English, baby!

Childhood Characters

Date: Apr 30 2001

Go Super!

Intro

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

A-team

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

We all have our favorite childhood characters. Most of them come from tv shows that are no longer running, but we still remember how cool they seemed. Here are Tanis and Nedra talking about some of the ones they remember, and still like!

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.

Tanis

Nedra

Tanis: Nedra I saw that you came in this weekend and put up some pictures around your desk?

Nedra: Yeah. I couldn’t help it. I had to decorate my cube.

Tanis: Your cube? You keep saying that, but there are no cubes here!

Nedra: I know. It’s just, it’s habit.

Tanis: So, uh, I have a question about some of your icons up there.

Nedra: What’s that?

Tanis: Well I see Mr. T and I see Wonder Woman so I think you have some explaining to do!

Nedra: Um, just, ah, generally, ah, icons from the past, um, you know, Wonder Woman was one of my idols when I was a kid.

Tanis: Did you have the Underoos?

Nedra: Yes I did!

Tanis: I did too!

Tanis: But I had Batgirl.

Nedra: Oh, yeah? Batgirl’s cool!

Tanis: Yeah.

Nedra: I had, I wore those for Halloween one time.

Tanis: Oh, no way?!

Nedra: Yeah.

Tanis: I wanted the Wonder Woman because it was, you know, littler.

Nedra: Um Hm.

Tanis: The Batgirl was more like an undershirt.

Nedra: Yeah.

Tanis: And the Wonder Woman was more like a, a bra.

Nedra: Okay.

Tanis: But I only had the Batgirl.

Nedra: Uh huh.

Tanis: I don’t know why, but.

Nedra: That’s pretty cute!

Tanis: Anyways, and then what about Mr. T?

Nedra: Oh, my dad used to watch A-team all the time.

Tanis: Uh huh.

Nedra: So I couldn’t help but not know who Mr. T was and, um, we actually used to joke on the playground and say, “I PITY THE FOOL!” all the time.

Tanis: What was that?

Nedra: “I PITY THE FOOL!”

Tanis: That’s pretty good!

Lesson MP3

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Discussion

It’s fun to talk about cool things from our childhood. Famous characters and toys always make us laugh because we liked them so much, and now they seem so insignificant.
This conversation has more lines than usual. This is because Nedra does a good job of affirming things that Tanis says. This is a good thing when speaking English, because it shows that you are listening.
Do you have some favorite childhood toy or character? Tell us about it at the Life Goes On message board. It’s great practice, and an Ebaby! staff member will help you with your English!
See you next week!
—John