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Documentaries
Documentaries

Learn English meaning of documentaries

Date: Apr 24 2020

Themes: Hobbies, Pop Culture

Grammar: Count and Noncount Nouns

Intro

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

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Many people watch movies to escape from real life. They want to see something that they don’t normally experience and that’s about a world that isn’t real. But even though documentaries are about real life, they can also show audiences a world that they have not seen before.

Documentary films are focused on real life and tell interesting stories that have not been told before. They can be about science and how people are creating climate change around the world, or about two people and their unexpected love story. Regardless of the topic, documentaries are always very stimulating.

Marni really enjoys documentaries, but Brian thinks they can be boring. Find out more in today’s English lesson about films on human nature.

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.

Brian

Brian

Marni

Marni

Brian:  Marni, do you want to go see a movie this weekend?

Marni:  Sure. What were you thinking?

Brian:  There’s a new action movie, and then there’s a documentary. I was assuming we’d go see the action movie.

Marni:  I think we should go see the documentary.

Brian:  Really? Don’t you think those are boring?

Marni:  Absolutely not. I love a good documentary. Leaning things about something, when they really delve in deeply. The impact it can have on you. It’s really profound.

Brian:  It just always seems like they’re about history. And I already studied that in class.

Marni:  It’s not always about history. It can be about human nature or a particular interest. I find it’s just so stimulating to watch a documentary about something I know nothing about. You learn all this information. It’s wonderful.

Brian:  So, you are in the belief that truth is stranger than fiction.

Marni:  Definitely. But there’s so many different styles of documentaries. Especially when they have interesting interviews with people that you really admire. I think we should go to a documentary. Expand your mind.

Brian:  Alright.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Marni is a big fan of documentaries and likes how they are always about interesting topics. She appreciates that these films can really delve into a subject. When Brian asks if she would like to see a documentary or an action movie, she chooses the documentary.

Brian isn’t so sure that he’ll enjoy a documentary. He worries that it will be a boring movie about a subject that he already studied in school. But after Marni gives him more information about what documentaries are like, he agrees to go with her to check it out.

Do you watch documentaries? What do you like about them?

 

Comments

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bora_78

bora_78Super Member!

Turkey

Documentaries are really stimulating ,I like watching them, especially I like delving after watching, they include a lot of information about real life.But in my opinion it might be boring watching documantary every day. 

02:16 AM Apr 26 2020 |

1 person likes this

ola33

ola33

Japan

Our whole history is cruel. History made by people, who’re supposedly considered humans. Just let’s positively hope that for every evil there’s twice more good things on this planet.

09:09 PM Apr 26 2015 |

1 person likes this

Tarita

Tarita

Antarctica

La Princesse de la vie, I promised myself the same thing too and, I suppose, you know about the result:). evil_genius, as for Sumerian tablets, some time ago I saw “Our Forgotten History” and it was quite interesting. But Sumerian myths and customs seem to be rather cruel and I don’t like watching movies about them.

06:31 PM Apr 26 2015 |

La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

I remember once I watched a documentry about sea life, it was very stimulating actually, I even remember I promised myself to watch a documentary every once and while, but it never happened till now :/ But this reminds me and I’ll not fail it again :))


I definitely like documentaries, they give us new information about something real exists in the same world and mostly it’s never boring, ‘cause it always has something new and interesting in it. They delve into history, human nature, animal behaviour, natural disasters, and many more. Most important that they are not a waste of time. 

02:39 PM Apr 25 2015 |

Tarita

Tarita

Antarctica

I couldn’t help commenting the lesson.
Of course,  some documentaries can be boring. Even horror movies can be boring, I’ve seen a couple of such “masterpieces.”
As for me, I like documentaries about animals. I must confess, sometimes I watch them to escape from real life, to forget my worries. Animals in the wild often look so nice or incredible or interesting. And there are no awful news, no bad bosses, no politics, no rat race (but there may be some nice rats though)))

evil_genius

Turkey

I watch documentaries. I believe they are really benefiting our knowledge about life. I can recommend you to watch “sumerian tablets” and learn about human history. 


06:06 PM Apr 20 2015 |

2 people like this

ola33

ola33

Japan

Well, recently I was torn between fiction and non-fiction readings. And to my satisfaction, non-fiction outweighed the fiction world. Well, don’t get me wrong, I still love fiction easy to read novels. But time is precious and you have to choose. Plus, you go with what is more interesting to you. Going for documentaries, gives you a great opportunity to delve into the facts and do some research. Plus, the real facts can get a very profound impact on you.  Not a single documentary yet, has been erased from my memory. Some facts are still in my head that bring up very deep feelings.


As for fiction, I like also some works that gives you some food for thought. 

MESS

MESS

Turkey

I am DEFINITELY a documentary lover. However I love different kinds of movies, as well, unless they are boring. I do love traveling kind of documentaries the most.


There is this cute Turkish family with a one-year-old baby going around the world and shooting documentaries about different countries and cultures of the world. I watch it every Sunday. Also there is this great documentary show with an adventurous man hiking in the mountains and giving clues about how to survive in the woods. It’s just an amazing show. The guy gives amazing ideas and he seems to love nature so much. 


The thing I love about documentaries is that they teach you something you do not know. They help you realize that there is a totally different world out there and encourage you to go discover it. And they are real. They are not based on made-up stories and for that reason I love them a lot more. 

ScienceBoy

ScienceBoy

Turkey

You can have feelings while watching documentaries too, Seiyf. 


Once I almost cried while watching a documentary about climate change.

12:06 PM Apr 20 2015 |

Seiyf_khawas

Turkey

ı like watching documentaries but ım not a big fan of them.coz documentaries answers how,when,who/s ,where questions about universe,world,ancient times…Feelings are absent in documentaries and thus it makes me boring …ı like too much movies ..ı wonder  ,who is killer ? ,lovers will meet ? 


:)


beauty of life comes from feelings…

10:41 AM Apr 20 2015 |

S&W

S&W

China

I like watching documentaries about traveling,puppies,kitties,tree house.I was mostly attracted by tree house and followed every new updates.definitely ,we can learn a lot from documentaties.Getting well know about process is better than just know the result.

ScienceBoy

ScienceBoy

Turkey

I love documentaries so much. Especially scientific ones. I love exploring our beautiful, remarkable universe. Actions movies entertain us but generally do not teach anything. Documentaries teach us while entertaining.


07:37 AM Apr 20 2015 |

s11211s

s11211s

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

World is so big and most of the people don’t have opportunity, money and etc to explore everywhere of the world but these people have thirst to see, to know whatever are on the world, hence documentary movie response to this need.
How could I go strange or so far places on the earth?
And also I couldn’t research about ancient people or research about space! Documentary films are useful to see, to know about most of the issues.
I watch documentary movies, most of them help me to learn something new.
But It doesn’t mean I don’t like action movies!

06:22 AM Apr 20 2015 |

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