Name: Learn English with THE HUNGER GAMES
Uploaded: 2017-01-23T11:47:06.000Z
Duration: 18 min 30 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson

Adverbs of degree

on how to learn English with books. Today, I'm looking at a very specific book.

This is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is a young adult novel that is very popular,

and has been turned into a movie, and is easy to find everywhere.

So, in this lesson, I'm going to talk about why The Hunger Games is a great book to start

for new intermediate English learners, and also, I'm going to talk about 10 items of

vocabulary from chapter one of the book. If you'd like to get a copy of the book yourself,

you can check out the link to Amazon attached to this video for a physical copy, and if

you're interested in an audio version of the book, you can actually link to Audible.com

where, if you do sign up, you get your first book free, so you can get The Hunger Games,

you can get classics like 1984, you can find newer books as well. So, if you're interested

in that, check out the links attached to the video. And now, let the games begin.

So, like I mentioned, The Hunger Games is a good book for intermediate English students

for a number of reasons. First of all, The Hunger Games is written in the first person,

so there is a lot of: "I", "I", "I", just like you normally speak in everyday life,

where the most common personal pronoun you use is probably "I". Second of all, it is

written in the present tense. Now, I don't mean that the book doesn't have future tense,

or past tense, or conditionals. It has all those things, but the primary tense it uses

with the character speaking is the present.

So, now, I'm going to read you the first paragraph of the book so you can see what I mean.

"When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.

My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth,

but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress.

She must have had bad dreams, and climbed in with our mother.

Of course she did. This is the day of the reaping."

"The other side of the bed is cold when I wake up."

Present simple. Now, not only does this make it a little easier for new English learners or

intermediate English learners to read the book because the present tenses are usually

the first ones you learn, it also makes the book a lot more engaging, interesting, and

exciting, because everything feels a lot more present. There's no other way to put it.

Third of all, The Hunger Games, as you probably know if you're watching this video, or maybe

you don't know, is very popular. Now, you might be thinking:

"Why is this a good thing if I'm choosing a book to learn English?"

Well, number one: It's really easy to find.

Whether you're looking for the audio book or if you're looking for a physical copy,

if you're looking for the e-book - every website, every store will have stacks and stacks of

copies of this book. This also means there are multiple translations. This might also

mean that you have already read this book in your own language, and it might be a good

idea, now, to read it in English, because you're already familiar with the content,

the characters, and what the action is like in the book.

Fourth, it does have an interesting story. Is it my favorite book of all time?

No, it's not, but it is pretty interesting.

There is a dystopian world, a tyrannical government

that's ruling everyone, and there's a strong female hero. So this book is actually really

popular with teenage girls, also with boys and men, but there is a strong female lead,

Now, the other thing is that this book is packed with vocabulary. Not just this book,

obviously, many books are packed with vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary. And what I recommend,

especially if you do buy a physical copy of this book, is that you use it like a notebook.

Be ready to just write in it. Write vocabulary all over the place. Write translations.

If you want to write, you know, the Spanish translation, the Portuguese translation, the Farsi translation,

the Arabic translation, so it makes sense to you.

Now, I can speak from this from a personal level, because I am currently reading

The Hunger Games, but I'm reading it in French, as I am studying French. And the first...

I'm only about five pages in, but those first five pages are just filled with notes in pencil

that I have left. And I'm writing all over it, I'm treating it like a notebook. You know,

normally I take good care of my books, and I think:

"Oh, my book, my book, it must be in perfect condition."

But, if you're learning a language, when you buy a book, you use it

like a notebook; you write all over it. It makes it much more personal for you, and it

will help you to learn the vocabulary and the grammar a lot quicker. And speaking of

vocabulary, let's look at some words from chapter one of The Hunger Games.

Okay, so, the first word we are going to look at from chapter one of The Hunger Games is

"swollen". "Swollen" is an adjective that means enlarged due to internal pressure. It

sounds complicated, but as soon as I describe it, you'll get it. For example:

"His ankle looked swollen for 3 days after he twisted it."

when it is twisted or it becomes enlarged. If you have an allergy, for example, your

neck might become swollen. If you twist your ankle when you're running, the ankle gets

bigger, it gets swollen. Okay? So just repeat after me:

to the next one, which is a phrasal verb.

Now, this phrasal verb is "blurt out". "Blurt out" means to say something suddenly without

thinking about it. So if you just say something and you don't really think about it,

"You can't just blurt out anything that pops into your head!"

So if you're, you know, having a fight with your boyfriend or your girlfriend, and you suddenly

blurt something out that is a secret, like: "I've been cheating on you!"

because you feel so guilty, it's probably not a good thing. But when you blurt something out, you say

it without thinking because you're emotionally charged inside and you want it to come out.

Next: "upbeat". If you're an upbeat person, you're positive, you're happy, you're cheerful.

So, for example: "She's always upbeat around the office."

"beat" like "boom, boom, de dum, boom". If you're upbeat-right?-you're positive, cheerful,

happy. Like: "Hey, how's it going? Hey, how is your day going?" Things like this. So,

if you're upbeat, you're happy, cheerful. Positive personality. So, are you an upbeat

person or are you someone who is, you know, a little more subdued or sad in life?

Next: "resemble". "Resemble" is a verb. If you resemble something or someone... To resemble

means to be like or similar to. For example:

So this means maybe in his character, his personality.

It can also mean in his looks, his appearance. He

And finally, we have: "abandoned". This is an adjective or a past verb, which could mean

to be left alone or deserted. Now, if you are deserted, abandoned, left alone, it means

someone just-I'm going to drop this-abandoned you. Okay? So, for example:

"Their parents abandoned them when they were 12."