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Four Christmases

Date: Dec 24 2008

Themes: Holidays

Grammar: Present Perfect Tense

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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.

Seeing your family is one of the best things about the holidays…or the worst, depending on who your family is. Sometimes holiday gatherings can be more of a chore than a pleasure.

In the new movie Four Christmases, Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play a couple who always take a vacation instead of visiting their parents on Christmas. But this year, their plans get ruined and they have to spend the holidays with their families. Since they both have divorced parents, they end up celebrating Christmas four times.

Four Christmases is the holiday movie Marni and Amanda plan to watch this year. Listen to them talk about it.

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 it’s that time of year.

Amanda: What time?

Marni: Holiday movie time.

Amanda: Oh, I’m normally not into those. They’re so hokey.

Marni: I know. But there’s always…You know, every year there’s always one, and this year I’m thinking Four Christmases.

Amanda: You know what, I’d see that because of the actors in it. Vince Vaughn.

Marni: Yeah.

Amanda: Oh, one of my favorite actors. It’s the height.

Marni: He’s very tall.

Amanda: Yeah. Well, the weird thing is, Vince Vaughn is real slapsticky, kinda in-your-face, one-liners, punchlines. But Reese is known for being real subdued and subtle in her acting. More serious roles.

Marni: Yeah.

Amanda: Do you think it’s gonna be a clash?

Marni: No, I think it’s gonna work well together. I think that there’s some real good comedic charisma there.

Amanda: I’m kinda concerned that it might not be believable that they’d be a couple. Maybe it’s the opposites attract thing. Maybe that works.

Marni: Well…You know, I think the whole movie, the whole plot of the movie is that they avoid Christmas, but then they get sucked into it with these whirlwind four Christmases. They have to hit all the families. You can anticipate a lot of squabbling, which we can all relate to, right?

Amanda: And it’s kinda neat, ‘cause it’s very realistic. The family unit today is 50% divorced. So you’ve got four Christmases. It’s not this crazy, foreign idea. I’m sure every family has gone through it at some point.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

Every year, a new Christmas-themed movie comes out just before the holidays. Amanda normally doesn’t enjoy holiday movies, but she’s interested in seeing Four Christmases because she likes Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. But even though she likes these actors, she thinks they might not have good chemistry together, because their acting styles are very different.

Marni thinks that Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon will be good together. She also thinks the plot of this movie sounds interesting. Amanda agrees that it sounds realistic. Children with divorced parents often celebrate Christmas multiple times so they can spend the holiday with both of their parents.

Do you like spending time with your family during the holidays? Have you ever celebrated the same holiday more than once?

Comments

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minw

China

i do n't think i will enjoy in movie,

i believe we should celebrate the same holiday at once with all of our family!that is a wonderful time!that is why i feel so gulty ,so sorry,so upset that i can n't go back China to celebrate our spring festival with my parents, my brother!what a shame!