КіноКава: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory



Download a lesson "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (pdf)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a musical adventure film directed by Tim Burton. It is an adaptation of the British book of the same name, which was written by Roald Dahl in 1964. The film stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket. The storyline concerns Charlie, who wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world. The tour is led by Willy Wonka, the owner of the factory.

Though the lesson is based on a story about an Indian prince, who asked Mr. Wonka to come to India and build him a big palace out of chocolate.


1. Comment on the following quotations:

"You can have it all. Just not all at once." (Oprah Winfrey)
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams". (Eleanor Roosevelt)
"Dream and give yourself permission to envision a You that you choose to be". (Joy Page)
"A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities". (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien)
"A goal is a dream with a deadline". (Napoleon Hill)

Vocabulary (I)

2A. Match the words with their definitions.

 1. a brick  a. completely and not just partly
 2. boiling  b. grey powder which is mixed with sand and water in order to make concrete
 3. cement  c. to have a plan in your mind to do something
 4. colossal  d.requiring immediate action or attention
 5. entirely  e. a small rectangular block typically made of fired or sun-dried clay, used in building
 6. to intend  f. politely or formally ask for
 7. to request  g. very hot
 8. urgent  h. extremely large or great
 9. face  i. to deal with


2B. Watch a part of the movie. Fill in the gaps afterwards (00:08:05,119 - 00:09:53,644).

Well, Prince Pondicherry wrote a letter to Mr. Wonka... and asked him to come all the way out to India and build him a ..................... (1) palace ..................... (2) out of chocolate. It will have 100 rooms, and everything will be made of either dark or light chocolate. True to his word, the ..................... (3) were chocolate and the ..................... (4) holding them together was chocolate. All the walls and ceilings were made of chocolate as well. So were the carpets and the pictures and the furniture.

"It is perfect in every way."
"Yeah, but it won't last long. You better start eating right now."
"Oh, nonsense. I will not eat my palace. I ..................... (5) to live in it."

But Mr. Wonka was right, of course. Soon after this, there came a very hot day with a ..................... (6) sun. The prince sent an ..................... (7) telegram ..................... (8) a new palace... but Willy Wonka was ..................... (9) problems of his own.


Vocabulary (II)

3A. Look at the collocations with the words "a dream" and "to dream". Give some more examples for each collocation.

 a dream come true  Their holiday in Spain was a dream come true.
 of sb's dreams  the car of her dreams
 a big, great dream  His biggest dream was to become a musician.
 a lifelong,
 distant dream
 His plans to travel a lot seem now like a distant dream.
 impossible dream  The world without wars no longer seemed an impossible dream.
 utopian, romantic  She had this romantic dream of living in a lighthouse.
 to cherish,
 to have a dream
 the great utopian dream that they have cherished for so long
 to achieve, fulfil,
 realize your dream
 At last our dreams are fulfilled.
 to shatter a dream  The injury shattered his dream of playing that match.
 to keep
 your dream of smth alive
 The victory keeps his dream of a champion's title alive.
 a dream
 turn into a nightmare,
 turn sour
 Their dream turned into a nightmare as the chocolate palace began to melt.
 dream holiday,
 ~ home, ~ house
 After his wife retired, Harry designed and built their dream house.
 dream world  The government is living in a dream world if they think voters will agree to higher taxes.
 beyond sb's wildest dreams  They achieved a success beyond their wildest dreams.


3B. Retell the story about the Indian prince using as many as possible collocations from exercise 4A.

Example: Prince Pondicherry had a dream about a colossal palace entirely out of chocolate. He wrote a letter to Mr. Wonka asking to fulfil it...

Discussion:
  1. What lesson does the story about the Indian prince teach?
  2. Is there any recipe for realizing dreams?
  3. Should people be afraid of their own dreams? Why?
  4. Is there any way to dream carefully?