Cheesy vs. Cool

by AJ

We've been watching the movie "Hitch" in my class. Ive found it to be a goldmine for conversation topics. Each day we usually watch one or two scenes (multiple times, with/without subtitles, with explanations, etc.). Once we've thoroughly digested and understood the scenes, we have a discussion about a topic related to what we watched.

This is a great movie for that purpose. It addresses themes that all of my students find interesting: dating and gender relationships. Its funny. Its got plenty of useful everyday conversational English.

Today's scene involved flirting in a bar. There was a beautiful woman sitting alone. First a cheesy guy tried to hit on her. He tried various lame lines, and refused to take her polite refusals. Next, the hero of the story (Will Smith) hit on her. He did so in a very smooth way. This scene gave great examples of how to use indirect language in order to be polite or smooth (vs. the goofy effect of being too direct or insincere).

Once we learned and acquired the language, we had a discussion about "cheesy guys". Everyone discussed their experiences with cheesy guys: encounters, observations, cheesy guys compared to cool/good guys, etc.

The discussion was lively and fun... and went overtime... so we must continue it tomorrow.

For those teachers who use the movie technique in class.. I highly recommend "Hitch".



San Francisco, CA