Welcome to the mini story for Bad Choices. Let’s get started with the story.

David Beckham is a man who wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to be a famous movie star and a famous football player. So he moves to Hollywood. He hooks up with Tom Cruise. They hit it off immediately. David likes Tom, Tom likes David. Beckham says, “The bottom line is that I want to be a movie star just like you, Tom. Can you help me?” Tom says “Of course, my gut tells me you will be a big success in Hollywood.” So Tom introduces Becks to a director who is very powerful. The director makes a movie with Beckham, but it’s a terrible movie. Everybody hates it and they hate Beckham. The public feels a powerful animosity towards Beckham. They can’t stand him. They yell at him. They throw things at him. 

Beckham can’t deal with the public’s animosity. He is a guy who is very sensitive. He becomes scared. He feels this is a dire situation. Beckham is so scared he won’t leave his house. He keeps the windows closed and the doors locked. He becomes paranoid and he won’t leave the house even to play soccer. Finally, his team manager calls and says, “This is a situation which is unacceptable. You’re fired!” Beckham cries, “No.” He has no job and nobody can stand him. 

Okay, let’s go back to the top. This time with questions. David Beckham is a man who wants to have his cake and eat it too. Does Beckham want two things but really he can only have one? Yes, that’s the exact meaning of to have his cake and eat it too. What does he want? What two things does he want? Well he wants to be a soccer player and a movie star. He wants both. But actually he must choose. He can only be one, either a movie star or a soccer player. He doesn’t have enough time or talent or skill to do both. But he wants both. He wants to have his cake and eat it too. 

Does Beckham want to have his cake and eat it too by being rich and good looking? Well no, actually, now. It’s possible to be rich and good looking. That’s okay, you can look good, you can be handsome and rich. You don’t need to choose between those two things. So that’s not the problem. He wants to have his cake and eat it too because he wants to be a famous soccer player and be a famous actor at the same time and this is not possible. He wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants both things but he can only have one. 

So he moves to Hollywood. He hooks up with Tom Cruise. Does he meet Tom Cruise? Yes he does, he meets Tom Cruise. Does he hook up with John Travolta? No, he doesn’t hook up with John Travolta. Does he hook up with Julia Roberts? No, he doesn’t hook up with Julia Roberts. Does he hook up with Tom Cruise? Yes, he does of course. Does he hook up with Julia Roberts or Tom Cruise? Well he hooks up with Tom Cruise. Does he hook up with The Spice Girls? Well in the past he hooked up with one of The Spice Girls, right? He hooked up with one of The Spice Girls. Now this is a different meaning of hooked up. Is he dating Tom Cruise? Well no he’s not, no. He hooked up with Tom Cruise means he just met Tom Cruise. They met, they got together. But if he hooked up with one of The Spice Girls then that means yea, he’s dating her, he’s married to her now, etcetera. 

So he hooked up with Tom Cruise and they hit it off immediately. Did Tom hate David? No, no, no, 

they hit it off immediately. They liked each other immediately. Did Beckham hit it off with Tom? Yes he did. Beckham liked Tom. Did Tom hit it off with Beckham? Yea, Tom also liked Beckham. They hit it off, they both hit it off. Did Tom Cruise hit it off with Ronaldhino? No, no, no he didn’t hit it of with Ronaldhino in fact he hates Ronaldhino. He hates him. He likes Beckham because Beckham is cool and he looks good. So he hit it off with David Beckham, he did not hit it off with Ronaldhino. Who did Beckham hit it off with? Well he hit it off with Tom Cruise. 

Alright, so they liked each other and Beckham said, “The bottom line Tom is that I want to be a movie star just like you.” What is Beckham’s final point? His most important point? Well the most important thing he wants is to be a movie star just like Tom Cruise. That’s the bottom line. Is the bottom line that Beckham wants money? No, no, that’s not the bottom line. Money is not the most important thing for Beckham right now. What is the bottom line for David Beckham? The bottom line is he wants to be a famous movie star. That’s his bottom line. That’s his main point, his final point, his most important point. What is Tom Cruise’s bottom line? Well maybe Tom Cruise’s bottom line is Scientology, his religion. That’s his bottom line; he wants to get David to join Scientology, to join his religion. That’s Tom’s secret bottom line. But Beckham’s bottom line is that he wants to be a movie star. So he says, “The bottom line is that I want to be a movie star just like you.” Tom Cruise says “Of course, my gut tells me you will be a big success in Hollywood.” 

Does Tom know definitely, 100% that Beckham will succeed? No, no, no, no. He doesn’t know, not in his brain, not in his mind. His gut tells him that he will be a big success. He has a feeling, right? A feeling in his stomach. He has a deep feeling that Beckham will be successful, but he doesn’t really know; he’s not sure, he just has a strong feeling. His gut tells him that Beckham will be a big success in Hollywood. Does his gut tell him that Beckham will be a great soccer player in Los Angeles? No, no, his gut does not tell him he will be a great soccer player. 

What does Tom’s gut tell him? Tom’s gut tells him that Beckham will be a big success in Hollywood as an actor. His gut doesn’t tell him that he’ll be a big success as a soccer player, maybe he won’t be. But his gut tells him that he’ll be a big success in Hollywood. Whose gut tells him that Beckham will succeed? Well Tom Cruise’s gut tells him that Beckham will be a big success in Hollywood. 

And so Tom introduces Beckham to a director who is very powerful. The director makes a movie with Beckham but it’s a terrible movie; everybody hates it and they hate Beckham too. The public feels a powerful animosity towards Beckham. Does the public like David Beckham? No, they feel animosity towards him. Do they think Beckham is their enemy? Yes, that’s right, they think David Beckham is their enemy. He is the enemy of goodness, he is the enemy of good quality, he is the enemy of honesty. He is their enemy. They feel a powerful animosity towards him. They feel animosity towards Beckham. 

Who feels animosity towards Beckham? Well the public; the American public feels animosity towards Beckham. Does Tom Cruise feel animosity towards Beckham? No, no, no, Tom still likes David Beckham. Tom does not feel animosity towards Beckham. The public feels animosity towards Beckham. Does Beckham feel animosity towards the public? No, no, Beckham loves the public, he wants them to love him. The public feels animosity towards Beckham but Beckham does not feel animosity towards the public. So the public feels animosity towards Beckham. 

They can’t stand him. Do they love him? No, the opposite; they can’t stand him, they hate him. 

Who can’t the public stand? Well the public can’t stand David Beckham. Can the public stand Tom Cruise? Yea, yea, they still like Tom Cruise, but they can’t stand David Beckham. Can Beckham’s wife stand him? Yes, yes, his wife can stand him, she still likes him, she still loves him, but the public can’t stand David Beckham. They can’t stand him. They don’t like him. They hate him. They can’t stand him so they yell at him and throw things at him. “You suck, yea.” Beckham can’t deal with the animosity. Can Beckham handle the animosity, the bad feeling? No he can’t handle it. Can he survive it? No, he can’t survive it. He feels horrible, he feels terrible. He wants to hide. He can’t deal with the animosity. He can’t handle it, he can’t survive it. He can’t keep trying when everybody yells at him. 

Why can’t he deal with the animosity? Well Beckham can’t deal with the animosity because he’s very sensitive. He’s a guy who’s very sensitive. So Beckham can’t deal with the bad feelings. Beckham can’t deal with the public’s animosity. Can Beckham deal with his coach? Yea, yea, Beckham can deal with his soccer coach. If his soccer coach becomes angry Beckham can deal with it; he can deal with it, no problem. But he can’t deal with the public’s animosity. He can’t deal with the public’s hatred. Beckham can’t deal with the public not liking him. He can deal with his coach, but he can’t deal with the public’s animosity. He is a guy who is very sensitive so he becomes scared. 

He feels this is a dire situation. Does he think this is a dangerous and difficult and scary situation? Yes exactly, he feels this is a dire situation. Does he feel like it’s a risky situation, possibly dangerous? Yes, that’s right he feels it is a dire situation, a very, very risky situation. What is the dire situation? Well the dire situation is the public’s animosity. They hate him, that’s the dire situation. Does he have a dire situation with soccer, with football? No, no, no he’s still good at playing soccer. He does not have a dire situation with soccer. That’s not a dire situation. But his movie career has a dire situation. This is a dire situation. It’s a dire situation that the public hates him. 

Beckham is so scared, he won’t leave his house. He keeps the windows closed and locked. He keeps his doors closed and locked. He becomes paranoid. Does Beckham think that everyone wants to hurt him? Yes, he’s paranoid. He thinks everybody wants to hurt him. Does he think Tom Cruise wants to hurt him? Yes, he does. He thinks that even Tom Cruise wants to hurt him. He’s paranoid. Does Tom really want to hurt him? No, no, Tom really does not want to hurt Beckham. Tom still likes Beckham, but Beckham’s paranoid. Beckham thinks everybody wants to hurt him, even Tom Cruise, even his wife. He thinks everyone wants to hurt him and everyone hates him, he’s paranoid. Is he paranoid about his wife? Yes he is. He thinks his wife also hates him. Is he paranoid about Tom Cruise? Yes, he thinks Tom Cruise wants to hate him also and wants to hurt him. Does he think that everyone in the world wants to hurt him? Yes he does. He’s very, very paranoid. He thinks everyone in the world hates him and wants to hurt him. He is super paranoid. He is so paranoid that he won’t leave his house. He won’t even go to play soccer. 

Finally, his team coach, his team manager calls and says, “Beckham, this is a situation which is unacceptable, you’re fired!” Beckham loses his job and his movie career. He starts to cry, “Oh, no, everybody hates me.” He has no job and nobody can stand him. Does anybody like Beckham now? No, not anymore. Finally nobody likes him. Finally nobody can stand him. Can Tom Cruise stand him finally, in the end? No, even Tom Cruise can’t stand him in the end. Why can’t Tom Cruise stand him anymore? Well because he’s so paranoid right? He’s always telling Tom, “You want to hurt me, you want to hurt me, you hate me.” And so now even Tom cruise can’t stand him. 

Can his wife stand him anymore? No, even his wife can’t stand him. Now she wants a divorce because Beckham is not famous anymore, nobody likes him. So his wife wants a divorce. She can’t stand him, Tom Cruise can’t stand him, his coach can’t stand him, the public can’t stand him, nobody likes him. 

Okay this one is a little long so no time to pause. So what I would like you to do, go back, listen to each sentence then pause, then repeat the sentence, copy my pronunciation. Then listen to the next sentence, pause again, repeat my pronunciation, copy my pronunciation and then play one more sentence and then pause and again, copy my pronunciation. After you do that, finally, try to tell all of the story yourself. Okay, go on to the Point of View Mini Stories Next.

POV

Hello, welcome to the POV, Point of View Mini Stories for Bad Choices. Same story, different time. Let’s start the first one with three years ago. We’ll have to imagine this happened three years ago. 

Three years ago David Beckham was a man who wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted to be a famous movie star and a famous soccer player at the same time so he moved to Hollywood. He hooked up with Tom Cruise. 

They hit it off immediately. Tom liked David; David liked Tom. Beckham said, “Tom, the bottom line is that I want to be a movie star just like you, can you help me?” Tom said, “Of course, my gut tells me you’ll be a good success in Hollywood.” So Tom introduced Beckham to a director who was very powerful. The director made a movie with Beckham, but it was a terrible movie. Everybody hated it and they hated Beckham. The public felt a powerful animosity towards Beckham. They couldn’t stand him. They yelled at him and threw things at him. Beckham couldn’t deal with the publics animosity. He was a guy who was very sensitive so he became scared. He felt this was a dire situation. Beckham was so scared he wouldn’t leave his house. He kept the windows closed and the doors locked. He became paranoid and wouldn’t even leave to play soccer. Finally, his team manager said, “This is a situation which is unacceptable, you’re fired!” Beckham cried, he had no job and nobody could stand him. 

Alright, let’s change the time a little bit. This time we’re gonna talk about the story but that Beckham always wanted to do these things, okay? So these have been happening for a while. 

Beckham has always been a man who has wanted to eat have his cake and eat it too. He has always wanted to be a famous movie star and a famous football player. He has always wanted to move to Hollywood. He has always wanted to hook up with Tom Cruise and he has hoped they would hit it off immediately. David has always liked Tom Cruise; Tom has always liked David. 

Well, one day, Beckham said, “Look Tom, the bottom line is that I want to be a movie star just like you, can you help me?” Tom said, “Of course, my gut tells me you’ll be a good success in Hollywood.” So Tom introduced Beckham to a director who was very powerful. The director made a movie with Beckham, but it was a terrible movie. Everybody hated it and they hated Beckham. 

The public felt a powerful animosity towards Beckham. They couldn’t stand him. They yelled at him and threw things at him. Beckham couldn’t deal with the public's animosity. He was a guy who was very sensitive. He has always been a guy who was very sensitive. He felt this was a dire situation. Beckham was so scared he wouldn’t leave his house. He kept the windows closed and the doors locked. He became paranoid and wouldn’t even leave to play soccer. Finally, his team manager said, “This is a situation which is unacceptable, you’re fired!” Beckham cried, he had no job and nobody could stand him. 

