You have endless passion for cooking? Or simply love good food? If you fall into either of these categories then eJOY has a great movie list for you. These culinary-themed movies will take you into the world of flavorful food and talented chefs to discover the world’s culinary delights. At the same time, you can enjoy top-notch culinary arts, learn vocabulary, and practice English skills. Learning English has never been so delicious!
Read more:
“A To Z” Tips For Learning English with Movies
Learning English through movies – Reasons to choose
What is it with the hype of learning English through movies? Here is the answer: this method of learning is the full package!
Expand vocabulary
In every movie, each line of dialogues is full of new words and useful expressions. In addition, vocabulary in movies is organized systematically in accordance with their topics. Therefore, many find it easier to memorize vocabulary when learning through movies. Moreover, acquiring new words in this way is proven to be more effective as we learn them in specific expressions and contexts.
Enhance listening – speaking skills
Watching movies will help you practice listening to English at a standard speed equivalent to native people’s speed of speaking. At the same time, this method of studying allows you to approach different tones and accents of English such as American English, British English, Australian English, etc. By listening to and practicing the way movie characters combine their words, sentences, and body language, you can learn how to speak English more fluently and naturally.
Develop logical English thinking
Many of us learners usually develop a habit of thinking in our first language, then trying to translate that into English, which will make our ideas sound unnatural. So how to get rid of that? A method you should try is to familiarize yourself with the English way of thinking through the world of movies. When you dive into the flow of thoughts and conversations of movie characters, you will find yourself getting used to logical English thinking gradually and naturally.
Revive interest in learning English
It is best to learn new things with an open and passionate heart. Learning English through movies is very likely to spark more interest in you rather than traditional ways of learning. As you are immersed in the exciting world of movies, exploring new cultures and lifestyles, you will find English less intimidating and more endearing. Then learning English will simply be doing something you like.
A step-by-step guide to learning English through movies effectively
Below is a summary of the steps to learn English through movies effectively. Read our complete guide to learning English with movies to learn more about the method.
Step 1 Watch the whole movie in dual subtitles
After choosing a suitable movie, you should first attempt to watch it with dual subtitles or in your mother tongue depending on your current level. This will make it easier for you to grasp the main contents of the movie as well as the meaning of new words. After watching and noting down new words, you can attempt to watch the movie again but this time with English subtitles to practice on your listening and speaking skills.
Step 2 Extract a small part of the movie to focus on
After watching the whole movie with the help of subtitles, you should choose a few particular scenes (under three minutes) of it to practice further. There are some exercises that you can use such as:
- Watch the scene with English subtitles over and over again
- Look up and save new words and expressions to your notebook
- Practice listening using dictation exercises
- Practice speaking using the shadowing method
Step 3 Rewatch the movie and play games to revise vocabulary
In this step, you should watch the whole movie with English subtitles one more time to check how many percents of new words you have memorized and how much of the movie you can understand. After that, don’t forget to play fun vocabulary games to brush up on the words you have learned from the movie on eJOY eXtension or eJOY app.
Read more:
- A step-by-step learning guide for Intermediate
- A step-by-step learning guide for beginners
- Learn English with Movies: A Complete Guide
12 mouth-watering movies about the culinary world
This is a list of 12 great movies on the topic of Culinary and Cooking carefully chosen by the eJOY team to give you the best time learning English through movies. These movies can all be found on Netflix. By downloading eJOY eXtension on Google Chrome, your learning experience on Netflix will be more pleasant as you can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate easily, for example, repeat a line, access auto-pause feature, and more. You can find more details about how to use eJOY eXtension on Netflix here.
1 Julie & Julia (1992)
In this movie, Amy Adams plays the role of Powell, a writer in New York, who records her efforts to cook 524 dishes in Julia Child’s book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Immersed in a boring life, Julie Powell came across a book about Julia Child – the top chef of French cuisine. She decided to change her life by recreating Julia’s dishes and writing them down on her blog. Surprisingly the amateur work on her blog attracted countless readers and was a phenomenon, changing the path of Julie’s life forever.
