Learn English with this childhood English lesson
Date: May 24 2013
Grammar: Simple Past Tense
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.
Did you have a security blanket when you were little? Something that you took everywhere and needed to fall asleep? Security blankets are comforting to children, especially if they’re scared of the dark. Some kids believe their blankets will keep nightmares away. Other kids become attached to a favorite teddy bear or pacifier. Do you remember yours?
Adults seem to keep security blankets for mostly sentimental reasons. Maybe people like remembering a time when all of their problems could be solved by hugging a blanket or bear. It’s fun to look for childhood mementos in old boxes and experience the nostalgia.
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.
Lily: Greta?
Greta: Yes?
Lily: Do you still have a security blanket?
Greta: Yes, I do.
Lily: Really?
Greta: Well, I have the second generation security blanket.
Lily: What’s that?
Greta: My mom made a quilt when she was pregnant with me. It was homemade, and it was this beautiful quilt of a bunny. I slept with it every night and I carried it with me everywhere and it disintegrated. This was, like, five years ago. She had a new quilt made that was identical to the first quilt. So now as an adult, I have my original security blanket back.
Lily: That’s so cool!
Greta: It’s on my couch and I don’t think I’ll ever outgrow it. I am under it every time I watch TV. I have my security blanket around me.
Lily: That’s so great! I have mine, too, but mine is completely still torn to shreds. It’s basically only got sentimental value now. It’s kind of like a tattered rag at this point that used to have a duck on it. You know?
Greta: It’s so funny. It seems like kids just have this compulsion to have one thing that they attach all of this sentiment and connection to. I don’t know if I’ve ever known a kid who didn’t have something… either a stuffed animal or a blanket or something that they just carried around with them.
Lily: Pacifier!
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Lily and Greta are remembering what it was like to have a security blanket. Greta’s was a quilt that she used so much that it disintegrated, so her mom made a new one for Greta five years ago.
Lily thinks it’s pretty cool that Greta still has a security blanket after all these years, especially since Greta uses it every day. Lily has hers, too, but it’s not in great condition.
What kind of security blanket did you have when you were a kid? Do you still have it? Why do you think children need security blankets?
Comments
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