Learn English meaning of ‘high maintenance’

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• backpack
• anywhere
• hostel
• drift

• ice
• sunscreen
• high maintenance
• absorb

• occasional
• exposure

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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You and a friend have decided to backpack through the Alps. You are very excited about seeing some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. You are the type of person who could sleep almost anywhere. Cheap hostels? No problem. A tent in the woods? Absolutely. You like to drift from place to place without any agenda, and don’t need very many things to be comfortable.

Your friend, however, wants to check into expensive hotels. He would never be able to sleep in a cheap hostel! He needs to have ice in all his drinks and apply sunscreen every hour. You might say that your friend is very high maintenance. When someone is high maintenance, this means that they need a lot of attention, and a lot things, to be comfortable. Your high maintenance friend is probably a lot of fun at fancy restaurants, but hiking through the woods might not be his thing.

Dominique and Kelsey are at the river. One of them admits to being pretty high maintenance. Which one do you think it is? Watch and find out!

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.

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

Dominique

Kelsey

Andy_H

Dominique:  Where would you go if you had two weeks?

Kelsey:  Like anywhere?

Dominique:  Anywhere.

Kelsey:  Ugh… I don’t know! Right now, Nashville.

Dominique:  Nashville?! Really?

Kelsey:  Yeah! It’d be fun! All the music there… super inspiring. Or maybe, backpack around Europe.

Dominique:  Eww. Really? Backpack?

Kelsey:  Yeah! Wouldn’t it be fun? No real plan, just drift from city to city, stay in hostels, meet people, absorb everything.

Dominique:  I’d be into Europe, but I’ll be honest, I am way too high maintenance to go backpack. I’d want to pack for an occasional fancy dinner, casual times, beach times, museum times, travel days… Tell me you’re here.

Andy_H:  Well, almost. Actually, I haven’t left, yet.

Dominique:  What? Here, you talk to him.

Kelsey:  Where are you?

Andy_H:  Still at home. I got the cooler, but I wanted to check in and see if you wanted me to grab anything to put in it.

Kelsey:  ICE, Andy!

Andy_H:  Oh, yeah. Snacks? Drinks?

Kelsey:  We have those, we just need the cooler and ice.

Andy_H:  Cool! Will do! I just need to put on some sunscreen and then grab a towel and, maybe, extra clothes to change into afterwards, and then I’ll be right out the door!

Kelsey:  Speaking of high maintenance.

Dominique:  Just put some on when you get out here.

Andy_H:  You’re supposed to put it on 20 minutes before exposure to the sun.

Kelsey:  Andy, get in the car, and get out here!

Andy_H:  OK, it’s just that, in my dream last night, I forgot to put on sunscreen, and it was a really big deal because I…

Kelsey:  Andy! Later! Put! Body! In! Car!

Andy_H:  OK. OK. OK!

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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