Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.
Once upon a time, we awoke with a new question on our mind. We didn’t quite know what the buzz and bustle of a Brooklyn afternoon would bring. In search of nothing more than some fresh answers, we found a few dreams instead.
It’s a simple question and the answers can lead us anywhere. So go ahead, ask yourself…
Visit http://fiftypeopleonequestion.com/locations/3-brooklyn-ny and post your response.
We also asked this question in London – http://vimeo.com/2834087
Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.
Hey check this out. A variety of passers-by in Brooklyn are asked a question:
“Where would I wish to wake up tomorrow?”
First, watch the video and consider these questions:
- See if you can write down at least 10 places that you hear in the video. You won’t catch them all, but do your best, and play it a second time if you need to.
- Next, ask yourself:
- Which answer most surprises you?
- Which person do you most relate to (= you can sympathise with them and feel in a similar position)?
- Which answers were touching (= moving, make you feel sympathy or sadness)?
- Did any of the responses make you chuckle (= laugh in a quiet way)?
- Was any response just plain weird (= bizarre)?
Please leave your answers in the comments section below! If you wish to check any of their responses, feel free to ask me.
How would you answer this question? It’s perhaps not so easy, but what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
A simple way to answer is to use the grammatical structure in your answer:
I would be in Sydney.
I’d be in Edinburgh with my family.
It’d probably be right here in Brooklyn.
But one thing that the folks in this video do is that they speak without much hesitation. They just say the first thing that comes to mind.
It’s all off the cuff = spontaneous.
A top tip to communicate better is to go beyond ‘learning English’ and give your thoughts openly. Some students find this difficult in group classes because they’re afraid that they’re being judged for their English and for their answer.
But wouldn’t it be great to be able to speak without worrying at all what others think? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful goal to achieve?
Some features of spoken English in the video
- To allow for some thinking time, and perhaps because they were surprised by the question, quite a few people repeat the question.
- One girl asks a question back before saying what she felt:
Does it have to be a real place? - The same woman who asked the previous question says:
“A place where I never have to leave.”
She then clarifies this by adding: “That’s a good place I never have to leave.” - Another way to reply is to give a short one word answer, or a short phrase, before pausing and then giving an extended response. For example:”Adelaide. [pause a few seconds]. Because it’s full of gardens and that’s the town where my grandmother was born, and I always wondered what it was like to live there.”
- You can give the reason first for your reply before saying what your answer is:
Right next to her, at home. - Some said how they were feeling about the question, being open about it:
We’re nervous. - Giving a situation before using that do say how you feel about it:
When you wake up in other places, that’s weird.
Some spoken English phrases they used to reply to the question:
That’s the question, short and sweet (= brief, to the point)?
Hopefully..
In my bed, what’s better than that?
It might put me into a creative state of mind.
I would love to wake up in a world where…
And you get to have breakfast with them (= have the chance to have breakfast with them)
I don’t know if it’s possible, but…
Awesome (= used usually by Americans to mean ‘great’ or ‘wonderful’)
I’m craving (= have a strong desire for something) the breakfast they had there at this hostel…(‘this’ is used here to refer to a place that the speaker knows about, but you don’t know about)
I’m actually quite lucky if I wake up in the same place as this morning (used for admitting something or to say what is true)
a hot guy (= very attractive)
I like where I’m at (= I’m satisfied with where I am in life)
Can’t complain (note that he didn’t say ‘I can’t complain’ – just said ‘Can’t complain’. This is a common feature of spoken English – eg Had a great day = we know you mean you had a great day)
Well, today, I mean, I’m feeling a little homesick (= I miss home and feel a little sad about it)
Yeah, I think so.
I’m in love with London.
Hi David,
This is a really useful but at the same time difficult task from your side David:) Native speakers from different English speaking places were interviewed in some spot of Brooklyn. And it’s quite interesting what people say in real life. Before I type answers it would be right to say that a feature on education was being listened two times. Over the second time I stopped it sometimes to make notes.
Ok, let’s go to the task. Names of places that I’ve heard there.
1. A couple at the beginning would like to get up together. A husband says – “right next to her, at home”. I consider this answer as the most romantic one at the film.
2. A next lady says – “in my bed”.
3. A guy in glasses (former cop I think) wants to transfer himself to Alaska. I didn’t understand a name of a place he wants to reach there even after two listens. This answer seemed a bit weird to me. What a dream to fly in a different state ? If he said «I want to see lake Baikal» I could consider it as the dream. But in a case when the dream is estimating in 200 dollars for a ticket he gets a prize the weirdest answer.
4. A nice lady with light hair doesn’t mind to wake up on a beach of Kenya. It appears to me as a dangerous place to have a rest. Why she doesn’t want to go to Miami for example ?
5. Two ladies dream to be in Paris. Young lady in glasses speaks very fast for my ear. I nominate her to a place the most not understanble person in the feature.
6. An Afro-American guy sees himself in paradise. I wonder how he imagines it.
7. A guy with beard flies to aero space. He surprised me:). I wish him good luck.
A beautiful girl in a kerchief tells a story about a magical world. A key word that she repeats several times beginning from “C/K” is unsolved mystery for me:(.
A young beautiful lady with young man wants to wake up in, as you wrote down above, «a place where I never have to leave». For me it’s the most philosofic answer of the movie.
Girls with greasepaint full of hopes to wake in Thriller with Michael Jackson. Nice idea actually.
One of the girls who represented a local punk community wants to wake at the same place where she woke up that morning. Second one added «In my bedroom». But before the second girl named a place which I also didn’t catch. At the same time this is the most realistic answer for me.
An intellegent guy with beard said something that I didn’t recognise, again:).
A lady wants to wake up «Where I wake up every morning».
A guy in glasses prefers to stay «where he is living».
A next guy my lovely one:) The first reason is I understood him on the first try. The second reason I liked his answer. He seemed very sincere to me. Also he gave me a phrase that I’ve never heard before – «my father got shot up». Definately he touched me.
Jessy from Chicago wants to wake up there where he is now.
Georgian from London dreams to wake up in her parents’ house.
And a last girl fell in love with Londaon and every morning when she wakes up it makes her feel sad because she is still not there. I don’t dream about London but I relate to her due to some reasons…
Thank you David one more time for the film. Actually I don’t mind to listen to it one more time with you. i hope to see you on Tuesday evening.
Alex
Anywhere, as long as a beautiful girl were beside me on the bed.