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Jump Through Hoops
Jump Through Hoops English, baby! Video Lesson

Learn English with this rules English lesson

Date: Dec 23 2014

Themes: How To, Soap Opera, Work

Grammar: Present Progressive Tense

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Have you ever been to the circus? Circus animals are famous for learning how to do things to please their trainers and the people who come to their show. For example, elephants learn to stand on their back legs. Monkeys or dogs ride on the backs of horses. And lions or tigers often jump through round hoops.

Learning to jump through hoops takes a lot of work, and it’s not done to make the lions and tigers happy. It make their trainers happy. Likewise, if a person has to complete a lot of papers and sign a lot of official forms to get something done, it doesn’t make that person happy. It’s done to please the people responsible for getting that thing done. This is why having to jump through some hoops means having to do extra work to have something one wants.

Sultan has to jump through hoops if he wants utilities in his new apartment, but Gary says that getting those set up is easy. Will he help? Read on in today’s English lesson about moving to a new home.

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Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Gary

Gary

Sultan

Gary:  Hey Sultan, your work looks really good.

Sultan:  Thanks, Gary. I’m learning a lot here.

Gary:  Great. Do you have any questions I can answer?

Sultan:  Actually, I need help with something else.

Gary:  Oh, anything.

Sultan:  I’m getting my new apartment soon.

Gary:  Nice. Your very own bachelor pad.

Sultan:  What’s that?

Gary:  I’ll tell you later. What’s your question?

Sultan:  It’s my first apartment. A friend told me that I have to set up my utilities, but I have no idea what he means.

Gary:  Ah yes, utilities. You’re going to have to jump through some hoops to get those started.

Sultan:  Can you give me an example of a utility?

Gary:  Yeah. There’s electricity, garbage, cable.

Sultan:  Water?

Gary:  Water. Exactly. When you have your own apartment, you’re responsible for the utilities as well as the rent.

Sultan:  How do I do it?

Gary:  You can sign up on the company’s website. You’ll need to know your new address, of course. And you’ll need to know the date that you’re going to start living there.

Sultan:  What else do I need to know?

Gary:  The utility company will probably run a credit check on you to make sure you’re responsible and can pay your bills. And you might need to put down a deposit, too.

Sultan:  This sounds challenging.

Gary:  It’s not that bad. When you’re talking with the utility company, though, you can set up to pay through your bank, which means you don’t have to worry about paying it every single month.

Sultan:  You weren’t joking when you said I will be jumping through hoops.

Gary:  Yeah, a little bit. But once you have everything all set up, you don’t have to do it again. Want to get things started?

Sultan:  Of course. Let’s do it.

Gary:  Alright. Let’s do it.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Sultan is getting his first apartment. It’s an exciting step in his life, but there’s something he needs to learn how to do. Sultan needs to set up the utilities before he moves in.

Gary is happy to help Sultan organize his utilities. He explains that Sultan will need to know certain things, such as the day he’s moving in and the address of his apartment, but then he only needs to use the internet to get everything started. Soon, Sultan will have electricity, water, cable, and garbage service at his new home.

Will getting his utilities started be harder than Sultan thinks? When have you had to jump through hoops?

 

Comments

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vik32

vik32

India

i have had to jump through many hoops to learn english and reach at this level when i can write, read and speak without having much difficulty as earlier i had to go through. though, long way to go and am ready for that. thanks

08:20 AM Dec 27 2014 |

1 person likes this

jojet jesy

Egypt

when you start to do Aerobics at gyminesym you must jump through hoops to get your  coach DISSATISFIED upon your performance

02:15 PM Dec 26 2014 |

Seiyf_khawas

Turkey

who says Lions and Tgers are happy when they did ,jumping through hoops ( usually fire hoops) ?


really they are happy ?


08:45 PM Dec 23 2014 |

Jasonlongo

Jasonlongo

Congo, Democratic Republic Of The

I’m a singer and songwritter; I sing pretty from the point of view of my friends and co-workers, but getting in the studio seems so hard cuz you know I have to save first a lot of moey and so on, then I gotta jump through hoops just to get all things done.

07:20 PM Dec 23 2014 |

1 person likes this

vladocuba

vladocuba

United States

If you get a job,for sure you must jump through hoops , trying all the time to keep your boss happy !

04:11 PM Dec 23 2014 |

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