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Listen to a story about the movie Sex and the City 2!
You’ll also learn why even native English speakers sometimes don’t understand spoken English!
Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!
Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell a real world story. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.
You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. It sounds funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower. After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.
THE STORY
(This story was originally published in 2010.)
Have you seen Sex & the City 2? I saw it recently and I thought it was awful. I really enjoyed the first Sex and the City movie. It was emotional but funny at the same time. I liked the TV show although I wasn’t a huge fan of the show because I didn’t really like the characters. The show was set in New York City, which is one of my favorite cities in the world, so I loved watching how the characters lived their lives in that city. I also really liked the amazing clothes the girls wore. So, I was excited to see Sex and the City 2!
We had an hour to kill at the theatre because I got the show time wrong. When I checked the times on the internet, I clicked on the wrong date. As a result, I thought the movie was at 6:15, but it was actually at 7pm. I like to get there early to make sure we have time to get some treats before the movie, so we had a lot of time on our hands.
The great thing about movie theaters nowadays is that there are a lot of food choices! We went to the concession stand, bought some slices of pizza and some drinks, and sat down to read the free magazines. Going to the movies in Canada is not cheap! Admission for an adult is now $11.99, which is not so bad, but they charge an arm and a leg for food and drinks! I had to pay $6.26 for a small bag of popcorn! That’s outrageous. Not many people go to the movies on a Monday, so we practically had the theater all to ourselves! We had the best seats in the house, right in the middle, with the best view of the screen.
Learn more:
English Vocabulary: Going to the movies
How to say that something is expensve
As for the movie, I thought it was terrible! The language they used and the jokes were so crude. At times it seemed like a bunch of frat boys wrote the script. It was not what I expected from Sex and the City at all! There was really no story, and there were so many product placements that the movie seemed like one big commercial. It was really disappointing. I don’t think there will be a Sex and the City 3!
NOTE: Did you notice that I didn’t use the word cinema at all? DO NOT use cinema in American English! You can say ‘the movies’ instead, as in “Let’s go to the movies tonight!”
PRONUNCIATION TIP
EVEN NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS SOMETIMES DON’T UNDERSTAND SPOKEN ENGLISH!
For a long time, I thought the name of the TV show was “Sex IN the City” … and so did a lot of people!
And and in are both function words. They are both unstressed in a sentence, but and is reduced to /ən/, which sounds very similar to in.
Listen carefully. I’ll say in first, then and.
Sex IN the City
Sex AND the City
Can you hear the difference? I couldn’t. So, don’t worry if sometimes you don’t understand the unstressed function words in a sentence. Often native English speakers can’t understand them either!
Hello, Melanie.
It was interesting to listen about going to the movies in Canada.
And I want to tell you about going to the movies in Ukraine. This kind of rest is really popular here. I believe that nowadays mostly everyone can afford it. The tickets usually cost from 20 to 50 hryvnas (3-7 dollars). If it's a 3d movie, they will charhge you more – around 50-100 hryvnas (7-13 dollars). Our movie theaters are often multiplexes that have from 2 (minimum) to 6 auditoriums. What I like about our people is their creativity :) In some multiplexes they name auditoriums not plainly 1, 2, 3, etc, but make some interesting names. The most common example is to use colors to make names for auditorium. Red and blue are the most popular, but you can also meet anthracite or wine-colored auditoriums (and the name doesn't meen that the auditorium is painted in that color). But other multiplexes go even futher using last names of famous directors for their auditoriums. Or how would you like to see a movie in an auditorium "Sweet life"? :)
About the movie. I also didn't like "Sex and the city". But somehow I wasn't disappointed. I really like going to the movies and so every time I try to find something interesting in every film. For example I liked how Miranda was learning the language of the coutry. I usually do the same. If I know that I am going to visit some country in the near future, I try to learn simply words in their language (hello, thank you, please) :).
I'm sorry for such a long comment.
Best wishes,
Olya.
p.s. A small bag of popcorn will cost you from 2 to 3 dollars in Ukraine :)
Hello, Melanie!
I must say, it was really nice listening about the impression you got while watching the "Sex and the city".
Here, in Serbia, people simply adore those girls.
well, women, actually, men are not so thrilled about the whole idea of a woman being smart, beautiful, sexy, educated and not depending on the them, if you know what I mean.. ;)
Personally, I love the show and the girls, but I must in a way, agree with you.
But, since I've been loving them for so long time period, I'm gonna forgive them some mistakes they've made while making this movie.. :)
Best wishes, Milica
Hi, Milica!
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a nice comment! It's interesting to hear what people think of the show in Serbia [Serbian men need to get with the times!] I really liked the TV show, but I think Sex & the City 2 is a really embarrassment to the show!
Hi, Melanie!
I loved it! I bought a CD with this movie! I usually watching it again sometimes.
It's expensive going to the movies in Brazil.
If you are student or have more than 65 years, you can pay half price. Or if you have any kind of plan commercial, for example me, I have one card of cellphone that give me discount in some movies, theathers and restaurants.
In the middle of week is cheaper than of the weekend.
Hi, Monique!
Actually, you bought a DVD of this movie – a CD is for music! They look the same, but there are different names for them in English (don't ask me why!)
You are very lucky that you can get a discount with your cellphone card! I wish we had that here, too.
Take care,
Melanie
= )
Dear Melanie! I have become a fan of your website because you have helped me with all the resources that you bring us by the way for free. About the movie, yes that movie was disappointed. The show was better. Thanks a lot.
Diana
Colombia :)