Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Chihiro: Hi everybody, Chihiro here.
Daniel: Daniel here. Picking a Vacation Spot.
Chihiro: So tell us Daniel, what's this lesson going to be about?
Daniel: In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about your options.
Chihiro: This conversation takes place in the house.
Daniel: The conversation is between Mike and Susan, a married couple.
Chihiro: They’ll be speaking casually of course.
Daniel: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Susan: Honey, have you thought about where you want to go for vacation?
Mike: Yeah. I was just talking to Joey about it the other day. Hawaii sounded nice. We can relax at the beach, watch the sunset... It'll be romantic.
Susan: I guess... But I just went to Hawaii last year.
Mike: Well, what do you have in mind?
Susan: I was thinking more along the lines of Paris or London. I want to watch musicals, see operas, and visit museums. You know, do something more cultural.
Mike: Okay. I'm up for that. But we don't speak French. How will we get around Paris?
Susan: Good point. Forget Paris... But what about London?
Mike: Well, we both speak English, but I can't make heads or tails of the British accent or their funny vocabulary. Can you?
Susan: No! Scratch off London from our list...Well, where else can we go to enjoy musicals, operas, and museums in standard American English?
Mike: How about New York City?
Susan: But...we live in Brooklyn.
Mike: Yeah, but Manhattan has everything we want! Just walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and everything we need is right there! And it won't cost us airfare or room and board.
Susan: So we're going to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge every day on our vacation?
Mike: Yeah! It'll be great exercise too!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Daniel: I can't believe Mike is actually suggesting that they stay!!
Chihiro: Yeah, what kind of vacation is crossing a bridge? How very boring of him! And their criteria of crossing countries off their list of choices is very odd. How would you ever travel?
Daniel: Well, hence the grand idea by Mike of staying put!
Chihiro: Yeah, ...real grand.
Daniel: But you know, language can be a very big obstacle when going to a different country, whether it's for a short term or a long term stay. But, there are many countries that speak English as a second language and the people are happy to speak it too.
Chihiro: Yup, but some other countries on the other hand don't speak English as another language, which means it's up to the traveler to learn that country's language if they want to do some talking anytime soon.
Daniel: And for some other countries, even if the people do speak English, they're not so eager to speak it!
Chihiro: Maybe we can sum it up by simply saying if you speak that country's language you can't go wrong.
Daniel: Or at least just a little of the language is better than nothing at all!
VOCAB LIST
Daniel: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
The first word is:
Chihiro: honey [natural native speed]
Daniel: nickname often used between married people
Chihiro: honey [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: honey [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: vacation [natural native speed]
Daniel: leisure trip, trip taken only for enjoyment
Chihiro: vacation [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: vacation [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: sunset [natural native speed]
Daniel: the sun descending below the horizon
Chihiro: sunset [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: sunset [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: romantic [natural native speed]
Daniel: of or relating to love
Chihiro: romantic [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: romantic [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: in mind [natural native speed]
Daniel: in someone's thoughts
Chihiro: in mind [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: in mind [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: along the lines of [natural native speed]
Daniel: in a similar way
Chihiro: along the lines of [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: along the lines of [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: cultural [natural native speed]
Daniel: of a specific group of people and their habits and customs
Chihiro: cultural [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: cultural [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: to not make heads or tails [natural native speed]
Daniel: to not understand something at all
Chihiro: to not make heads or tails [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: to not make heads or tails [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: accent [natural native speed]
Daniel: pronunciation that is common to a group of people from a certain area
Chihiro: accent [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: accent [natural native speed]
Daniel: Next...
Chihiro: room and board [natural native speed]
Daniel: place to stay with meals included in the price
Chihiro: room and board [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Chihiro: room and board [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Daniel: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Chihiro: The first phrase we’ll look at is,
Daniel: “Along the lines of.”
Chihiro: This phrase means, “something similar to or close to.” It's used when people give vague answers and only generally know what they want to convey. In the dialogue Susan says,
Daniel: “I was thinking more along the lines of Paris or London.”
Chihiro: To tell Mike that she was thinking of going to a country in Europe instead of Hawaii. Here's another example,
Daniel: “We wanted something along the lines of a small dinner gathering.”
Chihiro: Here, Daniel may be thinking of inviting a few friends over for a dinner of some sort, and not a big party.
Daniel: Definitely not. Okay, now let's look at the idiom,
Chihiro: “Can't make heads of tails of it.”
Daniel: In the dialogue, Mike says this when he talks about the British accent. What he means here is that he doesn't understand anything spoken in British English. The idea is that the person is so confused that they can't tell which is the top and which is the bottom of something. Here's another example,
Chihiro: “I couldn't make head or tails of the explanation.”
Daniel: This means that Chihiro couldn't understand the explanation at all.
Chihiro: Okay, let's carry on and see if you can make out where the head and tail is of the grammar point for this lesson.
Daniel: Of course they can.

Lesson focus

Daniel: In lesson 13 of this Lower Intermediate Series, we talked about the present perfect and how it is used when talking about a past event that is connected with the present. In this lesson, we will review this tense by using examples from the dialogue and some general sentences. In the dialogue, Susan says to Mike,
Chihiro: “Honey, have you thought about where you want to go for vacation?”
Daniel: Here's an example of the present perfect in a question form. Notice how the structure is “have” + “you” + the past participle of “think.”
Chihiro: It's in the present perfect because Susan is asking Mike whether he thought about their vacation before now.
Chihiro: Now, here are some general examples of statements in the present perfect.
Chihiro: “I have already eaten dinner.”
Daniel: The person has finished eating dinner not too long ago, therefore it is connected with the present.
Chihiro: “Elvis has left the building.”
Daniel: Here, news is being spread about what Elvis did, therefore it is in the present perfect tense.
Chihiro: “Angelica has read the book three times already.”
Daniel: The number of times Angelica read the book is mentioned in the present perfect because of its tie to now.
Chihiro: “We've had the dog since April.”
Daniel: Finally, the act of having the dog has continued up to now, therefore this sentence is in the present perfect.
Chihiro: If you check out the PDF for this lesson, it'll help to understand this tense better.

Outro

Daniel: Well, that just about does it for today.
Daniel: See you guys later!
Chihiro: See ya’ll soon!
REPETITION OF DIALOGUE
Susan: Honey, have you thought about where you want to go for vacation?
Mike: Yeah. I was just talking to Joey about it the other day. Hawaii sounded nice. We can relax at the beach, watch the sunset... It'll be romantic.
Susan: I guess... But I just went to Hawaii last year.
Mike: Well, what do you have in mind?
Susan: I was thinking more along the lines of Paris or London. I want to watch musicals, see operas, and visit museums. You know, do something more cultural.
Mike: Okay. I'm up for that. But we don't speak French. How will we get around Paris?
Susan: Good point. Forget Paris... But what about London?
Mike: Well, we both speak English, but I can't make heads or tails of the British accent or their funny vocabulary. Can you?
Susan: No! Scratch off London from our list...Well, where else can we go to enjoy musicals, operas, and museums in standard American English?
Mike: How about New York City?
Susan: But...we live in Brooklyn.
Mike: Yeah, but Manhattan has everything we want! Just walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and everything we need is right there! And it won't cost us airfare or room and board.
Susan: So we're going to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge every day on our vacation?
Mike: Yeah! It'll be great exercise too!

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