Okay, you’ll notice that I used the “perfect”, the “have been” , the had gone, that verb tense-- when I was talking about things that have always been true or that were true for a while in the past, maybe starting in the past until now or maybe over some time in the past; a range of time. And then when I talked about specific conversations, specific actions, I used the simple past. Alright, don’t think about that too much, listening is how you’ll improve your grammar; listening and practicing. Why is not a good question about grammar or language, don’t ask why. If you want a PhD, a doctorate in linguistics you can ask why. If you want to be fluent, if you want to speak English easily and naturally don’t ask why. Just learn it, just listen carefully, just do the lessons, you will improve, I promise. 

Alright next, let’s talk about the future and in fact maybe this is gonna be a true story, right? Let’s think, what’s going to happen to David Beckham when he comes to Hollywood. He’s moving to Los Angeles, that’s true. What’s going to happen? Let’s Imagine. This is what I think is going to happen. So now, the future. 

Next year David Beckham is moving to Los Angeles and he is a man who wants to have his cake and eat it too. I think he will want to be a famous movie star and a famous football player at the same time. That’s why he’s moving to Hollywood. He’s gonna hook up with Tom Cruise-- they’ll hit it off . David will like Tom; Tom will like David. Beckham will say to Tom, “The bottom line is that I want to be a movie star just like you, can you help me?” Tom will say, “Of course, my gut tells me you’ll be a good success in Hollywood.” Tom will introduce Beckham to a director who will be very powerful. The director will make a movie with Beckham but it’s gonna be a terrible movie. 

Everybody’ll hate it and they’ll hate Beckham too. The public will feel a powerful animosity towards Beckham. They won’t be able to stand him. They’ll yell at him and throw things at him. Beckham won’t be able to deal with the public’s animosity. He’s a guy who is very sensitive so he’ll be scared. He’ll feel this is a dire situation. Beckham will be so scared he won’t leave his house. He’ll keep the windows closed and the doors locked. He’ll become paranoid and he won’t even leave to play soccer. Finally his team manager will call and say “This is a situation which is unacceptable, you’re fired!” Beckham will cry. He’ll have no job and nobody will be able to stand him. 

Alright, did you notice in the future, when we’re talking about the future we say “will be able to” instead of “can”. Instead of “can stand him” I’ll say “will be able to stand him" in the future. And you’ll also in the future, you have to listen very carefully because in real speech, not text books, but real American English we add “’ll” to the subject, right? “Beckham’ll do this, Beckham’ll do that”. Now in a textbook you’ll see “Beckham will go to Los Angeles. But we say “Beckham’ll”, the ‘ll gives you the future. Beckham’ll go to Los Angeles and in the text book you’ll see “going to”. Beckham is going to make a movie. But in real speech we say “gonna”. Beckham’s gonna. We don’t say Beckham is going to, we say Beckham’s gonna. Beckham’s, apostrophe s, gonna. Beckham’s gonna make a movie, Beckham’s gonna. Beckham’ll go, Beckham’ll come, so we use is gonna and ‘ll for the future in real speech. That’s how we actually say it when we speak. So, listen carefully for that. Listen very carefully when you hear those future versions. 

Now please go back, listen to each version, pause after the version, tell it yourself, try to tell it yourself. If you can’t its okay, relax, rewind, listen again, rewind, listen again everyday. It’s not a race, relax, enjoy it. Okay, see ya next time.

Welcome to the mini story for Double Standard. Let’s get started. There is a badass marine named Serin. He has an intimate relationship with Julia Roberts. They are very, very close. 

Serin likes Julia but one day he decides she’s just not what he’s looking for. He breaks up with Julia. Julia feels betrayed. She says "how can you do this to me? Why are you hurting me? Please take me back." 

But Serin won’t budge. He says "no I don’t want you Julia". Julia can’t get past the break-up. Every day she follows Serin. Every day she calls him. 

At first, Serin turns a blind eye to her behavior but finally he can’t ignore it anymore. He yells at Julia and says "I won’t bow to this pressure. I won’t take you back. So leave me alone." Julia asks "do you have another girlfriend". 

He says "yes I’m dating Hilary Clinton now. She’s rich and very powerful." "Really? Wow, I like her. I’m going to vote for her", says Julia. She says, "I still feel a little uneasy but if you’re dating Hilary I guess it’s okay". Julia smiles and walks away. As she leaves she yells, "so is Bill free for dating?" 

Okay one more time this time with questions. There is a bad ass marine named Serin -- bad ass ooh that’s slang. Bad ass means tough, very strong -- tough, very good at what he does. So very strong and tough. There’s a bad ass marine named Serin. 

A marine is a kind of soldier, a kind of fighter. He has an intimate relationship with Julia Roberts. Are Serin and Julia Roberts only friends, just friends? No-no-no. They have an intimate relationship. It means they’re very close not only friends, they are dating each other. They have an intimate relationship. Are they probably having sex? Yes, probably they are. They have an intimate relationship. 

They are dating. They’re very, very close. Serin and Julia Roberts have an intimate relationship. Does Serin have an intimate relationship with Cameron Diaz? No-no. 

He does not have an intimate relationship with Cameron Diaz. He has an intimate relationship with Julia Roberts. They are very, very close. Serin likes Julia but one day he decides she’s just not what he’s looking for. Does Serin want Julia? 

No, he doesn’t. He decides she’s not what he’s looking for. She’s not really what -- she’s not really what he wants. So he decides she’s just not what he’s looking for. Is Hilary Clinton what he’s looking for? Yes, Hilary Clinton is what he’s looking for. 

She’s rich and powerful that’s what he’s looking for. Serin’s looking for rich and powerful. Julia Roberts is not powerful enough so she’s not what he’s looking for. Is Cameron Diaz what Serin is looking for? No, he doesn’t want Cameron Diaz. 

Cameron Diaz is not what he’s looking for. What is Serin looking for? Serin is looking for a rich and powerful woman like Hilary Clinton so he breaks up with Julia. Julia feels betrayed. Does Julia feel he did something bad to her? 

Yes, exactly she feels -- she feels he did something bad to her. They were close, she trusted him, and then he hurt her. Did Serin betray Cameron Diaz? No, he didn’t betray Cameron Diaz. He never dated Cameron Diaz. 

He never did anything bad to her. He did not betray Cameron Diaz. Did he betray Hilary Clinton? No, he did not. He did not hurt Hilary Clinton. 

Did he betray Julia? Well, breaking up is not really betraying but Julia feels betrayed. She feels betrayed. Betrayed is the emotion e.d. feel betrayed. But really Serin did not betray her. 

But anyway she says "how can you do this to me? Why are you hurting me? Please take me back". But Serin won’t budge. Will Serin change his mind? 

No, he won’t budge. He won’t change at all. Will he change a little bit? No, Serin will not change not even a little bit. He won’t budge. 

He won’t change at all. Will Julia budge? No, she doesn’t want to budge either. She wants him back one hundred percent. She doesn’t want to change either. 

So Julia won’t budge and Serin won’t budge. Serin says "no I don’t want you Julia." But Julia says "yes I want you back." Neither one of them will budge. They won’t budge. 

Julia can’t get passed the break-up. Can Julia forget the break-up? No she can’t forget the break-up. She can’t get past the break-up. Can Julia get past Mel Gibson? 

Well, yeah she never dated Mel Gibson so she doesn’t need to get past Mel Gibson. Who does she need to get past? Well, she needs to get past Serin. Serin is her ex-boyfriend. She needs to get past Serin. 

Can she get past Serin? No-no. She can’t get past him. She can get past Serin. She can’t get past the break-up. 

She’s still upset. Is she still very sad about Serin and the break-up? Yes, that’s right she’s still very, very sad. She can’t get past the break-up. So every day she follows Serin. 

Every day she calls him on the phone. At first, Serin turns a blind eye to her behavior. In the beginning, does Serin get upset by her behavior? No-no. In the beginning, he turns a blind eye. 

He ignores her. He pretends he doesn’t see her. He pretends he’s not bothered by her behavior. So he turns a blind eye to her behavior. Does Serin turn a blind eye to Cameron Diaz? 

No, he doesn’t ignore Cameron Diaz. Who does he turn a blind eye to? Well, he turns a blind eye to Julia Roberts. In fact, he turns a blind eye to her behavior. He ignores her behavior. 

Does Julia turn a blind eye to Serin? No-no. She doesn’t ignore him. She does not turn a blind eye to Serin. Serin turns a blind eye to her behavior but she does not turn a blind eye to Serin. 

She keeps calling him. Finally, Serin can’t ignore her anymore. He yells at Julia and says "I won’t bow to this pressure." Will Serin do what Julia wants him to do? No -no, he won’t. 

He won’t bow to the pressure. He will not change because of her pressure. Will he bow to Cameron Diaz’ pressure? No, Cameron is not pressuring him. Cameron is just a friend. 

She’s not pressuring him. Julia is pressuring him. He won’t bow to Julia’s pressure. Will he date Julia again? No, he won’t. 

He won’t bow to her pressure. He won’t do what she wants. What does Julia want? Julia wants to date him again. So she’s pressuring him "please date me again, please date me again, please date me again". Will he bow to this pressure? 

No, he won’t bow to this pressure. He says "I won’t take you back. So leave me alone." Julia asks, "do you have another girlfriend". And he says, "yes I’m dating Hilary Clinton now". 

She’s rich and very powerful. Julia says "really. Wow, I like her. I’m going to vote for her. I still feel a little uneasy but if you’re dating Hilary I guess I’m okay". 

Does she feel a little uncomfortable about Hilary? Yes, that’s right. She feels a little uneasy that he is dating Hilary. Is she very upset that Serin is dating Hilary? No-no-no. 

She’s not very upset she’s just a little uneasy. She’s uneasy. She’s not very, very upset she’s just uneasy. Why is Julia uneasy? Well, she’s uneasy because Serin is dating a new girl. But it’s Hilary Clinton and she likes Hilary so she’s only uneasy- not very upset. Is Serin uneasy? No, Serin’s not uneasy. Serin is okay. He’s dating Hilary and he’s happy with Hilary. 

So Serin is not uneasy about Hilary. Who is uneasy about Hilary? Well, Julia Roberts is a little uneasy about Hilary but just a little. It’s not bad. And she says "well I’m going to vote for her so if you’re dating Hilary it’s okay." 

Finally, she turns and walks away. When she’s walking away Julia smiles and she yells to Serin, "so does this mean Bill Clinton is free for dating?" 

Alright. Now one more time. This time I will pause after the key phrases. Please repeat the phrases after me but don’t just repeat- copy my intonation. Copy my pronunciation. Try to speak exactly like me. Let’s go. 

There’s a bad ass marine named Serin. [pause] There’s a bad ass named Serin. [pause] He has an intimate relationship with Julia Roberts. [pause] He has an intimate relationship with Julia Roberts. [pause] They’re very, very close. 

Serin likes Julia but one day he decides she’s just not what he’s looking for. [pause] She’s just not what he’s looking for. [pause] He breaks up with Julia. Julia feels betrayed. [pause] Julia feels betrayed. [pause] 

She says "how can you do this to me? Why are you hurting me? Please take me back". But Serin won’t budge. [pause] But Serin won’t budge. [pause] 

He says "no I don’t want you Julia." Julia can’t get past the break-up. [pause] Julia can’t get past the break-up. [pause] Every day she follows Serin. Every day she calls him. 

At first, Serin turns a blind eye to her behavior. [pause] At first, Serin turns a blind eye to her behavior. [pause] But finally he can’t ignore it anymore. He yells at Julia and says "I won’t bow to this pressure." [pause] I won’t bow to this pressure. [pause] 

"I won’t take you back so please leave me alone". Julia asks "do you have another girlfriend". And Serin says "yes I’m dating Hilary Clinton now. She’s rich and very powerful". Julia says "really? Wow, I like her. I’m going to vote for her." 

I still feel a little uneasy. [pause] I still feel a little uneasy. [pause] But if you’re dating Hilary I guess it’s okay. Julia smiles and walks away. As she leaves she yells "so is Bill Clinton free for dating?" [pause] 

Alright. That is all of the mini story. Now pause and try to tell all of the story yourself. You don’t need to remember every word but try to use the new phrases and the new words correctly; if you cannot just relax and listen again. Listen to this story every day for one week or two weeks and you will internalize the new phrases. You’ll also internalize a lot of basic grammar and a lot of basic pronunciation by listening again, and again, and again. 

Alright. See you next time. Bye-bye.

Same mini story but first starting with the phrase one year ago. 

One year ago there was a bad ass marine named Serin. He had an intimate relationship with Julia Roberts. They were very, very close. Serin liked Julia but one day he decided she just wasn’t what he was looking for. 

So he broke up with her. Julia felt betrayed. She said "how can you do this to me? Why are you hurting me? Please take me back." 

But Serin wouldn’t budge. He said "no I don’t want you Julia." Julia couldn’t get past the break-up. Every day she followed Serin. Every day she called him. 

At first, Serin turned a blind eye to her behavior. But finally he couldn’t ignore it anymore. He yelled at Julia and said "I won’t bow to this pressure. I won’t take you back. So leave me alone." Julia asked "do you have another girlfriend." 

