What's up, guys? It's Danielle here.
Have you watched it's kind of a funny story?
It's a movie that deals with teen depression and suicide.
Anyway you can learn quite a lot of English through this movie.
Let's check out a short scene
Where Craig meets Bobby - his mentor in the hospital.
First, you're gonna start by watching the video.
Second, look up new words and phrases and make sure that you understand the video
Third, do exercises with the video
And finally, review words and phrases that you've learned from the video
In this first step, let's watch the whole video.
How you doing?
You got a cigarette?
No, sorry.
What's wrong with you?
I just don't smoke.
No, I mean, why are you in an ER,
at five o'clock on a Sunday morning?
Well... I guess, there's just been
a lot going on in my... in my, my mind lately.
Go ahead.
Okay, well, this is sort of difficult to explain.
But... See there's this girl...
Yeah, got you.
Now that you've watched the whole scene
Let's move on to the second step.
Remember that you can use the eJOY eXtension
to look up unknown words or phrases while watching this video.
Now let's find out what “How you doing” means.
“How you doing”
Looks like a grammatical error, right?
It should be “How are you doing?”
But it’s actually a standard greeting inquiry.
The entry without “are” is informal.
For example:
- How you doing?
- I'm good. What about you?
It is usually pronounced "How ya doin'?
or "Hey-ya doin’?" like in the video.
"Hey-ya doin’?"
Click the blue button to add this phrase to your own Wordbook on eJOY to practice with it later.
You got a cigarette?
No, sorry.
What's wrong with you?
I just don't smoke.
No, I mean, why are you in an ER,
at five o'clock on a Sunday morning?
Well... I guess, there's just been
a lot going on in my... in my, my mind lately.
Go ahead
This is a phrasal verb with “go,” meaning to start or continue to do something.
We can use this phrase to encourage or give permission
for someone to start or continue doing something.
For example:
- Go ahead, tell her. I won't interrupt again.
Okay, well, this is sort of difficult to explain.
“Sort of”
This is a phrase of “sort,” used to convey inexactness or vagueness.
You can use it to express something you are not very sure about or don't know how to describe.
For example:
- I feel sort of sorry for him, even though he treated me really bad.
Pay attention to how these phrases sound in the video.
Okay, well, this is sort of difficult to explain.
You can practice speaking with Game Speak on eJOY Go to sound like a native.
But... See there's this girl...
Yeah, got you.
“Got you”
In this specific context, "Got you" means "I understand
what you’re saying or what you are going through."
For example,
- You know what I mean?
- Got you.
This is often used in spoken language and sounds like “Got ya.”
“Got you” is also the short form for "I’ve got you protected."
For example:
if someone is rock climbing, his friend holding the rope would say, "Got you!
Just keep going," to encourage him.
It can also mean "I’ve got you covered."
For example:
- Nah, I can't go to that restaurant, too expensive.
- Don't worry. Got you.
I just don't smoke.
No, I mean, why are you in an ER,
Well... I guess, there's just been
The words “I mean” “Well” “I guess” and “Okay” appeared in the speech as filler words.
They don't affect the fluency or change the meaning of the speech at all.
In contrast, knowing how and when to use them will make your speaking closer to the native's.
So, you've done the first two steps.
In order to improve your listening and speaking skills, let’s do some exercises with the video.
You can do quizzes to improve listening comprehension,
do dictation to practice bottom-up listening or listen for details,
or practice speaking skills.
Or you can practice more with this particular scene on the Movie Training on the eJOY Go website.
You can find all the links to these exercises in the description box.
Here’s the final step.
Just because you understand the video doesn't mean you have remembered all the new words learned from it.
Remember, "repetition is the mother of learning."
You have to review these vocabulary words every day to ingrain them in your long-term memory.
So, review them on the eJOY App or eJOY eXtension.
If you find the video helpful, please give us a thumbs up
As always, let us know which movie you want to dig deep into next time.
See ya!