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Soulja Boy

Soulja Boy

Date: May 26 2008

Themes: Hobbies, Pop Culture

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.

Until 40 years ago or so, dances had funny names like the monkey or the twist. All the kids knew them. When a particular song was played, they all knew exactly what to do.

That doesn’t happen so often anymore. People typically just make up their dance moves as they go along and they can go with any song with a good beat.

But a few months ago, a young rapper named Soulja Boy introduced a step named after himself and it spread like wildfire. Amanda recently realized she’s the only person in America who doesn’t know the step.

Dialog

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

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

Beren

Beren

Amanda

Amanda

Beren:  So, are you familiar with the latest dance craze hitting the west coast?

Amanda:  Which one? The Macarena?

Beren:  Not the Macarena. What is this? 1997?

Amanda:  Oh, my bad. No, I went downtown last night and I went clubbing with the girls and we were so [def ]bummed[/def] you couldn’t make it. There was this crazy dance that was going on in the middle of the dance floor. It was to Soulja Boy, but what I didn’t understand was, like, everybody knew it.

Beren:  Yeah! Yeah.

Amanda:  I mean from like 18-year-old girls to the 65-year-old guys on the wall. I don’t understand what’s going on with this craze. It’s this crazy phenomenon right now.

Beren:  It’s gone viral, as they say now. It’s crazy. So Soulja Boy, I think he’s from Houston…

Amanda:  OK.

Beren:  ...somewhere in Texas. He came up with this one song, this one hit, and he does the dance, the Soulja Boy in the video and if you go to YouTube, there’s like 100 videos imitating the Soulja Boy dance.

Amanda:  Well, of course, I went there that night because I was trying to imitate and watch and pick it up. And it’s not that difficult. It’s not like you have to be that skilled to do it, but if you want to learn it from start to finish, that’s like four minutes of moves and you go on and there’s like 100,000 versions of this dance.

Beren:  That’s insane.

Amanda:  So, like, from toddlers to cheerleaders to people in nursing homes for activity time.

Beren:  That’s hilarious.

Amanda:  So I was thinking, maybe you could help me out later.

Beren:  Yeah, totally. I’ll teach you the Soulja Boy.

Amanda:  My favorite part is the Super Man.

Beren:  Oh yeah.

Amanda:  How cute is that?

Beren:  Fly, Super Man.

Amanda:  Who’s not gonna like the Super Man?

Beren:  Yeah.

 

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Discussion

Dance crazes are so rare that when Beren asks Amanda if she knows the step sweeping the nation, she thinks she’s talking about the Macarena, a dance that was popular ten years ago.

Turns out Amanda has seen the Soulja Boy, she just didn’t know what it was. She looked it up on YouTube and discovered hundreds of videos of people doing the dance.

Soulja Boy is only 16 years old and Beren is right that he’s a Southern rapper, although he’s from Atlanta, not Houston as she says. His dance has become so popular that it has taken on a life of its own. People are making their own videos about it.

Beren says she’ll teach Amanda the Soulja Boy and she’s excited to learn her favorite part, the Superman, a moment in the dance where you pretend to fly off to the side.

Has the Soulja Boy hit your town yet? What’s the last dance craze you got into?

 

Comments

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lilwayne naruto tpain

United States

soulja boy sux he pisses me off wannabe rapper

proof

first album sold 12 copies

2nd album ranked #1 worst album in 2007

yahhh worst song of 2007

08:33 PM Jun 07 2008 |

guiltylove

guiltylove

India

I don`t hear the guy before! But i wanna watch his video! It looks good artist! I wanna try to dance with the video in the internet!

03:08 PM May 30 2008 |

Swan

Swan

Morocco

well, Soulja boy one of my favorite songs, especially  da dance as well; however , it's kinda easy to pick it up.

09:02 AM May 30 2008 |

happy magic hi

China

I like to see people dancing,especially with the rock-and-roll .It's exciting,but usually i don't jion them.Because i have poor feeling of beat .

03:34 PM May 29 2008 |

thehottersnigga

Congo, Democratic Republic Of The

y'all know about soulja boy

but do y'all know about dombolo dance in dr.congo the country in wich we find deffents dance

08:38 PM May 28 2008 |

tess83

tess83

Algeria

Tell me did you hear about TECKTONIC
famous dance in france

03:47 PM May 28 2008 |

Xiang

Xiang

China

I have to find out more information about Soulja Boy.

09:26 AM May 28 2008 |

john_zhang_q

China

what a interesting article!I like to bar,and dance there sometimes,though i have never learned dance,i still like to dance in my own way,maybe i also imitate some steps from óther guys or on TV,but it’s not a problem,right?we can dance in any way if you like.

02:41 AM May 28 2008 |

alesander

alesander

Portugal

hi iam lovin it..

06:44 PM May 27 2008 |

Patthai

Patthai

Thailand

Cool !! I love this site.

03:31 PM May 27 2008 |

Sayurii

Sayurii

Poland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYp2Aloz-uE ^^
yeah dance or die:P

08:48 AM May 27 2008 |

DaMnWoRlD

DaMnWoRlD

Taiwan

I am curious about what the  Soulja Boy's dance like…maybe I'll do some research on  Youtube later. But… what? He's only 16, not kidding me…

06:02 AM May 27 2008 |

heaven2641989

Viet Nam

Oh my god, the time before, I hate souja boy, cuz' he kind of rapping is not common to me, but now must I change my view??? He is so cute!

04:40 AM May 27 2008 |

VOLTS

VOLTSSuper Member!

Brazil

only 16 years old???
he looks older

01:15 AM May 27 2008 |

VOLTS

VOLTSSuper Member!

Brazil

I never heard about soulja boy, but …
do you know ´dança do creu´ ???
find in you tube
it is a craze dance in Brazil.

01:13 AM May 27 2008 |

thehottersnigga

Congo, Democratic Republic Of The

ah hi everyone; my name is saidi sefu i'm from democratique republique of congo i just wanna talk about soulja boy cuz i heard about that famous young man called soulja boy with his famous dance

i love him and his dance i used to listen to his songs everyday he played good music you can't imagine but so young where did it find the idea of creating that dance for people to dance it ?

let me tell ya something years is back i been nothin' in english but today i can easily make a long conversation with sb from  usa,england and so on…

only thanks to hip hop and all american hip hop stars and r'n'b singers my thinks goes to artist like 50 cent,cuz i start to learn english with his lyrics like in da club ,if i can,many man

my thanks goes also to jaz-y or jygga man or hova cuz i improved my english with bonnie an' clyde lyrics wich they sang it with beyonce

thanks to 'em all: jarul,nas,snoop,bow wow,lloyd banks,young buck, tony yayo, the game,ludacris,lil flip,lil wayn,fat joe,r kelly, usher ,omarion,j boog,lil fizz,and my nigga raz b ,but u gotta know that i stil learn english i neva give up

05:28 PM May 26 2008 |

Casiol

Casiol

Malaysia

yup that superman part looks like swimming lol 

03:14 PM May 26 2008 |

448465535

China

oh,and the continuous leap,it`s funny too :p

01:16 PM May 26 2008 |

448465535

China

i just saw the soulja boy video,it`s really interesting,and funny!i like the superman part too,like a fish,haha…

01:12 PM May 26 2008 |

Muhammad Kabir

Nigeria

hi

12:12 PM May 26 2008 |

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