Learn English meaning of ‘keeping a journal’

Intro

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

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• inclined
• development
• diary
• record

• gender specific
• experience
• debate
• settle

• purposeful
• subconscious

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

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If you are someone who is inclined to write, you may enjoy keeping a journal. A journal is a record of one’s thoughts and experiences. Keeping a journal can help you deal with difficult emotions. If you are having an internal debate about something, writing down your thoughts in a journal might help settle the matter.

If you don’t keep a journal, but would like to start, be sure to buy a notebook that is comfortable to write in. Writing with a nice pen will help, too. Find a time of day that works for you, and be purposeful about writing in it everyday. After awhile, you might find that journaling will help your growth and development as a person.

Andy wants to know if keeping a diary is the same thing as keeping a journal. Listen as he and Romeo try to settle this debate in today’s English lesson.

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.

Andy_H

Romeo

Andy_H:  All right, Romeo. I think it’s time that we here at Ebaby! settle the debate once and for all. Diary…

Romeo:  Let’s do it.

Andy_H:  ... or journal? What do men do? I mean, this is…the science on this is out.

Romeo:  Hmmm. Yeah, I don’t want to necessarily be gender specific…

Andy_H:  It doesn’t have to be.

Romeo:  ... but I do feel like men are more inclined to refer to it as a journal. And women refer to what they record and write down, you know, for whatever their experiences were for the day, as a diary.

Andy_H:  Diary! That’s been my experience. And you’re doing the same thing! You’re writing down your thoughts in a book or on your computer, and I think it’s purposeful. I mean, when I go back and read through my journal, I get to know myself. I mean, my subconscious can be really crazy. But it’s really important for my development to go back and just see where I was at… see what I was doing. I don’t care what word I throw at it. I think that it’s really important.

Romeo:  Did you… did you have to do that when you were in grade school? Like, write a journal as homework?

Andy_H:  Everyday. Well, for, you know, when I was in the third grade…

Romeo:  English or writing class, whatever it was.

Andy_H:  Mm-hm. I was tracking all of my, you know, I went to school today. I ate peanut butter and jelly. And looking back on it now, it’s really cool to see, you know.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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