And he said "yes I’m dating Hilary Clinton now. She’s rich and very powerful." Julia said "really? Wow, I like her. I’m going to vote for her. 

I still feel a little uneasy but if you’re dating Hilary I guess it’s okay." Julia smiled and walked away. As she left she yelled "so is Bill free for dating?" 

Okay our next version is going to start with the phrase since 2004. Okay. Alright. 

There’s a bad ass marine named Serin. Since 2004 he has had an intimate relationship with Julia Roberts. They have been very, very close. Serin has liked Julia this whole time but one day he finally decided she just wasn’t what he was looking for. 

So he broke up with Julia. Julia felt betrayed. She said "how can you do this to me? Why are you hurting me? Please take me back." 

But Serin wouldn’t budge. He said "no I don’t want you Julia." Julia couldn’t get past the break-up. Every day she followed Serin. Every day she called him. 

At first, Serin turned a blind eye to her behavior but finally he couldn’t ignore it anymore. He yelled at Julia and said "I won’t bow to this pressure. I won’t take you back so leave me alone". Julia asked "do you have another girlfriend." And he said "yes I’m dating Hilary Clinton now. She’s rich and very powerful. " 

She said "really? Wow, I like her. I’m going to vote for her. I still feel a little uneasy but if you’re dating Hilary I guess it’s okay." Julia smiled and walked away. As she left she yelled "so is Bill free for dating?" 

Alright. Our final version begins with the phrase "next year". Next year this is going to happen in the future. I’m imagining this. Here we go. 

There’s a bad ass marine named Serin. Next year he’ll have an intimate relationship with Julia Roberts. They’ll be very close. Serin will like Julia but one day he’ll decide she’s just not what he’s looking for. He’ll break-up with Julia. 

Julia will feel betrayed. She’ll say "how can you do this to me? Why are you hurting me? Please take me back." But Serin isn’t going to budge. 

He’s going to say "no I don’t want you Julia". Julia won’t be able to get past the break-up. Every day she’ll follow Serin. Every day she’ll call him. At first, Serin will turn a blind eye to her behavior but finally he won’t be able to ignore it anymore. 

He’ll yell at Julia and say "I won’t bow to this pressure. I won’t take you back. So leave me alone." Julia will ask "do you have another girlfriend". He’ll say "yes I’m dating Hilary Clinton now. 

She’s rich and very powerful." Julia will say "really? Wow, I like her. I’m going to vote for her. I still feel a little uneasy but if you’re dating Hilary I guess it’s okay." 

Julia will smile and walk away. As she leaves, she’s going to yell "so is Bill free for dating?" 

Alright. And that’s our final version in the future. Please go back now listen to each version and then pause. Try to tell each version yourself out loud. You don’t need to be perfect. 

You don’t need to remember every word. But try your best and try to use the correct form of the verbs. Sometimes the vocabulary changes a little bit- listen for that. If you can’t do it, if it’s too difficult, no problem-- just relax. Listen to these versions many, many times. 

Every day listen to it one time, two times, three times. The next day again. The next day again. It takes some time, but if you do this every month, every day, for one month, two months, six months, one year you will get a more natural feeling for English grammar. 

Okay. See ya next time. Bye-bye.

Welcome to the mini story lesson for Greek family. Let’s do the basic story first. Here we go. 

I’m walking down the street when a guy comes to me and says "hi can I chat with you for a moment?" He looks clean and very neat. I’m quite naive so I think he’s just friendly. I say "okay". The man asks me "how far would you go to save yourself." 

I say "what do you mean?" He says "I’m talking about the Christian faith. I want you to convert to Christianity." "Actually, I’m a Buddhist" I say. "What about your relatives are they Buddhists too" he asks. 

I tell him "no just me". He then tells me that I will go to hell if I don’t convert. He says I am a bad person. He tells me all Buddhists will go to hell. Finally, he says that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil. That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I yell at him "go away... I refuse to listen to you anymore." 

Okay. Let’s go back to the top of our little story and this time with questions. Here we go again. 

I’m walking down the street when a guy comes to me and says "hi can I chat with you for a moment?" He looks clean and very neat. I’m quite naive so I think he’s just friendly. Do I have a lot of life experience? Do I know about life on the street? 

No-no-no, I don’t. I’m very naive, right? Kind of like a child. I don’t really know that people might try to sell something to me or get something from me on the street. I think everybody’s just very nice and friendly. I’m very naive. 

Are children usually naive? Well, yes that’s right- small children usually are naive, right? They -- they’re innocent. They don’t know there are many bad people in the world or many people will lie. They’re kind of naive. 

So I’m quite naive. This man says "can I chat with you for a moment." I don’t know him. He’s a stranger. I’m walking on the street. 

So this is naive. Is the other man naive? No-no, the other man’s not naive, right? He knows he has something. He wants to tell me about his religion. 

He has a plan. He has life experience, right? He’s not naive. But I’m kind of naive. I’m very innocent. 

I don’t think he’s trying to sell me something. I just think oh he’s a friendly guy. I’m quite naive, very naive like a child. So I think he’s just friendly. I say "okay". 

The man then asks me "how far would you go to save yourself." Does he want to know how much I would do or how hard I would try to save myself-- like save my soul, right? Yeah, that’s exactly what he’s asking. He wants to know how much would I do. Would I try very hard? 

Would I do something that’s very difficult? Would I change my life to save myself? He wants to know how far would I go to save myself. Does he want to know how far I would go to save money? No-no. 

He doesn’t care. He’s not asking about me saving money. He doesn’t know -- want to know what I would do to save money. He wants to know how far would I go to save myself, right? My soul. 

He asks "how far would you go to save yourself." Does he want to know how far I would go to save my body? No, he’s not talking about my body, my physical body. He doesn’t want to know how far I would go to save my body. He wants to know how far I would go to save myself meaning my soul my spirit, right -- after I die. 

He says "how far would you go to save yourself?" He’s talking about my soul after I die. And I ask him "what do you mean I don’t understand." Do I understand what he means when he says how far would you go? No, I don’t obviously. 

No, I don’t understand what he means by "how far would you go to save yourself." I’m a little confused by that. So he says "I’m talking about the Christian faith". Is he talking about his religion? Yes, exactly right. 

He’s talking about the Christian faith. He’s talking about the Christian religion. Is he talking about the Buddhist faith? No-no, he’s not talking about the Buddhist faith. He’s not talking about the Buddhist religion. 

He’s talking about the Christian faith. Is he talking about the Jewish faith? No, he’s not talking about the Jewish faith. Is he talking about the Islamic faith? No, he’s not talking about the Islamic faith? 

Is he talking about the Hindu faith? No, he’s not talking about the Hindu faith. What faith is he talking about? Well, he’s talking about the Christian faith. And what does he want me to do? 

Well, he says "I want you to convert to Christianity." Does he want me to change my religion? Yes, he does. He wants me to change to Christianity from my old religion to Christianity. He says "I want you to convert to Christianity." 

Does he want me to convert to Islam? No-no. He’s not Muslim. He does not want me to convert to Islam. He wants me to convert to Christianity. Who does he want to convert to Christianity? 

Well, he wants me A.J. to convert to Christianity. Does he want to convert to Buddhism? No- no. He does not want to become a Buddhist. No, he wants me to covert to Christianity. 

He does not want to convert to Buddhism. And I say to him "actually I am a Buddhist" I say. And he asks me "what about your relatives are they Buddhists too?" Does he want to know if my friends are Buddhists? No-no.

He wants to know if my family is Buddhists, right? He says "what about your relatives are they Buddhists too". Is he asking about my family’s religion? Yes, exactly right. He’s asking about my family’s religion. 

He says "what about your relatives are they also Buddhists." So he wants to know about my mom and my dad but especially he wants to know about all of my family. So relatives usually means all the family-- grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins. He wants to know if my relatives are also Buddhists. Are my relatives Buddhists? 

No-no. My relatives are not Buddhists. In fact, some of them are Christian some of them- no religion. So my relatives are not Buddhists, only me. Are my relatives Christian? 

Some of my relatives are Christian, not all of them some of them are. Are my relatives Buddhists? No, they’re not. They’re not Buddhists. My relatives are not Buddhists. 

So I say to him "no just me only me." He then tells me that I will go to hell if I don’t convert. If I don’t convert to Christianity does he think I will go to hell- I will burn and -- after I die. Yes, exactly. He thinks if I don’t change to Christianity, if I don’t convert to Christianity then I will go to hell after I die. 

Then he says I’m a bad person. He tells me all Buddhists will go to hell. Finally, he says that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil. That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Does that make me angry? 

Well, yes -- yes, it’s the last straw. It’s the final straw that breaks that camel’s back. It means he said many things to me- bad things. He’s insulting me. He says "oh you’re a bad person." 

"If you don’t convert you’ll go to hell", right? More bad things. I’m patient. But finally the last thing he says is "all Buddhists serve the devil." That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. 

That’s the final bad insult. And I become angry and I yell at him "go away". What is the straw that breaks the camel’s back? Well, it’s him saying all Buddhists serve the devil. That’s the final bad thing that makes me lose control, lose my temper. 

So he says all Buddhists serve the devil. That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. When he asks me "are your relatives also Buddhists" is that the last straw? Is that the straw that breaks the camel’s back? No-no-no. 

No, I’m patient. After he says that, it’s no problem. Okay so what is the straw that breaks the camel’s back? Well, it’s when he says "all Buddhists serve the devil." That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. 

It’s the final insult. Then I get angry and I yell at him "go away. I refuse to listen to you anymore." Will I listen to him again? No-no. 

I refuse to listen to him anymore. I will never listen to him again. I refuse. I say "no I won’t do it. No, I will never listen to you again. " 

I refuse to listen to him anymore. Do I refuse to listen to all Christians? No-no-no. I don’t mind all Christians it’s just this one guy. I refuse to listen to him ever again. 

I will never listen to him again. I refuse to listen to him, only to him. I refuse to listen to him. Do I refuse to watch television again? No, I don’t refuse to watch television. What do I refuse to do? Well, I refuse to listen to that guy again, right? I refuse to listen to him again. 

Alright. That’s the end of our little story. One more time, this time with pauses after the key phrases. I’ll pause -- say the key phrase after I pause. Copy my pronunciation that’s the important part of this section. Copy my pronunciation especially my intonation when I go up when I go down things like that. Okay? Let’s go. 

I’m walking down the street when a guy comes to me and says "hi can I chat with you for a moment." He looks clean and very neat. I’m quite naive. [pause] I’m quite naive. [pause] I’m quite naive. [pause] 

So I think he’s just friendly. I say okay. The man asks me "how far would you go to save yourself." [pause] How far would you go to save yourself? [pause] How far would you go to save yourself? [pause] Good. 

I say "what do you mean." He says "I’m talking about the Christian faith." [pause] I’m talking about the Christian faith. [pause] I want you to convert to Christianity. [pause] I want you to convert to Christianity. [pause] Good.

I say "actually I’m a Buddhist." And he asks "what about your relatives are they Buddhists too". [pause] What about your relatives are they Buddhists too? [pause] What about your relatives are they Buddhists too? [pause] I tell him "no just me." 

He then tells me that I will go to hell if I don’t convert. [pause] He then tells me that I will go to hell if I don’t convert. [pause] He says I’m a bad person. He tells me all Buddhists will go to hell. Finally, he says that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil. 

That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. [pause] That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. [pause] That’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. [pause] I yell at him "go away I refuse to listen to you anymore." [pause] I refuse to listen to you anymore. [pause] I refuse to listen to you anymore. [pause] 

Okay. Great job. Now the final part of the mini story lesson. Pause your iPod, pause your computer and try to tell all of the story yourself. Tell all of it out loud so you can hear it. Tell all of the story. 

You don’t need to remember every word but try to use the target vocabulary the new vocabulary correctly. If you can’t, if you have trouble, no problem relax, listen to it again. Just keep listening until you can pause and tell all of the story yourself. 

Okay. See ya next time. Bye-bye 

Welcome to the point of view mini stories for Greek family. Let’s get started. First, the past tense. 

Five years ago, I was walking down the street when a guy came to me and said "hi can I chat with you for a moment." He looked clean and very neat. I was quite naive so I thought he was just being friendly. I said "okay." The man asked me "how far would you go to save yourself." 

I said "what do you mean." He said "I’m talking about the Christian faith. I want you to convert to Christianity." "Actually, I’m a Buddhist" I said. "What about your relatives are they Buddhists too", he asked. 

I told him "no just me." He then told me that I would go to hell if I didn’t convert. He said I was a bad person. He told me all Buddhists would go to hell. Finally, he said that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil. 

That was the last straw. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I yelled at him "go away I refuse to listen to you anymore." 

Alright. Our second version. I’m going to change this a little bit to -- so you get a little more practice. Just change the order of the story. 

Since I was a child I have been very naive. I have always thought that people are very friendly even if they’re not. I have always accepted people and not worried about them or been suspicious. Right? I have always been quite naive since I was a child. 

Well one day I was walking down the street when a guy came up to me and said "hi can I chat with you for a moment". He looked clean and very neat. Since I was quite naive and have always been naive I thought he was just being friendly so I said "okay". The man asked me "how far would you go to save yourself." I said "what do you mean." 

