Barack, baby!

Intro

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

• voice
• synthesize
• digest
• made my day

• the paper
• big deal
• down to
• on top of it

• buzz
• social sites

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

People love to share opinions on English, baby!. A few days ago, a reporter for the biggest newspaper in our home state of Oregon wrote an article about the opinions expressed on this site about the 2008 US presidential election and polls of English, baby! members that show Barack Obama as the favorite candidate among the people of the world. Jason gave Mason a call to talk about it.

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.

Mason

Jason

Mason:  Hey Jason, what’s up?

Jason:  Hey, what’s up, man? Did you see the paper yet today?

Mason:  Yeah, man. I couldn’t believe it. That’s crazy! I didn’t even know, actually, that there was such amazing participation from the English, baby! community on voting to see what they were thinking about the election this year.

Jason:  Yeah, it seems like everyone kind of has an opinion about it which is…

Mason:  It’s almost a surprise that it’s such a big deal to the international community.

Jason:  Yeah, especially at this stage when it’s not even down to the final two candidates yet. But they’re just on top of it. I always love to hear from them about current events, whether it’s the earthquake in China or the election or anything. I hope it’s a sign on the times that our media is paying attention to what they have to say. I hope that means that we’re kind of growing more conscious about what the world thinks about us.

Mason:  Definitely. I think the media is paying way more attention to all the different social sites out there where the public in general can share their voice and you can get a sense from the group. Yeah, I mean, the problem is there’s just so many voices you need places where those voices can kind of be synthesized into, into like data you can actually digest, which is why that poll was so cool. It gives you a really quick view of a large group of people, but it’s simple information.

Jason:  Yeah, I’m glad it meant something to the American media, too, you know? I hope I continue to see stuff like that. Right on, man, I just wanted to see if you saw that.

Mason:  Yeah, it was totally crazy. It made my day.

Jason:  Cool, well I’ll talk to you later.

Mason:  Alright. Bye.

Jason:  Bye.

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Lesson MP3

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