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Soap Operas
Soap Operas

Learn English with this soap operas English lesson

Date: Nov 01 2013

Themes: Pop Culture, Soap Opera

Grammar: Phrasal Verbs

Intro

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

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Soap operas are notorious for being melodramatic and over the top. A lot of people like to live vicariously through soap stars which makes the shows popular and addictive. And if an episode ends with a cliffhanger, people want to see the next episode even more.

The fun of watching a soap opera is knowing everything that’s going on. It’s not unusual for one character to be masquerading as two different people in a soap opera. Do the other characters know? No, but you do. If someone bad is lurking in the trees outside a character’s home, the person in the show doesn’t know to be afraid. But you do! It’s fun to wait and see what happens, but also to already know some of the story’s secrets.

Find out if Amanda and Mason enjoy watching soap operas. You may be surprised at what you learn in this English lesson.

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.

Amanda

Amanda

Mason

Mason

Amanda:  What do you want to do tonight?

Mason:  I’m kind of busy. I mean, I need to catch up on my soap opera stories.

Amanda:  You’re kidding, right? More of the same?

Mason:  Listen, I know they’re kind of melodramatic, but it’s so fun to just get into these ridiculous characters, and you kind of live vicariously through the ridiculous stuff they get into that will never actually happen to me. But, you know… it’s fun to imagine.

Amanda:  It’s trash television. They’re kind of addictive, too.

Mason:  Absolutely.

Amanda:  Well, I’m getting concerned.

Mason:  I know, I know. But they left me on such a cliffhanger last time. Betty is in the hospital, and she just found out that her sister has been masquerading as her husband. And the evil twin has been lurking in the wings. So much stuff is about to happen. How could I possibly stop?

Amanda:  None of these are realistic. Completely over the top.

Mason:  I know, but because they’re never going to happen to me, I get to live vicariously through them. What would I do if I had an evil twin, or if my sister was masquerading as my husband?

Amanda:  I’m going to call my friend and go out with her tonight.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Mason is trying to convince Amanda that soap operas are great. He thinks the melodramatic stories are fun, especially because they will never happen to him. The last episode he watched made him super excited to watch again to find out what happens. Even if they’re ridiculous, Mason definitely loves his soaps.

In the meantime, Amanda just wants someone to go out with her. She finds it strange that Mason is so into his soaps. Amanda thinks that soap operas are terrible and she’s worried that Mason is spending too much time on them. Amanda decides to go out with a friend instead.

Do you watch soap operas? What are the famous soaps in your country? Why do you like to watch them?

 

Comments

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jasminHwang

Philippines

tilwayne thank you! :)

03:13 AM Nov 04 2013 |

tilwayne

tilwayne

Morocco

@jasminHwang “More of the same” is used when someone keeps telling you things you’re not convinced with

02:37 AM Nov 04 2013 |

tilwayne

tilwayne

Morocco

I’m probably the one here who has watched only one soap opera ever, and that was “Prison break”. Apart from that one, nothing. 


So, living vicariously ? Nah thanks. Better live for real. 

02:33 AM Nov 04 2013 |

jasminHwang

Philippines

what does “more of the same” mean? 

01:56 AM Nov 04 2013 |

simon1977

China

 I watch soap operas  a little ,for i have poor leasure time. But i know a famous soap ” HUANZHU princess”, at that time all the people were talking about the fate of the drama people,guessing the content of the next episode. The princess is so beloved ,i think the reason is that,she weaved a dream for common people:even a poor born person can earn her princess life by  wisdom and  honest.

01:26 AM Nov 04 2013 |

AlexSorokin

Russian Federation

Sometimes it is interesting, if you could not find something do. In many times is waste of time.

08:41 PM Nov 03 2013 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

seyf…although soap operas might be overly exagerated, i have seen in real life  so much  domestic drama than in comparision soap operas  are  fairy tales.  lol….

