A: In a digital world, even the strongest must fight for survival. Two people, possess a secret so valuable, so powerful, they have to defend it at all costs.
B: I don’t care where they are, I don’t care what it takes... you find them and bring them to me!
A: They only had one chance! And their chance was to fight back!
D: You wanna play rough? Okay, say hello to my little friend!
A: With a little help from the Governor...
C: Listen to me! We have to get them outta there! No matter what!
A: Nothing will prevent them from doing their job! Double the action.
D: Get down!
A: Triple the excitement.
D: Get down again!
A: This summer... nothing will stand in their way.
B: I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.
A: Two hosts, one podcast, EnglishPod, coming to a theater near you.
M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.
E: And I’m Erica.
M: And today we’re going back to the movies.
E: That’s right, we’ve got a great lesson today and I’m really excited about this dialogue. I think it’s fantastic.
M: Hehe. We have an original EnglishPod production of a movie trailer.
E: So, what is a movie trailer?
M: Well, whenever you go to the cinema…
E: Uhu.
M: Um, before the movie starts you have previews of upcoming movies.
E: So, like almost an advertisement for a future movie.
M: Exactly.
E: Okay.
M: So, that’s a movie trailer and that’s what we’re bringing you today.
E: A lot of great language you’ll commonly hear in action movies.
M: Right, so, let’s start with “vocabulary preview”.
Voice: Vocabulary preview.
E: We have one word today – possess.
M: Possess.
E: Possess.
M: Possess.
E: So, when you possess something, you…
M: Have it.
E: Aha.
M: It’s in your possession. You…
E: Simple.
M: You have it, right?
E: Yep.
M: So, in this dialogue our actors possess something very important.
E: Uhu.
M: So, let’s listen to the dialogue for the first time and it’s going to be a little bit fast and a little bit difficult to understand.
E: But don’t worry, we’ll come back and explain all of the key language later.
DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME
M: Wow, so, it sounds like a really good movie.
E: I know. When is it coming out?
M: Uh, I think in two thousand fifteen (2015).
E: Okay, I’ll put that in my calendar.
M: Hehe. Okay, let’s take a look at the vocabulary we saw in this dialogue in language takeaway.
Voice: Language takeaway.
M: In language takeaway today we have three words. What’s our first one?
E: Survival.
M: Survival.
E: Survival.
M: Survival.
E: Well, survival is continuing to live even in really hard times.
M: It comes from the verb to survive.
E: Aha.
M: Right? So, survival is the noun form.
E: Right, so… so maybe you are lost in… in…
M: The jungle.
E: The jungle and you have to fight for survival.
M: Right, you have to try to survive.
E: Aha.
M: Okay, our next word – defend.
E: Defend.
M: Defend.
E: Defend.
M: So, let’s listen to some examples of defend, so you can understand the meaning.
Voice: Example one.
A: We have to defend the castle. The army is trying to kill the king!
Voice: Example two.
B: The soldiers defended the base in the difficult battle.
Voice: Example three.
C: These new machine guns will defend us.
M: So, basically, it’s to protect, right?
E: Right, to protect from something that is really harmful.
M: Okay, so, you would defend your children.
E: Aha.
M: You would defend your…
E: Your house.
M: Your house.
E: Or your castle.
M: Your dog, your cat.
E: Yeah.
M: Okay. And our last word on language takeaway – rough.
E: Rough.
M: Rough.
E: R-O-U-G-H. Rough.
M: Right, it’s got that “ugh”…
E: Yep.
M: Sound.
E: Aha.
M: So, it basically means… so when something is rough, it’s a little bit violent…
E: And hard…
M: Hard.
E: Yeah.
M: For example, boxing is a rough sport.
E: Or hockey is also a rough sport.
M: Exactly, so, you have rough sports or maybe even a person can be a little bit rough.
E: Yes. Or that person can play rough.
M: Play rough, exactly.
E: Uhu.
M: So, rough. Okay, so, we’re ready to listen to our dialogue again.
E: And this time it’ll be a little bit slower, so, you can understand the language a little bit more clearly.
DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)
M: So, we saw some interesting phrases in this dialogue. Let’s take a look at them in “fluency builder”.
