English, baby!

Crouching Tiger

Date: Feb 22 2001

Intro

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

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

Tanis asks Joe if he has seen the new movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Joe has seen it and thought it was so good that he wants to see it again. He was really impressed with the scenery, the action and the story.

Dialog

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

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

Tanis

Joe

Tanis: Joe, you said you saw “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?”

Joe: Yes, Tanis. I did. It was excellent. It was wonderful.

Tanis: What was so cool about it?

Joe: To be perfectly honest with you, it takes you back to a magical time in China. It was just phenomenal and the scenery was great and the story line was wonderful.

Tanis: I’ve heard a lot of really cool things about it. But, I don’t know what was your favorite part about the movie?

Joe: My favorite part was probably the magical sword. The stories about, pretty much about this magical sword. It was the best part about the whole movie. How the magical sword was worked into the story really made the movie.

Tanis: Was the fighting cool?

Joe: Yeah, the fighting was…was cool. The fighting was just incredible. All the flips..and they were like…they would be on the ground, they would jump up in the air and they’d jump up on top of a house and run across the house. It was crazy.

Tanis: I don’t really know what it’s about, but I keep hearing, y’know, such great thing about it. So, I don’t know, what would you say are the top three reasons to see this movie?

Joe: Number 1- for the scenery. Number 2 – for the fighting and number 3 – for the story.

Tanis: Uh-huh. Well, that’s awesome. Well, I’ll see it and I’ll let you know what I thought, but I’m sure it’ll be great.

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Discussion

This movie is an epic fantasy set in ancient China. It was directed by Ang Lee, who has gained awards for films such as “Sense and Sensibility,” “The Ice Storm” and “Eat. Drink. Man. Woman.” The film stars Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh.
Listen to all the adjectives that Joe uses to describe the movie “excellent, wonderful, phenomenal, incredible.” These are not words you say if you only like something a little. So, according to Joe it must be good.
Also, notice how Tanis uses the nonverbal “Uh-huh” to mean “yeah” or “yes.” You might also hear people say “Mm-Hmm” to mean the same thing. The “h” part of this and the upward inflection are key because “Uh-Uh” or “Mm Mm” with a downward inflection means “no.”
Have you seen this movie? Many critics called it a masterpiece, but some hated it for being graphic and exploitative. What do you think? Come to the “Movie Madness” message board and let us know!
From the front row,
Zach