Lesson 53

The Messenger

Lesson contents:

- "How long have...? (Present
   Perfect).
- Review of Present Progressive
- What does he do? He delivers...
- Expression "It pays the bills."
   as unenthusiastic reply
- wanna for want to
- "Peace" as a good-bye

Always watch the video without subtitles first in order to train your ears! It's a good idea to watch several times until you feel the "music", before watching the version with subtitles. Your pronunciation will be much better if you follow this rule.

Exercises for this lesson:

• Vocabulary: prepare for the video
• What does a messenger do?
• How long has he been a messenger?
• The job "pays the bills".
• I "wanna" get on the radio
• Extensive Dictation Exercise

How to do the lessons:

1. Watch the video without subtitles.
2. Do all the Exercises.
3. Come back to this page.
4. Watch the video with English Subtitles. Use the Pause button. People speak fast!

Problems? See general support, recording support or ask your question here.

The Messenger
Watch this video, then click on Exercise 1

Same video with Precise Subtitles
Do the exercises before watching this video with subtitles.

Real English®

Teachers:

On the day that we ran into The Messenger, "What are you doing?" was on our list of questions. James Jackson appeared suddenly behind Lizzie, the interviewer, and she found a perfect situation to ask "What are you doing right now?" She forgot to ask James "What is your name?" and we only found out after we turned off the camera and asked him to sign the release form. He was extremely gracious. We invited him to lunch and we all ate NYC Hot Pastrami sandwiches with lots of sauerkraut and giant pickles (again) despite the fact that he would be a bit late for his current delivery.

He was a perfect interviewee as far as I'm concerned. And I wanted to keep in touch with him. After we finished lunch, he gave us his email address because I intended on calling in some favors from a friend who might have been able to help him get into the radio business, but it never materialized.

I love the way people remain themselves and answer our questions sincerely. Before beginning an interview, we usually explain that we are interviewing in order to help English language learners to learn real English. Everyone thinks that this is a most valid reason to devote 5 or 15 minutes to our project. Some interviewees actually worry about the quality of their speech. But James had no time to take this into consideration. I don't think it would have mattered anyway in his case.