Alien ships land on Earth, and a language expert starts to know her own future before it happens. And some of the science is real.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = B (an alien) · 2 = A (a spacecraft) · 3 = D (a language) · 4 = E (a code)
5 = C (an army) · 6 = F (a daughter) · 7 = H (a war) · 8 = G (a gift)
Denis Villeneuve's Arrival (2016). Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.)
One day, twelve big alien spacecraft appear over different parts of the world. Nobody knows why. The army asks Louise, a language expert, to help. She must try to talk to the aliens. A scientist called Ian helps her.
Inside the ship, Louise meets two huge aliens. She calls them "heptapods." The aliens do not talk like humans. They make circle shapes in the air. This is their written language. It is very different from their language. Slowly, Louise learns to read and write it.
As she learns more, Louise starts to see strange pictures in her mind. She sees a young girl she does not know. She thinks these pictures are old memories. But she is wrong.
1. Why does the army ask Louise for help?
2. What strange thing starts to happen to Louise?
1. Twelve alien ships have arrived, and they need a language expert to try to talk to the aliens.
2. She starts to see pictures in her mind of a young girl she does not know.
Different countries read the alien message in different ways. China thinks the message is about a "weapon." Other countries think it means "tool." Because of this mistake, countries stop working together. China's army gets ready to attack. Some soldiers are scared and put a bomb inside the alien ship.
Louise's strange pictures of the young girl become stronger. She still does not understand them. Time is running out. If the countries do not agree soon, there will be a war.
Louise can now read the aliens' language very well. She asks them a direct question: why are you here, and why now?
1. Why do countries stop trusting each other?
2. What is happening to Louise's strange pictures?
1. China reads the alien message as "weapon," but it may mean "tool." This mistake makes countries stop trusting each other.
2. They are becoming stronger and clearer, though she still does not understand what they mean.
The aliens explain why they came: they want to give humans their language as a gift, because in the future, humans will help the aliens. Learning the alien language changes something in Louise's brain. She does not see the past in her strange pictures — she sees her own future.
War is close. Louise uses something she knows from her future — a phone number and some special words — to call a Chinese general. She says his own wife's last words back to him. He is shocked, and he stops the attack. The war does not happen.
Now Louise understands everything. She will marry Ian and have a daughter called Hannah. But Hannah will become very sick and die young. Ian will also leave Louise one day, when he learns that she always knew this would happen. Louise knows all of this — the happy parts and the sad parts — and she chooses to live it anyway.
1. Why did the aliens really come to Earth?
2. What does Louise finally understand about her own future?
1. They came to give humans their language as a gift, because they will need help from humans in the future.
2. She will have a daughter, Hannah, who will die young; Ian will leave her later. She chooses to live this future anyway.
This film is full of plans and predictions about the future. English uses going to for plans you can already see coming, and for things you feel sure will happen.
Read the meaning in brackets and complete the sentence.
1. The army has a plan. Tomorrow, soldiers (enter) the alien ship. (a plan)
2. Look at the two armies — there (be) a war very soon. (you can see it coming)
3. Louise has decided. She (learn) the whole alien language. (a plan)
1. are going to enter (a plan)
2. is going to be (you can see it coming)
3. is going to learn (a plan)
Put the verb in the correct form after going to. Then read it out loud.
1. The general is going to (stop) the attack.
2. Scientists are going to (study) the alien writing for years.
3. I think this film is going to (make) you think.
1. stop (going to + base verb)
2. study (going to + base verb)
3. make (going to + base verb)
Fill each gap with the correct form of going to. Read it aloud when you finish.
Louise looks at the alien symbols and thinks, "This language (change) everything." The generals already have a plan: tomorrow they (attack) the ship. But Louise has a different plan — she (call) the general herself.
is going to change · are going to attack · is going to call
Use going to for a plan already decided, or for something you can already see coming.
Part of this film comes from a real idea in science. But the film also goes much further than real scientists would agree with.
Some scientists think that the language you speak can change, a little, the way you think. This idea is called the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, named after two linguists, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf. For example, some studies show that people who use different words for colours can notice colours slightly differently. Other studies show that people think about time differently depending on the words their language uses for it.
Most scientists agree that language can change small things about how we think — not what we can see, or what colours we notice a little faster. But no real language lets a person see the future. That part of the film is not real science — it is a big, imaginative idea for a story.
The film comes from a book by the writer Ted Chiang, called Story of Your Life. He used the real idea about language and thought, but made it much bigger and stranger, to ask an interesting question: what would it be like to know your whole future, good and bad, before it happens?
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of Arrival in your own words. Use these steps to help you: twelve alien ships arrive → Louise learns the alien language → a mistake in translation almost starts a war → Louise uses her knowledge of the future to stop it → she learns about her own future life.
Try to use some key words (alien, spacecraft, language, code, army, daughter, war, gift) and going to.
Louise learns her whole future, including something very sad. But she chooses to live it anyway, because it also has great happiness in it. Would you want to know your future if it had both good news and bad news in it? Say why.
Talk about language and the future. Use going to.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: