English, baby!

A Knight's Tale

Date: Oct 10 2001

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Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

rooting

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Imagine mixing a medieval tale with
an MTV video. The result would be something like the movie A Knight’s Tale. Find out more about the movie by listening to the conversation below.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Joe

Chad

Joe: Chad, I was reading about the actor, his name is Heath Ledger?

Chad: He’s a pretty good actor. He’s one of the new, up and coming rising stars. He was in this pretty good movie A Knight’s Tale, you know, about this squire that forged, you know, documents saying he was a knight in order to get into these jousting competitions. And he ended up winning and like winning this princess’ heart and it was pretty cool.

Joe: Oh wow. So it kind a had a little, a little, uh, interesting story about chivalry and you know, back in the olden days and you know, kind of fighting for valor and all that good stuff.

Chad: Oh yeah. Completely. What was interesting was how the movie mixed in all this, you know, new age MTV-like music and dance scenes… even though it was set in medieval times.

Joe: So the cinematography for, uh, for the movie is pretty, pretty off the hook, pretty, pretty cool?

Chad: Oh yeah. Very, uh, very hip, I mean a lot of uh, young teens probably liked that movie ’cuz of Heath, but also just ‘cuz the action, the pace, um, the music is always, you know, back and forth and the jousting scenes. It’s action- packed. It’s pretty cool.

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

The movie, A Knight’s Tale has a lot of interesting parts such as the music and the characters.
The music is very rockin’ with songs like We Will Rock You by Queen to Golden Years by David Bowie. The director does an excellent job of blending modern music to a medieval setting. Can you imagine watching Robin Hood with a FatBoySlim song during a fighting scene? Well, you can with this film!
The characters are well developed and interact well with each other. They will rarely make you feel bored. What makes this film worth seeing is that it focuses on the underdog. If you read my review of Rocky a few months ago, you’ll remember that Rocky is one of the most famous movies about the working-class hero. The story of how one man going after the impossible and successfully reaching his goal. Heath Ledger’s character is doing exactly the same thing in A Knight’s Tale. If you enjoy rooting for the little guy, then this is your kind of flick.
Can you think of other movies that root for the underdog like Rocky or A Knight’s Tale? I’d love to hear about it on our “Movie Madness” message board. And don’t forget to take the quiz!
Take care,
Nedra