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Learn English with this hobbies English lesson

Date: May 22 2013

Themes: Hobbies

Grammar: Used to Do vs Be Used to

Intro

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

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Back in the day, children collected stamps and coins. It was common for families to pass down collections from generation to generation. When it comes to this popular hobby today, the sky’s the limit. If you can think of it, someone probably collects it.

Baseball and Pokemon cards, seashells, stickers, action figures… anything and everything is collected, sometimes obsessively. With the invention of online shopping, it’s all too easy to spend time and money searching for rare additions to one’s collection. What do you collect, if anything?

过去,孩子们会收集邮票和硬币。很多家庭都会将收藏品代代相传。现在,这种颇为流行的爱好实在是数不胜数。凡是你能想到的东西,都可能是别人的收集对象。

棒球、宠物小精灵的卡片、贝壳、贴纸、人形公仔……人们收集的东西无所不有,无所不包,有时甚至到了痴迷的程度。随着网络购物的出现,付出时间与金钱为某个收集系列搜寻罕见的藏品,对我们来说轻而易举。如果你有收集,你 收集了什么呢?

Dialog

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

Lily

Lily

Mason

Mason

Lily:   Mason, do you collect anything?

Mason:   I absolutely do. I’ve gone through many different collecting phases in my life, and my current obsession is Magic cards.

Lily:   Oh, those are really big right now!

Mason:  They are really big, and I kind of got sucked into it. Now I’m spending all of my spare time tracking down weird and obscure Magic cards… looking for garage sales where’s there’s hopefully some hoarder person who just doesn’t know what he has and I’m going to get a great deal. It’s terrible. It’s an addiction. I have a problem. Do you have anything? Do you do the stereotypical doll collection?

Lily:  No. Well, I used to collect these horse figurines. I had a whole fleet of these horses. Then I got older and I didn’t want them anymore, and so my dad just started handing them out to little kids that he knew without telling me.

Mason:   How did you start getting into those?

Lily:  Because I liked horses and then one of my parents bought me one. Then I was like, “I want all of them!” It’s kind of like Beanie Babies, too.

Mason:   Terrible.

Lily:   Yeah, it’s just… once you start, you can’t stop collecting.

 

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Mason and Lily are sharing personal experiences with collecting. Mason collects Magic cards and really enjoys finding obscure cards for his collection. Lily collected horse figurines when she was a girl, but it’s not really her thing anymore.

They both agree that collecting can become an obsession if you’re not careful. Mason even calls his interest in Magic cards an addiction. Without a little self-control, collecting can take over your life.

Have you ever collected anything? Do you still collect stuff that you collected as a child? Do you know anyone who collects anything strange?

 

Comments

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Staisy

Staisy

Russian Federation

At the age of nine or ten years I used to collect pictures and stickers with different dogs as I dreamed to have the real one.


Back then there were not  so many things like that , so I felt really lucky to get a new item for my collection.


This pictures meant a lot to me, but now, after so many years, I dont even know where   they are.

09:01 PM Jun 24 2013 |

zhaleh hoor

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

The most funniest thing that I used to collect was wedding invitation cards.


Still I have some of them:)

08:07 PM May 22 2013 |

razanahmad

Jordan

stamps

07:59 PM May 22 2013 |

zhaleh hoor

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I used to collect Love is… cards.still I have them.


Such a romantic person I was:)


07:30 PM May 22 2013 |

JC

JC

Mexico

A long time ago when I was a little kid I used to gather heros magazzines, but as Lily when I get older I started to lose the interes , so I threw it out.


Nowdays one of the most common obssesion young people have should be playins and collecting videos games , unless that is what I think.

06:54 PM May 22 2013 |

shaerwan

shaerwan

Syrian Arab Republic

really i didnt had any obsession for something like that


but a lot of my friends loves collectig many papers and coins from all countries

06:24 PM May 22 2013 |

3emma3

3emma3

Iraq

I have always loved  dolls but i havent used to collect them. The best collection of dolls that i have seen is my aunt’s. She  has collected dolls  in all sizes and colours. 

05:59 PM May 22 2013 |

Stephieee

Stephieee

Poland

When I was a little girl, I collected Pokemon cards (yeah, several years ago, children in Poland were obsessed with Pokemons), cards with movie & music stars etc. Now, I start to collect my origami basic figures (I ‘m still learning:) and I have collected postcards and interesting pictures for more than one year. But, e.g. my friend collects angels in various forms. People have different hobbies and these hobbies should give a joy :) 

05:44 PM May 22 2013 |

ak479456

ak479456

Taiwan

I really collect “money”, coins and bills from different countries. I usually get them from my parents, who travel a lot for businese, and from my grandparents, who enjoy their life after retirement by traveling around the world. I even have some Chinese coins produced in Qing dynasty! 