He said "I’m talking about the Christian faith; I want you to convert to Christianity." "Actually, I’m a Buddhist" I said. "What about your relatives are they Buddhists too", he asked. I told him "no just me". He then told me that I would go to hell if I didn’t convert. 

He said I was a bad person. He told me all Buddhists would go to hell. Finally, he said that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil. That was the last straw. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I yelled at him "go away I refuse to listen to you anymore." 

So you can notice I used the present perfect "have been" for something that started long ago when I was a child and continued up to the time this story happened. Then I changed to the simple past because we’re talking about one specific event and that it’s already happened it’s done. Okay. Let’s -- now, let’s go to the future -- back to the future. Here we go. 

In ten years -- ten years from now -- I’m imagining this, maybe I dreamed this. Okay, this is a dream. I have a dream. In ten years, I will be walking down the street when a guy will come up to me and he’ll say "hi can I chat with you for a moment." He’ll look clean and very neat. 

I’ll be quite naive so I’ll think he’s just being friendly. I’ll say "okay". The man’s going to ask me "how far would you go to save yourself." And I’ll say "what do you mean." He’ll say "I’m talking about the Christian faith I want you to convert to Christianity". "Actually I’m a Buddhist" I’ll say. 

"What about your relatives are they Buddhists too" he’ll ask. I’m going to tell him "no just me". He’ll then tell me that I will go to hell if I don’t convert. He’ll say I’m a bad person. He’ll tell me all Buddhists will go to hell. 

Finally, he’ll say that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil. That’s going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I’ll yell at him "go away I refuse to listen to you anymore". 

Alright. Go back, listen to each version. After each version pause and try to tell that version yourself out loud, so you can hear it. So listen to the first version the past, pause, and tell the whole story again using the past "ten years ago". 

Second time, start the story with "since I was a child" and tell the story yourself out loud. And then again listen to the future version and pause and tell the future version yourself. If it’s difficult, if you can’t do it, no problem just relax, go back, listen very carefully again, and again, and again and then try again. 

Alright. I’ll see ya next time. Bye-bye.

Hello. Welcome to the mini story for the Longtime Affair lesson. Let’s get started. First, the mini story. 

There is a very small man named Jim. Jim is only one foot tall. Even though Jim is forty- eight years old people always perceive him as a child. In the eyes of the public, Jim is a cute little boy. Jim hates this. 

He says "I want people to accept me as I really am. I want them to give me unconditional respect. I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child." So Jim goes to the gym and exercises every day. He becomes very strong. 

He also learns kickboxing. One day a tall man sees him, laughs and says "you’re such a cute little man, ha ha ha". Jim gets angry. He yells and he kicks the man. They start fighting. 

The fight lasts for twenty hours. The mens’ heads and legs and arms become intertwined. They fall down. Jim finally breaks away from the man. Then he jumps up, kicks him in the head and the man falls down. Jim wins the fight and yells "no matter how you slice it, I just kicked your ass". 

Alright. Back to the beginning. This time with questions. Here we go. 

There is a very small man named Jim. Is there a small woman named Jim? No, there’s not a small woman named Jim, there’s a small man named Jim. Jim is only one foot tall. How old is Jim? 

Well, Jim is forty-eight years old. Even though he’s forty-eight years old, people always perceive him as a child. Is Jim a child? No, he’s not a child. People perceive him as a child. 

They see him as a child. They see him and they think "oh he’s a cute, little child" but he’s not really a child. Is Jim a child or a man? Well, Jim is a man. Do people perceive him as a child or a man? 

Well, people perceive him as a child. Who do people perceive as a child? Well, people perceive Jim as a child. Do people perceive Jim as a big, strong man? No, they don’t perceive him as a big, strong man. 

They don’t see him as a big, strong man. They perceive him as a child. In the eyes of the public Jim is a cute, little boy. In the eyes of the public, is Jim a strong man? No, in the eyes of the public, in the public’s opinion, in most people’s opinion, Jim is a cute, little boy. 

In the eyes of the public is George Bush a cute, little boy? No-no. In the eyes of the public George Bush is not a cute, little boy. In the eyes of the public Jim is a cute, little boy. In the eyes of his father, is Jim a cute, little boy? 

No-no. His father doesn’t think he’s a little boy now. His father knows he’s a man, a good, strong man. In the eyes of his father, Jim is a real man. But in the eyes of the public Jim is a cute, little boy. 

Alright. Jim hates this. He hates peoples’ perception. He hates what people think about him. He says "I want people to accept me as I really am." 

I want them to give me unconditional respect." Does Jim want total respect from everybody? Yes, that’s right. He wants unconditional respect from everybody. Does Jim want unconditional love from everybody? 

No, Jim doesn’t want unconditional love. He doesn’t want them to totally love him always. He wants unconditional respect. He wants people to always respect him in all situations, all the time. He wants unconditional respect. 

Who wants unconditional respect? Well, Jim wants unconditional respect. Why does he want unconditional respect? Well, he wants unconditional respect because people perceive him as a child. He doesn’t like this. 

He wants unconditional respect. He doesn’t want people to go on treating him like a child. He says "I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child." Does he want people to continue to see him as a child? No, he doesn’t want people to go on seeing him as a child. 

Does he want people to go on seeing him as a little, weak person? No, he does not want people to continue doing that. He does not want people to go on doing that. Does he want people to go on treating him, seeing him, like a big, strong person? Well, he does want that- but people don’t do that- so they can’t go on doing that, right? 

It can’t continue because it’s not happening already. It’s not possible. They can’t go on doing something if they aren’t already doing it. To "go on" means to continue doing something that is already happening. So he says "I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child" -- treating him like a child. 

Do they treat him like an adult? No, they do not treat him like an adult. Do they treat him like a serious person? No, they don’t treat him like a serious person. How do people treat Jim? 

Well, people treat Jim like a child. They pretend he’s a child, right? They behave as if he was a child. They treat him like a child. Do they treat him badly in a very cruel, mean, bad way? 

Well, no they don’t really treat him badly they just treat him like a child. They don’t respect him. They treat him like a child. And so Jim gets upset. He goes to the gym to workout every day. 

He exercises every day. He becomes very, very strong. He also learns kickboxing. One day a tall man sees him and laughs and says "ha ha ha you’re such a cute, litte man." Jim gets very angry. 

He yells and he kicks the man. They start fighting. The fight lasts for twenty hours. Does the fight last for fifteen hours? No, it does not last for fifteen hours. 

Does the fight last for ten hours? No, the fight does not last for ten hours. It does not last for fifteen hours. How long does the fight last? Well, the fight lasts... the fight continues for twenty hours. 

How long is the fight? Well, the fight is twenty hours long. The fight lasts for twenty hours. What lasts for twenty hours? Well, the fight lasts for twenty hours. The mens’ hands and legs become intertwined during the fight and they fall down. 

Do their hands and legs become wrapped around each other-- connected to each other? Yes, that’s right-- their hands and legs become intertwined. They are wrapped around each other, stuck together. They become intertwined. Do their fingers become intertwined? 

No-no, not their fingers. Their fingers do not become intertwined -- do not become wrapped around each other. Do their ears become intertwined? No-no maybe that’s not possible, right? Their ears do not become intertwined. 

Do their hands and legs become intertwined? Yes, that’s right, their hands and their legs wrap around each other. Their hands and legs become intertwined. Do their necks become intertwined? Actually, yes their necks wrap around each other. 

Their heads and necks stick together also. They all become intertwined- their hands, their legs, their necks and head. They wrap around each other. They’re stuck together and they fall down. But finally Jim breaks away from the big man. 

Does Jim get free from the big man? Yeah, that’s right he gets free. He breaks away from the man. Are Jim’s hands and legs still intertwined? No, they’re not, he breaks free. 

Right? They’re not connected anymore. They’re not wrapped around each other anymore. He breaks free. Jim breaks free from the other man. 

Does Jim break free from a woman? No-no. He breaks free from the other man. After Jim breaks free, what does he do? Well, after Jim breaks free he jumps up and kicks the man in the head. Boom. The man falls down unconscious. 

Jim wins the fight and he yells "no matter how you slice it I just kicked your ass." Alright. "No matter how you slice it" means-- no matter what your opinion, no matter how you look at it, any angle, any way you look at it, any opinion, everybody will agree-- Jim kicked his ass. And of course "kicked your ass" means to beat somebody, to win against them. Okay. 

So no matter how you slice it, did Jim lose? No. No matter how you slice it, any opinion will agree, Jim won the fight. No matter how you slice it, is George Bush an idiot?Yes, that’s right-everybody agrees that George Bush is an idiot. 

No matter how you slice it, any way you look at it, any opinion, everybody agrees George Bush is an idiot. No matter how you slice it, is Jim a strong man? Yeah, that’s right, I think so. No matter who you slice it, Jim is a strong guy. He’s a tough guy. 

Everybody agrees now- no matter how you slice it- Jim is a strong guy. Did Jim kick the man’s ass? Yes, he did. Jim kicked his ass. Who’s ass did Jim kick? 

Well, Jim kicked the big man’s ass. The big man from the gym, right? He kicked his ass. Does everybody agree that Jim kicked his ass? Yeah, everybody agrees- no matter how you slice it, Jim won the fight. Jim kicked his ass. 

Alright. Very good. Let’s go on. Back to the top again. This time I will pause after the key words or phrases. Please copy my pronunciation. This is not a grammar exercise. This is a pronunciation exercise. So please focus on pronunciation. Here we go. 

There is a very small man named Jim. Jim is only one foot tall. Even though Jim is forty- eight years old people always perceive him as a child. [pause] People always perceive him as a child. [pause] In the eyes of the public, Jim is just a cute, little boy. [pause] In the eyes of the public, Jim is just a cute, little boy. [pause] 

Jim hates this. He says "I want people to accept me as I really am. I want them to give me unconditional respect." [pause] I want them to give me unconditional respect. [pause] He says "I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child". [pause] I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child. [pause] 

So Jim goes to the gym and exercises every day. He becomes very strong. He also learns kickboxing. One day a tall, big man sees him and laughs and says "you’re such a cute, little man, ha ha ha." Jim gets angry. He yells and says "I’m going to kick your ass." He kicks the man. They start fighting. The fight lasts for twenty hours. [pause] The fight lasts for twenty hours. [pause] 

The mens’ hands and legs become intertwined. [pause] The mens’ hands and legs become intertwined. [pause] They fall down. Jim finally breaks away from the man. [pause] Jim finally breaks away from the man. [pause]

Then he jumps up and kicks the man in the head. Jim wins the fight and he yells "no matter how you slice it I just kicked your ass." [pause] No matter how you sliced it I just kicked your ass. [pause] 

Alright. Very good. Please pause now. Try to tell all of the story yourself. Tell everything yourself. If you can’t remember- relax, go back, listen again.

Alright. Now for the POV, point of view stories next. 

Okay. Welcome to the POV Mini Stories, Point of View Mini Stories for the Longtime Affair lesson-- same story different versions. Let’s start. First, we go to the past- ten years ago. 

Ten years ago there was a very small man named Jim. Jim was only one foot tall. Even though Jim was forty-eight years old, people always perceived him as a child. In the eyes of the public, Jim was just a cute little boy. Jim hated this. 

He said "I want people to accept me as I really am. I want them to give me unconditional respect. I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child." So Jim went to the gym and exercised every day. He became very strong. 

He also learned kickboxing. One day a tall man saw him, laughed and said "you’re such a cute little man, ha ha ha." Jim got angry. He yelled and said "I’m going to kick your ass." He kicked the man. They started to fight. 

The fight lasted for twenty hours. The men’s’ hands and legs became intertwined and they fell down. Jim finally broke free from the man. Then he jumped up and kicked the man in the head. Jim won the fight and he yelled "no matter how you slice it I just kicked your ass." 

Alright. That’s our past version. Now let’s move to the perfect version, we call it, I guess. Here we go. 

Since last year -- okay. There’s a very small man named Jim. Jim is only one foot tall. Even though Jim is forty-eight years old people have always perceived him as a child. In the eyes of the public, Jim has always been just a cute little boy. Jim has always hated this. 

But since last year he has become very upset. Every day he has said "I want people to accept me as I really am. I want them to give me unconditional respect. I don’t want people to go on treating me as a child." And so, since last year, Jim has gone to the gym and has exercised every day. He has become very strong. 

He has also learned kickboxing. Well, one day a tall big man saw him and laughed and said "you’re such a cute little man, ha ha ha." Jim got angry. He yelled and he kicked the man. They started to fight. 

The fight lasted for twenty hours. The men’s’ hands and legs became intertwined and they fell down. Jim finally broke away from the man. Then he jumped up and kicked him in the head. Jim won the fight and he yelled "no matter how you slice it I just kicked your ass. " 

Alright. In that version you noticed that we used the, we call it the present perfect, it doesn’t matter, you don’t need to know the name of the grammar. But we used that form that "have gone" "have been" form-- because it’s something that has continued through the past for awhile -- started in the past, kept going for awhile. For example, people have always perceived him as a child. That’s been happening for a long time-- starting when he was young until now, people continue to perceive him -- have continued to perceive him-- as a child. 

