Take a Seat - Make a Friend?

e l t g e e k . w o r d p r e s s . c o m 1 | 6

Task 1. Watch a video about people sitting in a ball pit discussing some questions. Write down the

questions they discuss.

Questions Extra details

1

2

3

4

5

6

Task 2. Natural reactions. How can you react to something the person you’re talking to says?

• Watch extracts from the video and fill the gaps.

• What body language do people in the video use to show their reactions?

[0:25 – 0:41]

a 'I've never ever been in a ball pit before.' _________?!'

b 'Never been in a ball pit?' ‘___________________________________'

c 'You know, I remember those ball pits - like, kids grew up in them.' _________.'

[1:13 – 1:48]

d 'Find one thing you have in common.' 'Do you play sports?' 'Not currently.' 'I play soccer, so..'

________.' 'Yeah.'

e 'Actually, I play the drums - do you play any instruments?' 'Erm, I quit everything I ever tried.'

‘_________’

f 'Actually, a fun fact. These are not real teeth. [laughs] Yeah!' 'I have a flipper tooth.'

_____________?! Oh my God!'

g 'No no no, I can't, wait!' 'What?!' 'My front tooth!' ___________!'

[ 2:05 – 2:23 ]

h 'I was in the navy.' ‘__________________?!' 'I and my husband was in the navy. Long story short,

before he ever kissed me or we were really together, he told me he loved me. Twenty four years


later, we're more in love and we're better friends than even from the very beginning.

i ' ‘_________________!’

[2:45 – 2:57]

j 'Martin Luther King, I think, cause the fact that we're sitting in this box together' 'Yes' 'It's a big

deal, you know.' _________.'

k 'You know who inspires me? Believe it or not, it's my daughter.' ‘_____!' ‘She's everything I ever

wanted to be.'

[3:20 – 3:45]

l ‘OK. At the age of twenty one, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. And it pulled the rug out

from all my plans. It really changes the way you look at things.’ ‘My grandmother has it.’ ‘Who

does?’ ‘My grandmother.’ ‘There’s our common.’ ‘We found the common!’ ‘______________.’

‘That’s why we’re still here. We found the common.’

Task 3 Now sort the reactions from Task 2 according to their types:

Show that you’re very surprised:

Repeat something the other person said:

Agree:

Show that you found what they said very

sweet:

Make a comment:

And when you don’t really know how to react,

you could say:

Task 4 In pairs, brainstorm 3-4 more questions that would be good for a ball pit:

•

•

•

•

[Speaking] Discuss your questions with the group!

Links

If you want to see the video again, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfHV4-

N2LxQ


Key:

Task 1.

1. Share three things on your bucket list (a list of things you want to do before you die.)

2. Find one thing you have in common.

3. Describe the first time you fell in love.

4. Talk about someone who inspires you.

5. Talk about the experience that changed your life.

6. Create a secret handshake.

Task 2

[0:25 – 0:41]

a 'I've never ever been in a ball pit before.' What?!'

b 'Never been in a ball pit?' 'No, never. No, I've seen them, but I've never been in one.''

c 'You know, I remember those ball pits - like, kids grew up in them.' Yeah.'

[1:13 – 1:48]

d 'Find one thing you have in common.' 'Do you play sports?' 'Not currently.' 'I play soccer, so..'

Soccer.' 'Yeah.'

e 'Actually, I play the drums - do you play any instruments?' 'Erm, I quit everything I ever tried.' ‘All

right. Erm..’

f 'Actually, a fun fact. These are not real teeth. [laughs] Yeah!' 'I have a flipper tooth.' Really?! Oh

my God!'

g 'No no no, I can't, wait!' 'What?!' 'My front tooth!' Oh my gosh'

[ 2:05 – 2:23 ]

h 'I was in the navy.' ‘You were in the navy' 'I and my husband was in the navy. Long story short,

before he ever kissed me or we were really together, he told me he loved me. Twenty four years

later, we're more in love and we're better friends than even from the very beginning.

i ' 'That's true love at its finest!'

[2:45 – 2:57]

j 'Martin Luther King, I think, cause the fact that we're sitting in this box together' 'Yes' 'It's a big

deal, you know.' Exactly'


k 'You know who inspires me? Believe it or not, it's my daughter.' ‘Ow!’ ‘She's everything I ever

wanted to be.'

