Hitchhiking

Intro

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

• creepy
• freaked out
• thumbing it
• universal

• break down
• shoulder
• pick me up
• vulnerable

• pull over
• resort to

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

If your car breaks down and you’re very far from home, all you can do is hope someone will give you a ride.

Trying to get a ride from strangers is called hitchhiking. Some people like to hitchhike and use it as a free way to travel around. They sit on the shoulder with their thumb out and a sign with the name of the city they’re trying to get to.

Other people only do it in emergencies because it can be dangerous. You never know who will pick you up and you could be vulnerable in the car of a stranger.

But hitchhiking can be fun too. You could meet someone really cool or end up with a good story to tell. Listen to Marni and Jason talk about their hitchhiking experiences.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Jason

Marni:  So, have you ever gone hitchhiking or used hitchhiking as a…

Jason:  I have but only out of necessity. Like, I was on a bike trip and my bike broke down and I had to hitchhike back to civilization to get it fixed.

Marni:  Yeah. I resorted to it once in the same sort of situation where it was like, car ran out of gas. It was totally scary on the highway and a really creepy guy picked me up. Luckily, I was with my boyfriend at the time…

Jason:  Oh OK.

Marni:  ...so I wasn’t alone, but I was freaked out.

Jason:  Yeah.

Marni:  Yeah. But I was just thinking about…I have a friend who’s in the Peace Corps in Malawi right now and that’s how everyone in that country gets around, is hitchhiking.

Jason:  Just all the time?

Marni:  Yeah. So he just hitchhikes all the time.

Jason:  Wow.

Marni:  It’s just, like, how they do it.

Jason:  It’s not that dangerous though because it’s just the commonplace mode of transportation.

Marni:  Exactly. And I was just thinking how fascinating that would be if that was part of our culture, just hitchhiking everywhere.

Jason:  So is every street just full of people thumbing it?

Marni:  I guess. And I don’t even know…it would be interesting. I don’t know how he does it, like if that’s a universal symbol, the whole thumb thing, or maybe there’s some other crazy symbol that they have. Or maybe you just stand.

Jason:  And people stop and pull over.

Marni:  Exactly. It’s like a bus. It would be awesome.

Grammar Point

Go Super to learn "Phrasal Verbs" from this lesson

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3