Extensive listening: Why you should talk to strangers

"When you talk to strangers, you're making beautiful interruptions into the expected narrative of your daily life — and theirs," says Kio Stark.

In this delightful talk, Stark explores the overlooked benefits of pushing past our default discomfort when it comes to strangers and embracing those fleeting but profoundly beautiful moments of genuine connection.

You can read the transcript for the talk here.

Talking point: Relationships

This week's talking point is relationships. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

Who is your oldest friend?
And your closest friend?
What is your relationship with them like?
In what ways are the two relationships similar or different?
What do you have in common with these two friends?
Do you usually have a lot in common with your friends or do they introduce you to new things and ideas? Which is more important?
Which of your friends is most different from you in personality?
What is he/she like?
What do you mainly expect of a friend, support or to have fun?
Do your friends come from the same background as you?
How long can a friendship last when you keep in touch but don't spend time together?
Do you get on well with people of different ages?
Do you ever talk to strangers? If so, in what situations?

Look at the film poster below. What do you know about the film? You can find some information about the film here.
Do you know any real-life stories of unlikely friendhip?

To illustrate the topic, you can watch Laila talking about her friend. To watch the video, click on the image below or here.

Listening test: On family and friends

Listen to a radio programme on family and friendship. For sentences 1–8 complete the gaps with the missing information. 0 is an example. You will hear the information twice.



On family and friends

Example:
0. Euripides was born in  Greece.

For Euripides a good friend is as good as  1 _________________ relatives.

Jenny Lewis has written a book on the importance of 2 ______________.

In Jenny’s opinion today the family unit is a vital 3 _________________.

Friends share interests or enjoy 4 _________________ .

Family is 5 _________________ to control than friends.

Two important qualities we demand of friends are 6  ________________ and being 7  _________________ .

People with good close friends are happier and 8 _________________ .

Presenter On tonight’s programme we look at the issue of friendship. According to the Greek dramatist Euripides ‘one loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives’ and for many of us our friends may have more influence on us than our family. But who is really more important? With us in the studio is family psychologist Jenny Lewis, who has just written a book on the importance of friends in our lives. Jenny, if we could choose, would many of us put our friends before our family?
Jenny I don’t think so. Interestingly, although family structures are changing radically and traditional models are, to some extent, disappearing, many of us still see the family unit as a vital part of our lives.
Presenter So, why do we need friends?
Jenny Well, friendships are basically connections between people who might share similar interests or simply enjoy each other’s company. Another point is that we can control friendships more easily than other relationships. Remember another well-known saying ‘You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family’. There’s a lot of simple truth in that.
Presenter Do we normally have the same idea about what friendship means?
Jenny Not really. In my book there are a lot of case studies which illustrate very different points of view. You might see your friends once a week and enjoy doing something together and then not see or speak to them again for another week. But other people demand more of their friends and expect them to always be there in times of crisis. Qualities such as loyalty and being reliable are often mentioned as important to friendships. A lot of it is to do with self-esteem and choice. We choose each other as friends and this makes us feel important and happy.
Presenter Do we usually have a lot of friends or one close friend?
Jenny Again, it varies. However, studies have shown that we probably have about up to 30 friends in our lives but only about six of them would be considered ‘good’ friends. There is evidence that people who have close friends tend to be happier and live longer.
Presenter Jenny, thank you for coming in. If you’re interested in Jenny Lewis’ book you can call us on 0207 946 0353.

KEY:
1 – 10,000
2 – friends [in our lives]
3 – part [of our lives]
4 – each other company
5 – more difficult
6 – loyalty
7 – reliable
8 – live longer

Reading test: Do You Find It Easier to Make New Friends Online or In Person

In this week's reading test we are going to practise the 'insert a sentence' kind of task.

In the New York Times article Do You Find It Easier to Make New Friends Online or In Person seven sentences have been removed. Choose the sentence A-I which best fits the corresponding gap 1-7. There is one sentence you do not need to use. 0 is an example.