Alright. It started in the past and it kept going for awhile. And then again we talked about going to the gym. Since last year Jim has gone to the gym. He has exercised every day. Alright? Starting last year, up until now. 

And then finally we changed to the past tense because we’re talking about one specific event, the fight. Right? That happened in the past, it’s over, it was just a short event in the past started, finished in the past, it’s done. It’s not a long time period, it’s very short and complete. So we use the simple past for that. 

That’s all you need to know about grammar. Don’t think too much about the grammar. Alright. Onto version number three-- into the future. Okay this is -- we can imagine this is my idea for a movie. 

And I’m telling you the story-- what I think should happen, what I think will happen in this movie. Here’s my movie idea, in the future ten years from now. 

Ten years from now, there will be a very small man named Jim. Jim’ll only be one foot tall. Even though he’ll only be forty-eight years old, people will think he’s a child. People will perceive him as a child. In the eyes of the public, Jim’ll be a cute little boy only. Jim’ll hate this. 

He’s going to say "I want people to accept me as I really am. I want them to give me unconditional respect. I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child." Jim’ll go to the gym and exercise every day. He’ll become very strong. 

He’ll also learn kickboxing. One day a tall man’s going to challenge him and laugh and say "you’re such a cute little man, ha ha ha." Jim’ll get angry. He’ll yell and he’ll kick the man. They’ll start fighting. 

The fight is going to last twenty hours. The men’s’ hands and legs will become intertwined and they’ll fall down. Jim’ll finally break away from the man and then he’ll jump up and kick him in the head. Jim’ll win the fight and he’ll yell "no matter how you slice it I just kicked your ass." 

Okay. The future is fairly simple. It’s pretty easy. You guys have learned going to and will; however in normal speech we do not say going to and will we change the pronunciation. We say ull instead of will we say ull -- Jim’ll -- the man’ll -- the man’ll challenge him. 

Jim’ll fight him. We don’t say Jim will we say Jim’ll. We just add the ull sound to the subject. And the other thing we do instead of "going to" we say gonna. Jim’s gonna get angry not Jim is going to get angry. 

Jim’s gonna. Jim’s za za you need the za sound there. "Jim’s gonna" equals "Jim is going to." Jim’s gonna. Alright. And that’s how we actually use the future in normal speech. So when you hear "gonna" when you hear "ull" that means the future. 

Okay. Please go back, listen to each section, pause, and try to tell that version yourself. Try to tell the story using the past- ten years ago. Try it ago with since last year. And then try it again in the future. 

If you have trouble, if it’s difficult, relax- this takes time. Just relax, go back, listen again. Go back listen again. Listen, listen, listen very carefully. Hear how the verbs change. 

Hear how the vocabulary changes sometimes. Listen carefully- that’s the most important part. Don’t get upset if you can’t tell the story yourself, it’s okay. That will take time- listening is the most important part. 

Alright. I will see ya next time. Go on and listen to the commentary. Bye-bye. 

Okay, it’s time for the mini-story for the Lost Custody lesson. Let’s get started right away. Here we go. 

Yuriko is unfit to be a student. Every day she comes to school late. Then she belittles the other students. When another student makes a mistake, Yuriko yells, “Are you stupid? Do you have a mental disability? What’s wrong with you, you idiot?” One day, another student named Jenwah complains to AJ, the teacher. She says, “I’m frightened by Yuriko. I’m going to quit this class.” The teacher says, “Stick it out, Jenwah. Don’t worry. I will get rid of Yuriko. Then we will all be better off.” 

The next day, AJ, the teacher, brings a gun to school. He points the gun at Yuriko and threatens her. He says, “Yuriko, if you come to my class again, I will kill you. Then I will take custody of your son, and I will beat him every day. So leave now!” Yuriko is frightened by AJ’s threat. She starts crying, and then she runs out of the class. The other students cheer, “Yea!” and everybody’s happy. 

Okay, let’s go again. Back to the beginning. This time with questions. 

Yuriko is unfit to be a student. Is Yuriko good enough to be a student? No, of course not. She’s not. She’s unfit to be a student. She cannot be a student. Why is she unfit to be a student? Well, because she comes late every day; and she says bad, terrible things to other students. That’s why she’s unfit to be a student. 

Is Jenwah unfit to be a student? No, no, no, Jenwah is a very good student. She’s fit to be a student, but Yuriko is unfit to be a student. Is Yuriko unfit to be a business person? Well, I don’t know; but maybe she’s okay. Maybe she can be a business person, but she’s unfit to be a student. She might be fit to be a business person, but she’s unfit to be a student. 

Who is unfit to be a student, Yuriko or Jenwah? Well, Yuriko is unfit to be a student. Who is unfit to be a student? Jen – I mean Yuriko is unfit to be a student, right? She can’t be a student, because she’s a very mean, terrible person. 

Every day she comes to school late. Then she belittles the other students. Does she insult the other students and say bad things? Yes, that’s right. Exactly. She belittles the other students. She says terrible things to them. “You’re stupid. You’re ugly. I don’t like you. You’re a horrible person.” She says these things. She belittles the other students. 

Who belittles the other students? Well, Yuriko belittles the other students. Who does Yuriko belittle? Well, Yuriko belittles the other students. Does Yuriko belittle the teacher? No, no, no, she does not belittle the teacher. She does not insult him. She does not say terrible things to the teacher. She belittles the students. 

Does the teacher, AJ, does he belittle the students? No, no, AJ does not belittle the students. Who belittles the students? Well, Yuriko belittles the students, right? How does she belittle the students? Well, when another student makes a mistake, Yuriko yells, “Are you stupid? Do you have a mental disability? What’s wrong with you, you idiot?” 

Does she ask the students if they are damaged, if their brain is damaged, something’s wrong with their brain? Yeah, that’s right, exactly. She says, “Do you have a mental disability?” It means is your brain broken? Is your mind broken? Right? She says, “Do you have a mental disability?” 

Does she ask if they have a physical disability? No, she doesn’t ask if they have a physical disability. Physical disability, maybe their legs don’t work, maybe their eyes don’t work well. They can’t see. That’s not what she’s asking. She asks if they have a mental disability. Right? A brain disability because they’re so stupid. 

Does she ask other students if they have a mental disability? Yeah, that’s right. She asks the other students if they have a mental disability. Does she ask the teacher if he has a mental disability? No, no, remember, she does not belittle the teacher; so she never asks the teacher if he has a mental disability. 

Who does she ask, “Do you have a mental disability?” Well, she asks that. She says that to other students when they make a mistake. So it’s very strong, right? “Do you have a brain problem? A brain – something broken in your brain? A mental disability?” She says, “What’s wrong with you, you idiot?” 

Well, the students feel very bad. One day, another student named Jenwah complains to AJ, the teacher. She says, “AJ, I’m frightened by Yuriko.” Does Yuriko scare her? Yes, that’s exactly right. She’s frightened by Yuriko. She’s scared of Yuriko. She feels afraid. Does Jenwah feel very, very scared and afraid? Oh, exactly right. She feels frightened, right? She’s frightened by Yuriko. 

Is Jenwah frightened by AJ? No, no, no, she’s not frightened by AJ. Who is she frightened by? Well, she’s frightened by Yuriko. Why is she frightened by Yuriko? Well, she’s scared of Yuriko – she’s frightened by Yuriko; because Yuriko says mean, terrible things. Yuriko belittles Jenwah every day. That’s why she’s frightened by Yuriko. 

Does Yuriko frighten all the students in the class? Well, yeah, that’s right. Actually, she does. All the students are frightened by Yuriko. They’re all frightened by Yuriko. Does Yuriko frighten the teacher? No, no, AJ’s not afraid of Yuriko. He’s not frightened by Yuriko, but Yuriko frightens everybody else. 

And, anyway, Jenwah tells AJ, “I’m frightened by Yuriko, and I’m going to quit this class.” AJ says, “Jenwah, stick it out.” Does AJ want Jenwah to quit the class? No, no, no, he wants her to continue with the class. He says, “Stick it out, Jenwah. Continue with the class, Jenwah.” Does AJ want Jenwah to stick it out in English class? Yeah, that’s right. He wants her to continue with English class. He wants her to stick it out in English class. 

Does he want her to stick it out in science class? No, no, no, this is not a science class. He doesn’t want her stick it out in science class. He doesn’t want her to continue in science. He wants her to stick it out in English class. Does AJ want Yuriko to stick it out? No, no, no, no, the opposite, actually. He does not want Yuriko to continue with the class. 

Who does he want to stick it out in class? Well, he wants Jenwah to stick it out, right? He likes Jenwah. He wants Jenwah to stick it out in class. He wants her to continue. He does not want Yuriko to stick it out. So he tells Jenwah, “Stick it out, Jenwah. Don’t worry. I will get rid of Yuriko. Then we will all be better off.” 

Is he going make Yuriko leave the class? Yeah, that’s right. He’s going to get rid of Yuriko. He’s going to make her leave. He’s going to throw her away. He’s going to push her out. Right? That’s get rid of. Get rid of means to eliminate, to delete, to throw away. So he’s going to get rid of Yuriko. 

Will he get rid of Jenwah? No, no, no, he wants Jenwah to stick it out. He will get rid of Yuriko. Why will he get rid of Yuriko? Well, because Yuriko is frightening the other students, right? That’s why. 

After Yuriko leaves, he says, “Then we will all be better off.” Will all the students have a better situation after Yuriko leaves? Yeah, that’s exactly right. They’ll be better off. They will have a better situation. Will the class improve after Yuriko leaves? Yes, that’s exactly right. The class will be better off. The class will improve. Everyone will feel better. Everything will be better. They will be better off. They will improve and be happier after Yuriko leaves. 

Will the class be better off if Jenwah leaves? No, no, no, they won’t be better off if Jenwah leaves. Jenwah’s a great student. She’s very nice. They’ll be better off if Yuriko leaves. Will the class be better off if AJ leaves? Well, maybe. You know, if they – maybe they need a better teacher. AJ’s maybe not a good teacher; but, you know, in general, no, they won’t be better off if AJ leaves. They’ll be better off if Yuriko leaves. 

Okay, so AJ says, “We’ll all be better off after Yuriko leaves.” The next day, AJ, the teacher, brings a gun to class (shooting sound); because he’s American; and we all have guns. He points the gun at Yuriko; and he says to Yuriko, he threatens her; and he says, “Yuriko, if you come to my class again, I will kill you. Then I will take custody of your son and beat him every day.” 

Does AJ threaten Yuriko? Yeah, that’s exactly right. AJ says he’s going to hurt her, so he threatens her. He threatens Yuriko. Does AJ threaten Jenwah? No, AJ does not threaten Jenwah. AJ threatens Yuriko. Why does AJ threaten Yuriko? Well, he threatens her because he wants her to leave the class, right? He wants to frighten her. He wants her to leave the class. That’s why he threatens her, and I’m using threaten as a verb here, right? This is a verb – to threaten. 

Does AJ threaten other students? No, no, he only threatens Yuriko. He only says he will hurt Yuriko. He says, “Yuriko, if you come to my class again, I will kill you. Then I will take custody of your son and beat him every day.” When AJ threatens Yuriko, what does he say? Well, he says he’s going to kill her and take her son, take custody of her son and then beat him every day. 

Will AJ take her son? Will he own her son? Yeah, that’s right. He will take custody of her son. He will become the owner of her son. The government will say, “AJ, you are now the official father, the legal father.” So AJ will take custody of her son after Yuriko is killed. Why will AJ take custody of her son? Well, he will take her son. He will take custody of her son so he can beat him every day. Oh, AJ’s such a nice guy. 

He says, “I will take custody of your son and beat him every day.” Will he take custody of her daughter? No, no, he will not take custody of her daughter. He will take custody of her son. Who’s son will he take custody of? Well, he will take custody of Yuriko’s son. Why will he take custody of Yuriko’s son? Well, so he can beat him; and so he can threaten her. 

Okay, so he says, “Leave now or I will take custody of your son and kill you! Leave the class now and never come back!” Yuriko frightened by AJ’s threat. Is Yuriko scared by what AJ says? Yes, she is. She’s very frightened by AJ’s threat. Is Yuriko frightened by AJ’s compliment? No, no, of course not. AJ did not say something nice to her. That’s a compliment. She’s frightened by AJ’s threat. 

What was AJ’s threat? Now, it’s a noun, right? Threat this time is a noun. Well, AJ’s threat was he said he would kill her and take her son. That was AJ’s threat. That’s the dangerous thing AJ said he will do. Okay, AJ’s threat, was it frightening? Was it scary? Now, I’m using frightening as an adjective. Yeah, AJ’s threat was frightening; so Yuriko was frightened. Right? AJ’s threat was frightening; so Yuriko felt frightened. Frightened is a feeling. Frightening describes a situation or a thing. So AJ’s threat was very frightening, very scary. 

Okay, so after AJ’s threat, what does Yuriko do? Well, after AJ’s threat, after she hears AJ’s threat, Yuriko starts to cry, “Oh, ohhhhh, no, please, don’t hurt me.” Then she runs out of the class, and all the other students cheer, “Yea! We’re happy.” 

