Introduction
Neil and Georgie have a real conversation in easy English about their favourite films and TV shows. Learn to talk about what happens in your favourite film.
Vocabulary
plot
what happens in a film, book or TV programme
character
a person in a story
stream
watch a film or TV programme on the internet
Grammar Tip:
Use present simple to describe what happens in a film, TV programme or story
- Harry Potter is about a boy who discovers he is a wizard and goes to a special school called Hogwarts.
Transcript
Georgie
Welcome to Real Easy English, the podcast where we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I’m Georgie.
Neil
And I’m Neil. To read along with this podcast, visit our website: bbclearningenglish.com.
Georgie
How are you today, Neil?
Neil
I’m very well, Georgie. How are you?
Georgie
I’m pretty good, thank you, as well.
Neil
So, Georgie, what are we talking about in today’s episode?
Georgie
Today’s episode is all about films and television. We’ll talk about our favourite movies and shows.
Neil
Great, let’s get started.
Georgie
OK, Neil. So, what kinds of films do you like?
Neil
I like foreign films, films that are not in English, because I like stories from other countries. What about you?
Georgie
I like two kinds of films. One type of film I really like is films that you can learn from, and the other type of film is films that you can escape from reality. So usually quite silly films or fantasy films.
Neil
OK. Do you have a favourite film?
Georgie
Yes, I do. I really love the Harry Potter series.
Neil
So, Georgie, can you tell us about your favourite film, the Harry Potter film you mentioned?
Georgie
Yes. So you want to know about the plot, which is what happens in the film. So Harry Potter is all about a boy who discovers that he is a wizard. That is someone who does magic. And he goes to a school for magic called Hogwarts and he meets his best friends Ron and Hermione who are other characters in the film. And he spends a lot of his time trying to escape a dark wizard called Voldemort and it’s very dangerous. It’s a great film!
Neil
Wow, it sounds like there’s lots of interesting characters in these films.
Georgie
Yes. Very evil characters and also really nice characters.
Neil
So, Georgie, you talked a lot about your favourite film Harry Potter. And the grammar you used to describe the film was present simple. So, for example, you said the film is about a boy who discovers that he is a wizard and he goes to a school, a special school for wizards, and he makes friends with Ron and Hermione. All present simple.
Georgie
Yes, that’s right. We use the present simple to describe the plot of a story like a book or a film. We also use the present simple to tell stories sometimes, things that happened to us in the past, which is interesting.
What about you? What’s your favourite film?
Neil
Well. I think my favourite film is from when I was a kid, and it’s Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
Georgie
Wow. I haven’t seen that.
Neil
It’s very old, but it’s got Indiana Jones, and he was my hero when I was a kid.
Georgie
Really?
Neil
Yeah.
Georgie
Why was he your hero?
Neil
Because it was… he’s all about action and adventure and catching bad guys.
Georgie
Oh interesting! See I’m not a big fan of action and adventure.
Neil
So, Georgie, do you watch lots of movies?
Georgie
I actually don’t, because I have quite a short attention span. I actually prefer to watch TV or series. What about you?
Neil
Yeah, again, I think there’s so much choice these days, sometimes actually I watch nothing because I don’t know what to choose. But sometimes, I really get into a TV series and, yeah, watch it all very quickly and talk about it a lot.
Georgie
That’s called binge watching. How do you watch these series?
Neil
On TV. But, you know, I stream them, like everybody these days.
Georgie
So, you just used the word stream. You stream TV shows and movies and that means watching films or TV using the internet. You can watch things whenever you want when you stream things.
Neil
OK. Let’s look again at the vocabulary we learned during the conversation.
Georgie
We learned plot, which means the story of a film, TV programme or book, so what happens.
Neil
Character, that’s a person in a story.
Georgie
And stream, watch a film or programme online.
Neil
And we learned how to use present simple to talk about what happens in a film.
Georgie
For example, Harry Potter goes to a magic school called Hogwarts and meets two best friends.
Neil
Thanks for listening to Real Easy English. You can find more easy conversation on our website: bbclearningenglish.com
Georgie
Next time, we’ll be talking about pets.
Neil
Bye for now.
Georgie
Bye.