Intermediate
Janet Yang and Bill Kramer Get Ready for Oscar Awards
March 1st, 2024
Janet Yang and Bill Kramer are important people in the world of movies. They help run a big group called the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They went to a special lunch for people who might win an Oscar. The Oscars are a very big award show for movies.
The Oscars have had some problems in the past, but now, things are getting better. More people are watching the show again and they are excited about the movies.
The movies that could win the best movie have many different types. Some are from big companies and some are small and personal. There are movies from different countries and some are in two languages. Even a movie about "Barbie" has people talking.
Janet and Bill have been trying to make the Oscars more about the whole world. The group they work for is almost 100 years old, and they want it to be even better in the future.
They want their group to bring people in the movie world together. They want to talk about important subjects like how technology is changing movies and helping people who don't always get to be a part of big movie projects.
Now, their group has many members from all over the world. They want to make sure all different kinds of people can join, like women and people from different races.
They have also been sharing fun clips and stories from past Oscars on the internet. They want more people to love movie history and see how special the Oscars are.
Janet and Bill are thinking about new ways to make the Oscars and their group important. They want the show to be liked by people everywhere, not just on the day it happens, but always.
They are happy because they made a new Oscar award for casting directors, who choose the actors for movies. This was a big change!
They want their group to be in the middle of all the changes in the movie world. They think a lot about how to make sure that the group does a good job for another 100 years.
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💭 Discussion Questions
1
. What do Janet Yang and Bill Kramer do?2
. What are the Oscars?3
. What new award did Janet and Bill introduce at the Oscars?📖 Vocabulary
🌐 Cultural context
The Oscars, run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States, are prestigious annual awards that recognize excellence in filmmaking. They are highly anticipated globally and widely covered in the media.
🧠 Further reading
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Some companies and places like schools and hospitals are working on making sure everyone is treated fairly and can join in, no matter who they are or where they come from. They call this work DEI for short, which stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Diversity means having many different kinds of people in one place. This can include differences like where people come from, their culture, their religion, or if they have a disability. Equity is about being fair. It tries to make sure people who haven't had the same chances can get what they need to do well. Inclusion means helping people feel they belong and can share their ideas.
Sometimes, people use different words for these ideas. Some say equality instead of equity, and others add words like belonging or justice. This is because they want to make sure everyone feels included and can access what they need.
To help people learn about DEI, some places have special training that teaches about different people and how to treat everyone nicely. These ideas are becoming more popular every year, and lots of places are trying to use them.
Academy Awards
The Oscars are very special awards for people who make movies. Every year, a group in California gives these awards to the best movies and the people who work on them. At the Oscars, they give a gold statue that looks like a knight to the winners.
The Oscars are a big event where many famous people come together. It is usually on TV in February or March. This show started a long time ago, in 1929. It was the first show of this kind in the world. Now, we have other big shows for TV, theater, and music, but the Oscars were the first.
The very first Oscars happened on May 16, 1929. It was a dinner with 270 guests, and people paid $5 to come, which was a lot of money back then. They gave out 15 gold statues for the best movies from the previous year, and the whole show was only 15 minutes long!
In the beginning, they told the newspapers who won the awards three months before the show. But, after a newspaper told everyone the winners too early in 1940, the Oscars started putting the winner's names in sealed envelopes. Now, nobody knows who wins until they open the envelope at the Oscars. People also call the gold statue an "Oscar" now.