According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of American teenagers age 13 to 17 say they have made a friend online — say (0) while browsing social networks like Instagram or playing a game like Call of Duty. Have you made good friends online? Meanwhile, in a recent Education Life piece, one researcher suggests that young people have unique chances to make new friends at times (1) … when many people are entering a new environment.
How do you tend to make friends, whether in “real life” or online? In “Making Friends in New Places,” Nicholas A. Christakis writes:
Freshman year is critical, (2) … . American students have the luxury of a long horizon to settle on good classes, select a major and chart a career; there’s plenty of time to make academic mistakes and recover from them. But it’s important to set off on the right foot in one respect: making friends.
At the start of freshman year, (3) …, when customary rules about social interactions are suspended, and when it seems perfectly normal for someone to sit down next to you at lunch or in class and strike up a conversation.
Social inhibitions tend to dissolve (4) … . Think of adults on a cruise, teenagers at a summer camp, or Chaucer’s garrulous pilgrims, chatting and revealing volumes about themselves. The bond is all the more guaranteed when facing a shared hardship — say, the boredom of freshman orientation sessions or the stress of placement exams.
But after that critical window, (5) … . In my experience, which includes serving as master of a residential college at both Yale and Harvard, this tends to occur about three weeks in. Attitudes begin to solidify. Friendships become fixed. And behaviors that initially seemed open and generous might come to feel forced, or even a little creepy.
It turns out that we are hard-wired to seek and make friends in novel, stressful circumstances. Students naturally assemble themselves into elaborate social networks — and not just Snapchat, Tumblr, Facebook or Twitter: (6) … .
In fact, studies that my colleagues and I have conducted of face-to-face social networks of college students and of the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania (7) … . Whether in a college dormitory or on the African savanna, living as they might have 10,000 years ago, people form the same sort of network — one or two best friends, in a group of five to six close friends, within a still broader group of 150 people.
And the intricate structure of these friendship webs is similar too. The networks we form obey certain mathematical and sociological rules, and they have profound influence on our lives.

A a curtain begins to fall on the welcoming social scene
B but not for the reasons most students (and their parents) imagine
C like the start of a new school year
D our modern technology is merely put into the service of more ancient and powerful impulses
E reveal that, in fundamental ways, they are not very different
F there’s a window of opportunity
G when a group of strangers enters a new environment
H whether you like it or not, it’s bound to happen
I while browsing social networks like Instagram

Photo: The New York Times

KEY:
1C 2B 3F 4G 5A 6D 7E

Talking point: People I know

This week's talking point revolves around the people in our lives. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that ideas flow more easily when you meet up with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

How big is your family?
Do you know anyone who has a half-brother or half-sister or a step-brother or step-sister?
Talk about your favourite relative and a relative you don't really get on well with. What are they like? What do they look like?
What memories do you have of your grandparents?
What do you know about your great-grandparents?
Do you know anyone (relative, friend or colleague) whose personality has changed over time?
Do you have the same best friend as you had ten years ago? Why (not)?
Do you stay in touch with friends from primary/secondary school/university?
Have you ever been close to someone but then drifted apart? What happened? Do you regret it?
Is there anyone you would like to get back in touch with? How would you go about it?
Have you ever tracked down anyone via the Internet?

To illustrate the point you can watch this Speakout video where some people talk about their family identity.



P: Hello. My name is Pasha. I work for the BBC and I do a lot of DJing in my spare time. Originally, I come from Moscow, but most of my family lives in New York now. Today I’m talking to people about their families.
Tell me about your family.
T: I have a very large family. I live with my mother and my step-father in Brighton in England. I have six brothers and sisters, of which I’m the
eldest and I have a lot of responsibility ... to look after them. B: I live with my mum and my sister and my dad. My sister is fifteen years
old and we’re really close. We’re a happy little family.
P: I have quite a small family. I only have one sister. She’s two years younger than me and then there’s my parents who live very close to
me. All of my grandparents have died, sadly.
E: I’m the middle child: I have an older brother and a younger brother and my parents are still together. I get on with them brilliantly – they’re a great family.
N: My dad’s Mexican and my mum is from London. And they, my mum
met my dad in Mexico, they moved over to England twenty-five years
ago. And I’ve got a sister who’s two years older than me.
M: Well, my family lives in Canada, in Toronto, Canada. I have a mother and sister, my father passed away about twenty years ago, so it’s just
the three of us. Something of a small family.
P: In what ways are you like your parents or siblings? 
T: I look a lot like my mum: we have, like, the same height and build and face structure. And, I guess I have the same traits as her. We, sort of, have a very similar personality in the way we think about things, the
way we express ourselves.
P: I don’t think I’m very much like my sister; I think she’s very different from me. I think I’m similar to my father: we both have a mathematical, ‘science type’ mind, and I like to think I’m conscientious like my mother.
B: Um, I look quite a lot like my sister. But she’s like a younger version of me. And she’s thinner. And then, my mum, she’s a bit more reserved, so she’s very organised and my dad is a lot louder, a lot more
enthusiastic.
N: Um, I’m quite calm like my dad, and, but can get quite, I think, maybe
passionate like my mum.
E: I’m not very like my brothers: they are very similar to each other but I’m quite different. They’re more like my mum. I’m more like my dad. P: What do you know about your family history?
B: Well, my name’s Brogan, and it’s supposed to be Scottish or Irish, but I
have no idea where it’s really from.
P: My family history goes quite, goes quite a long way back on my father’s side, erm, certainly about four or five hundred years. He’s Scottish – from southwest Scotland – very close to Ireland. My mother was adopted: she and her twin sister were adopted and we’ve only
managed to go back one generation to the northwest of England. M: I actually started to retrace my family roots last year, so I went to Northern Ireland, to Belfast, and actually found some very interesting information about my grandparents. Found the house that my great-
grandfather built and where my grandfather was born.
T: I don’t know very much about my family history, but I’d like to look into it in the future.

