English, baby!

Break the Ice

Date: Feb 16 2010

Themes: Friend, How To, Sports

Grammar: Modal Verbs

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Intro

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

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break the ice

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

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Close friendships make life more interesting, exciting and enjoyable. But making new friends isn’t always easy.

When you first meet someone new, there is usually a barrier that you have to get through before you can really know and be close to that person. Think of that barrier as a wall of ice. If you want to become friends with someone, you first have to break the ice.

There are a lot of different ways to break the ice. You can tell a joke, or ask basic questions, or try to find out what you have in common with the other person. Find out if Jason is able to break the ice and make some new friends at the Winter Olympics.

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.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Black_jacket_guy

Baseball_hat_guy

German_girl

Beer_guy

Beer-Guy

Pretzel_girl

Hockey_fan

Hockey_fan_2

Jason: Here we are at German Fan Fest. Ah, it looks like I’m gonna have to make some new friends here. But I’m probably going to have to break the ice. Let’s go inside and meet some people. So, what’s your deepest, most personal, religious belief?

Black_jacket_guy: Well, you gotta break the ice, buddy.

Jason: So, when was the first time you fell in love?

Baseball_hat_guy: Why don’t you break the ice?

Jason: What are your deepest religious beliefs?

German_girl: Dude, you need to break the ice first.

Jason: Oh. Could you explain, for everyone who doesn’t know, what does it mean to break the ice? What’s that concept?

Beer_guy: Just getting to know someone.

Jason: OK.

Beer-Guy: Breaking down those barriers and being friends with them.

Jason: When you break the ice, you find a comfortable, not awkward way to introduce yourself to a stranger and start a conversation. What’s a good way to break the ice?

German_girl: At the beginning you should say, “How are you?”

Jason: How do you break the ice?

Beer_guy: I’d start with, “What’s your name?” That would be a good start.

Jason: Have you made any new friends here tonight?

Pretzel_girl: I have, actually.

Jason: How did you break the ice when you met those new friends?

Pretzel_girl: We were actually in the lineup to buy some pretzels.

Jason: OK.

Pretzel_girl: And we were comparing pretzel thoughts, and that’s just…You know, that’s the way it is here.

Jason: Alright. We learned a little bit about breaking the ice just now. You can detect if you have a common interest with someone, and make a comment about that thing. Let’s try it. Hey, do you guys like hockey?

Hockey_fan: Yeah! I love hockey!

Jason: No way!

Hockey_fan_2: I love it!

Jason: I just succeeded in breaking the ice! It wasn’t awkward at all! English, baby! Yeah!

New friends: English, baby!

Grammar Point

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Discussion

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Jason is excited to meet new people at the Winter Olympics. He should have no trouble making lots of international friends, since so many people have come from around the world to see the games.

But Jason does not know how to break the ice. He tries to talk to people about deep, personal subjects before he has even asked them for their names!

A few different people give Jason advice about how to break the ice. He can ask them basic questions like “how are you?” Or he might try to find something that he has in common with them, and then talk about that. After he’s had a couple lessons on breaking the ice, Jason gives it a try. This time, he succeeds and makes new friends.

Do you like making new friends? What do you do to break the ice with strangers?

Comments

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guozuyang

China

I like to make new friends,anyway,it depends on what we have in common,as well as personality and so on.I prefer to make friends with people in same age with me~

moh-1989

Saudi Arabia

well, what is important is after breaking this ice. The most important thing is to keep the conversation going. because you have broken the ice, you are the one who is gonna keep it going right?

or otherwise the the weather will get cold and you will have an ice barrier again !

and it is not easy to break it again

warrior13

Syrian Arab Republic

to breake the ice with some one this depens on the situation , for example

studen carries a book : hi can i ask u qusition what is ur school name ?

girl : ur skirt's colour is so nice PLS told me where did you buy it from ?

this is my openion what about u friend ?

ala4fadeel

Sudan

In my opinion, the best way to break the ice by finding a common ground like the pretzel girl's ice breaker!

Meeting a stranger and trying to break the ice with him through what is your name? or how are you? is a little bit awkward.

simhyojin

South Korea

Yesterday's topic was 'cold as ice', and today's is 'break the ice'!! :)

If we don't break the ice naturally, the atmosphere'll be cold as ice soon..

Ermolaeva

Russian Federation

I love meeting new friend, especially ppl from other countries. I consider it's not so hard to break the ice. You just have to act naturally, be friendly, open-hearted and show that you're really interested in getting to know this person!