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  1. Lesson 1 – Life As An Astronaut
    4 Activities
  2. Lesson 2 – Playing Musical Instruments
    4 Activities
  3. Lesson 3 – Internet Addiction
    5 Activities
  4. Lesson 4 – Exercise Habits & Mistakes
    4 Activities
  5. Lesson 5 – Animal Intelligence
    4 Activities
  6. Lesson 6 – Worst Job
    4 Activities
  7. Lesson 7 – A Brief History Of Jeans
    4 Activities
  8. Lesson 8 – College & Career
    4 Activities
  9. Lesson 9 – Urban Agriculture
    4 Activities
  10. Lesson 10 – Life In NYC
    7 Activities
  11. Lesson 11 – Stay-At-Home Dads
    4 Activities
  12. Lesson 12 – Embarrassing Moments
    4 Activities
  13. Lesson 13 – The Stanford Prison Experiment
    4 Activities
  14. Lesson 14 – About My Pets
    4 Activities
  15. Lesson 15 – The LEGO Story
    4 Activities
  16. Lesson 16 – Favorite Movie/Book
    4 Activities
  17. Lesson 17 – Tattoos In Different Cultures
    4 Activities
  18. Lesson 18 – Parents
    4 Activities
  19. Lesson 19 – Origin Of Santa Claus
    4 Activities
  20. Lesson 20 – Just In Time!
    4 Activities
  21. Lesson 21 – U.K. Vs. U.S. Business Culture
    4 Activities
  22. Lesson 22 – Broken Bone
    4 Activities
  23. Lesson 23 – The Amazing Human Body
    4 Activities
  24. Lesson 24 – American Football
    4 Activities
  25. Lesson 25 – Wedding Traditions
    4 Activities
  26. Lesson 26 – Study Abroad
    4 Activities
  27. Lesson 27 – The Tiny House Movement
    4 Activities
  28. Lesson 28 – What’s Your Pet Peeve?
    4 Activities
  29. Lesson 29 – The Jackie Robinson Story
    4 Activities
  30. Lesson 30 – Childhood Memories
    4 Activities
  31. Lesson 31 – A Fairy Tale
    5 Activities
  32. Lesson 32 – Grandparents
    4 Activities
  33. Lesson 33 – Urban Legends
    4 Activities
  34. Lesson 34 – Achieving Goals
    4 Activities
  35. Lesson 35 – Creative Work Environments
    4 Activities
  36. Lesson 36 – Mistakes
    4 Activities
  37. Lesson 37 – Best Pranks In History
    4 Activities
  38. Lesson 38 – Vacation
    4 Activities
  39. Lesson 39 – Junk Food
    4 Activities
  40. Lesson 40 – Abilities
    4 Activities
  41. Lesson 41 – World-Changing Mistakes
    4 Activities
  42. Lesson 42 – Volunteer Work
    4 Activities
  43. Lesson 43 – Utopia & Dystopia
    4 Activities
  44. Lesson 44 – If I Were President…
    4 Activities
  45. Lesson 45 – The Future Of Medicine
    4 Activities
  46. Your Feedback & Next Steps
Lesson 2 of 46
In Progress

Lesson 2 – Playing Musical Instruments

Warm-up:

A)   How many musical instruments can you think of in English? Write their names.

B)    Have you ever learned to play a musical instrument? How was the experience?
Or, if not: which instrument would you like to learn and why?

Pre-Learn Vocabulary

reed (n.) = a small strip located in the mouthpiece of certain musical instruments, which vibrates with the flow of air and helps make the sound.

reed

marching band (n.) = a group of people playing musical instruments (“band”) that plays music together while walking in unison (“marching”). Marching bands often perform in parades and sometimes sports games.

marchingband

pit band (n.) = Also called a “pit orchestra” – a band that plays music to accompany dance or theater performances. The musicians sit in a low area (“pit”) in front of the stage.

pitband

neat (adj.) = The word “neat” can mean something is well-organized (the opposite of “messy”). However, in this audio it is used to mean “good” or “interesting.”

Ex) My son has a really neat idea for a new website.

run into = This phrasal verb is used in two different ways in the audio. One is to “meet someone by chance” and the other is to “encounter” problems/difficulties.

Ex) At the mall, I ran into a friend from college who I hadn’t seen in years!

Ex) I tried to translate this document from French to English, but I ran into trouble with a couple of the more technical terms; I’m not sure what they mean.

on the spot (idiom) = to do something spontaneously at that moment, without previous planning

Ex) At the last minute, my co-worker said he couldn’t go to the meeting and asked if I could fill in for him – so I had to give his presentation on the spot.

chord (n.) = in music, a combination of 2 or more notes played together at the same time:

chord2

Now try the listening activities below!