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Class Objectives What’s your most embarrassing moment? This is a common question people often ask in games or to have fun. We normally don’t have an answer right away, do we. But after this lesson, you will have thought about your go-to story for this question and be able to control your story in English… and then your own language. By the end of the class, you will have:
Difficulty:Blue Belt and above MODEL: Most Embarrassing Moment At some point in your life, you’ve been asked about your most embarrassing moment. Many times, we don’t have an answer off the top of our heads, so in this lesson, I’m going to ask you to think about your most embarrassing moment, at least the one you’re comfortable sharing, and tell about it. Mine happened when I was about 23 years old when I was living back in the United States, and like most stupid stories of young men, this story involved a girl. I remember one Saturday night, a group of friends and I had made plans to go to a night club in a nearby city to celebrate one of our friend’s birthdays. I never really liked going to clubs, but that’s what our friend wanted to do, so that’s what we did. There was a girl I liked in our group of friends, and let’s call her Stacy. I was always nervous and awkward whenever I talked to Stacy, so I would talk to one of our mutual female friends about how to approach and win over this girl that I had a crush on. You know what that’s like, I’m sure. As I said before, I was quite shy and awkward around girls I liked. Anyway, we were at the club, and everybody was doing their own thing; drinking, dancing, talking, etc. I was walking around, talking to some friends, and doing whatever it is that you do in night clubs aside from dancing. I wasn’t a big dancer at the time. (I’m still not, but at least I enjoy it a bit more now.) There were just so many people at this club, and it was so hot that I started to feel nauseous and dizzy, so I decided to go outside for a breath of fresh air and a cigarette. (I know the irony of that sentence, but that’s what I did.)  I went outside of the club and Stacy happened to be outside as well. We saw each other, so I had to walk over and start talking. She was on the phone talking to somebody, which was a relief since I was feeling sick, and it gave me time to settle down. Photo: Italia 2012 by Salva Dugo When she finished talking on the phone, we started talking. I was a bit nervous because I was still feeling nauseous, so as we were talking, I was trying to focus on my breathing. She was talking about something, and I couldn’t control it anymore. I suddenly felt a little vomit come up into my mouth and I turned to spit it out, and then quickly turned back to finish listening to what she was talking about. Perfect! She didn’t notice anything, and I immediately felt a lot better! I wanted to show that I was listening -even though I wasn’t-, so I started adding to the conversation without skipping a beat, but she interrupted me and asked, “Did you just throw up?” I said, “No.” Then she started laughing and said, “Then what’s THAT?!”, and pointed at my chest. Apparently, when I tried to spit, some of it dropped down onto my shirt. How embarrassing! I calmly said, “Yeah, that happens.” But inside, I was dying. Just then, to make matters worse, our group of friends all came out of the club to see what we were doing. One of my friends, Shawn, yelled over, “Jesse, what’s going on?” And Stacy yelled laughing out loud, “Jesse just threw up on his shirt!” They all started laughing. I don’t remember what happened the rest of that night, but this story will be with me forever. #BreakingMiarma Ok, it wasn’t horrific, but at the time, it was pretty embarrassing. What about you? What would you say if somebody asked about your most embarrassing moment? Tell me about it at the end of this lesson. VOCABULARYTake notes about the following words so you can understand the meaning deeper. Use context, dictionary definitions, synonyms, explanations, example sentences, pictures,or any other creative way to learn the new words and phrases. NOTE: Try NOT to use your language to understand the concept. At least– Use this to talk about the minimum for whatever A Night Club/ A Club – A place with loud music where people go to drink and dance. A girl I like – When you like a girl or a boy, it normally means a romantic kind To win over (somebody) – (Phrasal Verb) To cause somebody to like you. To win their heart. To have a crush (on)– To like somebody Aside from – Besides/ Other than A big dancer/ drawer/ dancer/ fan of ____. – A big + ____er = somebody who is very interested in that thing. To settle down (my stomach) – (Phrasal Verb) To relax; To make calm Vomit (n)(v) / To throw up(Phrasal Verb) – You do this when you’re sick To spit (out)–To project saliva out of your mouth To yell– To talk loudly at somebody VOCABULARY ACTIVITY:Write a few sentences using the vocabulary words above. Write at least 5 sentences. FLUENCY BUILDERS and EXPRESSIONS These expressions will help you sound more fluent. Brainstorm and see how you can use these in your presentation. off the top of your head – to know something without thinking about it Let’s call him/her/it _____- Use this when you are trying to protect the identity or details, or you can’t remember this particular detail of a story. You call this person or thing by a different name in the story. Everybody was doing their own thing– when everybody is doing something different … happened to be… – Use this when you’re showing two actions are a coincidence Without skipping a beat- Use this when somebody continues something smoothly and with no long pauses. There is a smooth transition in conversation. Just then…– Use this to show something happened IMMEDIATELY after something else To make matters worse…– Use this to build anticipation. When a bad situation gets worse. GRAMMARBuilding longer sentences is something everybody would like to be able to do when learning another language. I’ll show you some tricks and tips to make compound and complex sentences. Let’s look at some grammar from the text. She was talking to somebodyon the phone, which was a reliefsince I was feeling sick, and it gave me time to settle down. How to build longer sentences. Base sentence: S + V + O She was talking to somebody | on the phone. It was a relief. I was feeling sick. It gave me time to settle down. Relative clauses: To condense two small sentences into one complex sentence who, which, that, where, whom, when She was talking to somebody on the phone, whichwas a relief. Connectors: To combine two smaller sentences into one compound sentence To get + action + past participle I was happy about it since I was feeling a bit nauseous. I was feeling a bit nauseous, and it gave me time to settle down. Assignment: Combine these simple sentences together to create more complex sentences. NOTE: You may change the order of the simple sentences. (Example: Rachel is so excited. She just got accepted into university. She had always wanted to attend this university. Option 1: Rachel is so excited because she just got accepted into the university she had always wanted to attend. Option 2: Rachel just got accepted into the university she had always wanted to attend, so she is so excited.)
PREPAREBrainstorm and write down ideas for your story of your most embarrassing story. Remember what happened in the story and tell it in the appropriate order. Use the techniques above to build longer sentences. YOUR TASK: When You Were Embarrassed Now it’s your turn to tell your embarrassing story. Include the techniques, vocabulary, and expressions above to make your story sound more natural.
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