Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers is probably the best-known ,most-loved, funniest British sitcoms ever produced in Great Britain (BBC 70's) . The setting is a fictional hotel named Fawlty Towers and the main characters are the irascible Basil Fawlty, owner of the hotel , his domineering wife Sybil and Manuel and the funny Spanish waiter form Barcelona.





1. What language does Manuel (the waiter) speak?
He speaks _______________

2. Where did he learn it from?
He learned it from a _________________

3. What does Manuel ask Major Gowen (the old man)?
_______________________________________?

4. What does Major Gowen answer?
I'm _____________ , ___________ you

5. How much did the animal cost?
_________________ pounds

6. Is the animal Japanese?
______________,______________it

babies talking

Translate the following conversation between these twin baby boys in babbling (also called baby talk or twaddling) into any adult language.

The prediction

Mr. Bean Packing for holiday

Tell students that they are going on holiday to the UK. They can only bring a very small suitcase. Ask students to write a list in pairs of essential items they would pack. Get feedback from students on their lists. Write items on the board.
Alternatively, you could do a version of ‘I went to the shops’ i.e. start by saying ‘I went on holiday and packed an adapter’. Then a student continues and repeats what the teacher says and adds another word beginning with ‘b’ e.g. I went on holiday and I packed an adapter and a blanket. Students continue repeating what was said before and adding an item to pack beginning with the next letter in the alphabet. Do as a whole class or split into 2 or 3 groups for larger classes. Write items on the board.
Tell students that you are going to play a YouTube clip of Mr Bean packing his suitcase for a holiday. If the students know who Mr Bean is elicit what items Mr Bean would pack. Students can make some predictions at this point if you’d like e.g. ‘I think Mr Bean will pack a camera’.
Play the YouTube clip.
Pause the clip at 03:14.
Ask students in pairs to compare the items on their lists or the list on the board to Mr Bean’s.
Give the students a post-it note per pair. Now ask the students to predict what happens next in the scene. Students discuss in pairs and write their predictions on a post-it note. Ask for whole class feedback and stick predictions on the board or on the walls around the class.
Play the rest of the scene. Ask students to read to check student post-it note predictions and see if anyone predicted correctly.
Do a whole class feedback and ask the students if there were any post-it predictions that would have been funnier to see.

Extension
Students can act out an alternative ending based on their post-it note predictions.
Ask students to imagine where Mr Bean travelled to and what he did there. Students can write a story or a postcard about his trip.
At the start of the scene Mr Bean packs tins of baked beans. After watching, I usually ask students if they know what it is and why Mr Bean packed them. This is a nice cultural reference about food in the UK. For further information on baked beans and a possible homework exercise see the Baked Beans video on LearnEnglish.

The annoying orange

The Simpsons

Create a dialogue using their voices.

present continuous Frozen Grand Central

1. Complete the words in the text of what the man says at the beginning of the video:

‘All right. Thanks for coming out, everybody. I’m really excited that all you (1) ________ are here. We’ve got a really exciting (2) ________ that we’re going to be doing today. We’re going to be (3) ________ in place (4) ________ at the exact second. We’re going (5) ________ that for five minutes and then we’re going to unfreeze and we’re out.’

2. Choose the correct option.

1 The pre-mission meeting takes place in Bryant / Central Park.
2 107 / 207 undercover agents take part in the mission.
3 The mission starts at 14.30 / 16.30.
4 The man driving the yellow vehicle is / isn’t an agent.
5 One person thinks it’s an acting class / a TV show.
6 At the end of the mission people start clapping / protesting.

3. Watch the video again and note down some of the activities frozen people are doing. Example: someone is talking on the phone, a couple is holding hands.

Key:
1. 1 guys 2 mission 3 freezing 4 on cue 5 to hold
2. 1 Bryant 2 207 3 14:30 4 isn’t 5 an acting class 6 clapping
3. Suggestions: [someone is / people are] drinking a coffee; eating a banana / a yoghurt or ice cream; holding a bottle of water / a cup / holding hands; looking at a map / a train timetable / his/her watch; picking up papers; talking on the phone / to someone; tying his/her shoelaces

going to vs will Mr Bean

Will vs going to

00:21
What is Mr Bean going to do?
What will the other car’s reaction be?

