Your list
Read out the film words you could not say. Describe them if you have to — the person who decides how the film looks.
Five descriptions, five words.
The same film, twice
Two summaries of one invented film. One is 40 seconds, one is four minutes compressed badly.
Summary A — everything, in order
So there is a woman and she works in a bank, and her sister comes to stay, and then the sister borrows her car, and there is a scene where they argue about the car, and then the sister meets a man at a petrol station, and the man is actually — well, I will not say — and then they go to the coast, and the woman follows them, and there is a long bit in a hotel, and then at the end…
Summary B — 40 seconds
It is about two sisters who have not spoken for years. The younger one turns up unannounced and stays, and it becomes clear fairly quickly that she is running from something.
Most of the film is the two of them in a small flat, circling each other. The tension is almost all in what they do not say.
There is a twist about two-thirds through that recontextualises the whole first hour. I will not spoil it. It is the best thing in the film.
Compare the two summaries.
1. Summary A tells you more events. Why is it worse?
2. How does Summary B start?
3. B says I will not spoil it. What does that do?
4. B uses the present tense throughout — she turns up, it becomes clear. Why not the past?
The shape, and the words
Four moves in a plot summary
| Move | Looks like | Length |
|---|---|---|
| The situation | It is about two sisters who have not spoken for years. | One sentence |
| What starts it | The younger one turns up unannounced. | One sentence |
| What most of it is | Most of the film is the two of them in a small flat. | One or two |
| The turn, unspoiled | There is a twist two-thirds through. I will not spoil it. | One sentence |
Plot words
Tap each. These are the words that let you talk about a story without retelling it.
The discipline. A summary is not the story told faster. It gives the situation, the thing that starts it, and the shape — and then stops.
Everything after the first turn is the listener's to discover. If you find yourself saying and then… and then…, you have stopped summarising and started retelling.
Match each line to the move it makes.
Compress it
Four retellings. Rewrite each one as a summary — the situation and the shape, not the events.
1. A woman works in a bank and then her sister comes and then they argue about a car.
2. And then he goes to the station and then he meets her and then they go to the coast.
3. At the end it turns out he was her brother all along.
4. It was really really good.
One word per gap, all from Phase 03. Note the tense — plot summaries are in the present.
It is in a small town on the coast. It is two sisters who have not spoken for years. The main is the older one, who has stayed, and the younger one turns up without warning. It turns that she is running from something. Most of the film is the two of them in a small flat. There is a about two-thirds through, and I am not going to give it . The whole is what they do not say.
Forty seconds each
Task card · Speaking
Three things you have watched or read, summarised in forty seconds each.
Four moves each, in the present tense, with no spoilers. Your teacher times you and stops you at forty.
- Situation, what starts it, what most of it is, the turn — named, not explained.
- Present tense throughout, even though you watched it last year.
- If you say and then twice in a row, stop and start the move again.
- At the end of each, your teacher says whether they would still watch it.
Two decisions.
1. You are summarising a film you saw last year. Which tense?
2. There is a big surprise near the end. What do you say?
Would they watch it
Answer from your teacher's three verdicts.
1. How many of the three would they watch?
2. Did you ever slip into retelling?
3. Did you stay in the present tense?
Before the long turn
One question.
1. What tells you that you have stopped summarising?
Before Lesson 5. Next lesson you tell a three-minute plot of something you have seen recently. Choose which, and nothing else.
Three minutes is much longer than forty seconds. It needs the four moves plus a scene told in full — and the scene is where the past continuous comes back.