All right, good. One more time. This time I’ll pause after the key phrases. Yuriko is unfit to be a student. (Pause) Good. Yuriko is unfit to be a student. (Pause) Every day she comes to school. Then she belittles the other students. (Pause) Then she belittles the other students. (Pause) When another student makes a mistake, Yuriko yells, “Are you stupid? Do you have a mental disability? (Pause) Do you have a mental disability? (Pause) What’s wrong with you, you idiot?” One day, another student named Jenwah complains to AJ, the teacher. She says, “I’m frightened by Yuriko. (Pause) I’m frightened by Yuriko. I’m going to quit this class.” The teacher says, “Stick it out, Jenwah. (Pause) Stick it out, Jenwah. (Pause) Don’t worry. I will get rid of Yuriko. Then we will all be better off.” (Pause) Then we will all be better off. (Pause) 

The next day, AJ brings a gun to school. He points the gun at Yuriko and threatens her. (Pause) He points the gun at Yuriko and threatens her. “Yuriko, if you come to my class again, I will kill you; and then I’ll take custody of your son, (Pause) And then I’ll take custody of your son, (Pause) and I will beat him every day. So leave now!” Yuriko is frightened by AJ’s threat. (Pause) Yuriko is frightened by AJ’s threat. (Pause) She starts crying, and then she runs out of the class. The other students cheer, “Yea!” 

Okay, that is the end of the mini-story. Please stop now and tell all of this story yourself using the correct phrases. Okay, bye-bye. 

Okay, this is the point of view mini-story for Lost Custody. Let’s get started. First one with the phrase “Twenty years ago.” 

Twenty years ago, there was a student named Yuriko. She was unfit to be a student. Every day she came to school late. Then she belittled the other students. When another student made a mistake, Yuriko yelled, “Are you stupid? Do you have a mental disability? What’s wrong with you, you idiot?” One day, another student named Jenwah complained to AJ, the teacher. She said, “I’m frightened by Yuriko. I’m going to quit this class.” The teacher said, “Stick it out, Jenwah. Don’t worry. I will get rid of Yuriko. Then we will all be better off.” 

The next day, AJ, the teacher, brought a gun to class. He pointed the gun at Yuriko and threatened her. He said, “Yuriko, if you come to my class again, I will kill you; and then I will take custody of your son and beat him every day. So leave now!” Yuriko was frightened by AJ’s threat. She started to cry. Then she ran out of the class. The other students cheered, “Yea, Yuriko’s gone!” 

Okay, the next version begins with “Since January.” 

Since January, there has been a new student in AJ’s class. Her name is Yuriko. Yuriko is unfit to be a student. Every day she has come to school late. Then she has belittled the other students. When another student has made a mistake, Yuriko has always yelled, “Are you stupid? Do you have a mental disability? What’s wrong with you, you idiot?” Well, one day, another student named Jenwah complained to AJ, the teacher. She said, “I’m frightened by Yuriko. I’m going to quit this class.” The teacher said, “Stick it out, Jenwah. Don’t worry. I’ll get rid of Yuriko. Then we’ll all be better off.” 

The next day, AJ brought a gun to school. He pointed the gun at Yuriko and threatened her. He said, “Yuriko, if you come to my class again, I will kill you; and then I’ll take custody of your son and beat him every day. So leave now!” Yuriko was frightened by AJ’s threat. She started crying, and then she ran out of the class. The other students cheered, “Yea!” 

Okay, you’ll notice that one I – in the beginning there – I used the have – have – she has come to school. She has belittled the other students, because those are things she did every day starting in January up until now. But I said Yuriko is unfit to be a student. I said that because that’s a general statement about her that’s always true. Past, present, and probably in the future, too. So I used the present tense in that one; and then I switched to the past. I said, “One day, another student named Jenwah,” and now we’re describing one thing that happened. It already happened. It’s totally finished. So that’s when I switched to simple past again. 

Don’t worry. Don’t think about the verb tenses. Don’t think about the names: present perfect, past, blah-blah-blah. Don’t worry about that. Just listen for when I change. Try to get a feeling – a feeling for when I’m changing. Okay? 

So listen carefully. That’s your only job. Do not try to memorize the rules. Do not try to remember all those grammar rules. Just try to get a feeling for when I change the verb tenses and maybe why do I do it. That’s all. That’s all you need to do. 

All right, next one, let’s go to the future. Back to the future. “In ten years,” starting with “In ten years.” Here we go. 

In the future, ten years from now, in ten years, there will be a class; and in the class, there will be a student named Yuriko. Yuriko will be unfit to be a student. Every day she’ll come to class late. Then she’ll belittle the other students. When another student makes a mistake, Yuriko will yell, “Are you stupid? Do you have a mental disability? What’s wrong with you, you idiot?” Now, one day, another student named Jenwah will complain to the teacher, whose name is AJ. She’ll say, “I’m frightened by Yuriko. I’m going to quit this class.” The teacher’ll say, “Stick it out, Jenwah. Don’t worry. I’ll get rid of Yuriko. Then we’ll all be better of.” 

The next day, AJ’ll bring a gun to class. He’ll point the gun at Yuriko and threaten her. “Yuriko, if you come to my class again, I’ll kill you; and then I’ll take custody of your son and beat him every day. So leave now!” Yuriko will be frightened by AJ’s threat. She’ll start crying, and then she’ll run out of the class. The other students will cheer, “Yea! Yuriko’s gone. Yea!” 

All right, that’s all for the point of view stories. Please now go back. Listen to the first one, then pause and try to tell the first story yourself beginning with 20 years ago. Try to tell all the story and use the correct verbs and the correct vocabulary. Then listen to the second one starting with “Since January.” Listen to it a few times, and then pause and try to tell it yourself out loud, maybe alone in your room or something. 

And then, finally, listen to the third one beginning with “In ten years,” or “Ten years from now”; and try to tell that one yourself, also. Okay, if you have trouble, if you can’t remember exactly the words to say or you make a few mistakes, listen, just relax. Okay? Relax. It takes a little time. The most important thing is to listen very carefully, and to listen again and again and again until you are sleeping and dreaming about these stories. Then it will become automatic. 

So please relax about making mistakes. This is not a test. Okay? In fact, you can only listen if you want to. If you want to, just listen. You don’t need to try to tell the stories yourself. If it makes you feel stressed, if it makes you feel nervous or uncomfortable to pause and speak, then don’t do it. Only tell the stories if you are relaxed about it. If you can do it and you don’t worry. You don’t feel nervous about making mistakes. If you feel nervous, just relax and listen only. That’s fine. 

Okay, I’ll see you next time. Bye-bye. . 

Hello, this is the mini-story lesson for the Meddling Mother-In-Law, Dear Abby lesson. Here we go. 

There was a girl named Tomoe. One day, she took it upon herself to change her husband. Tomoe was very picky. She wanted the apartment to always be perfectly clean, but her husband was a lousy housekeeper. One day, Tomoe said, “When you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” Tomoe was very polite, but her husband took this the wrong way. He yelled, “Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” Then he jumped up and down, pulled his hair, and said, “I wash my hands of this. I will never do laundry again.” 

Okay, let’s go back to the top – this time with questions. You can pause and answer the questions, or you can answer the question quickly in your head. Here I go. Or just listen. 

There was a girl named Tomoe. One day, she took it upon herself to change her husband. Did somebody tell Tomoe to change her husband? No, no, nobody told her. She took it upon herself. Did Tomoe decide by herself to do this, to change her husband? That’s right. She decided all alone. She decided herself, “I will change my husband.” 

Did she take it upon herself to change her mother? No, no, no, she didn’t decide alone to change her mother. She decided, by herself, to change her husband. She took it upon herself to change her husband. Did she take it upon herself to clean the house? No, she didn’t take it upon herself to clean the house. She didn’t decide, “Ah, I will clean the house.” No, she took it upon herself to change her husband. 

What did she take it upon herself to do? Well, she took it upon herself to change her husband. Why did she take it upon herself to change her husband? Well, her husband was a lousy housekeeper. He was a bad housekeeper. He didn’t clean the house very much. So she took it upon herself – she decided herself – to change him. She didn’t ask anybody else.

Tomoe was very picky. She wanted the apartment to always be perfectly clean. Was Tomoe very relaxed about the apartment? No, no, no, no, she was not relaxed. She was very picky. Everything had to be perfect. Everything must be perfect, exactly as she wants it, exactly like she wants it. 

Was Tomoe picky about her food? Must she always eat food that is perfect, exactly how she wants it? No, no, no, Tamoa’s not picky about her food. She will eat any kind of food. So no problem. She’s not picky about her food. Is Tomoe picky about her clothes? Was she picky about her clothes? Well, no, no, she doesn’t care about clothes. She doesn’t care about fashion. She will wear anything. 

What was she picky about? Well, Tomoe was picky about the apartment, right? Everything in the apartment must be clean. Everything must be in the right place. Tommoe was very, very picky about the apartment, not about her food, not about clothes, not about other things. She’s very picky 

– was very picky about the apartment. But her husband was a lousy housekeeper. Was he a good housekeeper? No, no, no, no, he was a very bad housekeeper. Did he clean the apartment a lot? No, no, he was a lousy housekeeper. He 

never cleaned the apartment. Did he do the laundry a lot? No, no, no, he never did the laundry. Was he good at doing the laundry? No, no, he was lousy. He was bad at doing the laundry. Was he good with washing the dishes? No, no, he was lousy with the dishes, too. He was a lousy housekeeper in general. He was lousy with housekeeping. He was a lousy housekeeper. 

So, finally, one day Tomoe said, “When you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” Did she want him to pick out the different clothes – to separate them and organize them by color? Yes, yes, of course. That’s exactly what she wanted. She wanted him to sort the clothes by color. Did she want him to sort the clothes by size? Big ones here, small ones there. No, no, no, she didn’t want him to sort the clothes by size. 

Did she want him to sort the dishes by color? No, no, no, no, she did not want him to sort the dishes – the plates, the bowls, no. She did not want him to sort the dishes. She wanted him to sort the clothes. How did she want him to sort the clothes? Well, she wanted him to sort the clothes by color. That’s how. She wanted him to sort the clothes by color. Okay, so she wanted him to sort the clothes by color. When she said this, she was very polite, very nice. Tomoe was very polite always, but her husband took this the wrong way. Did her husband understand Tomoe exactly? No, no, he did not understand. He thought she was angry. He thought she was criticizing him. She – he thought she was attacking him. He took this the wrong way. He took her words the wrong way. 

She said, “When you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” But her husband took this the wrong way. He misunderstood the words. Did her husband take this the wrong way? Take her words the wrong way? Yes, of course, exactly right. He took her words the wrong way. 

Did her mother take it the wrong way? No, no, no, no, not her mother. She wasn’t talking to her mother. Her mother didn’t take it the wrong way. Her husband took it the wrong way. What did her husband take the wrong way? Well, her husband took her words the wrong way. When she said, “Please sort the clothes by color,” he took that the wrong way. 

After he took it the wrong way, what did he do? Well, he took it the wrong way; then he yelled, “Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” Did he think he was a bad husband? No, no, no, he said, “I’m not a lousy husband. I am not a bad husband. I’m not a terrible husband.” So he said, “I’m not a lousy husband.” He didn’t think he was a lousy husband. 

Did Tomoe say he was a lousy husband? No, of course not. Tomoe’s polite. She didn’t say that. She didn’t say, “You are a lousy husband.” She only said, “Please sort the clothes by color.” But he took that the wrong way. Then he jumped up and down. He pulled his hair; and he said, “I wash my hands of this. I will never do laundry again.” 

Did her husband wash his hands of doing the dishes? No, no, no, no, he didn’t decide never to do the dishes. He will continue to do the dishes. He washed his hands of doing the laundry. Did he wash his hands of all housekeeping? No, no, he didn’t wash his hands of all housekeeping. He did- n’t quit all housekeeping. He will still do some other things, but he washed his hands of doing the laundry. 

Will he ever do the laundry again? Will he ever do laundry again? No, absolutely not, no. He will never do laundry again. He washed his hands of doing laundry. He said, “I wash my hands of laundry.” Yep, it means he will never do laundry again. He will never help with laundry again. He will never touch laundry again. Never. 

Did he wash his hands of the relationship of his marriage? No, no, no, of course not. He didn’t quit his relationship. He didn’t quit his marriage. He said, “I wash my hands of laundry.” He will never do laundry again. 

Okay, very good. One more time up to the top. This time, if you want, if you want to practice speaking, I will pause after the key phrases. Please repeat them. When you repeat, copy my pronunciation; especially copy my intonation. When do I go up? When do I go down? And, remember, in English, we start high, ahhhhh, and we drop, ahhhhh, ahhhhh. So listen for that and copy it exactly. Here we go. 

There was a girl named Tomoe. One day, she took it upon herself to change her husband. (Pause) One day, she took it upon herself to change her husband. (Pause) Very good. Tomoe was very picky. (Pause) Tomoe was very picky. (Pause) Good. She wanted the apartment to always be perfectly clean, but her husband was a lousy housekeeper. (Pause) But her husband was a lousy housekeeper. (Pause) Good. 

