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Mix Tapes

Date: Feb 12 2007

Intro

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

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

Everyone loves a good mix, especially if it is made just for you by someone special.

Twenty years ago a mix tape was a romantic gesture. You could fill the tape with love songs or that person’s favorite songs. Often, lovers used the words of songs on mix tapes to say what they were too shy to say in person.

Today, mix CDs can be made in just a few minutes, and can be edited easily. And playlists on iPods are easy to put together too.

But mix tapes took hours to make. Each song had to play through completely to be recorded, and timing the pauses between songs was an art. And once the mix is made, it is nearly impossible to edit. It stayed as it was made, perfect or imperfect.

Listen to Amanda and Marni remember mix tapes.

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.

Marni

Amanda

Marni: So I was just going through this old box of, you know, sort of old keepsakes and I found all these old mix tapes that I had made.

Amanda: Oh!

Marni: Did you make mix tapes?

Amanda: Well, you know what’s kind of cool is how it’s evolved. You used to make mix tapes and now you can just download from iTunes…

Marni: Right.

Amanda: ... and drop it on a CD and give it to someone you might have feelings for.

Marni: Yeah. Do you do that?

Amanda: Is that bad ‘cause I’m married? Have you ever been given a mix tape?

Marni: I have.

Amanda: And how did it make you feel?

Marni: Well, I have to admit, I… when I first started dating my boyfriend, he gave me a mix tape and there was all these wonderful songs and I was listening to it one night and I was, you know, really reading into it. What does this song mean… you know, that’s what you do. And so I called a friend of mine late at night and I said, “You know, there’s this one song on it. Hypothetically, theoretically, what does this mean?” And we went off on our theories of what certain songs mean and you know…

Amanda: I think girls take them a little further than the boys.

Marni: Yeah. Probably. We read way too much into it.

Amanda: Yeah. Absolutely.

Marni: Yeah. But you know, there are certain songs that you would never want to select because…

Amanda: Right…

Marni: ... they’re just, you know…

Amanda: Like Akon’s current hit I Wanna F* You.

Marni: Right!

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Discussion

Marni found a bunch of old mix tapes when she was going through some of her stuff. She tells Amanda about the mix tape her boyfriend gave her. She spent a lot of time trying to figure out what he was trying to say with the songs he put on the mix.

Amanda thinks it’s cool how easy it is to make mixes these days with modern technology.

Do you make mixes?

Have you ever gotten a mix from a sweetheart?