Other interpretations

Last week my students wanted to talk about movies. It was the topic in the textbook, but they didn't seem to know how to start. I wanted them to know how to answer the question, "What's the movie about?" without going on and on with a lot of detail and omitting the most important main facts, which is what they seem to do (and switch to Japanese to do it, because it's all so difficult to explain). After that they could answer other questions about the characters and actors and more details about the story, but I wanted them first to be able to say what kind of movie they were talking about, and a very brief plot summary, within their limits of English.

Apparently I managed to teach this rather well, at least to some of the students. I got them to write about movies today to see if they remembered how, and some of the results were hilariously brief. This is my favourite:

Star Wars series is science fiction. It is big scale family fight.

He was right, of course. I just hadn't quite thought of it like that.

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Robert writes about a sticker he saw on a van, and his reaction to it. I read the blog entry with puzzlement. I was also bemused by the sticker, but for entirely different reasons.

How funny! I thought. Show them to whom, and why? And, What if I don't HAVE any dogs?

I had to read it twice before I got it. I had a similar problem with the alarmed buildings in London. They made me laugh, too.

I think I've been here too long.