English, baby!

Furry Friends

Date: Dec 05 2006

Themes: Family, Pets

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Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

treat

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

When you have animals in your life, it’s easy to love them as much as your human friends. Relationships with pets are like no other. Soft, cuddly creatures like cats and dogs provide you with unconditional love. But you can also love pet iguanas, snakes, even fish!

But pets are animals. And people have different ideas about the hierarchy of the animal kingdom.

Listen to Kevin and Logan talk about the animals in our lives.

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.

Kevin

Logan

Kevin: You know, I was having dinner last night with my brother and his partner and they just spent $1400 for a surgery on their cat.

Logan: On their cat.

Kevin: I was…

Logan: That is shocking.

Kevin: ... A bit surprised.

Logan: Well, what I’ve noticed in this culture that is America, people treat dogs and cats, especially… cats, not as much as I’ve seen… but dogs especially, as family members.

Kevin: Yes.

Logan: I had a dog. It’s a Lab. It’s 13 years old. And it hugs me. I… sometimes it sleeps on the end of my bed. It is like… it’s like a family member, like a brother, just… you love it just as much.

Kevin: And like, in a lot of countries… You know, I’ve spent a lot of time living and traveling in Southeast Asia and… I mean, not that… I’m sure there are people who treat their dogs and cats like family members but, in general, there are a lot of animals on the street. As a matter of fact there’s a massive, like, animal rescue, um, service in Bangkok ‘cause there are so many abandoned dogs, which is also, that’s very sad. You know? It shouldn’t be that way either.

Logan: I have uh, what do you feel about the eating of dogs in other countries?

Kevin: You know, I don’t have a taste for it, but I respect, you have to respect those, those, um, cultures, you know?

Logan: I respect the culture.

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

Kevin and Logan think it’s shocking to spend so much money on a cat.

But Logan does understand the love you can have for a pet. He uses his own dog as an example.

Kevin points out that the US tends to coddle animals more than other countries do. In Asia, as well as Central and South America, India and Africa, many animals live rough lives on the streets.

Do you have a pet?

What do you think about making an animal a member of the family?

Comments

michaelvijayraj

India

I’m so scared of dogs. so i don’t love to have them in my home. and the cat is considered in our country as a sign of misfortune. but i loved the lesson . thanks buddy

aymen_fnx

Algeria

i study vétérinary in university i like animals

Akasha

Spain

I hate people who hurts the animals

unhappyboi007

Turkey

those who don’t love animals and nature don’t love humans, too.And next generations will distort the balance of every elements- ruling the universe- by theit hands. This is our world, but also animals’..

susihayati

Indonesia

It’s find. As a human we have sort of love sense..to someones..to things..or to animals..and we treat them as much as we can…too much or not it’s depent on our condition economically…for kevin’s bro $1400 probably is not big money….But for kevin it is big..