Celebrity Easter Part 2

President Obama and the Easter Bunny!

                                        

This week’s conversational style is the follow up from last week’s 'Celebrity Easter' blog post.  Everyone is now talking about Easter again.  However, we are now talking about what we 'did' during Easter Weekend:

‘What did you do for Easter?’ or ‘What were doing over Easter weekend?’  (over=during) or ‘What were you up to on Easter?’ (up to = doing)

For language learners, try out these conversational topics with your friends!

Example Speaking Styles

Question 1:  What did you do for Easter?? 

Answer 1: We painted Easter Eggs with the kids and then went to  a big Easter Egg hunt at our local church.. Oh and of course, we went to Easter Mass. 

Question 2: What were doing over Easter last weekend?

Answer 2:  I went to a nightclub on Friday and then had Easter dinner with my parents on Sunday.

Question 3: What were you up to on Easter? 

Answer 3:  I ‘hit the slopes’.  The sun was shining and the snow was great! (to hit the slopes = go skiing).

Now let’s see how the celebrities enjoyed Easter this year.  What were they up to  for Easter?

On Monday April 9, 2012, the First Family (American President Obama and family) hosted the 134th annual White House Easter Egg Roll. 

Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Phillip, attended Easter mass at St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England.

Katy Perry celebrated Easter with Russell Brand at a party.

Robert Pattinson is rumored to have planned a romantic Easter surprise for Kristen Stewart.

 

Hope you had a great Easter weekend!

 Alex

Celebrity English

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Celebrity Easter

Robert Pattinson Easter Card

Easter Time!

This week’s conversational style is quite easy.  Everyone is talking about Easter.  ‘What are you doing for Easter?’ Or ‘What are you going to do for Easter this weekend?’ or ‘What are you up to on Easter?’ (up to = doing)

Now there are many traditional ways to enjoy Easter such as:

…paint Easter Eggs.

…give Easter Cards/chocolates/plants.

…bring Easter Cards/chocolates/plants to loved ones.

…go on or have an Easter Egg hunt

…have Easter dinner with family and/or friends.

….go to Church.

…bring your children to Church.

…go out for dinner/lunch/brunch.

…go on a picnic.

…go to a party or nightclub.

…go to an Easter event.

…take a short vacation.

For language learners, try out these conversational topics with your friends!  I have selected some of the most common ways to enjoy Easter and some of the most common verbs used for this time of year. 

[Cultural Note: in North America a lot of people will have a 'long weekend' (a long weekend =3 days off in a row including Saturday and Sunday)]

Example Speaking Style

Question 1:  What are you doing this Easter? 

Answer 1: I am going to paint Easter Eggs and have an Easter Egg hunt. 

Question 2: What are you going to do for Easter this weekend?

Answer 2:  I am going to go to a nightclub on Friday and then have Easter dinner with my parents on Sunday.

 

Question 3: What are you up to on Easter? 

Answer 3:  I am going to ‘hit the slopes’.  There is still lots of snow on the mountains (to hit the slopes = go skiing).

Since most people have an extra day off from work this weekend, most people will be talking about their plans for the weekend.  People will have been talking about their plans all week unless they have to work. 

Now let’s see how the celebrities are enjoying Easter this year.  What are they going to do for Easter?

David Arquette and Courteney Cox are going to stop by a friend's house in LA with an Easter basket.

Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth are going to bring Ava and Deacon to church in LA.

Jaden Smith and Will Smith are going to the White House to give an Easter Egg Hunt concert.

 

Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale are going to bring Zuma and Kingston to her parents' Southern California home.

 

Well, that is all for now. I will be doing the past tense next week regarding Easter:  “What did you do on Easter?”

Celebrity Easter 2

See you then and have a great Easter Holiday!

Alex

Celebrity English

http://celebrityenglish-alex.blogspot.com/

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Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson: Giving Gifts

Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson

                                                                        

Gift Giving

The Christmas season is starting to come alive.  The stores have put up their Christmas decorations.  Talking about ‘what to give people for Christmas’ is a common conversation topic for this season.  The stars of the Twilight series tell us a little bit about their gift giving styles….

 

Targeted Listening

 Listen to the video to answer the questions below:

1.What kind of gifts does Kristen like to give?

2.What kind of gifts does Taylor like to give?

3.What kind of gifts does Robert like to give?

Targeted Listening Answers

1. Kristen’s Answer:  “I love giving pets when it is appropriate. “ “ I gave…ah…Josh Hutcherson…um…ah…a turtle when I worked with him.”

2. Taylor’s Answer:  “I like giving simple things.”

“Basically, I like giving creative gifts rather than just going out and buying something.”

