arts and media vocabulary/ comparing and contrasting/ useful language for reviews
Complete First Unit 8
Part One: Sharing experiences of language learning
Share your experiences of using and studying English, starting with recent things you have done and commenting on any similarities and differences between you.
| Useful language for comparing with your partner Reacting when your own experience is the same Me too/ neither. What is more,… I… too/ neither. In fact,… So… I. I… as well. Like you/ (name), I… The same as you,… Reacting when your own experience is different That’s interesting. In my experience,… Interesting. In my case,… Really? I… Checking other people’s experiences What about you? How about you? I guess you… too/ as well. |
Possible topics:
- Speaking
- Writing
- Reading
- Listening and watching
- Exam practice
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
- Functional language (meeting people, requesting, apologising, etc)
When your teacher stops you, share one similarity and see if the next group is the same or different.
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Without looking above the fold for now, brainstorm phrases into these categories:
Reacting when your own experience is the same
Reacting when your own experience is different
Checking other people’s experiences
Check above. Many other phrases are possible, so check if you wrote something different.
Sharing experiences of arts and media
Share your experiences of arts and media in English more generally. Possible things to talk about (perhaps with the topics above or below):
- Difficult to understand examples – Easy to understand examples
- How to choose
- How to make it easier to understand
- How to make sure you learn (a lot) from it
- Ones you learnt a lot of useful language from
- Recommendations
- Kinds of language used/ Varieties of language used
Possible topics:
- Audio guides to and tours of museums and historic places (natural history museums, art galleries, science museums, palaces, castles/ forts, city walls, local history museum, ruins, etc)
- Comics (graphic novels, comic strips, superhero comics, etc)
- Fiction (short stories, novellas, novels, etc)
- Magazines (news magazines, travel magazines, listings magazines, etc)
- Movies (rom-coms, sci-fi, sequels and prequels, art house movies, remakes, classics, documentaries, westerns, spy movies, action movies, superhero movies, Hollywood movies, blockbusters, black and white movies, subtitled movies, dubbed movies, trailers, director’s commentary, director’s cut, script, biopic, etc)
- Music (music with good lyrics, dance music/ EDM, folk music, soft rock, rap/ hip hop, pop videos, music documentaries, boy band/ girl band, classical music, indie/ alternative, R&B, soundtrack, world music, concert/ gig/ festival, karaoke etc)
- News (headlines, captions, short articles, background, weather forecast, rolling news, tabloids, broadsheets, your stars, sports coverage, editorials, Sunday supplements, celebrity gossip, national news, international news, column, business news/ financial news, etc)
- Non-fiction books and essays (biographies, autobiographies, self-help books, business books, travel books, … for Idiots, study guides, textbooks, etc)
- Online reading (wikis, blogs, online articles, forums, How to… guides, etc)
- Plays (one-man shows, am dram, musicals, etc)
- Poetry (haiku, epic poems, etc)
- Radio (podcasts, documentaries, interviews, reportage, comedy panel shows, review shows, chart shows, national radio, investigative reporting, satellite radio, digital radio, internet radio, etc)
- TV and online video (murder mysteries/ whodunits, reality shows, soap operas, box sets, sitcoms, sketch shows, stand-up comedy, cop shows, costume drama/ historical drama, adaptations, spinoffs, quiz shows, chat shows, animation/ cartoons, ads/ commercials, live sports, rerun/ repeat, current affairs, shopping channel, wildlife documentary, binge viewing, etc)
Ask for advice from the teacher and whole class if there is anything that you are wondering about, e.g. how to make movies easier to understand.
Ask about any vocabulary above which you don’t understand.
Brainstorming stage
Try to remember or think of vocabulary in these categories, e.g. the words above. If something could go in more than one place, you only have to write it once. Vocabulary not above is also fine as long as it fits in the right place.
Vocabulary related to museums and historic places
Vocabulary related to books, reading and literature
Vocabulary related to the news and magazines
Vocabulary related to music
Vocabulary related to radio and podcasts
Vocabulary connected to TV and movies
Look at the first worksheet to help with the task above, using the ideas there to help you think of more.
Compare with the suggested answers, then share any extra vocabulary you thought of with the class.
Choose words that you didn’t put in your list and make recommendations. Ones linked to your own language rather than English are also fine to talk about at this stage.
Suggested answers
There are many other possible answers and some words could go in more than one place, so please share any other ideas you have.
