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Views #460 | Low Intermediate 4

Birthday Memory

Ruth talk about a birthday she remembers.

Script
Vocab
Quiz

Ruth

When I was younger I was in an organisation called the guides. Guides are girls who are between 10 and 14 who get together once a week to do things like have competions and play games and go camping and generally just have fun together. I really enjoyed being in the guides. There's a similar organisation called the scouts for boys although I think these days girls can be scouts and maybe boys can be guides - I'm not sure. Anyway I used to go camping quite a lot with guides.

I remember I went one weekend and it was the same weekend as my birthday and I was going to be 13 that weekend. We had a really good weekend and we cooked different things and we played games and we didn't really get much sleep as you generally don't when you're sleeping in a tent with a lot of people your age you tend to stay up all night. So on my birthday which was the Sunday, everybody sang Happy Birthday to me and they gave me a cake and they wrote on a card for me and I had a really nice day. That evening I went home and I was so tired and I started to unpack my things. And then the doorbell rang and my friend arrived and then one by one - it was very strange- all of my friends arrived, and what had happened was my parents had organised a surprise birthday party for me! I was so excited but I was also very smelly. I hadn't had a shower for the whole weekend. We had a great time, we went bowling and it was really a day to remember.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

organization

When I was younger, I was in an organization called The Guides.

An 'organization' is a group of people who come together for a common purpose. Notice the following:

What kind of organization do you work for?
I got involved with a lot of volunteer organizations at school.

weekend

I remember I went one weekend and it was the same weekend as my birthday.

A 'weekend' is Saturday and Sunday. Notice the following:

Which weekend works best for you?
We are going to my cabin for the weekend.

surprise birthday party

My parents had organized a surprise birthday party for me.

When someone has a 'surprise birthday party' for you, they have a party with all your friends that you don't know about until you arrive. Notice the following:

I would never want a surprise birthday party, because I don't really like surprises.
We are having a surprise birthday party for my dad this weekend.

smelly

I was very smelly because I hadn't had a shower for the whole weekend.

When you don't shower for a long time, your body starts to have a bad odor. Another way to describe this odor is smelly. Notice the following:

Take that garbage outside. It's smelly.
Some types of cheese are really smelly.

a day to remember

We had a great time, we went bowling, and it was really a day to remember.

A 'day to remember' is a day when something important happens and you know that you will never forget it. When can use this for both good or bad memories, but it is most commonly used for good memories. Notice the following: