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.
It’s a hot summer day. All of the windows are open, but there is no wind. You’re so thirsty that you’re drinking a glass of water every hour. Suddenly, you remember the tomato plant your aunt gave you for your birthday. It’s in the garden, and you haven’t checked on it in two days. But when you go outside to water it, it has already died. The water you are bringing to your plant is too little, too late.
When you try to help a person or situation after a problem has ended or been solved, you’re too little, too late. Now matter how badly you want to help, if the help is too late to be useful, then it’s not needed. For example, if someone gives you an umbrella after you’ve been waiting for a bus in the rain for ten minutes, it’s not helpful anymore. You’re already wet, so you no longer need the umbrella.
Why does Jessica believe that their efforts to become friendly with the ghost are too little, too late? You can find out by reading today’s English lesson.
3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.
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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Jessica: So, I said, “Your apology is too little, too late. Next time, I’m telling Mom.”
Gary: How much longer until you move out your parents’ house and back into your apartment?
Jessica: One more week. Thank goodness.
Gary: Look at that.
Jessica: Can you believe this? We’d better get to work cleaning this up.
Gary: It’s behind the door. We might need the vacuum, too. There are beans everywhere.
Jessica: We’re going to need to scrub this with some type of cleanser. It’s really dirty. Where are the paper towels?
Gary: Hold on a sec. I have to ask. Who do you think did this?
Jessica: I think so. He’s been causing trouble for weeks. And the beans all over the floor. He’s saying, “I don’t want your beans. This is all too little, too late.”
Gary: Man!
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Simple Present Tense" from this lesson
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Discussion
Gary, Joun Kim, and Jessica enter the office, only to learn that Oscar has made a big mess. The food that Brian told his friends to leave for the ghost is on the floor, and the chairs are, too. Plus there’s garbage everywhere!
Everyone decides to get to work cleaning. It will take time, but it needs to be done. Jessica points out that Oscar is probably trying to tell them something. She thinks that he’s saying that it’s too late for them all to become friends.
Was the mess made by Oscar, or was it someone else? Has anyone ever told you that your efforts were too little, too late?
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