New search engine for movie quotes

Subzin.com is a pretty awesome way to see language in a spoken context.

Try typing in a few words.. like "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn"
What famous movie is that line from? The answer is here.

...or even one word like SHRIMP. Guess what movie pops up first? I'm sure it's one you all know...

Unfortunately the search engine can't find the film one of my favorite words comes from. It's one I loved as a kid....The word is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Do you know the film?? It stars the same actress who played Maria in the Sound of Music.

Script Links
There are many excellent links to movie and TV scripts at Script Links

Greg Mortensen is my hero

I strongly recommend you listen to this interview with Greg and a famous American journalist named Bill Moyers about the humanitarian work Greg and others are doing in Afghanistan building schools for girls.

I also strongly recommend you read Greg's books, THREE CUPS OF TEA and his most recent one, STONES INTO SCHOOLS: PROMOTING PEACE WITH BOOKS NOT BOMBS, IN
AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN.


If only there were more people like Greg who had the drive to truly make the world a better place.

There is a transcript to help you understand what he has to say, but he has a very simple and easy-to-understand message about how peace can be brought to that troubled part of the world. The part of the interview that impressed me the most is the story about the "Men in Black" (Taliban) and the photo of them on the swings. Precious!

Please have a look!

Arnie the Actor

160 Greatest Arnold Schwarzenegger Quotes

Nothing too complex here ...;)

Watch some of the best Super Bowls ads ever made

Which ones do you like best?

Keep in mind who's most likely to watch the game.

Watching Documentaries

By documentaries I'm not talking about those films Michael Moore makes...

But the genre can be pretty educational since a lot of them don't have a happy ending where the hero rides off into the sunset. Just like life.

I like watching documentaries because many of them make me think about what is really true, what can I really believe?

This site has a pretty good list of documentaries you can watch for free.

http://www.tv-links.cc/documentary/index.html

To make it a complete learning experience I recommend you write a short summary of what you learned or how you react to what you have watched. Unless you do this, you're just another passive consumer. And talk to somebody about what you see. Discuss the chances that what you see resembles what the truth.

Obama's speech at the DNC

The great thing about watching and listening to this man speak is that you can learn from someone who has absolutely mastered the English language. The NY Times has synchronized the video and the transcript and added a kind of table of contents so you can jump to whatever sections sound interesting.

Truly amazing to watch (and read along).

And then McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his veep. Was this a wise move?! Time will tell...

Meanwhile, read this article in the same paper McCain's Baked Alaska to see how one American woman feels about McCain's choice.

Remember that you just have to double-click on any difficult words in the article to get a definition in English.

Who would YOU for if you were allowed to vote in this election on November 4th?

Grey's Anatomy

This seems to be a very popular show and it is even being shown in English on Austrian TV (will wonders never cease!)

Many students claim to be doing something good for their English by plopping themselves down in front of the TV and sitting there passively "improving" their English.

But that's about as effective as sleeping with a dictionary under your pillow to improve your vocabulary.

Here's what I suggest as a way to take a slightly more active approach.

1. Read the script beforehand (or afterwards if you prefer to be surprised...)
http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/greysanatomy/

2. If you are having trouble with the vocabulary you can put the URL of the page with the script into http://www.voycabulary.com/
and select the leo dictionary for German translations of if you prefer to have the words explained in English I suggest you select answers.com. Click "Proceed" and then every single word in the script will be linked to the dictionary you have chosen. Saves a lot of time.

3. Make a note of any new words and phrases you think are useful (and take a sip of beer every time your favorite character say them!?) No, seriously, try to use some of these words and phrases the very same day or week and soon you will have actually learned something by "merely" watching the boob tube!

Online Video Guide

Watching videos can be a great way to learn something...


...YOU decide WHAT!

Transcripts of TV shows

This little gem of a resource should make it very easy for you to actually learn while watching TV.

Even if you don't even have the video or audio element, I think it's still great for finding out how people SAY things in English.

Dialogues coming out the wazoo!

Movies Movies Movies

IMDB rules!

I love this site because it very rarely lets me down when I am looking for information about movies and/or TV shows. In addition to a reliable rating system (ten stars max), trailers, and basic info like plot summary and director and actors, there are links to dozens of reviews (in German too usually), discussion boards, user comments, trivia, memorable quotes, etc etc

TASK: Register and you can easily make a list of all the movies you own, you have seen, or would like to see. You can then share this list with other people and find out who has the same tastes or who could recommend or lend you a certain title.

Register today! It's very easy to then make your list, even if you own hundreds of videos and DVDs like I do.

I will be posting a link to My Movies soon! You should do the same!

Yabla

Yabla is a pretty cool site.
It provides "supported" video clips in English French or Spanish. You can see the text in the original-language and English captions while listening to the audio. You can also easily replay any segment and control the playback speed (normal or slow). In addition, clicking on any word in the captions provides dictionary definitions in English.

One interesting experiment to start with might be to watch the same content delivered by three different women in three different languages and make a few comparisons.

First in English. Click on "Try Yabla for free"!

Then try the same information presented by Julieta from Argentina here. Remember you can always slow it down or pause and get a definition.

Finally it's time for French. Remember you can always slow it down or pause and get a definition.

So what do you think? Is Yabla an interesting kind of website for language learners?

Free TV

I only get ORF 1 + 2, and Slovenian 1 + 2), but I have a pretty fast internet connection, so I have started looking into the advantages of internet TV.

One big advantage is you can watch shows and movies on your PC in the original language, in most cases, English.

Here are 13 links to free TV.

and 13 more links (Be sure to scroll down and read the comments since many people have added their own personal favorites!)

TED Talks

I spent some time this weekend watching some pretty interesting experts talk about a variety of topics. They all were invited to California to talk about ideas worth spreading.

Some may be easier for non-native speakers to understand than others, but they are all excellent speakers, so I'm sure you will find at least one of these 18 minute talks as fascinating as I did.

Have a look at what they are talking about here.

Internet TV

I really think this kind of link is going to help a lot of students bypass all the dubbing of English TV shows and movies here in Austria.