Learn English with this apocalypse English lesson

Date: Dec 21 2012

Themes: News

Grammar: Comparatives and Superlatives

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Intro

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skeptic

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What does the date December 21, 2012, mean to you? If all you can come up with is that it’s the winter solstice, or that it’s four days before Christmas, then you’ve been out of the loop. This is the date when the calendar used by the Mayans, an ancient Central American people, ends. And that’s got some people convinced that it’s also the end of time.

So what that means is that lots of people are freaking out. They’re convinced that an apocalypse is coming. Zombies, superstorm, who knows what form the catastrophe will take? For all the believers, there are plenty of skeptics, too. Find out whether Marni and Greta believe in this English lesson about the apocalypse.

Dialog

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

Marni

Greta

Marni: I’ve been preparing. Because you know what 2012 is.

Greta: It’s the end of the Mayan calendar.

Marni: That it is. And I saw this great comic that was two people talking, two Mayans talking, and he had this Mayan calendar and he’s saying, “I only had enough room to go up to 2012.” The other character says, “That’s really gonna freak people out someday.” And I laughed, and I thought, I hope that’s true, you know? But yeah, a lot of people are really preparing for the end of time. So what do you think about that?

Greta: I think it’s a little silly. What form do you think the apocalypse will take?

Marni: When I think about things like huge storms and, you know, monsoons and typhoons and all those crazy natural disasters, I sort of think about, is this the end of times? When I think about those things happening. But, you know, it seems like it’s happening a lot more, but then things settle down, and we all sort of get back into daily routines, and I don’t know.

Greta: I’m hoping, if there is an apocalypse, that it’s a zombie apocalypse. I feel like I’m the most prepared to deal with that kind of apocalypse.

Marni: Really? Well, I’ll have to get some tips on how to survive the zombie apocalypse.

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Discussion

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Marni tells Greta that she has been getting ready for the big event at the end of 2012: the end of the Mayan calendar. Marni describes a cartoon that she saw in which two Mayans realized that ending the calendar would probably scare people. She thinks the cartoon was funny, but she also doesn’t know what to think about the end of time.

Greta thinks the whole thing is pretty silly. She asks Marni what kind of apocalypse she predicts will happen. Marni brings up all the extreme weather that’s been happening recently. She thinks the apocalypse could look something like that.

Greta takes a more humorous approach. She says that if zombies arrive for the apocalypse, then she’ll be ready.

Have you heard about the theory that the world is going to end on December 21? Do you believe it? If the world was going to end, what would you do to prepare?

Comments

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hot-cabbage

China

I don’t care if it is true,because i can’t do anything to prevent its coming.so do something well that i can control and give smiles to persons i loved everyday!

Adat

Costa Rica

It’s hard to clear out your mind with your own idea when everything going on on tv says the world is ending. When you are in a extreme natural disaster like an earthquake you think OMG this is happening, that’s all folks! But then when everything pass you don’t think about it anymore. The Bible says some catastrophes will come, but the earth has shocked since the beginning of the time, that’s not something recent. The end of the world will arrive someday but anybody knows when. Only thing you can do is to be prepare.