Vocabulary related to museums and historic places
- audio guide
- castle/ fort
- city walls
- guided tour
- local history museum
- natural history museum
- palace
- ruins
- science museum
Vocabulary related to books, reading and literature
- (auto)biography
- blog
- business book
- (superhero) comic
- comic strip
- essay
- (non)fiction
- graphic novel
- How to… guide
- novel
- novella
- online article
- play
- poem
- self-help book
- short story
- study guide
- textbook
- travel book
- wiki
Vocabulary related to the news and magazines
- (short) article
- broadsheet
- business news/ financial news
- caption
- celebrity gossip
- column
- editorial
- headline
- international news
- listings
- national news
- rolling news
- sports coverage
- Sunday supplement
- tabloid
- travel magazine
- weather forecast
- your stars
Vocabulary related to music
- boy band/ girl band
- chorus
- classical music
- concert/ gig/ festival
- dance music/ EDM
- folk music
- indie/ alternative
- instrumental
- karaoke
- lyrics
- music documentary
- pop video
- R&B
- rap/ hip hop
- (soft/ hard/ heavy/ classic) rock
- soundtrack
- verse
- world music
Vocabulary related to radio and podcasts
- chart show
- comedy panel show
- digital radio
- documentary
- internet radio
- interview
- investigative reporting
- national radio
- news roundup
- reportage
- review show
- satellite radio
Vocabulary connected to TV and movies
- action movie
- ad/ commercial
- adaptation
- animation/ cartoon
- art house movie
- binge viewing
- biopic
- black and white movie
- blockbuster
- box set
- box-office (records)
- channel hopping
- chat show
- cinemas
- classic
- comedy
- cop show
- costume drama/ historical drama
- current affairs
- director’s commentary
- director’s cut
- documentary
- dubbing
- (surprise/ happy/ sad) ending
- fantasy
- featuring
- film
- HDTV
- Hollywood movie
- live sport
- murder mystery/ whodunit
- (twists in the) plot
- prequel
- quiz show
- reality show
- released
- remake
- rerun/ repeat
- rom-com
- sci-fi
- script
- sequel
- setting
- sitcom
- sketch show
- soap opera
- spinoff
- spy movie
- stand-up comedy
- starring
- subtitles
- superhero movie
- the box
- trailer
- viewer
- western
- wildlife documentary
Do the same for these categories:
Positive adjectives
Other positive expressions
Negative adjectives
Other negative expressions
Suggested answers
Positive adjectives
- addictive
- astonishing
- attractive
- brilliant/ terrific/ fantastic/ amazing/ excellent/ superb
- captivating
- charming
- classic
- delightful
- distinctive/ unique
- dramatic
- enchanting
- exceptional
- exciting/ gripping/ thrilling
- fun
- funny/ hilarious
- genuine
- impeccable/ perfect/ faultless
- impressive
- intriguing
- luxurious
- memorable/ haunting/ unforgettable
- moving
- nice
- original
- outstanding
- realistic
- satisfying
- sophisticated
- stunning
- subtle
- tasteful
- thought provoking
- uplifting
- (good) value for money
- well written
- well-regarded
Other positive expressions
- action-packed
- A strong point of… is…
- adore/ love
- (multi) award-winning
- blew us away
- favourite
- (really) get into
- I can’t recommend… enough.
- I couldn’t get enough of…
- I’d highly/ thoroughly recommend…
- If you like… (then) you’ll love…
- (really) keen on
- looking forward to
- masterpiece
- one in a million
- one of the best
- rush out and
- stands out from the crowd
- We are already planning to visit again
- won’t disappoint
- worth the wait
- You shouldn’t miss/ mustn’t miss…
- You won’t regret…
Negative adjectives
- annoying/ irritating
- bland
- boring/ dull
- cheesy
- childish/ juvenile
- clichéd
- confusing
- disappointing
- disgusting/ revolting
- awful/ dreadful/ terrible
- forgettable
- low brow
- melodramatic
- monotonous
- notorious
- over the top
- overlong
- overpriced
- predictable
- pretentious/ over intellectual
- repetitive
- ridiculous
- sentimental
- tasteless
- unoriginal
- unrealistic/ unbelievable
Other negative expressions
- (You should) avoid…
- … didn’t meet my expectations.
- …. wasn’t (at all) what I expected.
- best avoided.
- Don’t bother (with)…
- dreading
- I am/ I’d be in no hurry to…
- I couldn’t (really) get into
- I didn’t find it very…
- I wasn’t too keen on…
- I wouldn’t (really) recommend…
- I wouldn’t bother with…
- My main criticism of… is…
- nothing special
- only suitable for
Find a TV programme, film, book, magazine, musical, newspaper etc that you both know and use vocabulary from above to describe it. Do you have the same opinions?
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