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.
Famous chefs know how to cook food perfectly. They know how long to bake chicken, how long to keep vegetables in the pan, and, perhaps most importantly, which spices to use when. In fact, the secret to cooking well doesn’t start in the kitchen but in the garden.
Growing herbs is the best way to add freshness and flavor to foods. It might help to have a green thumb, but you can learn some tricks if you want a prolific herb garden. Use natural fertilizers to keep your plants healthy, and make sure they get plenty of water. When you’re ready to start cooking, you can just go outside, pick some fresh herbs, and all of a sudden, your food will taste much better.
Rafael and Marni are talking about plants. Learn who has a green thumb in today’s English lesson about gardening.
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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Rafael: Every plant I try to grow… every plant… I kill it.
Marni: Oh, I’m so sorry. Well, it sounds like you don’t have much of a green thumb. But I have to tell you, right now, I have an amazingly prolific herb garden.
Rafael: Really?
Marni: Yes. I just love growing herbs. I find it so therapeutic. Everything smells so good, and they’re so good for you. I use them in cooking, and I also use them as teas. I use a lot of natural fertilizers, but I definitely think that herbs… I can’t say enough good things about them. They’re really good for your health.
Rafael: Well, sometimes I’m just walking by people’s gardens, and I can smell the pungent fertilizer. And I think to myself, “That’s way over the top.”
Marni: Yeah. No, I don’t like to use a lot of fertilizers. I like to be able to smell the plants themselves. Lavender. Sage. Rosemary. All those wonderful smells.
Rafael: Nice and natural, right?
Marni: Exactly. So you should come over, and I’ll give you a little tutorial on how to grow herbs. It’s not that hard.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Rafael tells Marni that he isn’t good at gardening. In fact, he kills every plant he tries to grow. Marni agrees that Rafael doesn’t have a green thumb, but she might be able to help.
Marni loves gardening, and she has lots of herb plants that are growing well. Marni uses her herbs for cooking and for making tea. She loves how they smell, and she knows they’re really healthy, too.
Rafael doesn’t like the smell of fertilizers some people use. Marni says she does use natural fertilizers, but she doesn’t like to use a lot of fertilizers, either. For her, the smell of the actual plants is important, not the dirt.
Marni invites Rafael over. She wants to give him a lesson on growing herbs, so hopefully his garden will start to grow as well.
Do you grow herbs? What kinds of plants would you put in a garden?
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