.
CLAIRE: That’s not funny.
OWEN: Heh, heh. A little funny.
CLAIRE: We’d like you to evaluate the paddock for vulnerabilities.
OWEN: Why me?
CLAIRE: I guess Mr Masrani thinks since you’re able to control the raptors …
OWEN: See, it’s all about control with you. I don’t control the raptors – it’s a relationship. It’s based on mutual respect. That’s why you and I never had a second date.
CLAIRE: Excuse me. I never wanted a second date.
OWEN: Who prints out an itinerary for a night out?
CLAIRE: I’m an organized person.
OWEN: What kind of a diet doesn’t allow tequila?
CLAIRE: All of them actually. And what kind of a man shows up to a date in board shorts?
OWEN: It’s Central America. It’s hot.
CLAIRE: OK, OK. Can we just focus on the asset please?
OWEN: The asset? Look, I get it. You’re in charge out here. You gotta make a lot of tough decisions. It’s probably easier to pretend these animals are just numbers on a spreadsheet. But they’re not. They’re alive.
CLAIRE: I’m fully aware they’re alive.
OWEN: You might have made them in a test tube, but they don’t know that. They’re thinkin’, “I gotta eat, I gotta hunt, I gotta …”. You can relate to at least one of those things, right?
