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.
Have you ever thought of leaving it all behind? Have you ever taken a vacation and packed only one backpack full of clothes? People all over the world love backpacking! All you need is clothing, some food, and you are ready to dive in!
Backpacking is the perfect way to travel if you want to visit many cities while only carrying a few things. You have the potential of meeting new people, while staying at hostels and hiking in new places. You have to remember to bring a couple of changes of clothing, or you will become very stinky!
Brian and Andy are talking about backpacking. Find out what they think in today’s 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.
Andy_H: So, Brian, I am a scout, and I’ve done lots of hiking, but I haven’t really gone to what most people would call backpacking, you know? Picking everything up, living out of your suitcase for months at a time. Have you had any experience doing that?
Brian: You know, I did do that. It wasn’t necessarily hiking in the wild. But I took a backpacking trip across Europe. So, I basically had just my backpack, all of my belongings, a couple of changes of clothing. And I would stay at youth hostels, I would check into a couple of hotels where I couldn’t find a hostel. I didn’t think I’d like it. I’m pretty particular. But it ended up being my dream vacation.
Andy_H: I bet you were really stinky.
Brian: You know all the hostels had showers, I kept myself very clean. The potential for meeting new people was amazing. Being in Ireland and just meeting residents and other travelers from Canada, from India…just a whole, huge community of people living in one hostel and getting to know each other and sharing groceries… it was really fascinating.
Andy_H: But didn’t the language barrier scare you? I just have these nightmares of walking in and seeing maybe some students from China or Germany, and them just laughing at me because I’m an American who can only speak English.
Brian: That is definitely a possibility, but it’s one of those things where you just have to dive in and be gracious, and hopefully, those people will be gracious with you, too.
Andy_H: Well, I don’t know, maybe I’ll give it a try. But I do enjoy my own shower.
Brian: A quick tip is that you can always bring your laptop and Skype with friends, so that way you still get the comforts of home
Andy_H: All right.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Verbs with "-ing"" from this lesson
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Discussion
Andy is asking Brian about backpacking. He has done lots of hiking but hasn’t tried backpacking yet. He asks Brian if the language barrier scared him. Andy admits he had nightmares about other people laughing at him because he only speaks English.
Brian tells Andy about his backpacking trip across Europe. He tells Andy how he stayed at youth hostels and met travelers from Canada, India, and a whole community of people staying at the hostels. He loved meeting new people and sharing his culture. He tells Andy to Skype with friends next time he goes backpacking so he can still get the comforts of home.
Have you ever been backpacking? Where would you go?
Comments
China |
Algeria |
China |
Turkey |
Russian Federation |
Japan |
India |
Canada |
Colombia |
Brazil |