One day, Tomoe said, “When you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” (Pause) Very good. “Please sort the clothes by color.” (Pause) Good. Tomoe was very polite, but her husband took this the wrong way. (Pause) Good. But her husband took this the wrong way. (Pause) Very good. 

He yelled, “Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” (Pause) Good. “I’m not a lousy husband.” (Pause) Very good. Then he jumped up and down, pulled his hair, and said, “I wash my hands of this.” (Pause) Good. “I wash my hands of this.” (Pause) Very good. “I wash my hands of this. I will never do laundry again.” 

Okay, that is all. Now please pause or stop this and try to tell all of the story yourself. Use all of the new phrases, all of the key phrases; and try to tell all of the story. If you can’t, don’t worry. Relax. Just listen again. Try to listen to it every day. 

See you next time. Bye-bye. 

Hello, welcome to the point of view mini-story for the Meddling Mother-In-Law lesson. Let’s get started in our first version of the story. We will start with the phrase “Right now.” Okay? The original story was in the past, so now we’re gonna start with “Right now.” 

Right now, there is a girl named Tomoe. She takes it upon herself to change her husband. Tomoe is very picky. She wants the apartment to always be perfectly clean, but her husband is a lousy housekeeper. One day, Tomoe says, “When you do laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” Tomoe is very polite, but her husband takes this the wrong way. He yells, “Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” Then he jumps up and down, pulls his hair, and says, “I wash my hands of this. I will never do laundry again.” 

All right, very good. Now let’s change the story a little bit. We’re gonna start the story with the phrase “Since last April.” Starting in last April, continuing until now. Since last April. Okay. 

There’s a girl named Tomoe. Since last April, she has taken it upon herself to change her husband. Since that time, Tomoe has been very, very picky. She has wanted the apartment to always be perfectly clean, but her husband has always been a lousy housekeeper. One day, Tomoe said, “When you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” At that time, Tomoe was very polite; but her husband took it the wrong way. He yelled, “Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” Then he jumped up and down, pulled his hair, and said, “I wash my hands of this. I will never do laundry again.” 

Okay, did you notice, again, this happens a lot when we begin something with the perfect tenses. We often switch to another tense, often to the past tense. So we talked about one day – I’m sorry, I didn’t say one day. Tomoe has taken it upon herself to change her husband. It means she started trying to change him last April. She has continued trying to change him until now, or until this day where they had the argument. 

Right, it started in the past; and it continued. So we say, “She has taken it upon herself.” Has taken. And we say, “Tomoe has been very picky.” This gives the idea that something changed. Maybe in April, something happened; because, before April, maybe she wasn’t picky; but since April, she has been very picky. Starting in April until now. You get the idea. But then when I say, “One day, Tomoe said,” okay, one day is your clue. One day tells you, “Aha, it happened; and it’s finished; so switch to the past tense.” 

All right, and now let’s do our little – we can imagine we’re telling a story about the future. Maybe it’s a movie idea. Maybe it’s any kind of story; but that’s going to happen. Here we go. 

There will be a girl named Tomoe. One day in the future, she will take it upon herself to change her husband. Tomoe’ll be very picky. She’ll want the apartment to always be perfectly clean, but her husband’ll be a lousy housekeeper. One day, Tomoe’ll say, “When you do laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” Tomoe will be very polite, but her husband will take it the wrong way. He’ll yell, “Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” Then he’ll jump up and down, pull his hair, and say, “I wash my hands of this. I’ll never do laundry again.” 

Okay, in that story, you heard – sometimes it’s hard to hear the future, right? In the textbooks they tell you to say will – will – will – will. He will do this. He will yell. I will go. But, in fact, when we speak, we don’t usually say will. Right? We put – we combine it. We just say ‘ll, ‘ll. There’ll be a girl named Tomoe. Right? There will be a girl. There’ll – there’ll – there’ll be a girl. 

One day, she’ll take it upon herself. Right? Not she will. She’ll. It’s a contraction. We’re putting the two sounds together. Tomoe’ll be very picky. Right? Instead of saying Tomoe will be very picky, we can say, “Tomoe’ll be very picky.” Right? We cut off the W I. Instead of saying “wi,” we just say ‘ll.” Tomoe’ll be very picky. 

She’ll want the apartment to be clean always. Not she will. She’ll. Her husband’ll be a lousy housekeeper. Not her husband will be. Her husband’ll – husband’ll. Okay? Now this is not correct for writing. With writing, we don’t usually say husband’ll; but in speech, in conversation, especially native speakers speaking quickly, they will say ‘ll – ‘ll. Her husband’ll be very bad. Her husband’ll be a bad housekeeper. 

One day, Tomoe’ll say, Tomoe’ll say – did you hear that? Tomoe’ll say – not Tomoe will say. Tomoe’ll say – then we switch to the present tense; because it’s a quote. “When you do laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” Tomoe’ll be very polite. Tomoe’ll – Tomoe’ll be very polite, but her husband’ll take it the wrong way. Her husband will take it the wrong way. He’ll yell, not he will yell. He’ll yell, “Why are you criticizing me?” Etc., etc. Then he’ll jump up and down. He’ll pull his hair, and will say – and’ll say – you could even do that. And’ll say – and’ll say – and will say, “I wash my hands of this. I will never do laundry again.” 

So listen for that. You know, the English you get in textbooks, in CD – on CDs, in schools, it’s a formal style of English. It’s also really a written kind of English. So you’re learning to speak written English from these books; and, you know, that’s okay; but it’s not how we really speak. It is not how Americans actually speak. 

You’ll never see in a textbook husband’ll. The husband’ll be good. The husband’ll go to the store. You’ll never see that in the textbook; but, in fact, that’s exactly what we say every day – husband’ll. Tomoe’ll. He’ll. So listen for that when you listen to our movie lessons, when you listen to my commentaries, when you listen to these mini-stories. I’ll try to use this more normal conversation style so you can begin to understand it and use it. 

Okay, that’s all. As usual, listen to each version. Then pause and try to tell the story yourself. All of it using the correct grammar, the correct verb tenses; and try to use the correct pronunciation when you do this future one, especially. Try to use ‘ll – ‘ll – ‘ll instead of will. 

Okay, see you next time. Bye-bye. 

Okay, welcome to the mini-story lesson for Nudist. Let’s get started. 

Sarah longs for a fella named Bobby. She loves him deeply; but Bobby lives in Norway; and Sarah lives in San Francisco. Every day, Sarah thinks about Bobby and feels unsettled. Finally, she decides she must see him to be happy. She flies to Norway to retrieve him and bring him back to San Francisco. She spots him at a beach. She wants to run to him, but she hesitates because he’s in the buff. She’s shocked and startled because he’s with a beautiful, busty woman who is also in the buff. Sarah starts to cry. (Crying sound) Then she runs away. She returns to San Francisco. Sarah and Bobby never cross paths again. 

All right, let’s go up to the top with questions. 

Sarah longs for a fella named Bobby. Sarah longs for Bobby. Does she want him very, very much? Yes, that’s right. She longs for him. She wants him very, very much. She thinks about him all the time. She longs for him. Does Sarah long for David? Does she want David a lot? No, no, no, she doesn’t long for David. She longs for Bobby. She really wants Bobby. She really, really needs and wants Bobby. She longs for Bobby. 

Sarah longs for a fella named Bobby. Does she long for a man named Bobby? Yes, exactly right. She longs for – she wants a man named Bobby. Does she want a guy named Bobby? Yes, that’s right. She wants a fella named Bobby. She wants a fella named Bobby. Does she long for a fella named Jim? No, she doesn’t want a fella, a guy named Jim. Does she want a guy – does she want a fella named AJ? Oh, no, no, no, she doesn’t want a fella named AJ. She wants a fella named Bobby. 

Why does she want a fella named Bobby? Well, she wants a fella, a guy, named Bobby because she loves him deeply, very much. But there’s a problem. Bobby lives in Norway, and Sarah lives in San Francisco. However, every day Sarah thinks about Bobby; and she feels unsettled. Does she feel very, very, very upset? Well, actually, no, no. Unsettled does not mean very, very upset. It means just a little upset. She feels a little strange, a little upset, a little nervous and sad, maybe. So she feels unsettled. She feels a little wrong, but not a lot. 

Still, every day she feels unsettled. Does she feel unsettled only on Monday? No, no, no, she does- n’t feel a little bad on Monday only. She feels unsettled every day. She feels a little bit strange, a little bad every day. Why does she feel unsettled? Well, she feels unsettled – she feels a little bad because she misses Bobby. She’s thinking about Bobby. She loves Bobby; but Bobby is in San Francisco – I mean in Norway; and she is in San Francisco. Right? They live apart. They live far away. 

That’s why she feels unsettled. Does she feel unsettled because she ate something bad? No, no, she didn’t eat anything bad. Her stomach’s okay. She feels unsettled because she misses Bobby. She’s sad about Bobby. Well, she feels unsettled every day, every day; every day she feels unsettled. 

Finally, she decides she must see him – she must see Bobby to be happy. So she flies to Norway to 

retrieve him. Does she plan to stay in Norway? No, no, she wants to retrieve him. She wants to get Bobby and bring him back to San Francisco. Right. She doesn’t wanna stay in Norway. She wants to retrieve him – get him and bring him back to San Francisco. 

Does she want to retrieve her brother? No, no, no, she’s not trying to get her brother and bring him back to San Francisco. She wants to retrieve Bobby, right? Why does she want to retrieve Bobby? Well, she wants to retrieve him; because she loves him and misses him. She wants him to come back to San Francisco. So she wants to retrieve Bobby. 

When she flies to Norway, who does she want to retrieve? Well, she flies to Norway to retrieve Bobby. Okay, very good. She flies to Norway to retrieve Bobby and bring him back to San Francisco. She looks for him everywhere – in the cities, everywhere; but, finally, she spots him at a beach. Does she see him at a beach? Yes, that’s exactly right. She spots him at a beach. She sees him at a beach. 

Maybe the beach has many people. She’s looking. She’s looking. Ah, finally, she spots him. Does she spot him in the city? No, no, no, she does not see him – she does not spot him in the city. Does she spot him in a car? No, she does not spot him in a car. Where does she spot him? Well, she spots him at a beach. 

When she spots him, is he alone? No, no, she spots him with another woman. Right? Who does she spot at the beach? Well, she spots Bobby at the beach, right? And when she spots him, when she sees him, she wants to run to him, but she hesitates. Why does she hesitate? She hesitates because he’s in the buff. He’s naked. He has no clothes. 

Does she wait? Does she stop, or does she run to him immediately? Well, she hesitates. She waits, right? She wants to run to him. She starts to go, but then she stops. She waits. She hesitates. She hesitates to run. Why does she hesitate to run to Bobby? Well, she hesitates because he’s in the buff. He’s naked. Is he wearing clothes? No, no, he’s in the buff. No clothes. 

Is Bobby wearing a swimsuit? No, Bobby is not wearing a swimsuit. He is in the buff. He’s in the buff. He is naked. He has no clothes. Does Sarah see other people in the buff? Yes, she does. She sees another person. She sees a beautiful, busty woman who is also in the buff. Does this woman have large breasts? Yes, she does, in fact. She’s busty woman. She’s a busty woman. Does the woman have a flat chest, a flat chest, very small breasts? No, no, no, she’s a busty woman. She has large breasts. She’s a very busty woman. 

Does Sarah hesitate because she sees Bobby naked with a busty woman? Yeah, that’s right. That’s exactly why she waits. That’s exactly why she hesitates. She hesitates because she sees him in the buff, and he is with a busty woman who is also in the buff – who also has no clothes. That’s why she hesitates and waits. 

After she hesitates, what does Sarah do? Well, after she hesitates, (gasp) she sees him; and then she starts to cry. (Crying sound) “Oh, no.” Sarah starts to cry. Then she runs away. She does not run to Bobby. She runs away. She returns to San Francisco alone. Sarah and Bobby never cross paths again. 

In the future, do Sarah and Bobby meet again? No, they never meet again. They never cross paths again. Do they see each other again sometime in the future? No, no, no, they never cross paths again. They never meet again. They never see each other again. Does Sarah cross paths with Bobby again? Nooooo, she never crossed paths – crosses paths with Bobby again. Sarah never crosses paths with Bobby again. 

Does Sarah cross paths with the naked woman again? Does she cross paths with the naked woman, the busty woman again? Well, maybe, but, no, actually, no, she doesn’t. She never sees the busty naked woman – the busty woman in the buff – never sees her again, either. She never crosses paths with Bobby or with the naked woman. 

Does Sarah cross paths with her mother in the future? Well, yes, yes, probably, of course. She needs her mother a lot. She crosses paths with her mother many times, so they always cross paths. No problem. But she never crosses paths with Bobby again. Sarah and Bobby never cross paths again. They never meet again. 

All right, let’s go back to the beginning. This time I’ll pause after the key words, the key phrases. Please repeat the phrase after me. Don’t only repeat. Please copy my pronunciation. Listen for my intonation. When do I go up, and when do I streeeeetch, and when do I drop? Uhhhhh, uhhhhh. Listen for that and copy it. Here we go. 

