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Cousins

Learn the Past Perfect Tense

Date: Jan 16 2012

Themes: Family

Grammar: Past Perfect Tense

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Intro

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Brothers and sisters can be a lot of fun. But sometimes cousins are even better. They’re family, so you share a special bond with them. But you probably don’t have to see them every day, and you don’t have to worry about sibling rivalry with your cousins.

Ella recently went to Thailand, where her family is from. She met 13 cousins she hadn’t seen since she was a very young girl. Find out if they hit it off as she and Jason talk about cousins.

Dialog

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

Jason

Ella

Jason: So I only have one family member who lives here in town, and it’s a cousin. I really don’t see him all that much. He’s really cool, but, I don’t know, for some reason we just don’t call each other out of the blue very often. Are you very close with your cousins?

Ella: Well, I wouldn’t say close. I just met 13 of them when I was in Thailand last month, which was a trip. I was not prepared for that. I have a lot of cousins.

Jason: Yeah, I think I might have, like, 14 total, let alone 13 I’ve never met.

Ella: Yeah, that was just my dad’s side. It was weird, because I hadn’t seen them since I was really young, but when I met them I felt an instant connection, like, “Weird, I don’t know these people, but I automatically love them.”

Jason: That’s amazing. So you had a connection immediately upon seeing them for the first time?

Ella: Yes. It was weird. Like on my mom’s side and my dad’s side, the cousins I met, it was really awesome. I’m just overall pretty close with my family.

Jason: Do you think it’s important to stay in touch with your cousins?

Ella: I definitely do. I try to talk to them at least once a week.

Jason: Wow. All of them?

Ella: Facebook most of them. But I’ll be on the phone with a couple different ones every week.

Jason: Woah. I gotta get better about hanging out with my cousin.

Ella: You should.

Jason: I’ll give him a call really soon.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

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Jason lives in the same town as his cousin, but they rarely see each other, even though they like each other and have things in common. Ella has many more cousins than Jason. In fact, she just met 13 cousins on a trip to Thailand. As soon as she met them, she felt a strong connection to them.

Ella thinks it is important to stay in touch with your cousins. She keeps up with her cousins through Facebook and talks to them on the phone as often as possible. She thinks Jason should make more of an effort to spend time with his cousin, especially since they are lucky enough to live in the same town.

How many cousins do you have? Are you close with them? How do you stay in touch?

Comments

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Mari-yam

Mali

i have so much cousins!!!!! i don’t know all of them but the ones with who i’m in touch are really reliable and we have a lot of fun together !!! but most of them are boys lol

Love off

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

don’t talk about them i have more than 20 cousins.many boys,many girls may be we’re 28,or 30.

Nina_Smith

Australia

cousins?:)

my mother just has a sister my aunt has a child,but my father has 3 sisters and a brother,and in my father’s family i have 6 cousins 2 boys and 4 girls:)

princessanika

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

OH I HAVE JUST 6 COUSINS THEY ARE VERY CUTE

Jeanne1788

China

Kropeczka, i have the same feeling with you, at the begining, i believe this website is boring and ugly, you know, so many guys for serve sex in the chating room, and they often say helo, where are you, and male or female, the boring chating, and dirty intention, howere, i find the bright here, people here discuss together, write together and learn together, i like the TV files in this forum, so funny and vivid, i wanna learn more english here, thank you, the creater of this website

La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

I have 27 cousins...

I’m not so close to them, because they’re either older than me or much younger.. I have only one of them as the same age as me, but we’re a bit different and there’s no harmony between us.. but you know? I like playing and kidding with my little cousins, those under 5..

Aya63

Egypt

This lesson is very perfect. i loved it very much.

jouana

Lebanon

I wish i have cousins here where i live now, sometimes cousins help you a lot especial when you feel alon and you need somebody close to you to tell about your problem ,but sometimes cousins make your life worse for jealousy and competition

SuzySDA

Germany

My father and my mother were both the only child of their parents. So I have no first cousins.

AUL

Azerbaijan

My cousins are very important for me…they are the same with my brother and sister and even if i can share with them such things that i cant share with my sister or brother

i love them :)

julito

Argentina

Candy , I agree with you that is important (in spite of the distance) to stay in touch from time to time with your next of kin . keep it that way.

susan koh

Malaysia

kukuka

Ukraine

I don’t have cousins at all…no one… just one brother. Am I lucky? I think yes! I don’t think I actually need that many relatives…but who knows maybe I’d change my opinion if I had such a chance. Anyway I’ll never get to know it. So, I think we’d better let it go at that.

whipiry

South Korea

connections of siblings and relatives are important . at present, social network is awesome. they can stay in touch with one anothor. I might have many siblings, let alone most of them I have never met.

julito

Argentina

Kropeczka ,hello. I had the same thought that it could be a irrelevant topic. How wrong I was. so far ,almost 80 posts about this “boring” subject.

Kropeczka

Poland

In the beginning I thought it will be quite boring lesson. Now I’m suprised how interesting it became.

I like topics and conversations connected to people’s feelings. I like your intelligent and sensitive comments and I’m really glad I’ve found this website. Thank you all, guys.

Gobsmacker

Germany

I have a few cousins, to be exact: I have three male cousins and 5 female cousins plus quite a few removed ones too. Three of them are a lot older than me and live in England, have their jobs, girlfriends, husbands and kids. They have their own lives and I’m okay with that. They all send me Birthday and Christmas presents though and we usually see them over Christmas where they are really nice and you can see that they are actually interested in me and my sisters it’s just they have quite busy lives. Then three of my cousins live in Germany (like me) but they are all a lot younger than me and I can’t quite relate to them. We often go over for short weekend visits though. Then I have two other cousins in England who are also a bit younger than me but we get on really well. We see them as much as we can despite the distance and have spent several Christmases and holidays in France together. When we can’t visit we occasionally phone, write letters or skype. I hope to stay in touch with them in future!

soko87

Mongolia

yes i have many cousins but i just am close to 3 of them. it is maybe cause of sibling rivalry. i want to improve my connection to them :D

kotlesya

Belarus

snoopyboy,thank you very much for the detailed answer. I appreciate your honestly and openess.

snoopyboy

Antarctica

Kotlesya my real mother has two other kids, but now that I don’t live with my mother and them, I somehow begin to develop a stronger relatiponship with them. I love her to death, but sometimes she gets jealous of my mom, the one who raised me. she sometimes try to turn me against my adotive family and I ‘d feel like an hypocrit if I do…

I lke your island analogy… very clever! (:

I read your comment, and there’s nothing I would add.