[3:20 – 3:45]

l ‘OK. At the age of twenty one, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. And it pulled the rug out

from all my plans. It really changes the way you look at things.’ ‘My grandmother has it.’ ‘Who

does?’ ‘My grandmother.’ ‘There’s our common.’ ‘We found the common!’ ‘We found the

common!’ ‘That’s why we’re still here. We found the common.’

Task 3

Show that you’re very surprised. a, f, g, h

Repeat something the other person said. b, d, h, l

Agree c

Show that you found what they said very

sweet.

k

Make a comment i

And when you don’t really know how to react,

you could say:

e


Transcript

[Jane & Nicky] Hi! I'm Jane. I'm Nicky. (shaking hands)

'I've never ever been in a ball pit before.' 'What?!'

'Never been in a ball pit?' 'No, never. No, I've seen them, but I've never been in one.'

'You know, I remember those ball pits - like, kids grew up in them.' 'Yeah.'

'All right, so let's see.'

'OK, this is a good one: share three things on your bucket list.'

'Erm..'

'First one is to go sky-diving.'

'I want to go sky-diving.'

'Have you ever had those dreams where you’re just, like, floating and, you know, you're flying and

everything? Scuba diving is just exactly that.' 'Don't you get afraid of drowning or being underwater?

Getting attacked by an octopus, or any of those things?'

'I wanna learn curling.' 'What is it?' 'Like that winter Olympics sport.' 'Oh, where you slide this thing?' 'Yeah,

it's like bowling and sweeping.'

'Find one thing you have in common.' 'Do you play sports?' 'Not currently.' 'I play soccer, so..' 'Soccer.'

'Yeah.'

'Actually, I play the drums - do you play any instruments?' 'Erm, I quit everything I ever tried.' 'All right,

erm..'

'Actually, a fun fact. These are not real teeth. [laughs] Yeah!' 'I have a flipper tooth.' 'Really?! Oh my God!'

'No no no, I can't, wait!' 'What?!' 'My front tooth!' 'Oh my gosh!' 'You don't even understand. I swear to

God, I feel like someone planted us here for this reason.' 'Destiny!'

'Describe the first time you fell in love.' 'Oh. I think it was kindergarten. I don't remember his name, but he

was beautiful.'

'I was in the navy.' 'You were in the navy?!' 'I and my husband was in the navy. Long story short, before he

ever kissed me or we were really together, he told me he loved me. Twenty four years later, we're more in

love and we're better friends than even from the very beginning.' 'That's true love at its finest!'

'Talk about someone who inspires you.'

'Is it all right to talk about someone who is a religious character?' 'Yeah, why not? This is our ball pit, we can

talk about whoever we want, right?' 'Jesus.' 'All right.'

'Just my peers. They are all creative in their own ways and they have their own realities and own lessons. I

just grow from everybody else's as well as my own.'

'Martin Luther King, I think, cause the fact that we're sitting in this box together' 'Yes' 'It's a big deal, you

know.' 'Exactly.'


'You know who inspires me? Believe it or not, it's my daughter.' 'Ow!' ‘She's everything I ever wanted to be.'

'All right! Talk about the experience that changed your life. Oh, that's a good one! After my wife decided

that it was time that we split, I started to have a different perspective on life. I saw women differently, I saw

relationships differently. I think I became more appreciative of women.'

'How old did you say you are, twenty?' 'Yeah.' 'OK. At the age of twenty one, I was diagnosed with multiple

sclerosis. And it pulled the rug out from all my plans. It really changes the way you look at things.' 'My

grandmother has it.' 'Who does?' 'My grandmother.' 'There's our common.' 'We found the common!' 'We

found the common.' 'That's why we're still here. We found the common.'

'Oh, create a secret handshake.' 'Oo!' 'OK, but nothing with spit!' 'OK, like that.' 'And then whoever gets on

the top makes a flag.' 'I forgot what it is!' 'And then like, maybe a little twitch at the middle?'

'Awesome! I actually had a lot of fun! I was a little bit nervous cause normally you don't hang out with

strangers with ball pits. I got to learn some pretty cool things about you.'

'It was really nice to meet you.' 'You too!' 'I hope I see you again!' 'A hug!' 'Ah, OK!'

'I'm really impressed by you. I was worried that I would start talking to you like a mom. I don't know if I did.'

'No! No, you didn't, trust me. You did good!'

Education

Take a Seat - Make a Friend?