04:30 PM May 22 2013 |

i love life

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

When I was a little child , I was loving collections my personal things , when I grew up my life has become different , my thought has become changed , many reasons I oppose this behavior I don’t like to remember my past I Want to live with the present time , when I had a great time with my lovely people or my closer friends I don’t want to remember them because it’s makes me sad , My fiancee loves do collections everything she has lots of things when she was a child , for me I stoped collect anything .


03:40 PM May 22 2013 |

CyrilCui

CyrilCui

China

When I was a little child, I liked to collect stamps, telephone cards and Pokémon cards. I have to say Pokémon is one of my favorite animes or cartoons, and now I still like it. I remember that many boys collected Pokémon cards in my primary school, and we exchanged the different cards after class. We also collected the cards about the characters in KOF and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. We could get the cards in the bags of snacks, and then we would discuss and exchange. It was funny; it was a addition for sure. However, I don’t need the cards any more now, and I don’t know where the cards are. The old stamps are still locked in my cabinet, and maybe I could sell them if I should be poor in the future.

03:06 PM May 22 2013 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

 It is amazing  how people like to collect  different kind of stuff . Toys, dolls, tin    soldiers,stamps,player cards,  old records, you named it .!!!  over the years these  


 items    can be sold on the internet  at a very good price . I live nearby  a flea  market  where old   magazines   are sold  and are pricey  . If I had money I would like to collect Rolls and Ferraris…...lol



 

11:53 AM May 22 2013 |

Ya Nina

Kazakhstan

When I was a child, I and my friends collected various sweetie-papers from bubble-gums. We collected it, changed it between ourselves and then kept it carefully. When the childhood went away, I stopped to collect something. Although, I’m always really interested when somebody collects something. I seem that it is rather funny and interesting. 


On the other hand, when I see on TV when some celebrity collected something, I’m in shock. Their rooms or even flats look like a place with huge quantity of different stuff. Definitely, those people look like hoarders and their home look like a big shed. I hated stuff and always try to get rid of junk. Therefore such hobbies horrify me.

11:31 AM May 22 2013 |

golnazirani

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i have a collection of all of my favourite singers,artists,football players.acters….and i’ve written the date of each picture to remember when i’ve put them in my collection.

09:24 AM May 22 2013 |

1 person likes this

zurvani

zurvani

United Arab Emirates

it’s not my thing to collect something and enjoy that.. but my friend obseess with collecting Mugs , coffee mugs and desgined one .. it takes alot of space and money.. it’s a nice hobby for those who love to keep things like that with them. 

08:07 AM May 22 2013 |

Talia Do

Talia Do

Viet Nam

As many other children, I used to collect lots of things. From colorful buttons to stickers and Doraemon stories.

When getting older, I changed to collect old coins and notes from other countries. I asked many of my relatives and friends to keep some coins after each of their traveling to a foreign country and to contribute to my collection when they came back.


And of course when we mention about collection, it is hard to forget the stamps! When I have grown up, I can grow my stamp collection with the help from my tourist guide friends, who received many letters from foreigner customers and friends.


And now, when I have my own family, I love collecting good food recipes to bring healthy and tasty meals to my beloved family members. I love looking at them enjoying the meals joyful and show lots of pleasure. 


Last but not least, at the moment, I love collecting lesson plans and interesting, useful English teaching methods so that earlier next year when I come back to my hometown I can open an English class to help my little students to find passion in improving their English language.

06:40 AM May 22 2013 |

NuriaRuiz

NuriaRuizSuper Member!

Spain

I used to collect old coins, not in transit yet. But my brother lost some of them, and I did not collect it more.

06:23 AM May 22 2013 |

m_bahal

m_bahal

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

yes , when i was yonge , i collected car games like Need for speed game…


i always have a lot of car game in my cd bag.2 mounts ago i found my cd bag and opne it… and i see all of my cd :-)

04:08 AM May 22 2013 |

1 person likes this

modaher

modaher

Iraq

Yes, when I was a kid I have collected stamps

03:27 AM May 22 2013 |

DAMAVAND

DAMAVAND

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

My father had several stamp albums, my aunt kept them and never let us even touch them!! i myself used to collect seashells and stickers, of course when i was child :) one of the best and wonderful collection i’ve seen, belonged to my cousin, he had marvelouse matchbox collection, special boxes brought him from all over the world, i don’t know he still has it or not!

03:06 AM May 22 2013 |

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