Phrasal Verbs

Intro

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

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• lyrics
• capture
• versus
• mentor

• collaboration
• produce
• dream team
• team up

• 50-50
• stoked

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

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Putting two talented people together always seems like a good idea. But it doesn’t work out every time. Just because two musicians, athletes, or actors are both great on their own, doesn’t mean they’ll work well together. Just think of the awkward pair Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie made in The Tourist. Or think about sushi and pizza. Each is great in its own way, but sushi-pizza doesn’t sound too good.

Luckily, Kanye West and Jay-Z’s collaboration turned out better than sushi-pizza. The two wrote, produced, and rapped together for the new album Watch the Throne. Hear Ella and Jason talk about what makes Kanye and Jay-Z a dream team.

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.

Jason

Ella

Jason:  I thought it was cool that Kanye and Jay-Z teamed up for an album.

Ella:  I am so stoked about that. When I saw the first song, the music video that came out for “Otis,” I was just like, “No way. It’s like my dream has come true.”

Jason:  ReallY? That’s your dream come true?

Ella:  Yeah! Well Kanye’s a great producer, and then I love Jay-Z’s lyrics. So it was just obvious.

Jason:  OK. And do you think that they captured each of those elements from both of the artists?

Ella:  Yeah, I think so. Jay did a lot of producing too on some of those songs, and you could tell when it’s his style versus Kanye’s style. My favorite song’s definitely still “Otis.”

Jason:  Do you think they were kinda partners working on the album, or would you say like Jay-Z was more of like a mentor?

Ella:  I feel like for this album, it’s definitely more of a collaboration and they were partners. ‘Cause in the past I’ve heard that Jay-Z’s been Kanye’s mentor. So this is more of an equal, 50-50, putting their creativeness together.

Jason:  Got it. The student’s sort of caught up to the master.

Ella:  Exactly!

Jason:  That’s awesome. So you think working together really fostered some creativity for the two of them?

Ella:  Yes. Like the music videos, you can tell it’s totally both their styles. You can see both their personalities in it. So, it was really fun to see some really great rap artists put together like that.

Jason:  Nice. I’m still living in the age of Dre and Snoop, so I’ll have to check in to the present day rap scene.

Ella:  Yes. Join us.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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