Five great film scenes that can help improve your English

Steffanie Zazulak
A woman sat on a sofa with a tv controller

Watching films can be a great way for people to learn English. We all have our favourite movie moments and, even as passive viewers, they're probably teaching you more than you realise. Here's a selection of our favourite scenes, along with the reasons why they're educational as well as entertaining.

Jaws
Reproducir
Privacy and cookies

By watching, you agree app can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

1. Jaws (1975)

We'll start with one of the most famous – and quoted – speeches in cinema. Here, intrepid shark hunter Quint explains that his hatred of sharks stems from experiencing the sinking of the USS Indianapolis warship during World War II, and witnessing his fellow survivors being picked off by sharks.

The scene is based on real events, and the story of its creation is as fascinating as the dialogue itself. Originally conceived by uncredited writer Harold Sackler, the scene was later expanded to 10 pages by director Steven Spielberg’s friend John Milius – before Robert Shaw, the actor playing Quint, did an edit that took the speech down to five pages.

This highlights how impactful language can be even with – and sometimes due to – fewer words, while the story of its creation shows how important it is to review and edit what we write to make it more effective.

SKYFALL | 007 Meets Silva – Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem | James Bond
Reproducir
Privacy and cookies

By watching, you agree app can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

2. Skyfall (2012)

This scene is interesting for two reasons: firstly, it illustrates how tone can dictate the context of speech. The villain, Raoul Silva, introduces himself to James Bond with a story about how, as a child, he used to stay with his grandmother on an island, which he recalls as “a paradise”.

As his speech progresses, however, it takes a more sinister turn as he describes how the island became infested by rats, which he and his grandmother trapped in a barrel. The starving rats resorted to eating each other to survive. The two surviving rats, he suggests, are him and Bond – two men that have been forged by violent lives – effectively demonstrating the illustrative power of metaphors.

Secondly, the scene is notable because Silva's actor, Javier Bardem, is Spanish. Despite having a successful career in Spain, Javier learnt English and soon became a Hollywood star via films like Skyfall and No Country for Old Men. For that reason, he’s definitely an English learning role model.

Matrix architect scene
Reproducir
Privacy and cookies

By watching, you agree app can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

3. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

This notoriously wordy scene – in which the film’s hero, Neo, meets The Architect of The Matrix – is both an illustration of advanced English and an example of how using complicated words can make your message harder to understand. Using simple language helps ensure clarity and accessibility and reduces misunderstandings.

You may even want to watch the scene with a pad and pen and write down any of the words you don’t understand, so that you can look up their meanings later. Even advanced speakers might not know the meaning of words like "concordantly", "inherent", "eventuality", "anomaly" and "assiduously".

Blade Runner - Roy Batty's monologue
Reproducir
Privacy and cookies

By watching, you agree app can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

5. Blade Runner (1982)

We end with another monologue that, like Jaws', is among the most powerful in film history. It’s also a great example of how beautifully the English language can conjure up mental imagery. In the scene, Roy Batty – a dying bioengineered "replicant" – tells Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) about the things he has experienced in his life.

These include “attack ships on fire off the Shoulder of Orion” and “C-beams glitter in the dark near Tannhäuser Gate”. And though we never see the places he’s describing, the dialogue evokes some powerful imagery. Additionally, the scene ends with a line that shows how poetic the English language can be: “All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

As with Jaws, the scene was the subject of numerous re-writes, including one by the Dutch actor who played Roy Batty, Rutger Hauer. Rutger – like Javier Bardem – learned English as a foreign language and therefore is another English learning role model.

Read our posts 'Easy tricks for improving your English skills' and 'Translating sayings into English – with some funny results'.

More blogs from app

  • Two students sat on stairs smiling at a laptop

    How to keep your students motivated during summer intensive courses

    Por app Languages

    Summer is here and so are English language intensive courses. Adults and teens are lining up at your classroom doors, full of enthusiasm and ready to learn English. But soon they’re staring out the windows, looking up at the bright blue skies and wishing they were on the beach, or - frankly - doing anything but studying English for the next 100 hours.

    So how can you turn it around and keep your learners on track and motivated this summer?

  • A child sat at a desk with a pen in hand, looking up at their teacher and smiling

    Dyslexia and ELT: How to help young learners in the classroom

    Por app Languages

    When you’re teaching English to young learners, you might find that there are a few students in your class who are struggling. But sometimes it can be hard to tell why. Is it because their language level is low? Or are they finding classroom work difficult because of a general cognitive difference, like dyslexia?

  • A teacher leaning on a table where students are working on various activities

    6 tips for planning your first English classes

    Por app Languages

    You are nervous, yet excited. You want to appear relaxed and fun, but still be taken seriously. Most of all, you are keen to make an excellent first impression.

    With all that in mind - planning your first English classes of the year can be a daunting experience.

    Here are six things to consider when planning your first classes:

    1. Set clear aims

    Whether you are teaching young learners, teenagers or adults, it’s important you discuss the aims and objectives of the course from day one. You’ll need to learn more about your students' needs to do this. Why are they learning English? Do they want to prepare for an official exam? What activities do they enjoy? What things do they need to improve the most?

    The way you do this will depend on the age of your learners. For example, with adults and teens, you could get them to interview each other and write a report about what they found out. With younger children, do a survey they can complete using smiley faces.

    2. Find out students’ interests

    Although you should understand your students' needs and why they want to learn English - to help make your classes relevant and engaging - you should also discover what they enjoy doing outside of class.

    To do this, get students to write mini bios you can stick around the classroom. Or have them prepare presentations where they share something they are passionate about with the rest of the class - using coursebooks. As a class, go through the contents page, vote on which topics students find most interesting, and start with those.

    3. Break the ice

    You want your first class to be fun so that students are motivated, and associate English language learning with something they can enjoy. Ice-breakers can also be an excellent way to get to know each other and learn about your students' current level of English.

    Activities where students have to ask each other questions work well.

    4. Provide a comfortable environment

    Young learners and teenagers tend to be shy at the start of a course - especially if they don’t know each other. Develop a rapport and break down boundaries by including team-building activities in your first class.Your aim is to have all the students feeling more comfortable with each other before the end of the lesson so that there are no awkward silences in future lessons.

    5. Manage expectations

    Managing expectations is an essential part of a teacher's job. Make sure in the first class you are clear about what you expect from your students and what they can expect from you.

    Have students brainstorm the rules for the class and then make a big poster or ‘class contract’ which all students have to sign. Display the poster on the wall so you can always refer to it if someone misbehaves.

    Try to keep the rules as positive as possible. Instead of writing: 'Don’t speak your first language', write: 'Try to always speak English and ask if you don’t know a word'. If you are feeling really brave, you can even get your students to devise a list of rules for you which you can display on the wall next to theirs.

    6. Make it challenging

    It’s great making your first lesson fun - but there’s nothing more motivating than leaving a new class and feeling like you’ve made a good decision and you are going to learn lots (and you aren’t wasting your time or money). This is especially important for adult learners.

    So, as well as getting to know each other and finding out their needs, teach them something new. This could be 10 new pieces of vocabulary, how to structure a letter or report, or a list of resources they can use at home to practice their English.