Media and Entertainment

Most of us meet the media many times a day without stopping to think about it. A newspaper lies folded on the table. A film is showing at the hall in town. A programme is on the television in the evening. A short clip is playing on someone's phone. Each of these carries news, ideas or fun to a very large number of people at the same time, and that is what makes it media.

Each of these pictures stands for a different kind of media. The newspaper is print media. It is read rather than watched, it reports what happened yesterday, and it gives a reader time to think about what they read. The film poster advertises a feature film. A film is made mainly to entertain, but a good one also makes us feel something and think about people, families or our country's past. The television is broadcast media. It sends the same pictures and sound to many homes at the same moment, and the family sitting together in front of it shows how watching can bring people together.

Today there is a fourth kind of media that most teenagers use more than the other three: social media. On social media, ordinary people are not only the audience. They also make the posts, photos and videos that others watch. Film and social media are the two kinds of media looked at most closely here, one through a critic's review and the other through five true stories.

Before you read what a critic thinks of a film, think about your own habits. How often do you watch movies: every week, once a month, or only on holidays? What kind do you prefer: comedy, action, horror, romance or family drama, and why? A reader who knows their own taste reads a critic more sharply, because they can compare the critic's judgement with their own.

A review usually opens with the film's key facts, set out as a short list so that a reader can find them at a glance. The review of Hachi: A Dog's Tale, which the reviewer also calls Hachi: A Dog's Story, gives these facts:

The story is simple. Parker Wilson, a college professor played by Richard Gere, finds a lost Akita puppy wandering around a train station. The reviewer playfully calls the puppy an unlikely commuter, because commuters are the people who pass through a station on their way to work. Parker takes the puppy home, and the two quickly form a bond that nothing can break. Every morning the dog, Hachi, walks with Parker to the station, and every evening he goes back to the station to greet his master when the train comes in.

Then the story turns sad. One day Parker falls deathly ill at work and dies, so he never comes back to the station. Hachi cannot know this. For the next nine years, until his own death, he returns to the station every day to wait for the master he loves. The vendors, the stationmaster and the commuters in the station square all come to know him. Through him they learn what loyalty, devotion and love really mean. In the end his unyielding devotion catches the attention of the media, and his story moves people far beyond the station.

The film is an American adaptation of a true story set in Japan in 1925, about a professor and his devoted dog. The real dog became so famous that the Japanese honoured him with a statue.

The review also praises the family around the dog. Parker and his wife Cate, played by Joan Allen, have been happily married for 25 years, and they have a daughter of college age. Their commitment to each other shows in many small, tender moments. Parker and Hachi share a bowl of popcorn on the couch while watching a Yankees baseball game, and Parker even gets down on all fours to teach the puppy how to play fetch.

A review is not a summary. Once the story has been outlined, the critic's real work begins: judging the film. The review of Hachi was written by Laura Busch and published in Christian Spotlight on Entertainment. She is the writer of the review, not a person in the film. She judges the film from four angles, in this order:

• Its values. The film reinforces the values of marriage and the traditional family, and it shows them through sweet, tender scenes rather than speeches.
• Its craft. From a cinematic point of view the film is strong. The director's soft piano music deepens the film's pathos, and black and white shots show the world as Hachi sees it. Richard Gere is a joy to watch with the dog, and he and Joan Allen believably portray a couple whose love has lasted.
• Its weaker points. A few things may bother some viewers: Parker and Cate exchange a few kisses, though these are tender rather than passionate; they sip champagne together; and they lie in bed talking and laughing. Some viewers also object to the number 8 around Hachi's neck, but in Japan the number 8 stands for good fortune and has a spiritual meaning.
• Its overall verdict. The film is a breath of fresh air in the secular film world, where many so-called family films are full of crude jokes and mild profanities. Hachi uses none of these offensive staples. It is a clean film that a whole family can watch together.

Notice the language a critic uses. The review is full of judging adjectives: heartwarming, inspiring, adorable, touching, incredible, refreshingly clean. It also uses set phrases that belong to film writing. A film that "holds up from a moral standpoint" has good values. A film that "holds its own from a cinematic point of view" is well made. A film that is "a breath of fresh air" feels new and welcome. These phrases are worth borrowing when you write a review yourself.

Numbers are spoken differently depending on what they are. A telephone number, a year and a large amount are all written in digits, but no English speaker reads them the same way.

• Say each digit on its own: 3692-5847 is said "three six nine two, five eight four seven".
• Say zero like the letter O: 5059-1023 is said "five oh five nine, one oh two three".
• When the same digit comes twice together, say "double": 5718-3369 is said "five seven one eight, double three, six nine".
• When the same digit comes three times together, say "triple": 2149-8777 is said "two one four nine, eight triple seven".
• Pause briefly at the gap or hyphen: 555-3527 is said "triple five, three five two seven".

