Today, we’re taking more scenes from TV and we’re using them to
practice our English. You can train your mind to think in English so
you can recall the words faster and stop translating in your head in conversation.
First, we’ll take a scene from a show ‘The Black Lady Sketch Show’. The scene is on mute because
it’s not about watching the clip for fun and the audio can distract us from thinking. It’s
about describing the clip in English. So as you watch it, you’ll be thinking in English. First,
you’re going to see about 10 seconds of a clip. Think all the nouns that you’ll
see. If you see a banana, think banana. You’re just naming objects. We’re going
to watch this scene later with a different focus. But this is just objects. Here we go.
I thought lots things.
refrigerator
Cabinets
Belt
Necklace
Buttons
Mug
Counter
Or maybe you though island or kitchen island
Computer or tablet
Keyboard
Again, lots of objects in this shot.
Stool or chair
Table
Lamp
Picture
This piece of furniture can be called lots of things
Buffet
Side board
Console
Laundry basket
Drawers
In this wider, we see a fruit bowl with apples and bananas,
a picture on the wall
The back door
This short little drapery at the top of the window is called a valence
Shirt
Jeans
Now, let’s look for adjectives. What words can you think of to describe this scene? It’s okay
if you only come up with one or two. The more you do this, the quicker your brain will be
able to recall words in English. If a word comes to mind that you don’t know in English
as you’re doing these sorts of exercises, take the time to stop and look those words up. It’s
a great way to learn new words because you’ll have a visual to go with it which will help
you remember the words. Okay, ready? The same clip. Think of a couple adjectives.
Silver, the color of the refrigerator
Green, the dress
Gold, the jewelry
To me, the scene seems kind of dark like it’s in the evening.
Purple for the shirt
Yellow for the chair
Red for her hair or curly
Here, the mom looks excited to me.
Now, let’s see if we can come up with a few verbs to describe what
we see. Watch one more time and let your mind think of a verb or two.
Talking
Pointing
She’s leaning on the island. It also likes she’s mousing on the trackpad.
We’re any of these words new?
Let’s take a look at another scene. This is from the show ‘Platonic’.
To start, think of the word for any of the objects that you see in English.
Safes
Dog, of course.
Doberman, that’s kind of dog.
Collar
Tag or charm
W
Spikes
Behind him, tiles
Ears
Eyes
Nose. Or for a dog you can say snout to describe
the part of the face that juts out with the nose on the end.
A lot to look at in the second scene.
Hat
Glasses
Necklace
Man
Woman
Jacket
Windows
Again, hat
Glasses, it’s hard not to see that beard isn’t it?
Guitars
Rings
Display case
This is a pawnshop
Now, see if you can come up with some adjectives as you
watch the scene again. Think the words in English.
This dog is serious. Unmoving
Stoic
His ears are pointy
Clipped
Here, you could have thought of colors.
Green
Black and yellow for the hat
Brown for the color of her hair
Maybe you thought pretty
Attractive
This man is older
The glasses reflective
The guitars are kind of shiny
His beard is long
Now, some verbs. What action can you describe?
He dog isn’t moving much is he?
Sitting
Staring
Pointing
Standing
Talking
She’s gaping. That means to stare at something with
your mouth open in surprise or interest. Gaping.
This man is also pointing, talking and nodding his head a little bit.
Let’s do one more scene. This one is from the show Acapulco. First,
just think of the objects you see.
Two men
Sunglasses
Belt
Chairs
Pillow
Cactus
Ocean or Sea
Rocks
Patio
Tables
More men
Beers
Sunglasses
Shirts with collars
Pants
Shorts
Bowls
Trees
Now there’s a lot of bright color in this scene.
Let’s name some colors and other adjectives that come to mind.
Such vibrant colors. Yellow.
This could be called pink magenta or maybe Fushia.
White
Red
Green
Blue
This man is thin.
This man is bigger, you could say medium build. I wouldn’t say
he’s overweight but maybe you could say a little heavy set.
Their outfits are matching.
Here, I see the plants blowing, it makes me think windy.
Sunny
The shore is rocky.
Everyone is dressed in a way that’s very preppy.
The overall style of this location is mid-century modern.
The bottles are brown.
This bowl is teal.
The tables are orange.
These pillows are striped.
His pants are pleated.
His collar is popped.
Let’s look for some verbs to describe what’s happening in the scene.
He’s touching his shoulder.
He’s talking.
They’re standing.
In the background, someone is walking by.
The breeze is blowing.
The men are sitting.
He’s pointing.
They’re waving or gesturing.
They’ve just been introduced to this guy. So you could say, ‘This guy in white was introducing.’
I hope you had fun working on your English skills with these scenes from TV, I know I
did. Check out all my videos designed to help you think in English. They give you the tools
and the training to increase your vocabulary and to start thinking more in English. And please,
do subscribe with notifications on, I absolutely love being your English
teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.