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Upper Intermediate Season 1 , Lesson 5 - Getting Mugged in the US

Jonathan [Greeting in 101 language]

Dede Dede here! Upper Intermediate Season 1 , Lesson 5 -

Getting Mugged in the US
None (manual write
in)
Host1 Hi everyone, and welcome back to
EnglishClass101.com's Upper Intermediate Season 1.
I’m Host1.
Host2 And I’m Host2! This is lesson 5 – Getting Mugged in
the US.
Host1 In this lesson we’ll learn about the past simple and past
continuous tenses from listening to a conversation on a
Washington D.C. street at night.
Host2 Dave was just a victim of a crime and is speaking with
a police officer.
Host1 Because they don’t know each other and are in a
serious situation, they will be speaking formally. Ready
to listen?
Host2 let's listen to the conversation!

1 Isabel
Dave
Can you explain the incident, sir?
It happened so fast. I was coming home from work late
and walking back from the Metro station; all of a
sudden someone jumped out and hit me.
Isabel Okay. What happened after that?
Dave Well, as I was falling down, he reached into my pocket
and grabbed my wallet and my iPod. Then he ran off.
Isabel Did you see him clearly? Do you think you could
identify him in a lineup?
Dave No, I was listening to music when he mugged me, and
he got me from behind. As he was running away, I
could just see his back; he was my height but a lot more
muscular.
Isabel We've been getting a lot of reports lately about this
kind of incident. Try and be more careful when you are
walking at night. I would recommend not listening to
music so you can stay aware. But we'll file your report;
at least maybe we can get your wallet back. Usually
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criminals ditch them after they take the cash and cards.
Dave I'm just glad I wasn't injured myself.
Isabel Okay, sir, thank you for filing a report. Here's my card
if you have any questions or remember anything else
that might help out with the investigation.

Host2 Oh dear! Poor Dave… Is crime really so common in

America?
Host1 Well, crime in the United States has actually fallen a
lot over the past twenty years, especially in cities, but
it still remains a problem in many parts of the country
and some major cities.
Host2 I guess you really have to be careful..
Host1 Depending on the neighborhood, it can be dangerous
to walk alone at night. Similarly, crowded areas like
train stations are infamous for “pick-pockets”, people
that steal your wallet from your back pocket.
Host2 How can we be careful to make sure that doesn’t
happen to us?
Host1 Be careful to keep your wallet in a safe place when
you are in these areas. Sometimes, criminals even
post signs that say “Beware of pick-pockets” because
people usually check their wallets after reading the
2 signs and the criminals know exactly where to steal
them from.
Host2 That’s scary… but I have to admit kind of clever…
Host1 Yup… Americans certainly are creative…
Host2 Enough of this scary talk though, let’s move onto
vocab!
Host1 Sure thing!

Dede Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.

The first word we shall see is:
Jonathan incident [natural native speed]
Dede event or occurrence (often negative)
Jonathan incident [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jonathan incident [natural native speed]

Next:"

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to grab [natural native speed]

Dede to take something quickly and forcefully
to grab [slowly - broken down by syllable]
to grab [natural native speed]

Next:"
Jonathan to identify [natural native speed]
Dede to recognize, point out which
Jonathan to identify [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jonathan to identify [natural native speed]

Next:"
line-up [natural native speed]
Dede a group of accused criminals shown to a witness to see
if the witness can identify who committed the crime
line-up [slowly - broken down by syllable]
line-up [natural native speed]

Next:"
Jonathan to mug [natural native speed]
Dede to steal something, usually violently or with the threat
of violence
Jonathan to mug [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jonathan to mug [natural native speed]

Next:"
to get mugged [natural native speed]
3 Dede to be mugged by someone
to get mugged [slowly - broken down by syllable]
to get mugged [natural native speed]

Next:"
Jonathan muscular [natural native speed]
Dede strong, with a lot of muscles
Jonathan muscular [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jonathan muscular [natural native speed]