3. Robert’s Answer:  “I was going to get my parents a boiler for Christmas.”

 

 Speaking Style

Both Kristen and Taylor give a generalized answer style of their gift giving style or habit: “I love/like giving _______.” Kristen expands her idea by giving a specific example ‘a turtle’.  Robert gives a specific answer for a single case (parents) of gift giving for Christmas rather than telling the listener his habit or style of gift giving.

Kristen and Taylor give an answer style that is the most common for a ‘habitual case’.  However, people also answer like Robert and give an example directly: ‘a boiler’ which ‘breaks’ the common grammar pattern (habitual case).  The interviewer is quite amused and laughing at his unique gift idea.  It’s fun and unique! 

So, listen to the video a few more times to get comfortable with the sentence styles and ideas.  Then, talk with your friends this week and find out what type of ‘gift givers ‘they are.  Enjoy!

Speaking Practice Stylized for Daily Conversation

Question: What kinds of gifts do you like giving?

1. Kristen’s Answer style:  I love giving ________. I gave ________.

2. Taylor’s Answer: Basically, I like giving ________.

3. Robert’s Answer:  I was going to get ________.

Examples

1. Kristen’s Answer style:  I love giving chocolates. I gave my best friend expensive chocolates for her birthday.

2. Taylor’s Answer style:  Basically, I like giving hand made gifts. 

3. Robert’s Answer style:  I was going to get my sister a gift card to her favorite store.

FEATURED LINK OF THE MONTH!

TEACH ENGLISH AND OTHER LANGUAGES  IN CHINA!

http://www.newchinalr.com/

Related Blog:
Tom Cruise: A Christmas Memory
 

Alex

Celebrity English

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Robert Pattinson: Secret Guilty Pleasures

                                                                    Robert Pattinson

Question:  What are your guilty pleasures?

Robert Pattinson Answer:  If I could just cut out beer, that’s one thing. And I’m, like, a compulsive eater.  I’m going to be so fat when I’m older, it’s ridiculous.

We all have our bad habits.  Often we are secretive about them except with our friends.  Of course in Robert Pattinson’s case, he is a mega-star and is accustomed to sharing information in an interview situation. 

Guilty pleasure 1: beer

"If I could just cut out beer, that’s one thing."

Robert Pattinson wants to ‘cut out’ or ‘stop drinking’ beer. 

To cut something out  = to stop doing something (common/informal 

                                                                                                                       expression)

This response is straight forward.  However, there is an unspoken

idea between the speaker and listener regarding this guilty pleasure:

If I could just cut out beer, _____________. That’s one thing.

                                           (Unspoken idea)    

If I could just cut out beer, I would be healthy. That’s one thing.

The listener can guess the result of ‘cutting out beer’ from the topic/idea of the question: ‘guilty pleasures’. Robert and the interviewer share this common knowledge without saying the idea of 'being healthy'.

Guilty pleasure 2: compulsive eating

"And I’m, like, a compulsive eater." 

Robert’s second guilty pleasure is ‘compulsive eating’.

like,  =  similar to/for example

Robert uses ‘like’ to introduce the 'compulsive eater' idea.   The word ‘like’ gives him time to think of an answer.  There is a pause in voice between ‘like’ and ‘a compulsive eater’.  The use of ‘like’ sounds casual.

 

Conversational Speaking Pattern and Practice

Answer:  If I could just cut out beer, that’s one thing. And I’m, like, a compulsive eater.  I’m going to be so fat when I’m older, it’s ridiculous.

Ex. 1

If I could just cut out pop, that’s one thing.

And I’m, like, always eating ice cream.  I’m going to be so overweight when I’m older, it’s ridiculous.

Ex. 2

If I could just cut out candy, that’s one thing.

And I’m, like, a chocoholic.  I’m going to be so chubby when I’m older, it’s ridiculous.

Ex. 3

If I could just cut out smoking, that’s one thing.

And I’m, like, always playing video games online.  I’m going to be so out of shape when I’m older, it’s ridiculous.

Ex. 4

If I could just cut out gambling, that’s one thing.

And I’m, like, a compulsive shopper.  I’m going to be so poor when I’m older, it’s ridiculous.

Until next week enjoy the Robert Pattinson's fan sites and new movie trailers!

Robert Pattinson Fan sites:

http://robert-pattinson.net/

http://www.robertpattinsononline.com/

Trailer One Breaking Dawn

 Trailer Two Breaking Dawn

 Trailer Water for Elephants

Related Blog:
Kristen Stewart: Dining out in London!
 

Alex
Celebrity English
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