Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Keeping a journal, or diary, can be a great way to document your life. Many people use a journal as a place to write down their feelings, adventures, or just their daily lives.
It can be especially rewarding to come across a journal that you kept when you were younger. Suddenly, all these memories that you might have otherwise forgotten are there for you on the page. In a way, with a journal, you can have the opportunity to live through those experiences again. Hear Marni and Devan discuss what it’s like to keep a journal.
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.
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Marni: I was recently packing up my parents’ house, and I came across all my old journals from high school.
Devan: Did you used to write in one every day?
Marni: I did! It was so amazing going back and reading it. It made me so nostalgic. It was just this written record of my life.
Devan: That’s such an amazing thing to have, to be able to look back and reflect on your old self and who you were at that time. I never kept a journal, so I can only go from memory. But you have it all documented. That’s so cool.
Marni: I think so, too. And there’s something about having it written down. It’s just this record of your life, and this progression from who you were and where you are now. I still like to journal. I don’t do it every day like I did in high school, but I still like to keep a record of my life and reflect on things I’ve done and things I’d like to change.
Devan: Were there things in there that you’d completely forgotten about?
Marni: Oh, yes. And some things that I’d like to forget about.
Devan: I keep a blog now. It’s kind of nice to have an online journal.
Marni: Absolutely!
Devan: Because then you can choose to share it with your family and friends if you want to as well, which makes it a little different from a diary. But it’s a good way to keep everyone informed on what’s going on in my life on a daily basis.
Marni: That’s true. I guess blogging’s sort of the new journaling.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Used to Do vs Be Used to" from this lesson
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Discussion
Marni was packing up some items at her parents’ house, and found some amazing documents: the journals that she kept in high school. She used to record everything that she did and thought about. Finding the journals now allowed her to reflect on who she was when she was younger, and who she is now. She still keeps a journal today, too, though she doesn’t write in it as often.
Devan thinks that keeping a journal is a great resource. She never kept a journal, so she must rely on her memory of what happened when she was younger. She does, however, keep a blog. The blog has some similarities to a journal, like the fact that it’s a record of her daily life, but it’s something she can easily share with her friends and family.
Marni agrees that blogs might be the journals of today.
Do you keep a journal, or did you when you were younger? What do you write in your journal? How about a blog? Do you think journals or blogs are better for recording your memories and experiences?
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