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High School Reunions

High School Reunions

Date: Jul 24 2009

Themes: Party, School

Grammar: Past Progressive Tense

Intro

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

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High school reunions have a lot of potential for drama. Some attend simply because they want to catch up with old friends and revisit the past. But others are more interested in showing off, settling old scores, or comparing their lives to everyone else’s. The former geeks are hoping that they’re more successful than the former jocks, the former jocks are hoping that the former prom queen is still single, and everyone wants to know who got pregnant, who got rich, and who got fat.

Mason recently attended his 10 year high school reunion. Many high schools throw parties where you can meet up with your old classmates years after you graduated. Find out if Mason found that prom queen or found that everyone else was more successful than him.

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

Mason

Devan

Devan

Mason:  I went to my 10 year high school reunion this weekend.

Devan:  How was it, was it fun?

Mason:  I have crossed that mighty traditional bridge. It was fun. I mean, I had really low expectations as far as what I might get out of it. There were a lot of people that actually showed up. I mean, I was kind of expecting for there to be a pretty low turnout.

Devan:  Now, a lot of those people, did you stay in contact with them over like a social network, or were you seeing them for the first time in a really long time?

Mason:  I stayed in touch with most of my close friends in high school, and then I kind of slowly accumulated new friends on Facebook and whatnot. So I’d had a sense of what maybe half of the class was doing. Basically I saw people put pictures of their kids up there and I’m like, “OK, they are obviously are doing that thing.”

Devan:  So, were you one of the more successful of your class, would you say? Or somewhere in the middle? Was anyone doing anything really amazing?

Mason:  I heard that one kid got super rich banking and moved to Brazil, so he wasn’t there.

Devan:  Wow.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Discussion

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When Mason went to his high school reunion, he wasn’t expecting it to be a very fun party, but he ended up having a good time. A lot of people came whom he hadn’t seen since graduation. Some of them were people with whom he had remained friends via Facebook.

Many people who attend their high school reunions worry about how their lives will compare with their classmates’ lives. They want to be seen as successful. They don’t want their old classmates to think that they haven’t done anything since high school. Mason only heard of one guy who became extremely rich, but he wasn’t at the reunion because he lives in Brazil.

Have you stayed in touch with your former classmates? What do you hope to be doing 10 years from now?

 

Comments

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najla al qahtani

Saudi Arabia

well i hate everyting related to high school days i also changed all of my high school friendsLaughing

02:10 PM Jul 25 2009 |

Karen

China

I graduated from college for 5 years.But I didnot attend for any reunion? Because everyone is busy for their lives and It is difficult to organize for reunion.I think maybe it will be a happy thing .

01:51 PM Jul 25 2009 |

sara19890809

China

I am glad to received you request .I also want to add you as a friend .

06:57 AM Jul 25 2009 |

jimmy110110

China

high school for me, it seems was long time ago.

but it's just 5ys actually. i dont really care about their

wealth or families, it's nothing for me. i want to say

thank you to my best classmate who spent a lot of 

time and hanged with me that i would never forget in

my life.

06:30 AM Jul 25 2009 |

Mr.Bean's wife

Myanmar

It has been a long time that I last met my friends. I haven't stayed in touch with them for ages.Maybe I will be working for the UN or working as a teacher. Maybe I will be traveling around the world with the man of my dreams.

 

 

04:59 AM Jul 25 2009 |

sofree

sofree

China

Yes, of course, my best friends are all my old classmates, you know basically the friendship built in school is pure, while those built in business is some utilitarian.

 

I don't have much plan yet, maybe get a family first, then I'll see what we can do.

 

Actually I don't think there's any fun in high school union, in these days, you can easily keep in touch with your friends. For those only classmates, who care what they do now and you might never talk to them again after the reunion, so what's it about?  insincerely catching up and showing off? I hate it.

04:47 AM Jul 25 2009 |

Lidia_partner

Brazil

The kid got rich and moved to Brazil, hah! I get freakin' rich and I move to the USA, a-ha!

04:00 AM Jul 25 2009 |

453502844

453502844

China

看不懂

03:12 AM Jul 25 2009 |

Ca_Brazil

Ca_Brazil

Brazil

I feel kind of bad about it because i havent stayed in touch with most part of my classmates from high school, though, i conserved the friendship of the good ones, some via social network, living the same neighborhood. so far, its been 6 years since i graduated, it would be cool to meet them again after a while to discuss our lives or something. its pretty funny, when i was studying i couldnt wait to be done with school, i thought everything really boring but now i realize i had great time there, it was fun.

09:21 PM Jul 24 2009 |

queilaomena

Brazil

hey guys, i'm going to do the exchange program next month, and i'm a bit afraid about my english and stuff, actually i'm not a good student! hahahaha

so, maybe you can help me, trying to teach me new words, of telling me about the experience.

you can add me:

 

thanks  

08:46 PM Jul 24 2009 |

jana.czech

jana.czech

Czech Republic

I meet my former classmates annualy and I love these meetings. We have a reunion at a place of our best school trip every last weekend of June. We usually have a lot of fun although not everyone attends, we meet about 10-15 people. None of us comes just to show off, there are successful managers as well as housewives among us, but this is not the important thing. We simply want to catch up with each other and revisit the past … We are still fond of one another. :-) We keep in touch via emails too during the year, but meeting in person is much better.

08:46 PM Jul 24 2009 |

kui_

kui_

Brazil

it was a long time ago!!! more than 10 years, i don´t see those guys….it´s a pity.

05:32 PM Jul 24 2009 |

luyy

China

After I graduated high school egiht years, We have a reunions too. But I didn't feel much fun,because when we got together we were having a dinner. After the dinner we separated  again.

04:52 PM Jul 24 2009 |

pwint06

Singapore

Its remained me of time when we were high school  now we are staying in touch and catch  up with my old friends on social network.It's really kick-ass.

Thank you very much.

 

03:40 PM Jul 24 2009 |

meteorareanimation

Egypt

i don't really have people skills so no i don't stay in touch with anybody simply cuz i don't know how to make a conversation—' hopefully ten years from now i hope i got my dream job, my prince charming and went to portugal once xD

03:38 PM Jul 24 2009 |

JiXiang

JiXiang

China

I once meet up with my classmates from the elementray school. The low turnout was really disappointing. Still I think it was wonderful to see them again and realized how much we have changed over the last 10 years. It was pretty wired, seeing them and chatting with them about the present life and those old memories. Then it struck me, that time is passing by and we are are getting older.

02:39 PM Jul 24 2009 |

larrychen

larrychen

China

Well, I have graduated from high school for five years, and I believe that we will have a reunion five years later, when we all have graduated for ten years.

I hope I will be doing what I love five years later, to enjoy my life, to support my family, to keep contacting with my all friends~

good wishes

02:37 PM Jul 24 2009 |

karykary

karykary

Hong Kong

I graduated from my secondary school many years ago. However we haven't had any gathering or school reunion fuctions. Frown 

02:14 PM Jul 24 2009 |

karykary

karykary

Hong Kong

I graduated from my secondary school many years ago. However we haven't had any gathering or school reunion fuctions. Frown 

02:14 PM Jul 24 2009 |

karykary

karykary

Hong Kong

I have some confusing of this grammar usage. Because my English teacher said that “seeing” is used of different meaning. For example, “have you been seeing him? ” that means a date. Therefore would I ask more details about this word? On the other hand, I may make a mistake of this word’s sunderstanding. Thank you very much

02:07 PM Jul 24 2009 |

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