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Cousins
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Cousins
堂兄弟姐妹

Learn the Past Perfect Tense

Date: Jan 16 2012

Themes: Family

Grammar: Past Perfect Tense

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.

兄弟姐妹会带来众多乐趣。但是有时候堂兄弟姐妹更好。他们是你的家人,所以和你有特殊的关系。但是你不必天天和他(她)们见面,也不用担心和他(她)们发生如同兄弟姐妹之间的争执。
艾拉最近去了泰国,那是她的家乡。她见到了久未谋面的13个堂兄弟姐妹。听她和詹森谈论她的堂兄弟姐妹,看看他们是否合得来。

Dialog

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

Jason

Jason

Ella

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.

 

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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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shokouh75

shokouh75

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I have a lot of cousins ! in fact , everyone in my famile has two or more children , like mu aunts , and I am close with some of them _ who are the same age with me _ , and I usually meet them in parties that we have . Or my aunts have . And there I try to speak with them about everything I like , about them , and this way I try to stay in touch

11:05 AM Jan 16 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

Kropeczka  ,    One of my dreams is to have money  and invite  to all members of my family for a party,then ,I realize that some of them are not getting along well and wouldn´t showed up at all . And  my dream shatters to pieces. Every family has an story after all

10:36 AM Jan 16 2012 |

Kropeczka

Kropeczka

Poland

And what can we do with that?


I like the Buttafly’s idea of annual family meetings but it’s so difficult to organize such kind of gathering these days. don’t you think?

10:28 AM Jan 16 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

Dear friends,  I see that we all share the same feelings ,i have also many cousins , and some are more like brothers and sisters to me.   


KROPECZKA   . That is what  is happenning now, After a lifelong relationship ,we  only met at wedding and funerals (more funerals though) sooo weird .  

10:15 AM Jan 16 2012 |

Eleniya

Eleniya

Russian Federation

My cousins live in Germany. I rarely meet them, it’s a bit sad… Miss them a lot.

09:46 AM Jan 16 2012 |

Sir_pouria_H

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I love my cousins.You know just I have one sister.So my cousins are very close to  me.They are like my siblings.


Some of them live in our neighborhood.And I contact with others through facebook,sms,etc.

09:13 AM Jan 16 2012 |

adel m

adel m

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

i have’t cousins . it is make me sad

09:06 AM Jan 16 2012 |

1 person likes this

kotlesya

kotlesya

Belarus

julito, yes it is so sad to hear it. The independence and disconnection are not good things to have, especially among relatives. At least the seldom and tiny attention should exist.

08:43 AM Jan 16 2012 |

kotlesya

kotlesya

Belarus

Buttafly, I heard the same viewpoint as you have just mentioned  ”We don’t choose our parents, brothers, sisters, cousins etc. we all should accept them as they are, but we are able to choose our friends and people we like to be with” – it is partly correct statement, but for me noone in this world can be closer  than my family is. I have got 4 cousins from my father’s side ( two brother and two sisters). Thanks to the Internet (Skype, Facebook etc.) It allows us to “meet” each other from time to time, because there is no possibility for us to meet in person as often as we would like. The long distance is between us. We all are not close, but we get on well together.

08:34 AM Jan 16 2012 |

aian

Iraq

I want learn english

07:58 AM Jan 16 2012 |

Kropeczka

Kropeczka

Poland

I have many cousins all around the world but I’m not close with them. Most of them live too far away, they’re much older or younger than me or I haven’t seen them at all. I know it’s weird but usually we meet at weddings and funerals.


Julito, your comment makes me sad. I hope your brother will find a connection to you and your other siblings. Life is too short to spend it without family, alone…

07:17 AM Jan 16 2012 |

maxtermind15

Pakistan

I have 22 cousins but I just closed with two of them


Because I haven’t time to keep in touch with all of them


& the another reason is that every person have is own views and personality


and its difficult that different person with different views can adjust in one place


05:23 AM Jan 16 2012 |

javier armando

Peru

Ive got lots of cousins like around 20 ones , but I am not pretty close with me due we live far away from each other and we rarely meet for a chat and as Ella´s case I also stay in touch through facebook from now and then.

04:15 AM Jan 16 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

I have fourth siblings, I am on good terms  with three of them but  I can not say the same of  the other one, He lives in Brazil ,I hardly ever  know about him .We are a close-knit family  ,we don´t know why  our brother  for many years  has disconnected his life from us. so sad.

02:26 PM Jan 14 2012 |

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