Video Arcade

Intro

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

• been around
• level
• nostalgia
• classic

• controller
• arcade
• pinball
• joystick

• pad
• fire

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

Video games can be a fun way to escape reality for a moment or challenge your mind by solving a puzzle. You can always play video games at home with a little controller and your TV, but part of the fun for a lot of people is playing on a big machine with big buttons to press.

A place with a bunch of video game machines is called an arcade. Arcades often also have games with real moving parts like pinball, where you push buttons to shoot a metal ball at targets. Watch Jason talk to Amanda who works at an arcade.

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

Dialog

1. Watch and Read - Watch the video and read the dialog at the same time.

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

Jason

Jason:  Hey, I’m Jason with English, baby! and I’m here at the Ground Kontrol video arcade with…

Amanda.

And so Amanda’s going to tell us a little bit about video games. What’s your favorite kind of video game?
Well, here at Ground Kontrol we have pinball and video games. And my favorite video game is Bust-a-Move, and it’s like a puzzle game. And my favorite pinball game is Lord of the Rings and it is definitely a popular game.

So when you play the puzzle game, are you using a joystick or is it buttons? How does it work?
You use a joystick and buttons. You use a joystick to aim and you use a button to fire.

And then what is pinball exactly? Can you tell us a little bit about that? It’s been a round a while, right?
It has been around a while. Personally, I like the newer pinball games because they’re more detailed and they have multiple levels. But some people like the nostalgia of the old ones. This is a classic arcade, so we have a lot of old games.

Do you play any of this stuff, the home entertainment games?
I have a PlayStation2 and I have a Super Nintendo. My favorite video game for home is for the PlayStation2 and it is Dance Dance Revolution. We also have that here in the arcade, but I have a dance pad at home and it’s pretty fun.

Right on. And so, when you work here, you’re actually a bartender, right?
Yes, I’m a bartender.

That’s pretty rare though, an arcade where you can buy beer, right?
I think there’s one in New York and it’s called Barcade, but I think that this is one of the only other ones. Maybe one in LA that I’ve heard of…

 

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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