05:48 PM Nov 03 2013 |

Seiyf_khawas

Turkey

I dont like soap operas too much but Im not against to them ..coz it takes stories from life..itsnot sience  fiction or horror stories..yess alot of characters and events are exaggerated in these soap operas..its true.. 


why soap opeares called soap operas ? 


as Julito said, first main sponsors of these serials were soap manufacturers.example ,Palmolive,Procter& Gamble,Colgate…


many people dont like these soap operas ..coz they are very unrealistic,melodramatic,mixed relations and its too long serials..


in my country, they were very famous in past ..many of women were watching them with pleasure..ı remember one of them ” slave Isaura” 


02:10 PM Nov 03 2013 |

nicoleyani

nicoleyani

Indonesia

I don’t like soap opera in my place, because the stories is unrealistic and exaggeratted. And they taught young people very bad attitude like hatred and jealousy. 

01:16 PM Nov 03 2013 |

Marcel We

Marcel We

Germany

julito, thank you for answer :) I think I can distinguish between these two categories of series now :)

09:58 AM Nov 03 2013 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

Marcel We,   hello, soap operas are a serialized drama, usually dealing with domestic themes . They are called soap opera because manufacturers  of soap were typical sponsors.  

11:41 PM Nov 02 2013 |

Marcel We

Marcel We

Germany

To be honest, I don’t really know where are the differents between “soap operas” and “sitcoms”. However, I can’t omit that I’m quite addicted to some series like for example Two and a half men, Desparate Housewifes or Wilfred (the latter was only launched recently by us). Primarily, they have to be funny but the idea of the characters, the story and its backgrounds must be original and “over the top” at the same time. It depends on the mixture of these attributes and some more which make a series successful or not. :-))

06:40 PM Nov 02 2013 |

gomezjo

gomezjo

Colombia

A new soap opera captivated my attention “Mentiras Perfectas” It’s the colombian version of the american serie “Nip Tuck”. I don’t use to watch soap operas but this one is very well done, the characters are professional… besides, since the very first episode it  left me on such a cliffhanger . I need to know what will happen..


08:36 PM Nov 01 2013 |

SÉRGIO

SÉRGIO

Brazil

Sorry, but Soap Operas are a shit!!

07:04 PM Nov 01 2013 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

MasamiM ..     The big bang and Friends are what it is called ” sitcoms” , short for “situation comedies  ”  and yes the others that you have mentioned are melodramatic  soap operas .

04:37 PM Nov 01 2013 |

jef_maiko

jef_maiko

Brazil

To be honest, I don’t like soup operas, I think that is a waste of time. The stories are always de same, I feel like kinda of fool about watching them.

03:05 PM Nov 01 2013 |

1 person likes this

 julito

julito

Argentina

Television networks invest heavily around the world  on  airing soap operas and they don´t lose money.The key to its success is to include in its plot  an  evil, twisted mind  character that will be hated by the viewers throughout the entire season .I don´t watch soap operas, most of them are aired at a time i need to work. Mexico is famous by its soap operas  and they are way, way, over the top. Here`s famous soap operas:Dinasty,Ugly Betty, General Hospital ,to name a few. Mason is doing poorly this time, he should have accepted Amanda`s invitation  but instead  he had prefered  to stay in keeping company  with  a TV set.  lol….....

11:29 AM Nov 01 2013 |

Eric_

Eric_

China

I haven’t spent so much time watching soap operas now.


My teacher used to say it’s a good way for us to learn english by watching the American dramas. But now I found another better and convenient way: learn english through EB…~~

07:54 AM Nov 01 2013 |

yousefkohpeyma

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Well, unlike Nadya, I’m interested in this genre and I try to watch soap operas as often as I can. My favorite soap opera is “Ryan’s Hope”, howerer, it is a little old. In my view, soaps deal with real life characters, so we can observe realism in them, for instance, the soap opera characters can experience highs and lows of life as we do, which is why I like watching them.‏

07:51 AM Nov 01 2013 |

Odyssee

Odyssee

China

Hi Nadya_Hope , i dont think your views are wrong . but i have some different thoughts . in my ipinion , as long as we arent addictive to them and dont affect our normal lives or work . it’s fine .


yeah like u said , life is very short . we have many things to do , like working , studying….. but besides,  we should make use of the short time to enjoy our lives . watching drama or seeing a good movie is one of these things , one of pastimes ,actually it’s a good one . cos sometimes it really can help to relax ourselves .


 

07:51 AM Nov 01 2013 |

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