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.
There’s nothing like freshly baked cookies to sweeten up your day and make your whole house smell delicious. But some people seem to have the magic touch when it comes to baking, while others struggle to get even the simplest recipe to turn out right.
Baking is different from cooking in that it’s not as easy to make changes to the recipe. If you don’t use the right amount of each ingredient, your brownies could fail to rise, or your cookies could come out of the oven hard as a rock. On the other hand, if you follow the recipe carefully, you should be OK. But as Ella explains to Marni, that isn’t true for everyone.
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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Marni: Ella, I just baked you a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
Ella: Oh, thank you. I thought you were going to say I would have to help you bake, because it would be a disaster then.
Marni: Oh, really? You don’t like to bake?
Ella: I don’t like to bake. I don’t like to cook. I just don’t have the patience to wait, and baking is a lot of waiting and watching. And also, I don’t like to measure.
Marni: Baking, you have to be really exact, whereas cooking, you can be a little more spontaneous. Throw in a little of this, a little of that. But baking, you have to follow the recipe to a T. But I love it. It’s just so relaxing to me. It’s so rewarding to have your house smell like fresh baked cookies or bread or cake or pastries.
Ella: I can’t do it. I mean, I love the end results, so that’s why I love to go to a bakery after someone else has done the hard work. But I myself could never be a baker. I don’t have what it takes.
Marni: Well, it’s a good thing you have friends who like to bake. You sure you don’t want me to show you sometime?
Ella: I’m good. I’ll just eat this cookie instead.
Marni: OK.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Gerunds vs. Infinitives" from this lesson
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Discussion
Marni has baked some cookies. She offers them to Ella. Ella is relieved that she didn’t have to help make the cookies, because although she loves eating baked goods, she hates baking.
Ella says she is bad at baking because she is too impatient, and she doesn’t like measuring. To bake, you have to carefully measure out the ingredients. Unlike Ella, Marni thinks baking is relaxing and rewarding.
Do you like to bake? What is your favorite thing to bake?
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