Learn English with this popularity English lesson

Intro

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

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• hands down
• guaranteed
• shining
• function

• cliques
• underdog
• wallflower
• insecure

• hold up well
• compare

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

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Do you remember “the cool kids” in school? They probably hung out in cliques and weren’t interested in spending time with the underdogs or a shy and quiet wallflower. The interesting thing about popular people is that while they seem to have everything, they’re often as insecure as everybody else. When you start to compare yourself to people who seem to attract more attention than you do, remember that they have the same worries and fears as the rest of us.

Everyone wants to feel accepted, hands down. We want to feel like people care about us. But not everyone cares about being popular and bringing attention to themselves. Popularity can bring good things, but it’s no guarantee for the perfect life. Think about how celebrities have to live. Would you want to be followed and photographed all the time?

Find out what Greta experienced in school as she tells Mason her story in this English lesson about popularity.

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.

Greta

Mason

Greta:  Were you popular in school?

Mason:  I feel like I fell towards the middle of the popularity spectrum, but I don’t think I was unpopular.

Greta:  I had this brief, shining moment in junior high where I was in the “in” crowd. I had my clique. I was awesome. And then they all had a meeting, and they decided that since my mom would not let me hang out with boys, they really couldn’t be bothered with spending time with me because I could never go to any functions where there were boys. So they literally had a popularity contest, and I lost! So they informed me, and I was kind of a wallflower overnight.

Mason:  That is terrible. But thinking back on a bunch of junior high school-aged girls, not being able to hang out with boys is a pretty black mark on your record.

Greta:  Absolutely. And I will say that I’ve kept up with where they are, and I am way prettier than them now, so I feel OK about it.

Mason:  I do find that the popular kids in junior high and high school don’t hold up well. The ones who were kind of the underdogs or whatever, they age nicely.

Greta:  They absolutely do.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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