Sarah longs for a fella named Bobby. (Pause) Sarah longs for a fella named Bobby. (Pause) Good. She loves him deeply; but Bobby lives in Norway; and Sarah lives in San Francisco. Every day, Sarah thinks about Bobby and feels unsettled. (Pause) Every day, Sarah thinks about Bobby and feels unsettled. (Pause) 

Finally, she decides she must see him to be happy. She flies to Norway to retrieve him. (Pause) She flies to Norway to retrieve him. (Pause) Good. She flies to Norway to retrieve him and bring him back to San Francisco. She spots him at a beach. (Pause) Good. She spots him at a beach. (Pause) Good. Copy that intonation. Um-um-um-um-um-um. She spots him at a beach. 

She wants to run to him, but she hesitates. (Pause) She wants to run to him, but she hesitates. (Pause) Good. She hesitates because he’s in the buff. (Pause) She hesitates because he’s in the buff. (Pause) Very good. She’s shocked and startled. (Pause) She’s shocked and startled. (Pause) Good. She’s shocked and startled – she’s surprised – because he’s with a beautiful, busty woman. (Pause) Good. Because he’s with a beautiful, busy woman. (Pause) Good. 

She’s started because he’s with a beautiful, busty woman who is also in the buff. (Pause) Good. She’s startled because he’s with a beautiful, busty woman who is also in the buff. (Pause) Sarah starts to cry. (Crying sound) Then she runs away. She returns to San Francisco. Sarah and Bobby never cross paths again. (Pause) Good. Sarah and Bobby never cross paths again. (Pause) 

Okay, very good. Please pause and tell all of the story again. Tell the entire story. Try to use all the new phrases and vocabulary. All right. I will see you next time. When you finish, go to the point of view story. Bye-bye. 

Okay, let’s get started. It’s the point of view mini-stories for the Nudist lesson. Are you ready? First, we’re gonna go back to the past – last week. Last week, Sarah longed for a fella named Bobby. She loved him deeply; but Bobby lived in Norway; and Sarah lived in San Francisco. Sarah thought about Bobby every day and felt unsettled. Finally, she decided she must see him to be happy. She flew to Norway to retrieve him and bring him back to San Francisco. She spotted him at a beach. She wanted to run to him, but she hesitated because he was in the buff. She was shocked and startled because he was with a beautiful, busty woman who was also in the buff. Sarah started to cry. (Crying sound) Then she ran away. She returned to San Francisco just yesterday. Sarah and Bobby never crossed paths again. 

All right, very nice. Let’s do another one now. We’re gonna start with since middle school – since middle school for version No. 2. 

Since middle school, Sarah has longed for a fella named Bobby. She has loved him deeply all that time, since middle school until now; but Bobby has lived in Norway for ten years; and Sarah has lived in San Francisco. Every day, Sarah has thought about Bobby and has felt unsettled. Well, finally one day, she decided she must see him to be happy. So she flew to Norway to retrieve him and bring him back to San Francisco. She spotted him at a beach one day. She wanted to run to him, but she hesitated because he was in the buff. She was shocked and startled because he was with a beautiful, busty woman who was also in the buff. Sarah started to cry. (Crying sound) Then she ran away. She returned to San Francisco. Sarah and Bobby never crossed paths again. 

Okay, as always, you can see – this happens a lot when we start with since middle school, since one year ago. Often we have to switch to the past tense again when we talk about a specific event, right? Specific events usually start. They happen, and then they stop. It’s all finished in the past. When we talk about, you know, one day or one week or one time, oh, that tells you, “Ah, time to use the past.” But if we say since middle school, since 2006, you know, until five years ago, well, then that tells us, “Oh, maybe we better starting using have, have gone, have gone, or has gone, or had gone.” 

Okay, third version. Let’s go to the future. Into the future. Into the future, next year, here’s my idea for a story. It’s a story that will happen next year.

There will be a woman named Sarah. Sarah will long for a fella named Bobby. She’ll love him deeply; but Bobby’ll live in Norway; and Sarah will live in San Francisco. Every day, Sarah’ll think about Bobby, and she’ll feel unsettled. Finally, she’ll decide she must see him to be happy. She’ll fly to Norway to retrieve him and bring him back to San Francisco. She’ll spot him at a beach. She’ll want to run to him, but she’ll hesitate because he’ll be in the buff. She’ll be shocked and startled because he’ll also be with a beautiful, busty woman who’ll be in the buff. Sarah’ll start to cry. Then she’ll run away. She’ll return to San Francisco. Sarah and Bobby will never cross paths again. 

All right, those are our three versions. Please listen to them many times. When you understand them, when you know them well, pause after each version and tell all of the story yourself. Tell it starting with last week or last year or ten years ago. That’s version one; and then tell it again starting with since middle school, or since high school, or since 2002. That’s version No. 2, and then tell it again in the future next year, in the year 2010, or next month. 

Okay? Practice all three versions, and that’s all. 

Okay, welcome to the mini-story for Obsessive Behavior lesson. Let’s get started. 

Cathy always obsesses about English. She constantly worries about taking the TOEFL test. When she worries, she always rubs her hands together. They are always chaffed. Her friend, Gabriel, is the opposite. He always opts to remain relaxed. He always reprimands Cathy. “Cathy, stop obsessing about English, damn it.” Cathy never stands up to Gabriel directly. She just says, “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad.” Then she says, “Um, but let’s go the library now and study English, please.” Gabriel always nixes this idea. “Hell, no, we’re not studying English.” Cathy feels unsettled; but she says, hesitantly, “Okay.” However, in her head, she silently starts to review English grammar. Then she feels much better. 

Okay, again, this time with questions. Back to the top. 

Cathy always obsesses about English. Does she think about English all the time? Yes, that’s right. She always thinks about English. Does she think about English in the morning? Yeah, that’s right. She always obsesses about English in the morning. Does she think about English during the day? Yes, that’s right. She’s obsessing about English, right? Always obsesses about English; so she thinks about English in the morning, in the afternoon, at night before she goes to sleep. She obsesses about English. 

Does she obsess about French? No, no, no, she doesn’t care about French. She doesn’t always think about French. She obsesses about English. Who always obsesses about English? Well, Cathy always obsesses about English. Does Gabriel always obsess about English? No, no, Gabriel doesn’t always obsess about English. Cathy always obsesses about English. 

She constantly worries about taking the TOEFL test. Does she obsess about the TOEFL test? Yes, yes, she’s always obsessed with the TOEFL test. She always obsesses about the TOEFL test. When she worries, she always rubs her hands together. Right? She’s always rubbing her hands together when she worries about English, when she obsesses about English. 

Because she always rubs her hands together, they are always chaffed. Are her hands always red? Yes, that’s right. Her hands are always chaffed. The skin is always red. Is the skin always a little painful? Yeah, that’s right. Her hands are always chaffed, so her hands are always a little painful. The skin is painful. The skin is a little bit red. Why are her hands always chaffed? Well, they’re always chaffed because she rubs them together when she worries – when she worries about English. 

Are they chaffed because she washes her hands too much? No, no, that’s not why they’re chaffed. Her hands are not chaffed because she washes her hands too much. They’re chaffed because she rubs her hands together too much. They’re chaffed because she rubs her hands together. That’s why they’re red and painful. 

Now, her friend, Gabriel, is the opposite. He always opts to remain relaxed. Does he choose to remain relaxed? Yeah, that’s right. He opts to be relaxed. He chooses to be relaxed. To opt to means to choose. Now, we usually use opt to with an action. Opt to run. Opt to go shopping. Opt to stay relaxed. It goes with the verb. If you’re choosing two things, if you have a red phone and a blue phone, you don’t say, “I opt the red phone.” 

You might say, “I opt for the red phone.” If you say that, then it’s okay; but, usually, we use it with verbs. You opt to do something. I opt to buy the red phone. We would say that. That would be okay. So he opts to stay relaxed. Does Cathy opt to stay relaxed? Does she choose to be relaxed? No, Cathy does not opt to stay relaxed. She always opts to be worried. She always obsesses about English, but Gabriel opts to remain relaxed. 

He chooses to remain relaxed, and he always reprimands Cathy. Does he criticize Cathy’s obsession? Obsession’s a noun. Does he criticize Cathy’s obsession – Cathy’s worrying? Yeah, that’s right. He reprimands Cathy. Does he tell her she’s wrong, that she’s doing something bad? Yeah, that’s right. He reprimands Cathy. He tells her, “Stop obsessing about English, damn it.” Right? He reprimands her. 

He criticizes her and tells her she’s doing something wrong. Does Gabriel reprimand his mother? No, no, Gabriel does not reprimand his mother. Who does Gabriel reprimand? Gabriel reprimands Cathy. Why does he reprimand Cathy? Well, he reprimands Cathy because she worries about English too much. She obsesses about English. 

Does he reprimand Cathy all the time? Well, no, he doesn’t reprimand Cathy all the time. When does he reprimand Cathy? Well, he reprimands Cathy when she talks about English, when she wants to study English, and when she rubs her hands together. Then he reprimands her. 

How does he reprimand her? What does he say? Well, he reprimands her by saying, “Cathy, stop obsessing about English, damn it.” But Cathy never stands up to Gabriel. Does Cathy argue with Gabriel? No, no, she does not stand up to Gabriel. Does she disagree with Gabriel directly? No, no, she never says something to him. She never disagrees. She never argues. She does not stand up to Gabriel. 

Does Cathy stand up to other people? Well, we don’t know. Maybe she stands up to other people. Maybe she will argue with her mom or her other friends, but she won’t stand up to Gabriel. When Gabriel reprimands her, does she stand up to him? No, she doesn’t. She does not stand up to Gabriel. He says, “Stop obsessing about English,” while she doesn’t argue with him. 

What does she say? Since she doesn’t stand up to him, she just says, “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad.” But then later she says, “Um, but, um, let’s go the library now and study English, please.” Gabriel gets angry. Gabriel always nixes this idea. Does Gabriel agree with the idea? No, no, he nixes the idea, right? He shoots the idea down. He destroys the idea. He immediately says no. He says, “No, we are not studying English.” He nixes the idea. 

Does he nix all of Cathy’s ideas? No, no, no, he doesn’t nix all of Cathy’s ideas. He only nixes her idea to study English. When she wants to study English, he always nixes the idea. He always says no immediately. “No, we’re not studying English.” 

Does Gabriel nix Bob’s idea? No, no, no, he doesn’t nix Bob’s idea. He nixes Cathy’s idea, right? Gabriel nixes Cathy’s idea, not Bob’s idea; and when he nixes her idea, what does he say? Well, Gabriel always nixes the idea and says, “Hell, no, we’re not studying English.” 

How does Cathy feel when this happens? Well, Cathy feels unsettled, right? She feels a little strange, a little uncomfortable. Does she feel very, very, very upset? No, she doesn’t. She feels just unsettled, a little upset; and then when she feels unsettled, she says, hesitantly, “Okay. Um, it’s okay.” However, in her head, silently in her head, she is thinking about grammar; and she is reviewing English grammar. Then she feels much better. 

When she says okay, does she say it strongly and quickly? No, no, no, she does not. She says it hesitantly. She stops and she starts. She’s not sure. She says, “Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh, okay.” She says it hesitantly, right? When Cathy says okay, she does not say it directly. She says it very, very hesitantly. What does she say hesitantly? Well, she says, “Okay,” hesitantly.

All right. So let’s go back to the top again; and this time, I’m going to pause after key phrases. Please copy my pronunciation. Remember, this is not just repeating words. Repeating words does not help. You need to copy my pronunciation. When I go up, you should go up. When I go down, you should go down. Copy my intonation very carefully. Okay, let’s go to the top. Here we go. 

Cathy always obsesses about English. (Pause) Good. Cathy always obsesses about English. (Pause) She constantly worries about taking the TOEFL test. When she worries, she always rubs her hands together. They are always chaffed. (Pause) Good. They are always chaffed. (Pause) Her friend, Gabriel, is the opposite. He always opts to remain relaxed. (Pause) He always opts to remain relaxed. (Pause) Good. He always reprimands Cathy. (Pause) He always reprimands Cathy. (Pause) He says, “Stop obsessing about English, damn it.” (Pause) He says, “Stop obsessing about English, damn it.” (Pause) Good. 

Cathy never stands up to Gabriel. (Pause) Cathy never stands up to Gabriel. (Pause) She just says, “I’m sorry. Don’t be mad.” Then she says, “But, um, but let’s go the library now and study English, please.” Gabriel always nixes this idea. (Pause) Gabriel always nixes this idea. (Pause) He says, “Hell, no, we’re not studying English.” Cathy feels unsettled. (Pause) Cathy feels unsettled. (Pause) But she says, hesitantly, “Okay.” (Pause) But she says, hesitantly, “Okay.” (Pause) However, in her head, quietly, she starts to review English grammar. Then she feels much better. 

Okay, that is all for this mini-story. Please pause now and try to tell all of the story yourself. Say it out loud, not silently. Say it out loud, speak it out loud. Try to tell all of the story using the new vocabulary and, also, using the correct pronunciation, the correct intonation. If this is difficult, if you cannot do it, no problem. Just listen again. Listen again, listen again. Listening is most important. 

Okay, good luck. On to the point of view mini-stories. Bye-bye.