'In Good Company'

Wednesday 15^th April

Hi, again!

In our last classes we continued seeing the movie ‘In Good Company’.

We haven’t finished seeing the film yet. What we have learnt so far is this:

Dan doesn’t agree with the new situation at the company but there’s nothing he can do about it. He has to dismiss two of his colleagues but life goes on. His elder daughter moves to New York University, after he has taken out a second mortgage to pay for that. Meanwhile, Carter has divorced and has moved to a different neighbourhood in New York. One day he bumps into (finds by chance) Dan’s daughter and they start going out together.

There’s a basketball game between departments and Dan gets injured. He breaks his arm. A short time later he celebrates his birthday. Former (past) and current (present) colleagues are invited to Dan’s birthday party. It’s then, when he finds out his daughter and his boss’s (Carter) affair. He follows them to a restaurant and reveals them that he knows about their affair. He punches Carter and leaves the restaurant furious with his daughter and …there’s very little left for the outcome (the end, the result)…

By seeing the film we have practised:

Everyday expressions

Who’s at the helm?	To be in charge
He’s been on a spree	To spend a lot of money
It’s not a big deal	To be important or significant
The mag’s (magazine is) a cash cow	To earn a lot of money
He’s gonna get canned	To be dismissed
To be a young new star	He’s the latest hot-shot from Globecom

And in the previous class we learnt, also with the film:

I believe in	Worried about	Qualified for	On their honeymoon
My money is on…	Apologize for	On the 29th floor	A bit rough on

We can make words by adding suffixes and prefixes.

pregnant	pregnancy	develop	development
maintain	maintenance	commit	commitment
analyse	analyst	tap	untapped

We’ll probably finish seeing the film next Wednesday. 

See you, then!

Happy Easter!

Wednesday 25^th March

Hi Isabel,

How’s your Easter holiday going? I hope it’s Ok.

The weather is wonderful or as Carter (from the film ‘In Good Company’) would say, “Awesome”.

Easter traditions in Spain are basically a combination of religious rites and beach holidays, but in the U.K. and the USA they are connected to chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies.

In our last class before Easter, we carried on talking about wishes and regrets and hypothesising about the past and the future.

And we went on seeing the film.

In this part of the film we see how both, Dan and Carter are struggling (fighting to adapt) in the new corporate set-up (the new organization system). We see Carter’s introductory speech, his first speech to his employees. The speech is full of ‘business bullshit’ (words that sound very well but don’t mean much!) He talks about synergy, to be psyched (in the right frame of mind; ready for something) and also to be proactive. Meanwhile the ‘rif’ (reduction in forces) start and he has to dismiss (fire, sack, make redundant etc.) or as he says ‘let them go’, because it sounds better. Dan’s life goes on in a bit more stressful way. He’s getting ready for his new paternity (more expenses with the baby) and his eldest daughter tells him she’s been accepted in NYU and she’ll move to the city (more expenses, again) and meanwhile, he has to explain that he’s been demoted so now, he’s earning less money. The whole situation brings about some arrhythmia…

We’ll continue in our next class…  

Enjoy the rest of Easter!

See you on Wednesday!