English, baby!

American Dream

Date: Dec 09 2004

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.

Have you heard of the American dream? What does it mean to you? In this lesson, Derek and Steph talk about the American dream.

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.

Steph

Derek

Steph: So, a friend of mine told me that the American dream is the dream to do better than your parents. What do you think about that?

Derek: I think that sounds pretty good. Ya know, I think it kind of is, um, to raise your standard of living or, ya know, to be able to make your own way in the world.

Steph: Yeah. Those are pretty lofty goals. I mean, I think a lot of us just, we wanna have a job and a house and a car and a family.

Derek: Yeah. Some basics that not everybody in the world gets. So, I suppose that makes it a nice dream for some.

Steph: That’s true. Do you think it would be really easy or hard for someone to move here and to, um, attain the American dream?

Derek: I suppose as long as you’re willing to hang onto the dream, it doesn’t really matter how hard it is or how difficult it may be at some point, just to get there.

Steph: That’s true, yeah. Well, I hope that it’s not too hard.

Derek: Yeah. The easier the better, but.

Steph: Right.

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Discussion

I think the American dream is to have a house and a family and to live happily. In a lot of ways, people can do that in America, but it’s not as easy as it looks on TV. It’s not uncommon in America for both parents to work so much that they have very little time for their families.
Not that I want to bum you out if you are thinking about coming to America to pursue the American dream, but you might want to think hard about it first.
Have a good weekend!
Stephanie

Comments

papay

Indonesia

Everyone has a dream, but not every dream will come true.

Whitney S

Colombia

I hope I can be as a good person as my mother is :)

sikaboudymaro@yahoo.com

Egypt

my dream is not to do better than my parents but is to try to achieve what my parents dream of for me in this stage and time. it is to defeat the challenges and climb the ladder of success.