Intro
What
picture do you see when you think of a wedding? A white dress? Flowers? Lots of
dancing?
In the US, many traditional weddings look
pretty much the same: the bride and groom pick a few people to stand by them
during the ceremony. Candles are lit. Music is played. The couple kisses.
Afterwards, there’s food and dancing. It’s a party for everyone!
However, not everyone wants a traditional wedding. With
more and more people from different countries and religions getting married,
some couples want to integrate their cultural heritage into
their weddings. Whether that means they raise a glass to
toast their future happiness or they raise the groom on a chair, atypical weddings
are actually becoming more common.
Jeff and Brian are talking about unique weddings
they have attended. Learn how different people do weddings in today’s English
lesson about marriage.
Dialogue
Brian: Hey Jeff, I just
went to my friend’s wedding. Have you ever been to a Jewish wedding?
Jeff: I have not.
Brian: It’s pretty neat.
They raise the groom up in the chair during the wedding.
Jeff: The broken glass
deal?
Brian: The wedding I
went to was actually Jewish and Catholic.
Jeff: Oh, that’s unique.
Brian: It was very
unique. The bride and the groom had different religions, but they celebrated
both traditions within the same ceremony.
Jeff: So in a way they
followed their cultural
heritage but also did their own thing.
Brian: Yeah, which I
thought was really neat. It’s very unique, very special, and I enjoyed it a lot
because I got a peek into both, because I’m neither Catholic nor Jewish.
Jeff: I’ve only been to
nothing too special with weddings.
Brian: Mostly traditional weddings?
Jeff: Yeah, I mean some
sort of non-traditional weddings like they wear flip flops.
Brian: How was that one?
Jeff: It was casual.
It was good. Casual attire. Hawaiian shirts and whatnot.
Brian: Right.
Jeff: So I guess that’s
a bit atypical.
Brian: Yeah.
Jeff: The bride was from
Hawaii, so that was integrated.
Brian: Was dancing hard
in flip flops?
Jeff: No, man, it was
loose. We had a good time. Sweaty. Summer.
Brian: I think I’d like
my wedding to be that way.
Jeff: Yeah, casual.
Discussion
Brian just went to a friend’s wedding, and he wants to tell
Jeff about the experience. Because Brian’s friends were Jewish and Catholic,
their wedding was somewhat atypical. The couple found ways
to honor both religions during the ceremony.
Jeff tells Brian that the wedding definitely sounds unique.
He says that he’s never been to any weddings that were too strange. However, he
once went to a wedding where everyone wore flip flops and casual clothing
because the bride was from Hawaii.
Brian
thinks that wedding sounds great, and he tells Jeff he’d like to have a casual
wedding someday, too.
If you
are married, what kind of wedding did you have? If you’re single, describe your
dream wedding.
Grammar Point
Present Perfect Tense
Brian
asks Jeff, “Have you ever been to a Jewish wedding?” He uses
the present perfect tense.
The present perfect tense is formed with have/has + a past participle. There are several
situations in which we use this tense:
To talk
about something that was true in
the past, and is still true in
the present, as in, “I have been married
for five years.”
To refer
to something that happened at an unspecified
time in the past, as in, “Becky has
visited China several times already.”
To talk
about something that happened during a period of time that has not yet ended, as in, “I have gone to three parties so far this
month.”
When
used with “just,” to refer to something that happenedvery recently, as in, “My mother has just arrived.”
When you
see words like for, since, ever, already,
and so far in a sentence, it
often means that you need to use the present perfect tense.
Which
sentence is correct, “I have never going to Hawaii,” or, “I have never gone to
Hawaii”?
Vocab
unique adj.
Definition
one of
a kind, different than all the others
Example
Those
are really unique shoes. I’ve never seen any like them before.
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sneak peek n.
Definition
little,
quick look
Example
I love
watching movie trailers because you get a sneak peek of the new film!
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casual adj.
Definition
informal;
no dress code; no rules
Example
Is the
dinner casual or should I change into something nicer?
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attire n.
Definition
clothing;
style of clothing
Example
Lately
I’ve been into Western attire, cowboy boots and tight jeans.
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traditional adj.
Definition
old
fashioned; the way things have always been done
Example
It is
traditional to break a bottle of champagne over a ship before its first voyage.
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ceremony n.
Definition
official
events that take place when people get married
Example
Their
ceremony was touching. I cried the whole time.
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cultural heritage n.
Definition
ideas,
traditions, or events from a person’s culture; parts of life that are from a
people group
Example
Saida
painted henna on her hands for her wedding to remember her cultural heritage.
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raise v.
Definition
lift
up; put above one’s head
Example
We all
raised our glasses to toast the newly married couple at the wedding.
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integrate v.
Definition
combine,
mix, join together
Example
Alycia
is trying to integrate students from multiple cultures into one classroom.
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atypical adj.
Definition
not
normal; not usual; different
Example
Prom
this year was atypical. All the girls wore suits, and the guys wore shorts.
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