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Halloween

Date: Oct 31 2008

Themes: Holidays, Party

Grammar: Used to Do vs Be Used to

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Intro

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

slutty
prank

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

Halloween is an American holiday that takes place on October 31 and celebrates all things dark and scary. People celebrate Halloween by dressing up in costumes, carving jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treating, watching horror movies, or going to parties. Traditional Halloween costumes are things like witches, ghosts, monsters, and skeletons. These days, it’s also common for people to dress up like famous movie stars, musicians, or even politicians.

Halloween is most popular with little kids, who love to dress up and eat lots of candy. Most teenagers think they’re too old to trick-or-treat, so they often watch horror movies or play pranks like throwing eggs at cars or TP-ing their neighbors’ houses. Some adults celebrate Halloween, too, but in a very different way, as you’ll see by listening to Amanda and Devan talk about their Halloween plans.

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.

Devan

Amanda

Devan: Hey, do you want to come out with me on Halloween? Me and my friends are gonna get these crazy costumes of like nurses..bad nurses…and we’re gonna go…

Amanda: Are you gonna dress up like Tina Fey?

Devan: Tina Fey? Huh?

Amanda: Oh. OK, first of all, did you forget I have a child?

Devan: Oh…

Amanda: Yeah, I can’t go to a party on Halloween!

Devan: Yeah, kids are a party foul.

Amanda: Oh, no doubt. Like Halloween used to be… I used to go with you all the time, right?

Devan: I know, we’d get wasted…

Amanda: Yeah. Now I have to man the front door and answer it about a hundred times between…mmm…sundown and midnight, possibly get TP-ed, and then take my kid around the block while you’re, uh…what?

Devan: We were gonna get a keg, and…I totally forgot about trick-or-treating and children and all those things Halloween’s usually affiliated with. Ever since I’ve been in college it’s all about like keg stands...

Amanda: It comes full circle, ‘cause remember, back in the day it was fun to trick-or-treat. Then it’s all about parties. Then you have a child, and Halloween represents something totally different.

Devan: Well, what’s your kid gonna be for Halloween?

Amanda: Um, Anakin Skywalker. On sale for $69.99. Awesome.

Devan: I saw a slutty Anakin Skywalker.

Amanda: A slutty Anakin—? Oh, was his saber somewhere else?

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Discussion

Devan wants Amanda to go out with her on Halloween. She’s going to dress up like a sexy nurse and go to a crazy party.

Now that Amanda has a son, she can’t party on Halloween like she used to. Instead, she has to stay home so she can take her son trick-or-treating and pass candy out to the other kids in the neighborhood.

The way people celebrate Halloween changes depending on their age and lifestyle. Children love this holiday because they get to dress up in fun costumes and eat tons of candy. For college students and people in their twenties, Halloween is more like an excuse to wear a silly or sexy outfit, go to parties, and get drunk. But once people have kids of their own, they usually stay home with their children instead of going out on Halloween.

Have you ever celebrated Halloween or gone to a costume party? Do you think Halloween sounds like more fun when you’re a kid and you get to go trick-or-treating, or when you’re older and you can go to parties?

Comments

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Thyphuong

Viet Nam

kimnga

Viet Nam

-Benny-

Thailand

my friend did a make-up “Zombie Face” for me.

and ive walked in my house. ‘til my sister had seen me.

she’s just “Oh! Sh-t!!!!!!!” and ran aways. hahaha

baraniii

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

:-P

princessanika

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

wow don’t talk about it it’s realy scary party many people wer the scary clothes

ErinDong

United States

i looooooooooooooooove halloween. i like to go to halloween parties and throw candy on my friends.

COTTON CANDY

Philippines

Were ready for our trick or treat event.My baby was sooo excited for her costume.

Stitch

Taiwan

Halloween is one of my favorite holiday! Cool

Cherry21

Colombia

We do celebrate halloween, but it's actually a very commercial thing, people are happy selling things related to it and dressin up, me and my friends we use to go to a club or a friend's house to celebrate it. Greats parties.

ciccleo

Brazil

Here in Brazil, Halloween is celebrated only in schools, especially English schools and dance clubs; some tv channels presents special tv programs too as horror movies or talks about something related with Halloween on talk shows or gossip programs.

I like to dress up as a vampire since I was a kid, watch horror movies and listen to music with friends at the school where I studied English and now I'm an English teacher. But many brazilians hate Halloween because they think young people are adopting the United States culture and letting behind their own and also they think it's too related with the evil.