Learn English with THE HUNGER GAMES
Let the games begin! Reading is a great way to improve your English, but it's sometimes difficult to know which book to start with. In this informative lesson, I explain why The Hunger Games is a good first novel choice for intermediate and advanced-level English learners. I also look at 10 vocabulary items from chapter 1 of the book, including words such as "swollen", "abandoned", and "upbeat". Get a FREE audiobook of THE HUNGER GAMES at: http://www.engvid.com/out/audiblealex
Get the print or ebook editions of THE HUNGER GAMES from:
http://www.engvid.com/out/amz_hunger
TRANSCRIPT
Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on how to learn English with books. Today, I'm looking at a very specific book. This is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is a young adult novel that is very popular, and has been turned into a movie, and is easy to find everywhere.
So, in this lesson, I'm going to talk about why The Hunger Games is a great book to start for new intermediate English learners, and also, I'm going to talk about 10 items of vocabulary from chapter one of the book. If you'd like to get a copy of the book yourself, you can check out the link to Amazon attached to this video for a physical copy, and if you're interested in an audio version of the book, you can actually link to www.Audible.com where, if you do sign up, you get your first book free, so you can get The Hunger Games, you can get classics like 1984, you can find newer books as well. So, if you're interested in that, check out the links attached to the video. And now, let the games begin.
So, like I mentioned, The Hunger Games is a good book for intermediate English students for a number of reasons. First of all, The Hunger Games is written in the first person, so there is a lot of: "I", "I", "I", just like you normally speak in everyday life, where the most common personal pronoun you use is probably "I". Second of all, it is written in the present tense. Now, I don't mean that the book doesn't have future tense, or past tense, or conditionals. It has all those things, but the primary tense it uses with the character speaking is the present. So, now, I'm going to read you the first paragraph of the book so you can see what I mean.
"When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth, but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams, and climbed in with our mother. Of course she did. This is the day of the reaping."
So, you see "is", you hear: "The other side of the bed is cold when I wake up." Present simple. Now, not only does this make it a little easier for new English learners or intermediate English learners to read the book because the present tenses are usually the first ones you learn, it also makes the book a lot more engaging, interesting, and exciting, because everything feels a lot more present. There's no other way to put it.
Third of all, The Hunger Games, as you probably know if you're watching this video, or maybe you don't know, is very popular. Now, you might be thinking: "Why is this a good thing if I'm choosing a book to learn English?" Well, number one: It's really easy to find. Whether you're looking for the audio book or if you're looking for a physical copy, if you're looking for the e-book - every website, every store will have stacks and stacks of copies of this book. This also means there are multiple translations. This might also mean that you have already read this book in your own language, and it might be a good idea, now, to read it in English, because you're already familiar with the content, the characters, and what the action is like in the book.
Fourth, it does have an interesting story. Is it my favorite book of all time? No, it's not, but it is pretty interesting. There is a dystopian world, a tyrannical government that's ruling everyone, and there's a strong female hero.