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Young Adult

How to Make Comparisons

Date: Jan 24 2012

Themes: School

Grammar: Comparatives and Superlatives

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Intro

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Most people are happy to leave high school behind and begin their adult lives. But in the new movie Young Adult, the main character is a woman whose grown up life hasn’t yet started, even though she’s been out of high school for years.

In the film, Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, an author of young adult novels, who acts more like the teenagers in her books than a mature woman. When Mavis decides that her high school sweetheart was really her soul mate, she returns to her hometown to try to win him back—even though he’s already happily married and the proud father of a baby daughter. Hear Amy and Jason talk about Young Adult, and their own experiences in high school.

Dialog

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

Jason

Amy

Jason: Young adult novels seem to be popular now with people who aren’t even young adults.

Amy: It’s true, I mean, Twilight, that definitely has crossed over.

Jason: Yeah. Why is that? I mean, what’s with the young adult scene?

Amy: I don’t know. Maybe there are a lot of people out there who just haven’t grown up.

Jason: Huh.

Amy: Yeah, it’s like that new movie Young Adult.

Jason: What’s that about?

Amy: Well, it’s about a writer of young adult novels who kind of hasn’t grown up herself. She still wishes she were back in high school. And she’s kind of this mean girl who was really popular in high school, and just hasn’t done very much with her life. So she ends up going back to her hometown and trying to win back her high school boyfriend, who’s now married with a baby.

Jason: Oh. It’s interesting to me that she idealizes high school, because I always suspected that writers of young adult novels actually had a really bad high school experience, and that they were sort of compensating for it by writing about it in their adulthood.

Amy: Right.

Jason: Because it seems like the heroes of those books are often awkward outcasts.

Amy: I agree that it’s weird. Like, she is not a character who I could identify with, because I was definitely happy to be done with high school, and would never look back on those years as the best years of my life. You know, I feel like it’s so much easier to be out of high school.

Jason: Wow. Yeah.

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Discussion

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Jason talks about the popularity of young adult novels, or novels written for and about teenagers. He says that many adults enjoy these novels, as well as younger people. Amy thinks these books might be popular with adults who haven’t fully grown up, like the main character in the new movie Young Adult.

In the film, an author of young adult novels who was popular but mean in high school returns to her hometown. She feels that high school was the best time of her life, and she wants to win back her high school boyfriend, who is now married to someone else.

Amy says she couldn’t identify with the main character in Young Adult, because she was happy to be done with high school. She doesn’t think she would ever want to return to that time in her life.
What was your high school experience like? Would you ever want to go back to high school? If you’re in high school now, are you looking forward to leaving high school?

Comments

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kotlesya

Belarus

Actually, you are right there is many interesting things you can do in the Internet world in case you have got full connection to the websites you want to visit :)

snoopyboy

Antarctica

Not at all… there’s so much to do on the world wide web, Cow!

Boredom kind of grew on me, in the form of moss : )

that’s how “idle” I am

kotlesya

Belarus

Are you bored with “idle” status?

julito

Argentina

Hope so, have a blessed day !!!

snoopyboy

Antarctica

Lead the way Cow : )

I get paid for twiddling my thumbs in front of computer screen….

so my duties are to stay idle : )

kotlesya

Belarus

Julito, are you leaving???? What a pity. Here are only two out of four. I’m still hope Anja will come soon

julito

Argentina

Romantic movies, hehe, I better get up and attend my duties. Bills are piling up. see you friends.

kotlesya

Belarus

“Cardinals” let’s go to the “Romantic movies”. We mess the stuff here :)

snoopyboy

Antarctica

yes! cow and it’s not the mark of the devil

I got the mark of a bootprints on my rear ; )

kotlesya

Belarus

Snoopyboy, please stop make me laugh, because my kids can’t understand why I’m laughing so much :)))))) Grizzly is not upset. He is very understandable bear. ;)