Taylor Swift

Intro

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

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• global mainstream
• in touch with oneself
• America's Sweetheart
• epic

• over-produced
• over-hyped
• break the mold
• cross genres

• fall from grace
• overrated

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

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Teenagers don’t have a very good reputation. They’re often accused of being ignorant, immature, or selfish. And, according to most adults, teen pop stars are even worse. Their lyrics are shallow and their music is over-produced and over-hyped.

Taylor Swift might be breaking that mold. The eighteen-year-old country music singer has gotten a lot of positive attention for her debut album, Taylor Swift. She writes her own songs, and her lyrics are pretty thoughtful. She’s also been praised for her ability to cross genres. Find out what Jason and Ella think about her.

Dialog

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

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

Ella

Jason

Ella:  Taylor Swift is overrated.

Jason:  I don’t think so at all. I think she’s the one country artist who might be able to break global mainstream.

Ella:  What? Her lyrics are so generic, and there’s no soul in it, you know?

Jason:  I don’t know, I think she’s a good songwriter. It seems like she’s more in touch with herself than a lot of grown-ups, you know?

Ella:  I mean, I guess she’s America’s Sweetheart, but there’s gotta be something bad about her, you know? There’s just nothing out there in the public to…

Jason:  Oh definitely. She’ll definitely have an epic, public fall from grace at some point.

Ella:  I’m excited for that.

Jason:  But before then, I think she might, you know…she might go global. She’s dated one of the Jonas Brothers. They wrote songs about each other. That’s pretty interesting.

Jason:  Yeah.

Ella:  I don’t know, I’m just not impressed by the music. I mean, it’s cool that she can go country and pop and rock, but…It just doesn’t seem very heartfelt.

Jason:  But I think it’s time. I think the world’s ready for a country star.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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