Movies in a Second Language

[BentonGrey]

Howdy guys, as has become customary, I'm teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) writing this semester, and I'm going to be traveling Monday, so we won't be having class regularly.  I was talking to my colleagues, and one of them suggested it might be good for the kids to spend that time watching a movie with the subtitles on so that they can have a bit of a break (they've been working quite hard), but still do something relatively productive.  I was wondering if y'all had any suggestions for movies that would be good for them to watch, something that would be accessible, but would expose them to good, standard speech patterns.  Other than the fact that it is very British, I was thinking one of the Harry Potter movies might serve.  Thoughts? 

I've got six students, three Japanese, one Brazilian, one Polish, and one French.

[thalaw2]

I'll deny ever posting this...but Romantic Comedies are probably one of the best ways to go.  I recommend When Harry met Sally and The Terminal

[detourne_me]

i'll second thalaw's suggestions. you'd want to stay away from dubs, just so the students can see how the mouth moves.  Romcom's usually have simple plots and simple dialogue, but something like Silver Lining's Playbook might be a little too sexual...i'm not sure.
you might also wish to avoid movies with culturally specific humor or pop references, so a fantasy like Harry Potter is alright.
Is Les Mis on DVD yet?

It's interesting, in Korea some of the cable providers must have gotten a huge deal on (what we would call) low budget American and East European movies.  Some of these Eastern European movies are made in English in hopes to branch out to an international audience. Because of this, the language isn't very complex, and is chock full of common sayings that they've probably been taught before.   Anyway,  they are pretty popular on TV here, and my gf likes them, too.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Don't forget Pixar films.  Simply language so that a kid can understand, but entertaining for adults too, plus they tend to get translated all over the world, so many of your students may already be familiar enough with them to already have an idea of what's going on.  May be a good thing for this group.

[Randomdays]

One of the Jame Bond movies perhaps. If they're in the right age group fo it, maybe one of the brat pack movies like the Breakfast Club.   And what about Ferris Bueller?

[BentonGrey]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys!  I gave the kids a choice between several of these, including some of the Pixar movies, and they chose The Avengers.  That one should work for our purposes.