Learn English meaning of ‘six degrees of Kevin Bacon’

Intro

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

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• concept
• downtown
• come up
• pop up

• ridiculous
• event
• degree
• kindergarten

• mind-blowing

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

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William Shatner was in the movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock with John Larroquette. John Larroquette was in JFK with Kevin Bacon. Chris Pratt was in Moneyball with Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt was in Sleepers with Kevin Bacon. This game is called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. The concept is that every actor can be connected to Kevin Bacon by six movies or less. The idea popped up at a college event where three students decided that Kevin Bacon was the center of the entertainment universe.

The Kevin Bacon game comes from the concept called six degrees of separation. This concept says that every human on the planet can be connected to another human through six people or less. So, Kevin Bacon went to acting school with a guy named Fred, who dated Judy, who cut hair for Amir, who was your cousin’s kindergarten teacher. Congratulations! You are six degrees from Kevin Bacon! Mind-blowing, huh?

Romeo is fascinated with the concept of six degrees of separation. Listen as he explains the concept to Dominique in today’s English lesson.

Dialog

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

Romeo

Dominique

Romeo:  I’ve got to ask you this. You know how, like, Facebook will do these event pages and they tell you about your, your know, your friends that you follow that are also going to the event?

Dominique:  Yeah.

Romeo:  So, one popped up for this event that was going on downtown. And, two of my friends, who have never met each other…

Dominique:  OK.

Romeo:  ...were both going to be at that event.

Dominique:  Mmm hmm.

Romeo:  And I just thought, wouldn’t that be crazy if, for some reason, my name just happened to come up, and they’re like, “Hey! I know that guy!” and then the other guy’s like, “Hey, I know him, too.” It’s like total six degrees of separation. I mean, we’re talking, two people, from two different cities, that don’t even know that they both know me, being at the same place at the same time.

Dominique:  That is pretty crazy.

Romeo:  That’s the kind of concept I’m talking about.

Dominique:  Like, my kindergarten teacher ended up being my Mom’s best friend from grade school and, also, my neighbor. What?! Crazy!

Romeo:  Mind-blowing, huh?

Dominique:  It’s ridiculous how that works. Like, the world is so small.

Romeo:  Six degrees of Kevin Bacon is not just a game. The world is so small that you’re almost always going to run into somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody else that you also both know.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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