Next:"
to ditch [natural native speed]
Dede to get rid of, to throw away
to ditch [slowly - broken down by syllable]
to ditch [natural native speed]

Next:"

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Jonathan card [natural native speed]

Dede business card
Jonathan card [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Jonathan card [natural native speed]

Next:"
aware [natural native speed]
Dede alert, paying attention
aware [slowly - broken down by syllable]
aware [natural native speed]

Host2 That’s all the words we have for this lesson. Why
don’t we take a look at some of the phrases from the
dialogue… Hello? Host1?
Host1 Huh?
Host2 I told you, stay aware when we are recording the
lessons!
Host1 Oh sorry! Our first phrase for this lesson is…
Host2 "He was about my height but a lot more muscular."
Host1 When we are being interviewed by police, they will
ask us to provide a physical description of the person
who committed the crime. Dave says that while this
4 person was about as tall as he was, he was much more
muscular and solidly built.
Host2 Ahh, so when you commit a crime and they ask me
about you, how should I describe you?
Host1 Well, hopefully you will never have to do that, but I
think you should tell them I’m tall and handsome.
Host2 Can’t you get in trouble for lying to the police?
Host1 Ouch! Alright then, what’s the next phrase we have?
Host2 "They usually ditch them after they take the cash and
cards."
Host1 “Cash” and “cards” are informal terms used for
paper money (cash) and credit or debit cards (cards).
She means that criminals usually only care about the
money and usually “ditch” a wallet they have stolen
after they take the paper money and credit/debit

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cards. This is good so that the victim can recover

their ID, driver’s license, pictures, and anything else
important in their wallet.
Host2 We’ll it’s bad that they lose their money, but at least
they can usually get their documents back.
Host1 Yes, I think for a lot of people that is the most
stressful part about having their wallet stolen.
Host2 I think so too. Let’s move onto the lesson focus.
Host1 Alright!

Host2 The focus of this lesson is using the Past simple and
Past continuous tenses.
Host1 Right, you probably already know how to use these
tenses, but we will review them, go more in depth,
and show you how to use multiple verbs in a sentence
in order to describe what happened.
Host1 Dave said “I was listening to music when he mugged
me”
Host2 In this case, Dave used a past continuous verb, that
he "was listening", to describe what he was doing
when someone did something else, which was the
man mugging him.
Host1 Right. We use past continuous to describe one action
5 when another one occurred during the first action.
Let’s try making a sentence about the dialogue today.
Host2 Uhm. OK, how about “Dave was falling down when
the criminal stole his things.”
Host1 Perfect! In this case, you used “when” as a connector
for the two actions. Depending on the situation, we
can use “as” or “during the time” as connectors as
well. Remember that the connector can come in
between the two verbs like you just used or at the
beginning of the sentence. Why don’t you try to
describe this situation
Host2 Alright… so I could say… “As I was eating dinner, the
phone rang.”
Host1 Exactly! Check out the lesson notes for a more
detailed explanation of these grammar concepts and
to see some more examples. Let’s look at some other

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sentences when we use only simple past or

continuous past.
Host2 OK, We can use two simple past verbs when we are
describing actions in order that happened one after
another.
Host1 Right – like…
Host2 "I went to the doctor’s office and then drove to the
pharmacy."
Host1 And when do we use only past continuous?
Host2 When two things happened at the same time for the
same amount of time.
Host1 Great. Care to share an example?
Host2 "At ten o’clock last night, I was taking a shower and
singing."
Host1 Haha, You like to sing in the shower? You learn
something new every day!
Host2 Sure, it's fun! Well, that’s all the time that we have
for this lesson
Host1 We hope you enjoyed Upper Intermediate Lesson 5.
Host2 Remember to check out EnglishClass101.com for
lesson notes, flashcards, and all your English
language learning needs!
6 Host1 Come back soon!
Host 2 Bye everyone!

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