Black Swan

Teachers notes and key

Level: B1/B2 intermediate.
Aims:
to practise speaking about films
to practise listening for keywords
to practise listening for gist
to recognise certain typical features of spoken English (elision, weak forms and
owel reduction!.
Timing:
Before you listen: "#$%# minutes
&istening: 1'$2# minutes
(eatures of spoken English: 2#$"# minutes
)fter you listen: '$1# minutes.
Total: appro*imately one and a half hours.
+he listening e*tract can be downloaded from www.teachitworld.com.
+he first ,-% file is the complete conersation, which lasts about one and a half
minutes.
+he second contains the e*tracts for the .(eatures of spoken English/ section and lasts
about minutes.
Before you listen
Task 1 Speaking
0tudents could probably talk about this topic for a long time, but as it/s only the lead$in,
you may want to limit the discussion to 1# minutes or so.
Task 2 Speaking
+he main aim of this task is to familiarise students with the details of the film before
they listen. 1t/s also the opportunity to feed in some key ocabulary. 2eaker students
in group B may need help forming 3uestions such as:
Whos in it?
Where and when is it set?
Who does he/she play?
What happens? / Whats it about?
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Black Swan
Task 3 Vocaulary
4ere there/s an e*plicit focus on ocabulary. +he keywords elicited or fed in here will
help students understand the conersation in task %.
1! 5opy the following spider diagram onto your interactie whiteboard (12B! or an
oerhead pro6ector transparency (74-!:
2! )s students remember the keywords they used, write them onto the diagram. 8ou
will probably want to include the following, as they appear in the conersation in
task %:
3! -rint off a copy of the completed 12B page or photocopy the 74- transparency for
each student, so that they can each tick the keywords they hear in task %.
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Black Swan
characters
actors
setting
plot
ballet
compan
y
interpretation
Black Swan
characters
actors
setting
plot
lead
role
split apart
crack
Swan
Lake
shockin
g
scary
thriller
Black Swan
Listening
Task " Listening for key#ords
+he listening e*tract is an authentic conersation between natie speakers, so it/s 3uite
fast, but it/s also 3uite short and students only need to recognise the keywords at this
point.
Task $ Listening for gist
Ans#er: )lthough 9 calls it the scariest thing she/s watched, she says seeral times that
she didn/t in fact find it scary.
Task % Listening for language
+his task encourages students to think critically about the correspondence (or lack of it:!
between written and spoken English. 2hat they highlight may, of course, ary, but they
will probably hae difficulty understanding the parts containing reduced/missing sounds.
0ome of these are throw$away comments spoken 3uickly, such as And I dont know
about you, kind of and sort of; others are more important for understanding the
conersation, such as travelling and its going to be. 4oweer, the keywords essential
to understanding spoken English tend to be stressed, and are therefore more clearly
pronounced.
&eatures of spoken 'nglish
Task ( )issing final letters
+his task works on elision, or sounds that are dropped. ,ost natie speakers drop a final
.t/ before a word starting with a consonant, as it/s difficult to pronounce both, but
because 9/s from &ondon she also drops a final .t/ before a owel, and a final .g/. +his
fact will help students understand what happens to going to in task 1#.
8our students may also notice the missing .t/ in perfectly, which 9 pronounces as /
p f kli/.
Task * +eak forms
+his is a crucial point for understanding spoken English and for speaking fluently. ,any
.little words/ in English (prepositions, pronouns and au*iliaries! hae a strong form,
pronounced as it/s written, and a weak form with the owel sound schwa / / for
e*ample:
strong form #eak form
for
/f/ /f/
you
/6u/ /6/
can
/k<n/ /kn/
1f students don/t know this, they may always e*pect to hear the strong form, and may
not understand the weak form. 1n fact, because these .little words/ are not normally
key, information$carrying words, they are usually used in their weak form. +he strong
form is used:
at the end of a sentence: What are you doing that for?
in short answers: Yes, I can.
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Black Swan
for emphasis: I want you to do it, not him.
+his point will also help students understand what happens to going to in task 1#.
Task , )issing syllales
0ometimes unstressed syllables are so reduced that they disappear altogether. +his is
the case with the words in bold here:
because /k =/
general / genr l/
traelling / tr<l >/ or, as here / tr<l n/
generally / genr li/
1n words where the first syllable is stressed and the second, unstressed syllable is spelled
with an .e/, that second syllable often disappears, for e*ample:
interesting
camera
egetables
+his is important both for speaking and listening, as many natie speakers won/t
understand egetables, for instance, if it/s pronounced /egete bl=/ :
Task 1- .onna/ #anna
0tudents may hae encountered these spellings in song lyrics and hae wondered what
they are. ,ake sure they realise that it isn/t normally considered correct to write the
words this way and that they don/t need to pronounce them this way themseles.
1t can be a good idea to show the gradual transformation of going to to gonna as follows:
it is going to be: / t = g > tu bi/
it/s goin/ ta be: / ts g n t bi/
it/s gonna be: / ts g n bi/.
