Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in
 
American Idol

American Idol English, baby! Video Lesson

Date: May 14 2007

Themes: Music, Pop Culture

Intro

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

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

Have you ever lost a competition and felt really sad about it? Before you cry next time you come in second, think about the reality TV show American Idol. Singers compete in front of cruel judges for fame. But Amanda has noticed something about American Idol. So far, the second-place winners have been the most successful after the competition ends.

Listen to her tell Marni about her discovery.

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.

Log in to Listen

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

Amanda

Amanda

Marni

Marni

Amanda:  Don’t you find it interesting and so very cool that the second-place winner of American Idol for the last four or five seasons is the one that ends up blowing up and has a huge fan base? And the winner? Nobody knows. You can’t even remember or name who the winner was.

Marni:  That’s true, because there was that guy, the Clay Aiken guy, and there was the other guy who…he actually won, right?

Amanda:  He actually won. Ruben.

Marni:  Ruben!

Amanda:  Sold maybe one album. Maybe. To his mother. That’s it.

Marni:  Oh, that is interesting.

Amanda:  It’s weird. It’s as if…if you win you’re jinxed. So you don’t want to win. You want to take second place, and then you’re huge. Katherine McPhee? Just released her CD. Second place.

Marni:  She was the last cycle?

Amanda:  Yes. Taylor Hicks won. Who cares about him? He’s in some car commercial and that’s about it,

Marni:  Okay! Yeah. Well, there was the first season where Kelly Clarkson won, and she was big, right…

Amanda:  And that’s the exception to the entire six years.

Marni:  Six years, huh?

Amanda:  I was thinking about trying out in Seattle next year. Do you wanna come with?

Marni:  Absolutely not. I think it would be so humiliating and those people are so mean.

Amanda:  You are such a fair-weather friend.

Marni:  I am.

 

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz Go Super!

 

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3 Go Super!

The iTEP® test

  • Schedule an iTEP® test and take the official English Practice Test.

    Take Now >

Discussion

Amanda says that the second-place winner of American Idol is always the most successful. She says that no one can even remember the first-place winner’s name. Indeed, Marni can only recall the name of a second-place winner. Amanda reminds Amanda of a man named Ruben who won the contest. She jokes that he only sold one album and that it was to his mother.

It’s almost as though the person who comes in first is cursed…except for Kelly Clarkson. She was the winner of the first season and she continues to be successful.

Amanda might try out for American Idol next year, but Marni thinks that the judges are too mean.

Has a competition that you didn’t win ever worked out well for you? Have you ever watched American Idol? Who’s your favorite singer from the show?

 

Comments

Log in to Comment

Efrog7

Czech Republic

COOOOOOOOOOOl LessonSealed

01:50 PM Nov 06 2007 |

Cool_Lucky

Cool_Lucky

Ukraine

we have not so stupid TV programs in Ukraine , HAHAHAHAHA, but we have MORE, MORE stupid programs on a TV . For example The program like "Windows" LOL:) AND this very sad and wery funny :)

03:32 PM Oct 30 2007 |

Cool_Lucky

Cool_Lucky

Ukraine

because they are all stupid idiots

03:28 PM Oct 30 2007 |

xingqiyuyi

xingqiyuyi

China

i  know nothing about it ,just konw it is similar a TV prongram in my country ,china

02:41 PM Oct 30 2007 |

english point

Pakistan

its great i like’s this commitment i want to talk like this its really kool.

01:27 PM Jun 08 2007 |

meedoo

Saudi Arabia

Hi
I think American Idol is program to get business only and judges do acting.

02:23 AM Jun 04 2007 |

Kadri

Kadri

Estonia

"American Idol"point is to make a lot of money- this is a show,this is a business.The first 3-4 parts are the funniest because there are so many clowns,the following parts are not so interesting.And certainly there is not coming a new Jimi Hendrix or Madonna.(I think)Smile

09:16 AM May 29 2007 |

susanliu71

susanliu71

China

lol

04:13 PM May 28 2007 |

abdelghafour

Morocco

nothing

03:41 PM May 28 2007 |

Jonay

Jonay

China

cool!!!

12:00 AM May 27 2007 |

mireille

France

in france we have the same tv show named recherche de la nouvelle star and i find it so much funny.

09:21 PM May 26 2007 |

alejandra35

Argentina

I love watching american idol during the first auditions. It´s fun. they are so mean sometimes it makes me laugh

06:54 PM May 22 2007 |

s640663

s640663

China

i like that there judges.

02:50 PM May 20 2007 |

jack2

jack2

Netherlands

American Idols hu? you have to see the selection at the beginning of a season, because here in the Netherlands in the third season, there was nobody who could sing:P so the judges let some people pass, even when they didn't fit for the Netherland folks…... haha

09:41 AM May 20 2007 |

Benko

Benko

China

Miss One!

12:39 AM May 20 2007 |

ichiosa

Japan

Thank you!

I will watch the official cite and the youtube.

08:41 AM May 19 2007 |

caroltseng

caroltseng

Taiwan

Although not many people care about Taylor Hicks, his song “Do I Make You Proud?” is very inspiring to me. I like it very much.

07:26 AM May 19 2007 |

caroltseng

caroltseng

Taiwan

I like the singing show quite a lot. Also, some auditions are very unique and entertaining. If you'd like to know more about it, here is the official website of American Idol below.

http://www.americanidol.com/

p.s. There are lots of videos about American Idol on youtube. If you're interested, enjoy watching the videos there.

06:22 AM May 19 2007 |

Veronica DOs Santos

Timor-Leste

I know nothing about the American idol because I didn’t watch the Tv program…sorry

07:55 AM May 18 2007 |

agood123

agood123

China

THIS IS A JOKING

06:19 AM May 18 2007 |

Likes (132):

See all >

Share this lesson:

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Bebo
  • Share on Myspace
  • Share on Twitter
  • Email this to a friend
  • Share on Sina

Post Ebaby! lessons on your blog:

Ebaby! Cast