Learn English with this fads English lesson

Intro

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

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• viral
• performance art
• show up
• Santa Claus

• protest
• spontaneous
• in public
• issue

• security
• fad

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

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You’re just downtown in the city, minding your own business. All of a sudden, dozens of people run into the street. One of them starts the music, and the next thing you know, everyone starts dancing! What is going on? Is it a protest? Performance art?

It may actually be a flash mob. Flash mobs are a recent name for a spontaneous gathering where people do something strange in public. A flash mob might exist to protest something, or bring attention to an issue. Or it might just be about having fun and acting crazy.

Find out what Mason and Lily know about flash mobs in this fads English lesson.

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.

Lily

Mason

Lily:  Have you been hearing about these things, these flash mob things? I’ve seen them on the internet, they’re on YouTube, they’re these viral videos. Do you have any idea what that is?

Mason:  Yeah, well actually, I did a flash mob a few years back.

Lily:  What?

Mason:  It was kind of a performance art piece. There’s this thing called SantaCon where you just dress up like a Santa, and you get told right before where to show up, and hundreds of people just show up as Santas.

Lily:  Oh. I was wondering why there were so many Santas on the street last year. That’s interesting.

Mason:  It happens every year, and it’s usually in a public space, and it’s kind of become a bit of a fad to do around the holidays, obviously.

Lily:  What’s the deal? Why is it such a big thing? Do you know?

Mason:  In that case, it’s mostly just because it’s stupid fun. But there is certainly a much more politically-motivated side of flash mobs, where it’s trying to call attention to an issue or something, and, maybe for security reasons, people can’t know where they’re going to show up until right before, because otherwise there would be cops there to stop them.

Lily:  Oh, so it could be a protest, or performance art. That’s pretty cool.

Mason:  It’s fun or maybe effective at getting something out there.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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