Learn the present progressive tense

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• science fair
• win the future
• out-do
• innovate

• black
• community organizer
• Senator
• hustle

• aggressive
• near and dear to one's heart

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

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You don’t become the first black President of the United States at age 47 without a lot of hard work. Barack Obama was a community organizer, a law professor and a US Senator before being elected President. He is anything but lazy. He clearly knows how to hustle.

Someone who hustles always gives their best effort, especially when it is not easy to do so. An athlete who hustles will dive on the ground to catch the ball and put himself at risk to help his team. If you hustle on a project at work, it means you get it done quickly, but still do it well.

Recently, President Barack Obama gave a speech to a small group of Intel employees. We were among the media at the event, where Obama talked about the need to hustle.

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

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.

Jason

Otellini

Obama

Jason:  Welcome to English, baby! My name is Jason, and we are here at the Intel Corporation, about to see President Barack Obama speak. He’s going to be talking about a topic that’s very near and dear to our hearts, technology.

Otellini:  Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to introduce the President of the United States.

Obama:  Thank you. Thank you so much. It’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but also the winner of science fairs. And since the Packers beat my Bears, I am reserving all of my celebrating for the winners of the science fairs. They deserve applause! They deserve our applause and our praise and they make me optimistic about America’s future. Basically, if we want to win the future, America has to out-build and out-innovate and out-educate and out-hustle the rest of the world. That’s what we’ve got to do.

Jason:  “Hustle,” that’s an interesting word. Let’s hear that again.

Obama:  ...out-hustle the rest of the world.

Jason:  President Obama said we need to hustle. “Hustle” means move quickly and be aggressive. It’s no surprise that Obama said it, since it’s commonly used in sports, and he is a sports fan. You can hustle in business, in a game or even to pack up your things and catch a train. Many people had to hustle to set up the room for Obama’s speech.

Obama:  ...that’s what America will prove in the months and years ahead. Thank you, guys, God bless you.

Jason:  After the speech, everyone had to stay in the room until Obama left the building. No amount of hustle could get you out.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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