DVD Learning [easy]

Sometimes there is nothing nicer than curling up on the sofa, watching your favorite movie on the box. Or how about all these wonderful new releases that come to the video stores every month? And here’s the good news: you don’t have to feel bad about taking time off when you feel that you should rather be doing something useful. Those of you who have attended our courses will already be familiar with the fact that you can combine your language training with watching a movie. Here is how:

1.	First, select a movie of your choice. Many movies are suitable. For today’s example we have chosen  “Love Actually” as our suggestion. It is not only great fun for the whole family but it also combines a wide range of accents from across the Anglophone world, so that you can familiarize yourself with different pronunciation and vocabulary used on both sides of the Atlantic.  At the end of this article, you will find some important new words and phrases taken from the movie.
2.	Select a given scene. This can be either from the start, or you can fast-forward the movie until you find a scene that seems interesting to you.
3.	Depending on your level, watch the scene first with German subtitles, followed by the same scene with English subtitles. Pay special attention to pronunciation and vocabulary used.
4.	Now go back and watch the same scene again, this time freezing each frame. Write down new words and phrases on your memory cards.
5.	Now watch the same scene again, this time without subtitles or, for beginners, with English instead of German subtitles. For the new vocabulary, refer to the cards you now have.
6.	Now play the same scene again, stopping after each sentence to look at the subtitles. Then play the frame again, this time without sound or subtitles. Speak the text yourself from memory. You can play this game with your family as well, with different family members taking over different actors’ parts. This is a great exercise for pronunciation and vocabulary memorizing.
7.	There are plenty of other games you can play using a DVD. One of them, which is a lot of fun, is “verb catching”. Watch a scene or two, without subtitles, and try to “catch” as many verbs as you can, writing them down on a piece of paper. Then stop the DVD and match the verbs to the respective columns on the LbT-languages 5-column-system. This game is great if you play it with family members: see who can catch the most verbs. You can check how many you got right by re-playing the same scene with subtitles and stopping after each frame to compare verbs.
8.	Other alternatives are to watch the first 10 minutes of the movie, with English or German subtitles, before replaying each scene. Then work your way through the scenes, bit by bit, until you get to the end of the movie. You can set yourself some time aside regularly each week, or day, or month, to work with your movie. If you use a movie you did not previously know, it is an added motivation for you. You will be curious to find out what happens next!

And now, why not give it a go with “Love actually”, if you can get it from your local video store or happen to have it at home? Below, you will find some useful vocabulary and phrases from this charming movie. We wish you an entertaining learning experience!

Vocabulary:

learning should be fun to effectively combine tool to curl up to take time off rather something useful to attend our courses to attend a course to select actually suggestion pronunciation important until depending on subtitles to freeze each frame frame refer to again from memory different familiy member familiy member to catch respective the most verbs to compare you get to the end   to set aside previously curious useful an entertaining learning experience

Lernen soll Spaß machen effektiv verbinden Wekzeug, Ausrüstung sich zusammenrollen sich (Frei)zeit nehmen lieber, eher etwas nützliches unsere Kurse besuchen einen Kurs besuchen auswählen eigentlich, wirklich, tatsächlich Vorschlag Aussprache wichtig bis abhängig von Untertitel jedes Bild anhalten Ramen nehmen Sie / nimm Bezug auf nochmal, wieder auswendig verschiedene Familienmitglieder Familienmitglied fangen jeweilig, bezüglich die meisten Verben vergleichen Sie kommen / Du kommst zum Ende beiseite legen / tun vorher neugierig nützlich eine unterhaltsame Lehrerfahrung