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.
People sometimes joke that a person they know is a “force of nature.” If your friend’s a force of nature, it means they’re strong and can accomplish anything. A true force of nature, like a hurricane or tsunami, can cause serious damage. It can happen out of the blue and leave homes and land destroyed.
Tornadoes are a type of severe weather that happens without warning. A tornado is a funnel of air moving as fast as 300 miles per hour, smashing homes, cars, and anything else in its way. Living through a tornado must be a terrible ordeal.
Marni shares her experiences living in a tornado prone part of the US in this lesson about weather.
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: Mason, there seems to have been a rash of tornadoes recently.
Mason: It seems like it. It seems that there have been some bad ones that have, at least, hit more populated areas.
Marni: You know, I grew up in the Midwest and I had a lot of experiences with tornadoes. Mostly taking shelter and tornadoes passing over, so it didn’t end up being such extreme weather. It is pretty scary, you know. It can be incredibly devastating and damaging.
Mason: So, what do you do in a tornado situation? Does everyone just have a basement or the storm cellar kind of thing?
Marni: When I first moved to the Midwest, actually, I had to spend about three hours in the basement of a mall because as soon as we got there, the tornado sirens were going off. There’s this protocol for wherever you are, essentially.
Mason: Malls have basements?
Marni: Malls have basements! I was thinking about storm chasers recently. These people really take their lives in their hands. It’s kind of crazy, to get this footage of these massive twisters. But I think it’s really interesting that people have taken that on as a profession. Obviously it’s showing us that weather just is not that predictable.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Marni is talking with Mason about the severe weather she experienced when she was younger. She shares that tornadoes were common where she lived, and that she often had to move someplace safe, like a basement, when a tornado was coming. Mason says that he recently heard about tornadoes hitting cities where a lot of people live and work.
Marni also wants to talk about “storm chasers,” or the people who follow tornadoes with cameras instead of hiding in a safe place. To her, it seems a little crazy to follow tornadoes when they’re so dangerous. After all, tornadoes can hurt and kill people and destroy their homes. Since Marni grew up in a tornado-prone part of the country, she knows how terrible it is to be anywhere near one.
Are tornadoes a problem where you live? Do you know anyone who has lived through a tornado? What do you think it feels like if a tornado is moving through your city?
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