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Break the Ice

Break the Ice English, baby! Video Lesson

Date: Feb 16 2010

Themes: Friend, How To, Sports

Grammar: Modal Verbs

Intro

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

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

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Close friendships make life more interesting, exciting and enjoyable. But making new friends isn’t always easy.

When you first meet someone new, there is usually a barrier that you have to get through before you can really know and be close to that person. Think of that barrier as a wall of ice. If you want to become friends with someone, you first have to break the ice.

There are a lot of different ways to break the ice. You can tell a joke, or ask basic questions, or try to find out what you have in common with the other person. Find out if Jason is able to break the ice and make some new friends at the Winter Olympics.

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

Jason

Black_jacket_guy

Black_jacket_guy

Baseball_hat_guy

Baseball_hat_guy

German_girl

German_girl

Beer_guy

Beer_guy

Beer-Guy

Pretzel_girl

Pretzel_girl

Hockey_fan

Hockey_fan

Hockey_fan_2

Hockey_fan_2

Jason:  Here we are at German Fan Fest. Ah, it looks like I’m gonna have to make some new friends here. But I’m probably going to have to break the ice. Let’s go inside and meet some people. So, what’s your deepest, most personal, religious belief?

Black_jacket_guy:  Well, you gotta break the ice, buddy.

Jason:  So, when was the first time you fell in love?

Baseball_hat_guy:  Why don’t you break the ice?

Jason:  What are your deepest religious beliefs?

German_girl:  Dude, you need to break the ice first.

Jason:  Oh. Could you explain, for everyone who doesn’t know, what does it mean to break the ice? What’s that concept?

Beer_guy:  Just getting to know someone.

Jason:  OK.

Beer-Guy:  Breaking down those barriers and being friends with them.

Jason:  When you break the ice, you find a comfortable, not awkward way to introduce yourself to a stranger and start a conversation. What’s a good way to break the ice?

German_girl:  At the beginning you should say, “How are you?”

Jason:  How do you break the ice?

Beer_guy:  I’d start with, “What’s your name?” That would be a good start.

Jason:  Have you made any new friends here tonight?

Pretzel_girl:  I have, actually.

Jason:  How did you break the ice when you met those new friends?

Pretzel_girl:  We were actually in the lineup to buy some pretzels.

Jason:  OK.

Pretzel_girl:  And we were comparing pretzel thoughts, and that’s just…You know, that’s the way it is here.

Jason:  Alright. We learned a little bit about breaking the ice just now. You can detect if you have a common interest with someone, and make a comment about that thing. Let’s try it. Hey, do you guys like hockey?

Hockey_fan:  Yeah! I love hockey!

Jason:  No way!

Hockey_fan_2:  I love it!

Jason:  I just succeeded in breaking the ice! It wasn’t awkward at all! English, baby! Yeah!

New friends: English, baby!

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Jason is excited to meet new people at the Winter Olympics. He should have no trouble making lots of international friends, since so many people have come from around the world to see the games.

But Jason does not know how to break the ice. He tries to talk to people about deep, personal subjects before he has even asked them for their names!

A few different people give Jason advice about how to break the ice. He can ask them basic questions like “how are you?” Or he might try to find something that he has in common with them, and then talk about that. After he’s had a couple lessons on breaking the ice, Jason gives it a try. This time, he succeeds and makes new friends.

Do you like making new friends? What do you do to break the ice with strangers?

 

Comments

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sabynette22

Algeria

i completely agree with Jason if someone wanna meet new friends he has to break the ice first :D

01:55 PM Jan 28 2011 |

1 person likes this

Hannaan

Hannaan

Pakistan

lmao I remember when I liked a girl in a party who was totally a stranger and I messed up because I did'nt know how to break the ice and started asking deep personal questions without even knowing her. That sucked. lol. Yeah I do need to learn how to break the ice.

 Yes, I like making new friends but in real life only. Havent met many strangers… but sure I got the concept =D

01:18 PM Aug 25 2010 |

rousele

Algeria

I think to know breaking the ice is very important for life in general, you can use it to make new friends or in your job.

Most of time is a natural reaction if you are sociable.

01:51 PM Aug 22 2010 |

1 person likes this

zeux

zeux

Indonesia

break the ice , break a leg , break dance , break anything that you can break hehehe ..

02:57 PM Aug 01 2010 |

EstebanM

EstebanM

Colombia

Jajajaja!

Awesome Jason! To me, break the ice is always like "pretzel thoughts", just find out what's the issue or thing that he or she would like to… Arts always work. 

03:05 AM May 08 2010 |

fennyyang

China

give her or his a sweet smile , i think this is the best way to break the ice,do you think so?

01:46 PM Mar 24 2010 |

1 person likes this

Visent

Visent

China

i try to break the ice, yet she is cold as ice.

11:32 AM Mar 24 2010 |

1 person likes this

serendipity

Syrian Arab Republic

I usually break the ice with someone by waiting them to say anything even  one letter then I will use their few words and attack with a joke and make them laugh and at this point you have a laughter which means a lot for me .  their laugh helps me a lot to make it more and more comfortable between us

11:27 PM Mar 23 2010 |

serendipity

Syrian Arab Republic

I usually break the ice with someone by waiting them to say anything even  one letter then I will use their few words and attack with a joke and make them laugh and at this point you have a laughter which means a lot for me .  their laugh helps me a lot to make it more and more comfortable between us

11:27 PM Mar 23 2010 |

serendipity

Syrian Arab Republic

I usually break the ice with someone by waiting them to say anything even  one letter then I will use their few words and attack with a joke and make them laugh and at this point you have a laughter which means a lot for me .  their laugh helps me a lot to make it more and more comfortable between us

11:27 PM Mar 23 2010 |

serendipity

Syrian Arab Republic

I usually break the ice with someone by waiting them to say anything even  one letter then I will use their few words and attack with a joke and make them laugh and at this point you have a laughter which means a lot for me .  their laugh helps me a lot to make it more and more comfortable between us

11:27 PM Mar 23 2010 |

dipopza

South Africa

hi i am dipopza i can not manage to use the site help!Cry

03:54 PM Mar 22 2010 |

orlando_x100

Dominican Republic

hello my name is orlando , i m from dominican repoblic, my skype is orlando_x100, my msn is

05:19 PM Mar 21 2010 |

Fine.

China

 Break the ice

04:01 AM Mar 20 2010 |

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

Yeah it is always good to meet new people…I consider myself an easy person to approach and meet new people and new friendships

I usually to start a basic conversation like "how are you",what's your name?" at all…Or I'm teacher and I work at a gym so I meet new people every day mainly in the building that I work so many people see me and sometimes some people approach me and break the ice,it is cool :)

11:32 PM Mar 19 2010 |

green_lea

Viet Nam

i haven't break the ice at any person before, cuz i didn't know what to say to keep the conversation go on, but  i think i must change the things now. I'd love to meet with new people. Contact me

03:52 AM Mar 19 2010 |

nono_cute

nono_cute

Iraq

i broke the ice but i wish i didnt.

07:48 AM Mar 17 2010 |

1 person likes this

humanliangxiao

China

 give him or her a praise must be easy to break the ice!I think

07:59 AM Mar 12 2010 |

1 person likes this

friendly7

Oman

 

11:34 PM Mar 10 2010 |

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