Billy Elliot

Intro

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

• chick flick
• kicks
• girlish
• look down on

• gay
• macho
• having a hard time
• tutu

• Jeez
• tights

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

Tanis is really excited about Billy Elliot a British film that came out recently and got great reviews. It’s about a young boy who has a talent for ballet dancing, which isn’t exactly the most macho of sports. Many guys don’t want to see the movie because it seems like a chick flick. So Tanis is having a hard time convincing John, Miguel and Zach to see it.

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.

Tanis

John

Zach

Migs

Tanis:  Oh, oh! Can we talk about Billy Elliot?

John:  No, that movie’s stupid.

Tanis:  What?! That movie’s the best movie I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

Zach:  Not enough explosions in Billy Elliot.

Tanis:  You don’t even know, obviously, if you think that.

Migs:  Wh…what was Billy Elliot about?

Tanis:  Aw, Miguel thank you.

John:  You’re so sweet.

Tanis:  Billy Elliot is, like, the story of a little boy whose mom died and he lives with his dad and his brother and his dad and his brother work in the coal mines in Northern England. The story is like, “Here’s this lonely family in this bad situation.” Billy discovers that he has a talent for dance. But, like, that’s totally looked down on, y’know, by his dad and all the men in their town.

Migs:  So is Billy gay?

Tanis:  No, no.

Migs:  Oh. Does he wear a tutu? (laughter)

Tanis:  No. Jeez, you guys!

John:  How can you do ballet without a tutu?

Tanis:  Men don’t wear tutus in ballet.

John:  They don’t?

Tanis:  No.

John:  What do they wear?

Tanis:  They wear tights and a shirt.

John:  Oh, well that’s a different story. What kind of..what kind of kicks does he wear?

Tanis:  He has, like, black ballet shoes.

Migs:  Can he go up on his toes like…

John:  ...like Michael Jackson? (laughter)

Tanis:  No. You have to have special…you have to have special shoes to do that.

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Lesson MP3

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