After you listen
Task 11 0eflection
+his is the opportunity for students to reflect on the features of spoken English that
they/e learned about.
Ans#er:
important for listening: all of the points aboe
important for speaking: weak forms and missing syllables.
&ollo#1up
)s a follow$up, you could, of course, watch the film, or an e*tract, and read some
reiews of it.
Transcript
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Black Swan
L2 )nd 1 don/t know about you, 1, 1 really don/t like watching iolent things ? 1 find it
3uite difficult.
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Black Swan
32 1 don/t watch horror moies
L2 @oA
32 at all. +he scariest thing 1/e watched, um, is he !lack "wan, and
L2 7h, 1 haen/t seen that.
32 that was a thriller, so it was, it was a bit graphic, but it wasn/t nece B you
weren/t really scared.
L2 7h, 7C. /cause 1 don/t know anything about it. 2hat, what happens in itA
32 Erm, basically, it/s about a woman who/s in a ballet company and she wants the
lead role, but
L2 ,mm.
32 to get the lead role she needs to become B she/s too nice a person, so she needs
to become a bit more B erm, 1 don/t know how to describe it B a bit more edgy, 1
suppose
L2 7h, 7C.
32 and, so, /cause she has to play two characters ? it/s for 0wan &ake
L2 Dh huh.
32 a new interpretation, so there/s the good, erm, swan and then there/s the black
swan. 0o she can do the white swan perfectly, but the black one she/s not mean
enough to be, so, um, throughout the moie it 6ust shows her traelling towards
becoming more black, like
L2 7h, 7C.
32 in person, so it is ery, it is, it is, 3uite, the the last scenes are a bit shocking
L2 7C.
32 but it/s not scary.
L2 .5ause 1/e seen the posters and you see her with this kind of crack or something
down her face ? 1 mean, is she sort of splitting apart, like personality$wiseA
32 8es. 1 don/t find it scary.
L2 7h, 7C.
32 0o that should say something, .cause 1 don/t in general watch scary moies
L2 7h, 7C.
32 at all. 1 don/t watch anything that has .4ouse/ in the title
L2 (laughs!
32 .cause that generally seems to mean it/s going to be
L2 (still laughing!
32 dark and late at night.
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Black Swan
+orksheet
Before you listen
Task 1 Speaking
9iscuss the following 3uestions in pairs or groups of three:
2hat films hae you seen recentlyA
9id you en6oy themA
2hy / why notA
Task 2 Speaking
4ae you seen the film !lack "wanA 1f you hae, you are in group ). 1f you haen/t, you
are in group B.
.roup A
-repare to tell group B about the following aspects of the film:
the actors
the setting
the characters
the plot 4story5
.roup B
-repare 3uestions to ask group ) about:
the actors
the setting
the characters
the plot 4story5
@ow get into pairs, with one student from group ) and one from group B. )sk and
answer 3uestions about the film.
Task 3 Vocaulary
8ou are going to listen to two friends talking about !lack "wan. Before you listen, try to
remember some of the words you used to talk about it.
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Black Swan
Listening
Task " Listening for key#ords
8our teacher will gie you a copy of the spider diagram from the board. &isten to the
conersation and tick the words you hear. 8ou don/t need to understand what the
speakers are saying. 8ou 6ust need to recognise the words.
Task $ Listening for gist
&isten again and try to answer this 3uestion
9id 9 find the film scaryA
)gain, don/t worry if you don/t understand eerything.
Task % Listening for language
&isten one more time with the transcript. 4ighlight the parts that sound ery different
from the way they are written. )re they important for understanding what the speakers
are sayingA
&eatures of spoken 'nglish
Task ( )issing final letters
@ow listen to some e*tracts from the conersation. 4ow does
9 say the words in boldA
a! that was a thriller, so it was, it was a it graphic, ut
it #asnt nece B you #erent really scared.
! basically, it/s aout a woman who/s in a ballet
company
c! so she needs to become a it more B
d! it 6ust shows her travelling towards ecoming more
black
e! the last scenes are a it shocking
Task * +eak forms
&isten to some more e*tracts. )gain, how do the speakers say the words in boldA
a! because she has to play two characters
! this kind of crack or something down her face ? 1 mean, is she sort of splitting
apart
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Black Swan
Task , )issing syllales
&isten to some more e*tracts. )gain, how do the speakers say the words in boldA
a! ecause she has to play two characters
! it 6ust shows her travelling towards becoming more black
c! ecause 1 don/t in general watch scary moies
d! ecause that generally seems to mean it/s going to be
Task 1- .onna/ #anna
&isten to one final e*tract. )gain, how does 9 say the words in boldA
a! because that generally seems to mean it/s going to be
After you listen
Task 11 0eflection
2hich of the features of spoken English aboe do you think are important
a! for speaking English
! for understanding spoken EnglishA
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