| Oh Say Have You Seen ... | | | | ease and fluency in speaking. Besides, it's usually quite |
| Have you seen the "Star Wars" saga? Remember | | | | a lot of fun, especially if you work with a friend, |
| the funny, short, long-eared green character named | | | | classmate or partner. But don't stop there, look for |
| "Yoda"? Well, he's quite an interesting character for | | | | other scenes and movie clips that you can use. |
| English as a foreign language teachers and learners to | | | | Some of My Favorites |
| study because of the way he speaks English. He | | | | How about trying other films by your preferred actor |
| doesn't speak incorrectly, but his word order in | | | | or actress? A variety of English language speech |
| particular is specialized and unique. Can you tell why? | | | | models will help to broaden your range of listening |
| Who hasn't seen any of the "Harry Potter" series of | | | | comprehension as well as aid in rounding out your |
| movies? While reading the books by J.K. Rowling can | | | | pronunciation of connected speech elements. There |
| be more interesting, the movies lend themselves well | | | | are a slew of actors and actresses with noteworthy |
| to use by English language teachers and learners too. | | | | speech in the English language who can have you |
| The groundskeeper, the giant Hagrid, speaks an | | | | speaking like a native in very short order. There are |
| exemplary version of northern British English that can | | | | also, unfortunately, some whose speech is more |
| serve as a distinct model. | | | | reminiscent of something the cat drug in. |
| The Plan | | | | These actors are normally good English language |
| Whether on VHS or DVD, select scenes in which the | | | | speech models which I like to use with my EFL |
| character you wish to model speaks. You, the EFL | | | | learners: |
| English teacher, can prepare the script directly from | | | | Harrison Ford |
| the movie scenes or use the original dialogues from | | | | Sidney Poitier |
| the book. A practical sequence might go as follows: | | | | Sean Connery |
| Play the selected scene and dialogue | | | | Pierce Brosnan |
| Rewind and replay, but now you, the learner, are the | | | | Clint Eastwood |
| character. | | | | Brendan Fraser |
| Mimic the character's speech and dialogue | | | | Danny Glover |
| Repeat the mimicking process as much as you need | | | | James Todd Smith (aka LL Cool J) |
| to for improvement | | | | John Travolta |
| Try recording your voice at the same time you're | | | | These actresses are normally good English language |
| speaking at the beginning of the process | | | | speech models which I also like to use with my EFL |
| Practice multiple times for at least three to five days | | | | learners: |
| On the last day of your mimicking practice session | | | | Angelina Jolie |
| series, record yourself again. | | | | Sandra Bullock |
| Now listen to your first efforts and compare them to | | | | Julia Roberts |
| your latest recordings. You should notice some | | | | Angela Bassett (pictured above) |
| considerable improvement. Select yet another scene | | | | Halle Berry |
| from the same movie with a dialogue from the same | | | | Cameron Diaz |
| character, if possible and repeat the process. | | | | Reese Witherspoon |
| Don't Stop There | | | | Remember to check out the speech of Hagrid in the |
| Once you've gone through a couple of different | | | | Harry Potter movies and Yoda in the Stars Wars |
| scenes or so of mimicking the same or different | | | | saga. You'll find them and many other characters |
| characters, you'll definitely have noticeably greater | | | | excellent models of what to say (or NOT to say). |