Voice: Fluency builder.
M: The first phrase that we saw – at all costs.
E: At all costs.
M: At all costs.
E: At all costs.
M: So, let’s listen to some examples before we explain “at all costs”.
Voice: Example one.
A: I’ll protect my kids at all costs.
Voice: Example two.
B: We have to get this project done at all costs.
Voice: Example three.
C: You find those criminals at all costs.
E: Well, if you’re going to protect your kids at all costs, you’re going to protect them even if it’s a really hard.
M: Right, it doesn’t matter how hard it is or what you have to do.
E: Exactly.
M: You’ll do it.
E: Uhu.
M: At all costs. Now we have, um… now let’s take a look at our second phrase for fluency builder and it’s very similar to at all costs.
E: Yeah, really similar.
M: No matter what.
E: No matter what.
M: No matter what.
E: No matter what.
M: For example, I’m going to go on vacation no matter what my boss says.
E: Nothing’s gonna stop you.
M: Right, if he says no, I’m still going on my vacation.
E: And I’m gonna protect my kids no matter what.
M: Exactly, no matter what.
E: I don’t have kids, though.
M: Hehe. But you will protect them no matter what.
E: If I had them.
M: Hehe. Okay. Uh, and our last phrase – stand in their way.
E: Stand in their way.
M: Stand in their way.
E: Stand in their way.
M: So, let’s listen to some examples of “stand in someone’s way”.
E: Uhu.
M: And then we’ll come back and explain it.
Voice: Example one.
A: Don’t let anything stand in the way of your goals.
Voice: Example two.
B: I’m going to find that guy and nothing is going to stand in my way.
Voice: Example three.
C: I don’t care what happens. I’m gonna get that money and you’d better not stand in my way.
M: So, when something stands in your way, it’s…
E: It’s preventing you from reaching your goal.
M: From reaching your goal, right? Or we can also have somebody standing in your way physically.
E: Like really you’re standing close to me and I can’t pass through the door.
M: Right, right.
E: Yeah.
M: So, maybe that person is at the door and… is standing in my way. I can’t go in.
E: Yeah.
M: Okay.
E: But here we’re not really talking about a real thing, right? That you can touch.
M: Right, it’s more of some obstacle that’s preventing you from reaching you goals or from doing what you want to do.
E: Yep.
M: So, now we can listen to our dialogue again and now you can understand these words that we’ve just talked about.
DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME
E: I know that you’re a big movie fan, right?
M: Yeah, I’m a big movie fan I usually watch maybe three or five movies a week.
E: Really?
M: Yeah-yeah.
E: Wow! Many students of English like to watch movies as a way to improve their English.
M: That’s one of the best ways to learn English…
E: Uhu.
M: As through songs and movies.
E: What do you think of some useful movies that people can watch to practice English?
M: Well, I would recommend children’s movies.
E: Really?
M: Yeah, they have simple vocabulary, but they have very common language.
E: Uhu.
M: And also what’s happening in the movie is very easy to understand and to follow.
E: So. You can see the action and then hear the word.
M: Exactly.
E: Uhu.
M: So, if you like to watch movies, rent a DVD or go buy a DVD, watch it in the original language…
E: Yeah.
M: With English subtitles.
E: So, you should watch it in English.
M: With English subtitles.
E: Yeah, and what is subtitles?
M: Subtitles are the words that you see at the bottom of the screen that translate…
E: Okay.
M: What the people are saying.
E: Okay.
M: Yeah, that’s the best thing to do. Try that exercise. If you have a pen and paper with you, it’s much better. You can pause the movie, write down the word you don’t understand and then maybe review it later.
E: That’s a really good tip. I always tell my students that they should watch movies, listen to music, read the newspaper and write down at least five new words or phrases a week.
M: Yeah, yeah.
E: Yeah.
M: It’s a really good exercising, you’ll improve a lot.
E: Yes. So, everyone, we want you to go and watch a movie in English. Turn on the subtitles and write down some new vocabulary.
M: Exactly. And if you have any comments or questions or maybe even suggestions, you can come to our website at englishpod.com and leave them in our community page.