
Learn English with this sleeping English lesson
Date: May 17 2013
Grammar: Gerunds vs. Infinitives
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.
You’re in your pajamas, your teeth are brushed, and your face is washed. You’ve turned out the lights and you’re all ready for bed. There’s only one problem: you can’t sleep. You turn on the lights and try reading for a bit. You listen to music. You even count sheep. Nothing helps with your insomnia.
Or maybe you have no problem getting to sleep, but you wake up in the middle of the night. You think you’ll just be able to turn over and fall back asleep, but before you know it a half hour passes. Then another. Then it’s time for your alarm to go off, and you’ve been awake half the night. Sleep trouble is truly the worst. Find out about Mason and Lily’s experiences with insomnia in this sleep English lesson.
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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Lily: I have had so much trouble sleeping lately.
Mason: Really? Why’s that?
Lily: I get really anxious, and I can’t really wind down. I can’t stop thinking when I close my eyes to go to sleep.
Mason: So you find your problem is you can’t necessarily get to sleep when you want to go to sleep.
Lily: Yeah.
Mason: Whereas I find my problem is I can get to sleep OK, but then I’ll wake up in the middle of the night.
Lily: Oh, that’s the worst.
Mason: Yeah. It is the worst. I haven’t gone in and actually gotten myself diagnosed for insomnia or anything like that, but it’s been a real problem.
Lily: Have you tried taking any sleeping pills or anything like that?
Mason: I have, and I’ve had mixed results. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night having taken a pill.
Lily: Yeah, so you still end up waking up and then not only are you awake, you’re also kinda groggy too, right?
Mason: Yeah. So honestly, most times I end up just embracing it and I actually go sleep on the couch in the other room, because I need to toss and turn a little bit, and read a book, and in between an hour or two I’ll end up getting back to bed.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Lily has been having lots of trouble sleeping lately. She gets ready for bed, but once she’s lying down she can’t stop thinking. She just can’t wind down.
Mason has a different kind of sleeping problem. He falls asleep OK, but then he wakes up and can’t get back to sleep. He’s tried taking sleeping pills, but they don’t really work for him.
Mason has decided that, rather than fight his sleep trouble, he’s going to embrace it. When he wakes up, he actually gets out of bed. He goes to another room and reads a little, and then eventually falls back asleep.
Do you ever have trouble sleeping? What do you do to help you sleep? What advice would you give to someone with insomnia?
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