Beginners.
Doreen is a neighbor of mine. She also happens to be a good friend. She lives just three houses away. We joke that my children have adopted her as another grandma. My two youngest children go and visit her all the time, and she makes sure that they come home with a treat of some kind. "Now make sure that you use "please" and "thankyou", and don't be asking for treats all the time," I tell my kids. But Doreen spoils them because she wants to. They cheer her up and make her laugh, so she enjoys their company. She is seventy-five and a recent widow. For a few years, she looked after her husband who was quite ill. Now, she is alone. However, she is very active. She loves to go bowling, go to church, and take her dog for a walk. She also happens to be from England. She was born and raised in the same city as the Beatles. Liverpool, of course! Though she has lost her accent, and sounds quite american, she still seems very english in many ways. She was a war bride. That means that she married an american soldier during the Second World War, and came to live over here. I'll introduce you to her, so you can hear a little bit of her story.
Grammar notes.
Common words and expressions: happens to be, treats, to make sure, to spoil.
Exs:
My neighbor happens to be a teacher in the school where I teach!
During Halloween and Christmas there are too many treats around, - too much sugar!
Make sure you turn the car lights out, or the battery will go flat again!
Grandparents typically spoil their grandchildren.
Verbs and the preterite: to look after, to be born, to lose, to marry.
Exs:
When I was in hospital, the nurses really looked after me.
They were born in California, but their mother was born in Geneva.
I had a terrible day yesterday! I lost my car keys, the mail man lost all of my letters, and then I lost my wallet!
"I married my first husband when I was very young. But, I was quite old when I married my seventh."
Advanced.
"Hello Doreen." - "Hello. How are you today?" - "Really well, thanks." - "Good." - "Thanks for agreeing to this interview. I'll just ask you a few questions. How long have you lived in the United States." - "Um, I came over on the General Patch. It took us about ten days on that ship. It was very nice. And that was in 1951." - "So, not that long after the Second World War." - "We were starting to do the cleaning up. You know, they had a lot of debris and bombed out places. I never got to go back and see it all done right away. I think it was 1982 when I went back." - "Oh, so you were here for quite a while before you went back." - "It had really changed a lot. Really nice though. New buildings and the old buildings were all washed. They used to be really black with the coal from the fires, you know. And they washed the old, old buildings. Yeh, they look really nice." - "So, where did you first live when you came to the United States." - "We landed in New York, and then we traveled to Denvo Kentucky. Um, then from there we went to Bloxy Mississippi. Um, and I really didn't like that. Too hot, too hot, too buggy." - "Lots of mosquitos?" - "Lots of everything. Big bugs." - "So you prefer Wenatchee?" - "I love Wenatchee!" - "Tell me, what is it about Wenatchee that you love?" - "I love the four seasons. I like the mountains, the streams, the rivers, the lakes. I love lake Chelan. That is a beautiful place." - "And I've heard that you have a little place there on Lake Chelan, don't you?" - "Yes, it's up above. It overlooks Chelan on the south shore. And it's a little dream place. It was a dream for me forever. I said, "I'm gonna save my money and buy a little place up there, 'cause we used to take the children to the little park up there, you know, the main road going in. And we'd get there and it would be pouring down rain, or cold and windy, and we'd be trying to make hamburgers on the little burger thing, you know," -" A barbecue." -"And then all of a sudden we'd......" bark, bark "That's okay. That's Scooty her dog. He's part of the interview too. How long have you had Scooty?" - "I think we've had Scooter probably about, um, nine years." - "And how is he? Is he good company?" - "He's a very....good company and he takes real good care of me, 'cause he lets me know when there are bad people around." - "He likes women, but he doesn't like men." - "Absolutely does not like men." -" Even if they are good men who come to help you around the house?" - "No, it doesn't make any difference. There's something about them that he, you know, he knows man and woman, and when ahhhh, watch out, you know, he goes right after the guys. It's not fair really because he (a male friend) is pretty good with him, you know." - "Yeh. Well Doreen, that'll be the end of the interview, but I'm sure we'll be having lots more interviews in the future. Thanks so much." - "Oh, I could tell you so much more." - "Well, I'm sure my listeners would love to hear your stories." - "Thankyou so much." - "Thanks a lot, bye bye." |