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.
In the book Into the Wild, Christopher McCandless goes, alone, to the wilderness of Alaska. He doesn’t want to be around people, so he becomes a hermit and, sadly, dies a lonely death.
Unless we follow Christopher’s sad example, most of us have other people in our day-to-day life. Having relationships in our life is part of what makes us human. Most of us have developed fulfilling relationships with our friends and family, the people we can call in good times and bad times. In other words, our community.
Of course, it’s good to be self-sufficient and work to take care of oneself and one’s family. But it’s also healthy to enjoy friends and the people in our community. We learn and grow when we care for other people.
What are Gary and Rafael’s thoughts on community? Explore today’s English lesson to learn more.
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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Gary: Since I moved to my new home, I have been so lucky to have developed relationships with so many new people. I don’t feel lonely. And what’s great is if anything goes wrong, if there’s an emergency, I actually have someone to call.
Rafael: OK. Well, I just hope you’re not one of those people that is so friendly that I might just be chilling in my house and then your face is right there outside the window.
Gary: Oh, well, if I did, I’d show up with pizza.
Rafael: OK, that’d make it a little better.. but in general, unless it’s an emergency, I don’t want people coming around, nosing their head around my property.
Gary: OK, so you don’t want a nosy friend.
Rafael: Yeah, I don’t want nosy neighbors.
Gary: I’ve found that the people I’ve met, it’s a really fulfilling relationship. So they have something that they like to talk about. I do, too. And at the end of it, we both feel really great and then go about our own day-to-day business.
Rafael: I guess I’m a self-sufficient guy. I take care of myself.
Gary: I’m going to take this pizza and go home then.
Rafael: Hold on a sec…
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Gary tells Rafael that he has made great new friends since he moved to his new home. Because Gary has lots of people in his life, he’s not lonely and he knows that he can call somebody if he has a problem.
Rafael, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to want other people in his life. He hopes Gary won’t suddenly appear at his house. Even when Gary jokes about bringing a pizza if he visits Rafael, it sounds like Rafael would rather be alone.
Do you spend more time with your community or alone? Have you ever had a nosy neighbor?
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