2 Ratatouille (2007)
Ratatouille is an animated movie about the adventures of Remy, a mouse with a love for cooking, and a desire to go to Paris to fulfill his dream of becoming a famous chef. Despite being disapproved of by his family, Remy finally arrived in the capital of light. Here, Remy became friends with Linguini – the son of his idol and the famous chef of Gusteau restaurant. Remy and Linguini became a perfect duo in the preparation of new dishes while proving Gusteau’s concept: “Anyone can cook.”
As an animated movie, Ratatouille has a moderate speed of speech, not causing too much difficulty for English learners at all levels. Besides, the typical words in cuisine such as those about ingredients, recipes, etc. will enrich your vocabulary in the cooking field.
3 No Reservation (2007)
Chef Kate is a person who leads a strict, organized, and unobtrusive life, not tolerating anyone who makes her kitchen lose its perfection. Perhaps that personality has made Kate’s private life drift in solitude. But it all seemed to change when Nick, a handsome, young kitchen assistant, came to her kitchen.
4 MasterChef US (2010 – 2019)
MasterChef US is a series of cooking competitions organized by renowned chef Gordon Ramsay for people from all walks of life who want to pursue the dream of a professional chef. Top 22 contestants have to overcome many challenges and compete with each other to create the best dishes. Contestants who win the title of MasterChef will receive a $ 250,000 reward and a cookbook publishing contract.
This practical television program will help you access the English language in daily life communication. Sample sentences, dialogues, and even common slang words will help you understand more about how to communicate in English naturally and confidently.
5 Chef (2014)
Chef Carl Casper unexpectedly quit his job at a famous Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creativity with his boss’s conservative management style. He leaves in search of new things and on his way to Miami, Casper joins his ex-wife, an old friend, and his son to open a mobile food truck. Wandering on the road, Chef Carl gradually regains his ego and passion for the culinary arts – as well as the taste of love and life.
6 The hundred-foot journey (2014)
The Hundred-Foot Journey is set in a picturesque village in southern France. When an Indian family settled here and opened a restaurant, they were at war with an old French restaurant. The “war” escalated until the two chefs of the two restaurants fell in love. What do they do to stop this war?
Besides the fascinating content about the culinary world, the film is also an opportunity for those who are learning English to approach English with a French accent and Indian accent instead of the usual American – English, British – English accents. This experience will help us become more familiar with different English accents, which are common in real-life communication.
7 Burnt (2015)
The story of the movie revolves around the life of Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper), a top chef who ruined his life with arrogant behaviors and drugs, but then he himself corrected his mistakes with a restaurant that won Michelin star three times.
The movie is suitable for Intermediate learners thanks to its decent speed of speech, quite simple vocabulary and English structures used. However, you may still stumble on some notable phrases like “let one’s self in”, “take over”, etc from time to time in this movie.
8 Cooked (2016)
Renowned culinary journalist Michael Pollan explores how cooking transforms food and shaping the world of people as he experimented with baking, brewing beer, and braising meat.
9 What the health (2017)
The documentary explores the relationship between diet and human diseases, and billions of dollars at risk of being lost in the health, pharmaceutical, and food industries. The film also criticized the harmful effects of consuming meat and dairy products, advocating a plant-based diet.
10 Ugly delicious (2018)
The famous chef David Chang and his friends participate in a journey across cultures from Europe, Asia to America, Africa to find dishes with a simple appearance but contain the best flavor.
The whole series is laced with both daily conversations and professional talks among chefs so that you can brush up on simple English words and learn fascinating vocabulary on cooking at the same time.
11 Street food Asia (2019)
Wandering the streets of Asia to learn the quintessence of street food here. The series takes the audience on a journey to discover the cuisine, culture, and the stories behind the people who create those delicious street foods.
Watching this series, you will be exposed to the English language in the Asian context, with various Asian English accents, which add to the diversity of the show.
12 A tale of two kitchens (2019)
Mexican restaurant star Gabriela Camara opened another restaurant with the same system, Cala, in San Francisco, with a familiar menu and an extremely open kitchen culture. Discover the story of two restaurants, two cities, but with a common vision – building a harmonious space between two elements: dignity and community.
Hopefully the list of 12 must-see movies on the topic of Cooking and Culinary above has satisfied your passion for eating, cooking, and learning English. Let’s start learning English today with this list of ‘delicious’ movies! Do not forget to download eJOY eXtension on Chrome to make learning English through movies more convenient and effective.
