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.
When people we love die, we are left with the memories we have of them, and sometimes, the things they leave behind. Some valuable or meaningful items can become heirlooms that are passed down for generations.
Heirlooms can be useful, like tools. Sometimes they are valuable, like jewelry. Other heirlooms are both useful and valuable, like fine china. Whatever the case, heirlooms are meaningful to the people who receive them. To have something that has been in your family for a long time helps you feel a connection to where you came from.
Of course, someone doesn’t have to die to pass on an heirloom. Older people often give the younger people in their families heirlooms that they aren’t using anymore or would simply like their young relatives to have. Listen to Greta and Jeff discuss what makes a good heirloom, and how to decide who gets it, in this family English lesson.
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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Jeff: Hey Greta.
Greta: Yes, Jeff?
Jeff: This is kind of out of the blue, but, does your family have anything that they pass down through the generations?
Greta: I have some things from my dad’s side of the family. I think some of the problem with heirlooms is that when you have more than one child, those heirlooms get divided up or you have to make a decision about who to pass them down to. So, I have pieces of collections from my grandparents, and I have my grandmother’s wedding ring.
Jeff: That’s a big one.
Greta: But those are about the only things that made it to me, because my grandparents had three kids. So it’s kind of scattered now amongst the kids in the family.
Jeff: Yeah, I know what you’re saying. My grandparents have nine kids on my mom’s side.
Greta: Wow!
Jeff: But, one thing I’ve noticed is that people have different personalities and different interests, so they sort of filter out that way and inherit things they’re into moreso than their siblings.
Greta: That’s true. Do you have anything from your grandparents that particularly means a lot to you?
Jeff: Now that I think of it, I don’t think they’ve trickled down that far. Just sort of to my aunts and uncles and my mom, but that’s cool. Sometimes people don’t have people to hand those things down to and it will end up at an estate sale.
Greta: Exactly. That’s always kind of depressing, isn’t it?
Jeff: It is, but not for the person that picks that up. It begins a new life.
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Discussion
Greta has her grandmother’s wedding ring. She is lucky to have it. She has a big family, and sometimes it’s hard to decide who gets the heirlooms.
Jeff has a big family too, but he finds that since people have different interests, it’s usually easy to figure out how things will get passed down.
Greta feels bad about items that could be heirlooms but end up at estate sales because no one in the family wants them. Jeff thinks it’s OK because the item starts a whole new life.
Does your family have any heirlooms? What items do you hope to pass down to your children or grandchildren?
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