Extensive listening: Animal Odd Couples

Animals that behave in ways we would never expect fascinate us. In recent years, the internet has been changing the perception that most species have evolved to stick to their own kind and to generally not get along. Videos, generating millions of hits, are showing different species interacting in ways previously not thought possible. These animals are displaying what looks like friendship, affection and even love towards one another. But what lies at the heart of these behaviours? Can science explain why these unusual partnerships take place? And if so, what can they teach us about how the animal kingdom really works?

Wildlife biologist Liz Bonnin sets off on a worldwide journey of discovery in this two-episode BBC documentary to find out why animals of different species make friends with each other. Why a cat would adopt some ducklings? Could an orangutan really keep a dog as a pet? Could two animals of different species even fall in love?

You can read the transcript for the first ten minutes of the documentary here.

Reading test: Good friends are hard to find and even harder to keep

This week's reading test is based on The Guardian article Good friends are hard to find and even harder to keep, written by Tim Lott in mid-August.

Read the article and choose the option a, b or c that best completes each sentence. 0 is an example.

A survey by Relate rather shockingly suggests that as many as 10% of people in the UK don’t have a single friend to turn to. That translates into nearly 5 million adults who are, in effect, friendless.
Even factoring in that many of these unfortunates may be elderly people whose friends have died, or inadequates who lack functional social skills, that is still a significant number of ordinary people who just don’t know how to maintain good friendships.
I am fortunate to be able to claim at least four friends, of both genders, who stretch back nearly 40 years, and a number of other more recent ones that are close and durable. But I have also lost enough to understand that friendships are difficult, and the closer they are the more difficult they become. This is also true of family relationships, but it’s very hard to escape your family. With friends, if you annoy them too much, they can just drop you. Within this simple fact lies one of the first principles of friendship – tread carefully. Friends are precious, even irreplaceable, but they are also fragile.
Treading carefully is easier said than done. Part of a good friendship is honesty, and sooner or later one is forced to choose between being amenable and giving a friend the honesty you think the relationship merits. But honesty is always a risky strategy, whether it’s asking “Do you like my new dress/suit?” or “Do you like my new girlfriend/boyfriend?” Sometimes you are forced to find out what your friendship rests on, and sometimes the foundations prove insubstantial.
Friendships can be rooted in a number of different impulses. Unhealthy elements like need, the desire for borrowed status, and the wish for flattery are as common as the more healthy ones like mutual interests, sense of humour and natural compatibility. The healthy and unhealthy are often mixed together, the latter concealed under the myth of “friendship”, which suggests, more than marriage, a certain (unrealistic) perfection of sensibility.
The thing with friends is that because they tend to be bit-players in one’s life – “let’s meet for drinks/a meal/a game/a movie” – it’s easy to build up a false idea about someone with whom you share a friendly relationship.
Generalisations along gender lines are always tricky, but – and this is a purely personal observation – I think women sometimes struggle with friendship in the long run as they seem to have an unspoken pact that a friend should always be supportive. They just invest so much in each other. Men often accept a little grit in the ointment – one can tell a male friend to fuck off without losing his friendship. Female friendships can struggle when the faults in either party begin to surface. Friends, like marriage partners, love each other, but they must also be allowed to hate each other sometimes.
I do not know what I am doing right to have kept such good friends for so long, but it is certainly worth pointing out that none of them have got to the present point without negotiating moments of crisis. In each of my closest friends there have been moments when the friendship has nearly foundered – but we somehow came through them to a relationship that was stronger than it was before the crisis.
The nature of friendship changes, and you have to change with it. Once, hopefully, I fascinated my friends and charmed them. After 40 years, I am sure I often bore them – and that is inevitable. A good friendship, like a good marriage, ceases after a while to be a mutual entertainment society and becomes instead a sorority or fraternity of battle-scarred veterans. We are still here, we still enjoy being around each other, and we treasure our shared histories. This is something precious, even if it isn’t always a laugh riot.
Is there a secret to long friendships? Simply this – an absence of pride. Too many falter on stubbornness or the determination to hold on to offence. Successful ones rely on humility and the recognition of human fallibility. These are not merely useful attributes. They are the heart and soul of friendship

0 Example
A survey reveals  
a) the shocking percentage of people who lack functional social skills.
b) that a lot of elderly people don’t have friends.
c) that a lot of people are friendless.

