English, baby!

Taylor Swift

Date: Sep 07 2009

Themes: Music

Grammar: Be Able To

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Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Teenagers don’t have a very good reputation. They’re often accused of being ignorant, immature, or selfish. And, according to most adults, teen pop stars are even worse. Their lyrics are shallow and their music is over-produced and over-hyped.

Taylor Swift might be breaking that mold. The eighteen-year-old country music singer has gotten a lot of positive attention for her debut album, Taylor Swift. She writes her own songs, and her lyrics are pretty thoughtful. She’s also been praised for her ability to cross genres. Find out what Jason and Ella think about her.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Ella

Jason

Ella: Taylor Swift is overrated.

Jason: I don’t think so at all. I think she’s the one country artist who might be able to break global mainstream.

Ella: What? Her lyrics are so generic, and there’s no soul in it, you know?

Jason: I don’t know, I think she’s a good songwriter. It seems like she’s more in touch with herself than a lot of grown-ups, you know?

Ella: I mean, I guess she’s America’s Sweetheart, but there’s gotta be something bad about her, you know? There’s just nothing out there in the public to…

Jason: Oh definitely. She’ll definitely have an epic, public fall from grace at some point.

Ella: I’m excited for that.

Jason: But before then, I think she might, you know…she might go global. She’s dated one of the Jonas Brothers. They wrote songs about each other. That’s pretty interesting.

Ella; It’s pretty intense for teenagers and such.

Jason: Yeah.

Ella: I don’t know, I’m just not impressed by the music. I mean, it’s cool that she can go country and pop and rock, but…It just doesn’t seem very heartfelt.

Jason: But I think it’s time. I think the world’s ready for a country star.

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Discussion

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Ella doesn’t like Taylor Swift and can’t understand why her album has gotten good reviews. She finds her lyrics boring and typical. She can’t connect emotionally with Taylor’s songs.

Jason disagrees. He thinks Taylor’s lyrics are good. She seems to be in touch with herself. She writes about her true feelings and experiences, including her relationship with one of the Jonas Brothers.

Country music isn’t very popular outside of the US. But Jason thinks Taylor Swift might be the artist to change that. He thinks her music might be able to go global. Ella is more skeptical. She can’t wait to see Taylor Swift lose her perfect image.

Do you think country music will ever go global? Why do teenagers and teen musicians have such a bad reputation?

Comments

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~MemoTheHun~

Germany

And, according to most adults, teen pop stars are even worse. Their lyrics are shallow and their music is over-produced and over-hyped.

Well, my opinion is mentioned over there. Teens dream so much you know.

jennyboa

Viet Nam

I love her lyric so much, also guitar melody

CaRTeS

Azerbaijan

The eighteen-year-old country music singer has gotten a lot of positive attention for her debut album, Taylor Swift ))

Miss Monroy

Mexico

I think that Ella s right, i agree with her. May be because i dislike country music, and well Taylor isn´t bad but well i just dont get it.

myphuong89

Viet Nam

She is a talent girl. I love her songs,especially Love Story

kevin198293

China

hello

jorin08

China

i heard several songs of hers,making these sorts of songs at this age,that’s not easy.giving her enough time,she ‘ll be a globle start.

jorin08

China

i heard several songs of hers,making these sorts of songs at this age,that’s not easy.giving her enough time,she ‘ll be a globle start.

jorin08

China

i heard several songs of hers,making these sorts of songs at this age,that’s not easy.giving her enough time,she ‘ll be a globle start.

cheekyangel

Philippines

Ohh for me..she's awesome!!

her songs rocks my world..

every each of her lyrics is very meaningful and I really love the way she sings…very unique!

optimisticalsunian

Egypt

Hello everybody, I’m Optimisticalsunian from Egypt. I know how to use be able to in the future: We use will be able to I.E. verb to be in the future plus able to. I want to add another information: both of able to and capable of have the same meaning but the difference is the following preposition. Besides, capable of means fisical and spritual and mental ability whereas able to means fisical ability.

I Like you

Saudi Arabia

very very nice song i like this kind from music :)

nana_mulan

Morocco

i didn't know that she was writing the lyrics of her songs by herself that's pretty awsome =D … Tylor swift is one of my best singers and i find her so talented her voice is awsome ... and writing lyrics is so hard ,in my view, not any one can do it…. so i think that she deserves to be praised XP ….... i love her songs.. i feel her music :).... she's awsome ..really :)