• Years up to 1999 are split into two pairs: 1984 is "nineteen eighty-four" and 1925 is "nineteen twenty-five".
• A year ending in 00 uses "hundred": 1800 is "eighteen hundred".
• From 2000 to 2009 we say "two thousand": 2005 is "two thousand and five".
• From 2010 onward, pairs come back: 2022 is "twenty twenty-two", though "two thousand and twenty-two" is also heard.

Take 4,456,200. The first group, 4, is followed by "million". The second group, 456, is followed by "thousand". The last group, 200, has no name after it. So the whole number is "four million, four hundred and fifty-six thousand, two hundred". In British English, the word "and" comes before the tens in each group: 100,000 is "one hundred thousand", and 56,320,749 is "fifty-six million, three hundred and twenty thousand, seven hundred and forty-nine".

People ask for and give opinions all the time: about a film, a meal, a pair of shoes, a match. Here are two short conversations. In the first, two friends talk about a film.

In the second, a customer and a salesperson talk about shoes. Notice that the salesperson asks for the customer's opinion twice, using two different expressions.

The expressions below are the ones most often used. Those on the left ask for an opinion; those on the right introduce one.

An opinion on its own sounds thin. Give a reason with it, and it becomes persuasive. Compare "I think homework is useful" with "Personally, I believe homework is useful, because it makes me practise what I learnt in class while it is still fresh." Practise with a partner on topics that people genuinely disagree about: Nepali movies, social media, television, homework, examinations and politics.

Every conversation above runs on questions, so it matters to build them correctly. English questions come in two main types.

Some statements already have an auxiliary: "The kids are playing" becomes "What are the kids doing?", and "Rita has visited Italy" becomes "Has Rita ever visited Italy?". The verb be works like an auxiliary as well: "Your hotel was near the beach" becomes "Was your hotel near the beach?". Many statements, though, have only a main verb, and then English borrows an auxiliary.

Here is the method applied to the statement "He found a shell on the beach", when we want to ask about the thing he found:

• Step 1: Find the subject and the verb. The subject is "he" and the verb is "found".
• Step 2: Look for an auxiliary. There is none, and "found" is past tense, so bring in "did".
• Step 3: "Did" now carries the past tense, so "found" goes back to "find".
• Step 4: Put the question word first, then the auxiliary, then the subject: What did he find on the beach?

The same order sorts jumbled words into questions:

A question also has a job to do, and each job has its usual opening. To suggest something: "Shall we go to a movie?" or "Why don't we go to a movie?". To invite: "Would you like to come to my home?". To ask permission: "May I sit here?". To ask about a number: "How many books have you got?". To ask about how often: "Does your father cook every day or once a week?".

The review of Hachi makes a good model for reviewing a film you have watched recently. Follow the same shape and use the same kind of judging language.

• Title and facts: the film's name, director, main actors, genre, run time and year of release.
• Story outline: who the main characters are and what problem they face, in a few sentences, written in the present simple ("Parker finds a lost puppy").
• Strengths: the acting, the music, the camera work, the setting and the message.
• Weaknesses: anything that may disappoint or bother some viewers, said fairly.
• Verdict: your overall judgement and a recommendation saying who should watch it.

Useful phrases: "a heartwarming family drama", "the performances are convincing", "the music enhances the mood", "the pace slows in the middle", "a film the whole family can enjoy", "worth watching for its message alone".

Most people recognise social media by its icons. Facebook's is a white letter f on dark blue, used for sharing posts and keeping in touch with friends and family. Twitter's is a white bird on light blue; the site, now called X, is used for short posts and quick news. Instagram's is a camera outline on pink, for photos and short videos. YouTube's is a white play button on red, for watching and uploading videos. Twitch's is a speech bubble on purple, used for live streaming, especially of games.

Social media is often blamed for wasting time, but a collection of true stories by Amy Cottreau-Moore shows it doing a lot of good. The first is about Nathan Apodaca. His truck broke down on the way to work, so instead of getting angry he took out his skateboard and a bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice and rode to work, filming himself skating, drinking and lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac's 1980s song "Dreams". He nearly did not post it, but when he did share it on TikTok it went viral with over 40 million views. Ocean Spray delivered a truck full of his favourite drink to him, let him keep the truck, and posted the handover on its Instagram account.

The second is about Charlie Manning, a six-year-old girl from Kamloops, Canada. In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled her birthday party, and she was sad that she could not celebrate with her extended family in the United States. Her aunt posted on Facebook asking people to make the day one to remember. The post was shared widely, and the response was immediate and immense: 173 cards and 15 parcels arrived from total strangers, overwhelming Charlie's grandparents, with whom she lives.

