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3. CHEMISTRY

SESSION 6

Breaking Bad is an American crime drama television series that originally aired on the network AMC for five seasons, from January 20, 2008, to September 29, 2013. The show's main character is Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer at the beginning of the series. He turns to a life of crime, producing and selling methamphetamine, in order to secure his family's financial future before he dies, teaming with his former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). The show, created and produced by Vince Gilligan, was set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Read more...

STRUCTURE

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  Watching

• Breaking Bad

  Comprehension

1. Read the script and fill in the blanks
2. Analyse the scene

  Acting

3. Play the scene

  Language tools

4. Prepositions
5. Reported speech

  Writing

6. Describing a process

PART 1

Watch the following video and fill in the missing words in the script below.

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TESTS UPDATE

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Due to COVID-19, the listening test (20% of the final mark) has been cancelled. Check new assessment procedure below.

TEST (100%)
(January 2021)

•   Reading comprehension
•   Culture landmarks 1-6
•   Grammar
•   Writing

EXERCISE A.

Script. Fill in the blanks.

WALTER: You just gonna sit there? (high-rise intonation) Look at this. Look at this. Kjeldahl-style (1) flask, 800 millilitres. Very rare. You got your usual paraphernalia, Griffin (2) ... your Erlenmeyer flask. But the pièce de résistance...(French word: the teacher speaking) a (3) boiling flask, 5000 millilitres. (he’s proud and happy!)

JESSE: (nonchalant) I cook in one of those. A big one.

WALTER: One of these? (surprised) No, this is a (4) flask. You wouldn’t cook in one of these.

JESSE: Yeah. I do. (determined)

WALTER: No, you don’t. (authoritative) A (5) flask is for general (6) and (7) . You wouldn't apply (8) to a (9) flask. That’s what a (10) flask is for. Did you learn nothing from my chemistry class? (high-rise intonation)

JESSE: No. You flunked me, remember? (bears him a grudge)

WALTER: No wonder. (ironic teacher)

JESSE: Prick! (insult) And let me tell you something else. This ain’t (11) , okay? this is art. (affirmative)

WALTER: Ha ha... (laughs at him)

JESSE: (12) is art...and the shit I cook is the bomb (doesn’t pronounce the b) so don’t be telling me. (authoritative)

WALTER: The shit you cook is shit. I saw your setup. Ridiculous! You and I will not make garbage. We will produce a chemically (13) and stable (14) that performs as advertised. No (15) . No baby formula. No chili powder. (determined)

JESSE: Ah, no, no. Chili P's my signature. (defends himself)

WALTER: Not anymore! (slap)

JESSE: Yeah, well, we’ll see about that. (doesn’t want to give up) What the hell is this? (low-rise intonation)

WALTER: (16) equipment. We’re also gonna have an (17) eye-wash station. These (18) and their fumes are (19) . In case you didn’t know that. (argumentative)

JESSE: Well, you can dress up like a (20) if you want. Not me. (punch)

Check answers

WORDS TO PAY ATTENTION TO:

"gonna" > going to
"ain’t" > is not
"flunk somebody" > make him fail
"prick" > bastard
"garbage" > trash

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TITRATION

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Image from sites.google.com

Titration is a common laboratory method of quantitative chemical analysis to determine the concentration of an identified analyte.

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LANDMARK

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Robert Boyle

EXERCISE B

Analyse the scene.

• First, what can you say about the attitude of the characters? Their relationship and personality?


• Practice the pronunciation of the technical vocabulary. Click on the words to listen how to pronounce them, and then say tham stressing the underlined syllable:
  
  

  Technical terms
  recovery flask	beaker	Erlenmeyer	paraphernalia
  volumetric	titration	chemicals	toxic
  product	adulterant	safety	emergency

• Read the script while you’re listening and underline the keywords: the words that the actors stress the most. Do this line after line. What do you notice for some of them?

EXERCISE C

Play the scene. If you are in class, work with your partner. If you are at home, record your performance with your phone.

• Decide whether you’ll play Walter or Jesse.
• Play the scene and try to reproduce the stressed keywords and the intonation.
• The stage directions should help you.

PART 2

LANGUAGE TOOLS

EXERCISE D

Complete with the correct preposition.

1. The work of a chemistry teacher depends (1) being precise and worrying (2) possible failures.

2. Jesse Pinkman wasn’t very interested (3) following procedures and didn’t pay attention (4) other people’s advice.

3. Most of the equipment was stolen (5) the school (6) Walter White.

4. The apparatus wasn’t borrowed (7) a friend: it did not belong (8) them.

Check answers

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SUGGESTIONS

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Improve your English speaking, listening and writing with Duolingo, a free, fun-to-use app.

EXERCISE E

Before you do the exercise, watch this great explanation from Teacher Diane.

Use this table as a guide to tense changes.

Now, Complete using the correct form of the verb in brackets.

1. Stewart said he (not/want) any desert as he was full.

2. Derek said that he and Belinda (see) Adam recently.

3. When I called, Susie said she (give) the dog a bath so she asked me to phone back half an hour later.

4. Markus said he (try) to find a flat for ages before he finally found one he liked.

5. Debbie says she (decide) to quit her job but I don’t believe her.

6. Our English teacher said that Shakespeare (be) probably the greatest writer in the English language ever.

7. Richard said he and Patricia (be going to) invite her parents for the weekend, but I don’t know if they went or not.

8. Charlotte said last night that she really (love) me, even if she doesn’t always show it.

9. Ollie said to Linda that he (ask) me to be his best man on Monday but in fact he asked Grant.

10. Pete told Francis he (bring up) by his grandparents but in fact he hadn’t at all!

Check answers

PART 3

WRITING: DESCRIBING APPARATUS

Using the provided vocabulary, describe the steps in a distillation set-up.

Example

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USEFUL VERBS

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• to adjust
• to attach
• to hold
• to connect
• to place (a solid)
• to pour (a liquid)
• to drop
• to secure

Try not to use common verbs such as to put, to do or to make.

Example

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STEPS OF A PROCESS

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1. First...
2. Next...
3. Then...
4. Later...
5. After that...
6. Afterwards...
7. ...
8. Finally

Steps 2-6 can be swapped.

Example

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VERB TENSES

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Scientific processes are generally presented in an impersonal manner using the present tense and the passive voice.
Example:

First, the clamp is adjusted...

For this exercise you can use the imperative instead.
Example:

First, adjust the clamp...

Example

Example

Example

Adapted from University of Colorado, Boulder, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department.

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