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Parkour
Parkour

Learn English with this alternative sports English lesson

Date: May 14 2019

Themes: Alternative, Sports

Grammar: Verbs with "-ing"

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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A person is running, quickly, through a busy street. He jumps over garbage cans, around a dog, and through crowds of people. He climbs a high wall in two large leaps, never stopping to rest. He has agility and endurance like nothing you’ve ever seen before. He’s doing parkour.

Parkour is about seeing your environment and finding ways to move around it in the most efficient way possible. It’s about traveling from point A to point B, but not worrying that there’s a building, ten people and twenty trees in between. People who practice parkour don’t use just streets and sidewalks. They use everything!

Are Jessica and Gary interested in trying parkour? Learn more in today’s English lesson about an extraordinary sport.

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.

Jessica

Jessica

Gary

Gary

Jessica:  So, Gary. I saw a movie recently that opened with this amazing parkour scene.

Gary:  They just push themselves to the limits of strength, agility...

Jessica:  I know. It’s incredible to watch. Have you ever done anything like that?

Gary:  I have jumped off a chair onto the ground. I would never try and climb up a wall, or jump through a hole, and land and tumble... no. I’ve never done that before.

Jessica:  I know. I could never do it. I have issues with heights, so parkour would probably not be for me.

Gary:  Really?

Jessica:  Yeah, but it’s really exciting to watch.

Gary:  Do you know how they train for it?

Jessica:  I don’t. I imagine a lot of strength training, a lot of weight lifting, running. I know they run really, really fast to get their endurance up, and then just go for it.

Gary:  I bet they’re setting goals for themselves every single day, just to push themselves.

Jessica:  Exactly. Just to get ready for all of the different obstacle courses that they have to run through and jump through.

Gary:  I am very jealous of their abilities.

Jessica:  Me, too!

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Jessica just saw parkour in a movie, and she finds it truly interesting and exciting to watch. She can tell that when people do parkour, they’re working very hard. Jessica guesses that you have to train for parkour in a lot of areas. She doesn’t like heights, though, so it’s not something she’s planning to try herself.

Gary clearly finds parkour fascinating as well. He jokes that he’s jumped off a chair before, but he’s never done anything more serious. Gary’s jealous of the people who do it because their abilities are so incredible.

One thing is certain: Jessica and Gary think parkour is cool.

Do you know anyone who does parkour? What about you? Would you try it?

 

Comments

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arly88

arly88

Cameroon

never encountered someone that does parkour, the first time i’ve heard of it  was in a TV program, where they were talking about the french origins of this sport(even though they alleged the belgium to have taken the first place.  i’ll never try it as well, i’m so afraid to wound me.

01:02 PM Apr 15 2014 |

1 person likes this

park216

South Korea

Sorry, I just noticed the new word called ‘parkour’, but never know what the contents was! Now I got it!



Yeah, parkour is a kind of sport that is exciting & intersting but too dangerous, even would die anytime! 



Person can do it like that only for who always push oneselves to the limits, I think!



But for me, my heart can’t bear it. That’s why I have to give up for my life! So sometimes I do the practices simply like morning running, haha! 



02:50 AM Apr 15 2014 |

1 person likes this

ttsuka

ttsuka

Japan

No parkour but I’ve tried Coors in parks.

06:21 PM Apr 14 2014 |

1 person likes this

S&W

S&W

China

I watched many vedioes online of some parkour masters.They are amazing ,after long time practicing they become more faster and flexible than other people.I adore them but don’t plan to try it for myself.It looks easy ,actually it tough and dangerous.

11:03 AM Apr 14 2014 |

1 person likes this

 julito

julito

Argentina

Yes, i daily practice parkour , it is the moment that  after a night`s sleep i have to jump off the bed  and get ready  and sharp to face the daily grind ahead.   ....:))))

01:28 PM Apr 13 2014 |

shahriarheydari

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

of course I am , I do parkour everymorning, when I’m trying to get on the subway train :-)

10:11 AM Apr 13 2014 |

Down1

United Arab Emirates

I have never seen any one doing parkour alive before, however I think it is exciting and thrilling, I know I’ll never try to do it in the future, because I don’t like hight too. Any way looking to others enjoying doing that, is enough for me .

10:03 PM Apr 12 2014 |

aleszandra

Romania

I think parkour is a very interesting sport but sometimes it can be dangerous I guess.  I am sure it takes a lot of practice and you have to be very agile. I agree with Jessica: It is incredible to watch

07:59 PM Apr 12 2014 |

DaniloOtaku

Brazil

I just remembered an episode of THE OFFICE that they do parkour!

06:40 PM Apr 11 2014 |

jef_maiko

jef_maiko

Brazil

I don’t know anyone who does Le Parkour. I would like to try it, but it would be good if had someone with experience to give some tips…...

04:08 PM Apr 11 2014 |

nazkhan911

nazkhan911

Saudi Arabia

it is absolutely amazing to watch parkour although i haven’t tried it myself ever.

03:31 PM Apr 11 2014 |

AryelLanes

AryelLanes

Brazil

Thanks, Eric! Yup, Sandra, I feel better now, but I spent like one week limping… It hurt a lot!

01:15 PM Apr 11 2014 |

ola33

ola33

Japan

Yeah, sure I tried to do the sort of parkour last week. There was a huge puddle and something got into my head to push myself to the limits. You know sometimes you can’t get over the silly idea and just do it to prove how foolish you are. And it’s not the first time with that ‘parkour’ I’m getting mistaken in my skills of jumping. Anyway, while everyone was watching with their jaws dropped when i was measuring the distance for a good start going through  all my ballet pas, three times I stopped and on the fourth one I flew high, soaring in the air and landed quite low with the big splash right into the puddle. There was such a big shock for the audience that people forgot to laugh… Well, I’ll do that for them. now. :))))))


Marge Simpson as Carmen dell'Orefice Richard Avedon shooting Carmen dell'Orefice  jumping over a puddle in the street  with an umbrella in 1957 Carmen Dell'Orefice (born June 3, 1931) is an American model and actress . She was on the cover of Vogue at the age of 15 and has been modelling ever since.

12:22 PM Apr 11 2014 |

sandraa95

sandraa95

Sweden

Ooops aryel!! poor :’( :D NOW u feel better??:D
i myself have never tried it.. maybe i couldnt find chance to try but i like
and i remmeber a scene in a film called TAKERS in which chris brown was doing it.. running away from police that was so exiting haha :x

09:55 AM Apr 11 2014 |

Eric_

Eric_

China

@AryelLanes  U r so cute..^^

02:40 AM Apr 11 2014 |

Eric_

Eric_

China

It needs much strength….  difficult 

02:34 AM Apr 11 2014 |

AryelLanes

AryelLanes

Brazil

I’ll never try it again! A few years ago I was really excited about parkour, radical sports and all. I thought that I could start out with something simple… That was when I saw 2 trees near to each other and decided to jump from one to another just to see if I could do it. Poor me… It turned out that the branches broke exactly when I tried to hold them. I ended up with my legs all skinned up… My best friend was with me (thank goodness) and walked me home (after laughing a little, of course)...

08:26 PM Apr 10 2014 |

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