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Brainstorm

Brainstorm English, baby! Video Lesson

Date: Aug 25 2009

Themes: Soap Opera, Work

Grammar: Present Perfect Progressive

Intro

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

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

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How things can change. It wasn’t too long ago that Devan’s friends were holding meetings because they were worried about her. Now, after getting last week’s surprise inheritance, Devan is the one calling the meeting.

Devan has brought all of her friends together to share ideas for the company she wants to start. When people get together and pull new ideas out of the air, it’s called a brainstorm. Devan’s friends are pretty creative. See what they come up with!

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

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.

Devan

Devan

Dale

Dale

Marni

Marni

Mason

Mason

Ella

Ella

Jason

Jason

Devan:  So I’m glad you guys could all make it down here. I have some really exciting news.

Dale:  What’s the news?

Marni:  Yeah. We can’t wait.

Devan:  Me and Jason are getting married. Just kidding!

Mason:  Whoa!

Dale:  Ah!

Devan:  No, no, no. Um…Much more exciting than that. I just inherited two hundred thousand dollars.

Mason:  What?

Marni:  Oh my God!

Dale:  Two hundred thousand?

Devan:  Some aunt that I didn’t even know I had.

Dale:  Is that just…Just straight two hundred thousand dollars?

Devan:  Two hundred thousand dollars.

Marni:  Wow.

Devan:  Me and Jason have been discussing it, and while I thought we should go on a shopping spree and then travel the world…

Marni:  Yeah.

Dale:  You’re gonna buy us all gifts, right? Like cars?

Devan:  Well…

Dale:  I want a boat.

Devan:  He talked some sense into me and said that we should start a business.

Marni:  Oh.

Dale:  OK.

Devan:  I would love…

Marni:  That’s responsible.

Devan:  And I was thinking that you guys could all come work for the business.

Marni:  Hmm.

Mason:  I’m not doin’ anything.

Marni:  Yeah.

Dale:  I’m about to quit my job and you quit already.

Devan:  But what kind of business should we start? That’s what we’re trying to figure out.

Mason:  Hmm.

Ella:  Dinosaur figurines!

Devan:  What?

Jason:  There’s these really cool balloons with holes in them. They’re like a donut shape. We could sell those.

Marni:  What?

Mason:  We should herd alpacas. That’s sustainable. ‘Cause they keep growin’ hair…

Dale:  Yeah.

Mason:  ...after you cut it off.

Marni:  Do you know anything about herding alpacas? I mean, land?

Mason:  I…

Dale:  We could knit.

Devan:  Look, this is not what I was thinking.

Jason:  I speak English though, right? So we could start a site where people learn American English.

Devan:  Yeah right.

Dale:  That won’t work.

Marni:  Yeah. Who cares about that?

Mason:  Lead balloon right there.

Devan:  Marni, please. I know you have a good idea.

Marni:  Well…You know, what about a site where you could actually meet people. Like a dating site for…Say an exchange student comes over here and they want to find an American boyfriend or girlfriend.

Dale:  Hmm.

Mason:  There’s a market for that.

Marni:  Yeah.

Jason:  We could call it, “American Dream Boat.” ‘Cause you’re trying to find your dream boat.

Dale:  Dot com!

Jason:  Yeah, yeah.

Dale:  Americandreamboat.com.

Devan:  I like the sound of that.

Mason:  Someone Google that. Is that a thing? Check that. We gotta get on that now.

Dale:  We gotta get on that.

Jason:  Alright, let’s check it out.

Marni:  I like it.

Dale:  Let’s do that.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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When Devan tells the group that she inherited a fortune, at first they expect her to spend the money on fun and crazy stuff. But when she explains that she’s going to start a business and wants them to be a part of it, they get serious.

Everyone has an idea, from Ella’s dinosaur figurines to Mason’s alpacas. But none of those sound like very good business ideas to Devan. They’re just so random. Finally, Marni suggests a dating site for people from other countries who are in the US and want to date an American.

Bingo! Everyone likes Marni’s idea and runs off to see if a business like that already exists. Do you have a great idea for a business? Do some brainstorming in the forum below and maybe you can meet your future business partners on Ebaby!

 

Comments

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max1983

max1983

Germany

Brainstorm is very pretty decision for getting new ideas. But you have to comply with some rules, like don't interrupt speaker while he/she is speaking etc.   

03:04 PM Aug 25 2009 |

rosendo

rosendo

Mexico

to have u own bussines , u should check out a bunch of stuff… but is a good idea to run in to u friends and gather opinions each other.
saludos.

02:49 PM Aug 25 2009 |

sofree

sofree

China

I don’t have any good idea for business yet, or I would be working on that now.
I didn’t check the forum very often, so I have no idea.
And I just found the domain americandreamboat.com has been registered, you guys really did this?

09:12 AM Aug 25 2009 |

Denny500

Denny500

Australia

hi mukashi, what kind of problems are women always have in Myanmar? From memory I know there are trains specially for women in Japan to avoid sexual harassment, are these also the problems in Myanmar? If so, I think you have a great idea and since it has running perfect and popular in Japan,it should has a brillant future in other countries. Maybe you can be a overnight success. Laughing

03:56 AM Aug 25 2009 |

SENHY

SENHY

China

I think the second one is correct.Money mouth

If I have enough money start to a new business. I intend to do about children's business.

02:58 AM Aug 25 2009 |

mukashi

mukashi

Myanmar

yeah. absolutely I have.  If I have enough money to start  new business I would like to do the transporation business especially buses for woman. In my country there are alot of poor peoples who uses buses for their daily life. In order to reduce of unnecessary problems for the woman I would like to buy many buses for only woman. I don't know  economically there is benifit or not. But I would like to help women, girls as much as I can while doing business.

02:34 AM Aug 25 2009 |

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