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Hello English learners. Welcome back to EnglishPod. My name is Marco

and I’m Erica.

And today we have fun and scary dialogue.

That’s right, this lesson is full of language you can use to talk about being scared.

Alright, so we’re gonna be looking at a scary lesson today and we have nothing to preview. So, let’s listen to this dialogue and see why everyone is so scared.

Shabby: Eddie, why are we at this scary looking mansion? It’s like, ultra spooky!

Eddie: I told you already Shabby, the owner of the house says there is a ghost haunting his house so we have to go in and investigate.

Shabby: I don’t like this!

Wilma: Come on guys, stop being such cowards.

It’s a mystery and an adventure!

Shabby: This place gives me the creeps! Seriously guys, let’s get out of here! I’m getting goosebumps just being here!

Scruffy: Shabby is a scaredy cat!

Wilma: That laugh came from this room. Let’s go and check it out.

Eddie: Look! A ghost! Run!

Well, that sounds really scary but actually it kind of reminds me of another TV show.

Very similar to another TV show but it’s different.

Okay, but some interesting language that you can use to talk about things that are scary, so why don’t we look at that now in language take away.

Language take away

So, let’s start with the very first line of our dialogue. Shabby described the mansion to be ultra-spooky. It’s ultra-spooky

spooky

so, okay we’ve got 2 interesting words here, ultra and spooky. Now, spooky is scary, right?

It’s a little bit scary. It maybe makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable or maybe it makes you feel a little bit scared.

Okay, so not very scared.

Not super scared

but ultra-spooky

so ultra is another way of saying super or very or really spooky

so if it’s ultra-spooky then it’s—

very scary

okay. Alright so our next word, they said that in the house there is a ghost haunting the house

okay there is a ghost haunting his house.

Okay, so the verb to haunt

Okay, to hunt. So the ghost is coming to the house frequently and not letting them live in peace.

When a ghost hunt something, it visits it often and scares it.

exactly. Now they we’re all afraid and they didn’t want to go in and so Wilma called everyone cowards.

stop being such cowards

so a coward

a coward is a person that’s not brave

a person who’s scared of everything

exactly, so they were being cowards. They were afraid, so that’s why they did want to go in

well, speaking of being afraid, Shabby said I’m getting goosebumps.

Goosebumps

to get goosebumps

all right, to get goosebumps. Now, goosebumps, it may sound a little bit strange, but it’s very easy when you’re scared or maybe you’re cold, the skin on your arms or on your back gets a little bit bumpy

so your skin looks like chicken skin

exactly chicken skin. That’s actually how we call it in Spanish, chicken skin, but this is goosebumps so I guess it’s kind of similar, a goose

yeah, same idea

goosebumps

all right and finally Scruffy said, Shabby is a scaredy cat

scaredy cat

a scaredy cat,

you’re a scaredy cat

well a scaredy cat is not really a cat, right?

No, no, no. It’s a person who’s afraid of everything.

Okay

similar to a coward

but more informal

more, much more informal. So somebody is a scaredy cat and I think even a little bit more juvenile as adults

Children use it

Yeah. As adults you wouldn’t say she’s a scaredy cat.

All right, great. So some interesting scary language. I think we need to hear it one more time slowed down in the dialogue.

Shabby: Eddie, why are we at this scary looking mansion? It’s like, ultra spooky!

Eddie: I told you already Shabby, the owner of the house says there is a ghost haunting his house so we have to go in and investigate.

Shabby: I don’t like this!

Wilma: Come on guys, stop being such cowards.

It’s a mystery and an adventure!

Shabby: This place gives me the creeps! Seriously guys, let’s get out of here! I’m getting goosebumps just being here!

Scruffy: Shabby is a scaredy cat!

Wilma: That laugh came from this room. Let’s go and check it out.

Eddie: Look! A ghost! Run!

Okay, so now that we understand all the vocabulary we saw in language take away, why don’t we take a look at two phrases now in fluency builder.

Fluency builder

Well, Shabby said, we’re this scary looking mansion

scary looking mansion,

so a scary looking mansion

okay, so the mansion looks scary

all right, so a mansion is a big house, right? That looks very scary. Now this is really useful and helpful pattern you can use with English. Something looking, so adjective looking

right, so you can say good-looking and there’s lots of examples. So why don’t we hear a few more now.

Example 1

That guy’s making me nervous. He’s really creepy looking.

Example 2

I saw the craziest looking house today. It was built upside down.

Example 3

What a nice looking dog. Can I pat him?

All right, great examples and now we know how we can combine looking with different adjectives.

Our next phase. Shabby said, this place gives me the creeps

All right, gives me the creeps

to give someone the creeps.

So if something gives you the creeps

it makes you feel uncomfortable and scared

maybe scared, maybe nervous.

Okay, so why don’t we give some examples. I could say, hey Marco, see that guy over there? He keeps looking at me. He’s giving me the creeps.

Okay, or I can say clowns give me the creeps.

That’s right, you’re afraid of clowns.

I am afraid of clowns. They gave me the creeps.

All right, well it’s a really helpful useful phrase to use when you’re talking about being afraid. Now, why don’t we listen to the dialogue one final time.

Shabby: Eddie, why are we at this scary looking mansion? It’s like, ultra spooky!

Eddie: I told you already Shabby, the owner of the house says there is a ghost haunting his house so we have to go in and investigate.

Shabby: I don’t like this!

Wilma: Come on guys, stop being such cowards.

It’s a mystery and an adventure!

Shabby: This place gives me the creeps! Seriously guys, let’s get out of here! I’m getting goosebumps just being here!

Scruffy: Shabby is a scaredy cat!

Wilma: That laugh came from this room. Let’s go and check it out.

Eddie: Look! A ghost! Run!

Okay, so an interesting dialogue about ghosts and haunted houses. So what do you think, Erica? Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen a ghost?

No, I totally do not believe in ghosts, but I understand that you disagree with me.

Well, I’ve experienced strange things, but I don’t know if it was a ghost or an alien. I don’t know, it could’ve been anything.

an alien

an invisible alien

okay, so what happened?

Well, once I was having dinner with my parents and we had a table and on top of the table, there was a glass full of water and all of a sudden it started to move across the table and then it started to spin, while it moved.

so was there an earthquake or something happening?

No, no, nothing. The only thing in the whole table that was moving was that and we all just kind of stared at the glass moving and we didn’t know what to do. And then my mom started kind of giggling, a nervous laugh, and we really didn’t know what happened.

Now, I understand that in Latin America people are more superstitious. They believe more in ghosts, right?

exactly in Latin America people are very superstitious. They believe in ghosts or in spirits or we have a lot of urban legends about, you know, like a leprechaun that lives under a bridge. Or you know somebody’s grandma that comes and haunts them or visits them at night and stuff like that. So, yeah Latin American people are very superstitious in this sense.

Yeah, I think in Anglo countries it’s a little bit less common to say that you believe in ghosts. Like maybe inside you, you think ghosts are true, but you wouldn’t really tell people that.

Right. I think the difference would be that you have a different type of superstition like people are afraid of black cats

Right

or the floor, or the number 13

yeah or opening your umbrella in a house

exactly

yeah

so, because they consider it to be bad luck, but not because something like a ghost or an alien’s gonna come out and eat them.

So listeners, what don’t you tell us what you think about ghosts? Are people superstitious in your country? Do they believe in ghosts?

Come to our website, Englishpod.com and let us know and see you guys there.

Thanks for downloading and goodbye.