The third is about two schoolchildren from Kolkata, India, Jashika Khan and Mohammad Azajuddin. In 2019 they were filmed somersaulting and flipping on their way to school. Their teacher posted the video on TikTok, Facebook and Twitter, and it was retweeted by Nadia Comaneci, the Olympic gymnast. The attention led to free gymnastic training for the two, with meals paid for by the Sports Authority of India.

The fourth is about Matt Nason, who created the We Rate Dogs page on Twitter. He posts pictures of dogs and always rates them kindly, and the page has accumulated over 8 million followers. He uses that platform to share GoFundMe pages for dogs that need surgery or assistive equipment. When a 12-year-old Golden Retriever needed a wheelchair, his followers raised over $700 in a few hours. In total he has raised over $500,000 for sick dogs.

The fifth is about Madeleine Weatherhead, who saw a stunned hawk on a New York city street while walking to work. She called the Animal Care Center of New York, but her call went to voicemail. She had to get to work, so she photographed the bird and posted it on Twitter, asking her followers for help. Soon Special Operations Officers Maxwell Outsen and Joseph Bellomo arrived and carefully caught the red-tailed hawk. It was taken to an animal sanctuary, where it made a full recovery.

The picture shows a cinema hall, where films are shown on a big screen. Tickets can be bought at the counter, online, through an app, or by phone. Many cinemas have a recorded telephone message that tells callers which films are showing, on which screen, and at what price. The listening task is a message of this kind.

The task has two parts. First, match four screens, Screen I, Screen II, Screen III and Screen IV, with four films: Streetmatch, Ships in the Night, Lulu and Don't Open the Door. Second, fill five gaps: which key callers press to book tickets, which people pay five euros, how many films are shown that day, what Maggie wants to forget in Ships in the Night, and what the film Lulu is about. Every answer comes from the recording, so it cannot be worked out by guessing.

• Read every question before the recording starts, and decide what kind of answer each gap needs: a number, a group of people, or a short phrase.
• For the matching, listen for the word "screen" followed by a number, then the film title that comes with it.
• For the key to press, listen for a single digit after the word "press".
• For prices, listen for "euros" and for the people the price applies to, such as children, students or older people.
• For the film descriptions, listen after the title is said; the description usually follows at once.
• Write short notes on the first listening and check them on the second.

Compare these two sentences. "I fixed my television." "I had my television fixed." In the first, I did the work myself. In the second, I arranged for someone else to do it. The verb have in the second sentence is a causative verb.

To choose the right verb form, ask one question: is the object doing the action, or receiving it? In "Rob is having his house ___ next weekend", the house does not paint anything; it receives the painting. So the verb takes its past participle: "Rob is having his house painted." In "Laura never has people ___ her what to do", the people are the ones who do the telling, so the verb stays in its base form: "Laura never has people tell her what to do."

Causatives are natural when describing a time when rules were set for you, such as a holiday camp. "We were made to get up at five every morning. The leaders let us swim in the lake after lunch. I had my photo taken beside the waterfall. I got my friend to carry my bag up the hill."

People disagree strongly about social networking sites such as Facebook and TikTok. Some believe they harm both individuals and society. Others believe they have connected people across the whole world. An opinion essay asks you to decide what you think and to argue for it.

• Introduction: introduce the topic and state your opinion in one clear sentence.
• First body paragraph: the positive impacts, each with an example.
• Second body paragraph: the negative impacts, each with an example.
• Third body paragraph: weigh the two sides and explain why your view is the stronger one.
• Conclusion: restate your opinion in fresh words and end with a suggestion or a thought.

Link your ideas with words that show how they connect: firstly, moreover, in addition, for example, on the other hand, however, although, as a result, in conclusion. Use the opinion language you practised earlier: "In my view", "Personally, I believe", "As far as I am concerned".

A model introduction: "Few inventions have changed daily life as quickly as social media. Sites such as Facebook and TikTok are blamed for wasting time and spreading rumours, and some of that blame is fair. As far as I am concerned, however, their power to connect people and to bring help where it is needed makes them, on balance, a force for good, provided we use them wisely."

The five social media stories come from far away, but similar stories happen in every town and village. A lost phone returned after a post, a sick patient who found blood donors, a small shop that found customers online: these are positive. A family quarrel caused by a rumour, a student who lost sleep to a game, a person cheated by a fake page: these are negative. Talk to family members, neighbours and friends and collect a few such stories. For each, note who it happened to, which platform was involved, what happened, and whether the effect was positive or negative. Then share the stories in class and discuss which kind was more common.