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Soap Operas
Soap Operas

Learn English with this soap operas English lesson

Date: Nov 01 2013

Themes: Pop Culture, Soap Opera

Intro

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Soap operas are notorious for being over the top. A lot of people like to live vicariously through soap stars which makes the shows popular and addictive. And if an episode ends with a cliffhanger, people want to see the next episode even more.

Find out who likes soap operas in this English lesson. You may be surprised at what you learn.

Vocab

episode n.

Definition

Example He has watched every episode of "The Smurfs" that was ever made!

cliffhanger n.

Definition

Example The episode ended in a cliffhanger. It wasn't clear if the main character was alive or if he had been killed!

notorious adj.

Definition

Example He is notorious for using bad language.

over the top expr.

Definition

Example "Natasha always has fun parties, but her birthday party last week was _*over the top*_."

Example "Jeff's Halloween costume this year is _*over the top*_. He's going to dress up as an alien astronaut!"

Example "New Orleans is way too _*over the top*_ for me. It's fun to see on TV, but I wouldn't want to go there."

Example "The Rock's latest movie is totally _*over the top*_. It's a great action movie, but it goes a bit too far sometimes."

live vicariously v.

Definition

Example I never got to travel much, so I live vicariously through my daughter who travels all the time.

addictive adj.

Definition

Example Cigarettes are very addictive. It's difficult to stop smoking.

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Quiz

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Discussion

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Do you watch soap operas? What are the famous soaps in your country? Why do you like to watch them?

Comments

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jasminHwang

Philippines

tilwayne thank you! :)

03:13 AM Nov 04 2013 |

tilwayne

tilwayne

Morocco

@jasminHwang “More of the same” is used when someone keeps telling you things you’re not convinced with

02:37 AM Nov 04 2013 |

tilwayne

tilwayne

Morocco

I’m probably the one here who has watched only one soap opera ever, and that was “Prison break”. Apart from that one, nothing. 


So, living vicariously ? Nah thanks. Better live for real. 

02:33 AM Nov 04 2013 |

jasminHwang

Philippines

what does “more of the same” mean? 

01:56 AM Nov 04 2013 |

simon1977

China

 I watch soap operas  a little ,for i have poor leasure time. But i know a famous soap ” HUANZHU princess”, at that time all the people were talking about the fate of the drama people,guessing the content of the next episode. The princess is so beloved ,i think the reason is that,she weaved a dream for common people:even a poor born person can earn her princess life by  wisdom and  honest.

01:26 AM Nov 04 2013 |

AlexSorokin

Russian Federation

Sometimes it is interesting, if you could not find something do. In many times is waste of time.

08:41 PM Nov 03 2013 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

seyf…although soap operas might be overly exagerated, i have seen in real life  so much  domestic drama than in comparision soap operas  are  fairy tales.  lol….

05:48 PM Nov 03 2013 |

Seiyf_khawas

Turkey

I dont like soap operas too much but Im not against to them ..coz it takes stories from life..itsnot sience  fiction or horror stories..yess alot of characters and events are exaggerated in these soap operas..its true.. 


why soap opeares called soap operas ? 


as Julito said, first main sponsors of these serials were soap manufacturers.example ,Palmolive,Procter& Gamble,Colgate…


many people dont like these soap operas ..coz they are very unrealistic,melodramatic,mixed relations and its too long serials..


in my country, they were very famous in past ..many of women were watching them with pleasure..ı remember one of them ” slave Isaura” 


02:10 PM Nov 03 2013 |

nicoleyani

nicoleyani

Indonesia

I don’t like soap opera in my place, because the stories is unrealistic and exaggeratted. And they taught young people very bad attitude like hatred and jealousy. 

01:16 PM Nov 03 2013 |

Marcel We

Marcel We

Germany

julito, thank you for answer :) I think I can distinguish between these two categories of series now :)

09:58 AM Nov 03 2013 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

Marcel We,   hello, soap operas are a serialized drama, usually dealing with domestic themes . They are called soap opera because manufacturers  of soap were typical sponsors.  

11:41 PM Nov 02 2013 |

Marcel We

Marcel We

Germany

To be honest, I don’t really know where are the differents between “soap operas” and “sitcoms”. However, I can’t omit that I’m quite addicted to some series like for example Two and a half men, Desparate Housewifes or Wilfred (the latter was only launched recently by us). Primarily, they have to be funny but the idea of the characters, the story and its backgrounds must be original and “over the top” at the same time. It depends on the mixture of these attributes and some more which make a series successful or not. :-))

06:40 PM Nov 02 2013 |

gomezjo

gomezjo

Colombia

A new soap opera captivated my attention “Mentiras Perfectas” It’s the colombian version of the american serie “Nip Tuck”. I don’t use to watch soap operas but this one is very well done, the characters are professional… besides, since the very first episode it  left me on such a cliffhanger . I need to know what will happen..


08:36 PM Nov 01 2013 |

SÉRGIO

SÉRGIO

Brazil

Sorry, but Soap Operas are a shit!!

07:04 PM Nov 01 2013 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

MasamiM ..     The big bang and Friends are what it is called ” sitcoms” , short for “situation comedies  ”  and yes the others that you have mentioned are melodramatic  soap operas .

04:37 PM Nov 01 2013 |

jef_maiko

jef_maiko

Brazil

To be honest, I don’t like soup operas, I think that is a waste of time. The stories are always de same, I feel like kinda of fool about watching them.

03:05 PM Nov 01 2013 |

1 person likes this

 julito

julito

Argentina

Television networks invest heavily around the world  on  airing soap operas and they don´t lose money.The key to its success is to include in its plot  an  evil, twisted mind  character that will be hated by the viewers throughout the entire season .I don´t watch soap operas, most of them are aired at a time i need to work. Mexico is famous by its soap operas  and they are way, way, over the top. Here`s famous soap operas:Dinasty,Ugly Betty, General Hospital ,to name a few. Mason is doing poorly this time, he should have accepted Amanda`s invitation  but instead  he had prefered  to stay in keeping company  with  a TV set.  lol….....

11:29 AM Nov 01 2013 |

Eric_

Eric_

China

I haven’t spent so much time watching soap operas now.


My teacher used to say it’s a good way for us to learn english by watching the American dramas. But now I found another better and convenient way: learn english through EB…~~

07:54 AM Nov 01 2013 |

yousefkohpeyma

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Well, unlike Nadya, I’m interested in this genre and I try to watch soap operas as often as I can. My favorite soap opera is “Ryan’s Hope”, howerer, it is a little old. In my view, soaps deal with real life characters, so we can observe realism in them, for instance, the soap opera characters can experience highs and lows of life as we do, which is why I like watching them.‏

07:51 AM Nov 01 2013 |

Odyssee

Odyssee

China

Hi Nadya_Hope , i dont think your views are wrong . but i have some different thoughts . in my ipinion , as long as we arent addictive to them and dont affect our normal lives or work . it’s fine .


yeah like u said , life is very short . we have many things to do , like working , studying….. but besides,  we should make use of the short time to enjoy our lives . watching drama or seeing a good movie is one of these things , one of pastimes ,actually it’s a good one . cos sometimes it really can help to relax ourselves .


 

07:51 AM Nov 01 2013 |

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