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.
Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? Bill Murray wakes up and relives the same day over and over. Sometimes life can feel like that. Except unlike in the movie, time is actually passing. You get a little older each day.
If your life feels like Groundhog Day, you might be in a rut. Someone who is in a rut always does the same things. If you’re in a rut, you go eat the same meals and go to the same places every day. The word “rut” refers to a part of a road that is worn down from use.
If you say you’re “in a rut,” it means you think the repetition in your life is a problem. But a routine can be comfortable. It can be nice to live a life with few surprises. Watch Jason and Devan’s daily routine and help them decide if they are in a rut.
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.
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Jason: Ready?
Devan: Ready to work out?
Jason: Uh-huh.
Devan: OK. Here we go.
Jason: Pizza’s here.
Devan: Thank God.
Jason: You go get the pizza today.
Devan: Pizza time!
Jason: Yeah!
Devan: That’s my side of the couch.
Jason: It’s cool. Oh, sorry! Pizza’s here! Alright. Hey, wait a minute.
Devan: This is my Wednesday shirt.
Jason: This is my Wednesday shirt, too. I just changed it over from Monday.
Devan: Oh no. We’re in a rut, aren’t we?
Jason: I think we might be. I mean, we do seem to do the same thing every day. We come home, we watch our workout DVD, we eat pizza, and watch TV.
Devan: Yeah. We even wear our shirts in the same order.
Jason: But, I mean, it’s not a rut if you like it, right?
Devan: I don’t know. I think we should try to spice up our lives a little bit. We should go out.
Jason: We’ll go out.
Devan: OK, let’s go!
Jason: Tomorrow. Or the next day.
Devan: Yeah. Sunday, ‘cause there’s reruns on Sunday.
Jason: Yeah.
Devan: Yeah, we’ll go on Sunday.
Jason: OK.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Simple Present Tense" from this lesson
Quizzes
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Discussion
Every day, Jason and Devan come home, exercise, eat pizza and watch TV. One day, they realize they’re also wearing the same shirt. Devan realizes that their lives are have become boring and predictable. They are in a rut.
Jason and Devan never leave the house to have fun, so they agree to go out. However, they decide to wait until Sunday because there aren’t any new TV shows on that night. Do you think Jason and Devan are in a rut? Do they’ll actually go out as planned?
Are you in a rut?
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