English, baby!

Taking Risks

Date: Sep 10 2010

Themes: Hobbies, Sports

Grammar: Comparatives and Superlatives

Go Super!

Intro

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

Go Super to Listen

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

Go Super to Listen

Jumping out of a plane or kayaking over a waterfall may not be your idea of a fun way to pass the time. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you like to play it safe.

Introducing yourself to someone you don’t know, calling up that girl or guy you’ve had a crush on for years, or applying for a new job are all different ways of taking risks. Even trying to learn English can be risky! You might not succeed right away, but if you never take any risks you’ll probably miss out on a lot of cool experiences.

Find out if Beren and Jeff prefer to take risks or play it safe.

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.

Jeff

Beren

Jeff: Hey Beren, are you much of a risk taker?

Beren: I don’t know, what do you consider risky? Like bungee jumping, skydiving? Do you consider that risky? Because if that’s what you mean then I definitely play it safe. I don’t take many risks.

Jeff: Never gotten extreme?

Beren: No. I would say the riskiest thing I’ve done, or at least done recently, is gone skateboarding early in the morning when I had no business being on a skateboard without health insurance. That’s pretty risky.

Jeff: That’s a bummer. I don’t know. Near where I grew up. there was a river with a lot of bridges on it. We’d always go jumping off of rocks and bridges.

Beren: Woah, that’s pretty risky. Do you think it’s better to take risks or play it safe?

Jeff: It depends. I think as I get older I’ve become more conservative.

Beren: Me too.

Jeff: My wild teen years are over.

Grammar Point

Go Super to learn "Comparatives and Superlatives" from this lesson

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3

Go Super to Ask Ebaby! teachers your questions!

The iTEP^® test

Sponsored by

Schedule an iTEP^® test and take the official English Practice Test.
Take Now >

Discussion

Go Super to Listen

Beren doesn’t take a lot of risks. She has never done anything really extreme like bungee-jumping or skydiving. The biggest risk she ever took was skateboarding late at night. It sounds like she prefers to play it safe.

Jeff is a bit more of a risk-taker than Beren. When he was younger, he liked to jump off tall rocks and bridges into a river near his house. But now that he’s older, he has become less of a risk-taker. Beren agrees that when it comes to taking risks, she has become more conservative as she’s gotten older.

Do you like to take risks, or do you prefer to play it safe? What is the biggest risk you have ever taken?