01:30
What is the man going to say?
What will Mr Bean's answer be?

02:19
What’s Mr Bean going to do?
What will the man’s reaction be?

02:54
What’s Mr Bean going to do?
What will the man’s reaction be?

04:15
What is the teacher going to say?
How will the students react?

04:35
What is Mr Bean going to do after reading the questions?

05:38
What is Mr Bean going to do now?
What will the man's reaction be?

06:14
What is the man going to do now?
What will Mr Bean’s reaction be?

06:48
What is Mr Bean going to do?
What will the reaction be?

07:39
What is Mr Bean going to do?
Will it work?

09:11
What is the teacher going to say?
What will Mr Bean’s reaction be?

Going to

-I wanna stop (1) ______ . / -Did you see what she was wearing? / -I know!
This year, I'm gonna join a (2) ______ gang.
This year, I'm gonna control my (3) ______ .
I'm gonna stop (4) _____ six dollars on a cup of coffee.
I'm gonna control my (5) _____.
What are you doing? Can't you see I'm trying to (6) _____ here?
I wanna find that special (7) ______. How you doing?
This year, I'm gonna (8) ______ my parents more.
This year, I wanna get rid of this pot (9) ______!
I wanna care more about the (10) ______.
I wanna be a better (11) ______.
This year, I'm gonna be my own (12) ______.
I'm gonna tithe 10% of my gross (13) ______.
This year, I will pay off all my (14) ______.
I'm gonna go back to school and get my (15) ______.
I wanna (16) ______ a marathon.
I wanna (17) ______ smoking.
This year, I'll control my road (18) ______.
-I wanna have a daily (19) ______ time. / -"What's your resolution?" -Okay, maybe a monthly (19) ______ time.

Mr. Bean meeting the queen

Mr Bean making a sandwich

Welcome To My Life - Simple Plan Feelings

t's good to talk about teenagers problems and feelings. The vocabulary is different and useful for secondary students.

iT's: The video on the left is with on-screen lyrics. Follow the link below to see the music video eith the song performed by Simple Plan.

Loudon Wainwright - I'm Alright (past simple)

I use this song for students at upper intermediate level to review / reintroduce past simple, and also a cultural thing - you can use it to talk about the blues and what they're typically like, and how this song has a humorous take on that.

What a wonderful world Sam Cooke

If I were a rich man

The Social Network

Watch the trailer and fill in the gaps with the missing words.

I need to do something substantial in order to get the attention of the ___________ (students / clubs)
why?
because they are exclusive and ___________ (fun / great) and then we took a better life

People wanna go on the ___________ (internet / websites) and check out their friends, so I wanna build a ___________ (world / website) that offers that friends pictures, profiles ...
I’m talking about, taking the entire social ___________ (experiment / experience) of college and putting it online.

The site got 22 ___________ (thousand / hundred) hits within two hours
thousand
22 thousand

This idea is potentially worth millions of ___________ , millions?

You stole a website
They are saying, we stole the ___________
I know what they’ve said
so did we ?

A million dollars isn’t cool , you know it’s cool?
A ___________ (million / billion) dollars

You are going to get left ___________ (between / behind)
It’s moving ___________ (faster / fatter) than any of us ever imagined
What do you mean get left behind?

Sue him in ___________ (federal / tribunal) court

I can’t wait to stand over your ___________ (back / shoulder) when your rights are checked

You guys were the ___________ (creators / inventors) of facebook? you haven’t done the facebook

Is there anything that you need to tell me

Your ___________ (action / words) it’s gonna permanently destroy everything I’ve been working on
We have been working on

Do you like being a joker? Do you like to go ___________ (back / where) to that? Mark!

This is our time

You’re being accused of intentionally bridge ___________ (security / insecurity), violating copyrights , violating individual privacy

Your best friend is suing you for six hundred million dollars

As for the charges I believe I deserve some recognition from this board

I’m ___________ (afraid / sorry)

Yes

I don’t ___________ (know / understand)
which part ?