Renting Movies

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• independent film
• say
• commercial
• rival

• add up
• pick
• caved
• subscription

• one-up
• supporting

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

First we went to the cinema to see a movie. Then videos came out and we went to the video store to rent movies to watch at home.

When we get busy, we sometimes rent a movie from the video store that we never get a chance to watch. Then it’s late. That’s how video stores make their money. A dollar a day for a late video can add up quickly!

Now an American company has made watching a movie even easier and cheaper. The company is called Netflix. It lets you pick the movies that you want to see on their website. Then they send the movie to you in the mail. It arrives at your home in a day or two. When you send the movie back, they immediately send you the next one you have selected.

Yeah, it’s great to rent movies from Netflix without ever leaving your house. But for many people, the best part about Netflix is that there are no late fees! You can keep the movie for as long as you want and send it back when you’re done.

Listen to Marni and Kevin talk about Netflix.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Kevin

Marni:  So I finally caved and I started a Netflix subscription.

Kevin:  Good for you.

Marni:  I know!

Kevin:  It’s really great.

Marni:  I love it. I absolutely love it. I thought that I would feel guilty not supporting my local independent video store but I… movies coming to my house, just picking them online. It’s so convenient.

Kevin:  It’s fantastic. And the selection of movies they have, something like 70,000 movies they have, so you can get really anything you want.

Marni:  I was pleasantly surprised. I thought there would be so many things that I wouldn’t find. And there’s been so many independent films that I wanted to see that have been there and… Yeah. It’s great.

Kevin:  It’s really wonderful. And, I mean, unless you live, like, next to, say, in Southeast Portland, next to an amazing independent…

Marni:  Right.

Kevin:  I live downtown and so it’s Blockbuster or Hollywood.

Marni:  Yeah.

Kevin:  And Netflix is way better.

Marni:  It is.

Kevin:  In terms of selection, and it’s just in your mailbox. I love it.

Marni:  I love it too. Blockbuster though… I thought this was very interesting. I saw a commercial where they are trying to rival Netflix and they’re trying to one-up them. And so now you have, they have a policy where you can rent, either online or at the store, and you can bring whatever you get online back to the store. So I thought that’s kind of interesting how they’re trying to compete because clearly… I don’t know if you’ve noticed around town that, like, Blockbusters and Hollywoods have actually had to close up and gone out of business.

Kevin:  Yes. I have noticed that.

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Lesson MP3

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