Dinner Parties

Intro

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

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• saute
• bake
• dip
• guacamole

• china
• potluck
• dish
• control freak

• casseroles
• go with

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You know you’re a true adult once you’ve hosted your first dinner party. But a dinner party doesn’t have to be a formal affair, with candles, fancy china and a white tablecloth. It can be as simple and casual as making a big pot of spaghetti and asking your friends to bring over some bread, wine, and dessert. It can also be fun to have a potluck, where everyone brings a different dish and you get to try all your friends’ cooking.

Devan and Beren both like hosting dinner parties. But as you’ll find out, they have very different ideas about what the ideal dinner party would be like.

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.

Beren

Devan

Beren:  Devo, do you like to have people over for dinner, like groups of people, groups of friends?

Devan:  Like dinner parties?

Beren:  Mm-hmm.

Devan:  Yeah, I love hosting dinner parties.

Beren:  Hmm.

Devan:  I’m kind of a control freak and I like to have anything done my way.

Beren:  So you’re not into potlucks.

Devan:  Not so much, really. I don’t like when people bring things over, especially if it doesn’t go with everything else I’ve prepared.

Beren:  Really?

Devan:  Like I like…you know, I make everything, like I’ll make the different things I saute and bake and all the dips that I make. I like to make everything coordinate and go together.

Beren:  Do you like to make guacamole?

Devan:  Yes. So like if someone brings some like Pace Picante salsa to the dinner party then I’m gonna be pissed.

Beren:  That upsets you? It doesn’t go with the guacamole?

Devan:  Yeah.

Beren:  What if you have a guest that’s allergic to avocado?

Devan:  Then I will accommodate them. I’m very good about these things. I just like to have it my way, you know.

Beren:  Huh.

Devan:  What about you, do you like to have dinner parties?

Beren:  I do, but I prefer the potluck. I like it when people bring over different dishes, and, you know, casseroles. And then you don’t…if you’re hosting you don’t really have to do anything. Just let people come over.

Devan:  But you still have to clean it all up.

Beren:  Oh that’s true. That’s what I don’t like, the clean up.

Devan:  Yeah. I would agree with that.

Grammar Point

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Lesson MP3

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