Vacation

Intro

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

  • top
  • matching
  • craziest
  • made the mistake of
  • road trip
  • sweet
  • shot gunned
  • trek
  • sweet

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

In the US, August is one of the most popular months to take a vacation. Americans go to National Parks like YellowstoneNational Park. They also visit some of the country’s cities like New York City and San Francisco. And sometimes they visit other countries too.
Listen to Kevin and Logan talk about some vacation memories.

3. Listen - Listen to the audio without reading the dialog.

Dialogue

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.

Kevin:So you got any, uh, big summer vacation plans?

Mason:Well I kinda already took my summer vacations. Uh, I took a road trip down…

Kevin:Sweet.

Mason:...Down to California. I did, uh… I shot gunned it down to Los Angeles in a day. Took me about four—

Kevin:Wow!

Mason:Took me about 14 hours, that was kind of a trek. Um, and then I was, I actually went to Belize for a couple of weeks, uh, which…

Kevin:Fantastic.

Mason:... was, was incredible, but, uh…

Kevin:I’ve never been. I’ve heard it’s really sweet.

Mason:You know, not my… certainly, they were, they were both fun, but I wouldn’t call ‘em my favorite vacations. What, like… if you were to pick your top vacation, right? What would it be?

Kevin:I can tell you, I think, one of my funniest vacations. When I was a kid, we, we, we boarded a plane to London, and my father pulled out six matching Gore-Tex jackets. I, I wore it, you know, but, like, we got caught in the turnstiles on the Tube, you know, it was really embarrassing, but un—unforgettable. I will never forget that vacation.

Mason:My craziest vacation actually is also a family vacation. But I met my parents, they decided to take a trip down to Italy and made the mistake of of renting a car. And if you’ve ever driven in Italy… Uh… it, it, it, like, it took three of us to drive the car. My Dad actually moved the mechanics, I had to, like, watch the road and the signs, and my mom was looking at the map and telling us where we were actually trying to get to. It was a three-man operation. Uh, I don’t think we’ve ever been more stressed.

Discussion

Kevin and Mason both have funny family vacation memories.
Kevin says he will never forget the matching jackets in London.
Renting a car in Italy was a stressful experience for Mason and his parents.
Do you take vacations with your family? Where do you like to go?

Grammar Point