1 The author
a) has concluded that having a close friend is the previous step to losing them.
b) has concluded that you can’t take your friends for granted. 
c) has had the same friends for forty years.

2 The author thinks that
a) a good friendship is based on making the right choice.
b) if you’re really honest with your friends, the friendship will not last.
c) some friendships lack solid foundations.

3 In the author’s opinion, friendships are likely to fail if
a) the person just seeks social acceptance.
b) the two friends are very much alike.
c) your friends often compliment you.

4 Most friends
a) have a false idea of one another.
b) just meet to go out.
c) spend little time together.

5 Women
a) are less willing than men to accept their friends’ defects.
b) fight to keep a friendship less than men.
c) invest more time than men in their friends.

6 The author
a) doesn’t enjoy his friends’ company so much now.
b) found out who his closest friends were in moments of crisis.
c) has had his ups and downs with his friends.

7 The secret of a long friendship lies in our
a) understanding that it cannot be perfect.
b) willingness to keep it.
c) willingness to forget offences.

Photo: Mani Babbar Photography, under Creative Commons

Key:
1b 2c 3a 4c 5a 6c 7a

Talking point: My favourite person

In our weekly 'Talking point' section we continue focusing on the anecdote feature of Macmillan's Inside Out.

Today's topic is talking about your favourite person. You are going to tell the members of your conversation group about a member of your family or a person you know well. Before getting together with your friends, go over the questions below, so that you ideas flow more easily when you meet up with the members of your conversation group and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

• How long have you known this person?
• What is their relationship to you?
• How often do you see each other or talk?
• Have they got any annoying or endearing habits?
• Is there anything they used to do in the past but don't do anymore?
• What attracts you to this person?
• Have you had / do you have any disagreements?
• What is their conversational style like?
• How do they approach life?
• Do you have anything in common?
• In what aspects are you different?

To illustrate the point listen to Rebecca and Gareth talking about their best friend in two audio clips from ELLLO.

Mommeetmom

MomMeetMom is a new matchmaking website which helps moms share tips and arrange play dates.

Self-study activity:
Watch this short ABC's news video clip and say whether the statements below are true or false.

The activity is suitable for intermediate students.



1 A lot of mums feel isolated.
2 A lot of mums on MomMeetMom don't work.
3 Allison and Ellie were born in Massachusetts.
4 Meg Gerritson has two children.
5 MomMeetMom gives information based on location, number of kids, interests and priorities.

A new match-making site that we are talking about now. This one is a twist. Mommeetsmom helps new moms connect with each other and share tips on anything, from finding colour to finding playmates. ABC’s Claire Shipman has the story.
For moms with young children, life can be stressful to say the least.
The kids. Kindergarten bake sale. Christmas lights. Birthday party.
I don't know how you do it.
It can also be lonely, isolating.  It's not easy to find other moms you connect with.
And to find people that I felt like I could relate with on a friend basis but also on parenting style, it's very difficult to do.  When you're not working, I mean, where do you go? You just meet someone at the grocery store? I mean, awkward.
Enter online match-making for moms. Allison Peterson and Ellie Dahl say Mommeetmom.com was a lifeline.
When you have a website that works and asks the right questions, the questions people want to know the answers to, then you find the people you want to meet.
Both were transplants to Hall Massachusetts. Ellie from Florida, and Alison from Missouri. They say they were feeling stir crazy and lonely at home with their young kids. Meg Gerritson, also a mother of two, founded the site with two mom friends to combat the stress of old-fashioned mom dating, awkward approaches at playgrounds or gymboree classes.
That's what Mommeetmom does. It gives us the information we otherwise wouldn't have.
The site creates computer profiles based on location, number of kids, interests and priorities and then ideally finds great matches, relationships based on mothers who click, not just kids eager for playmates, a formula that Meg hopes can create lasting tribes and happy moms.

Key:
1T 2T 3F 4T 5T

Talking point: The end of a frienship

This week's talking point is once again taken from The New York Times Learning Network blog and deals with the topic of friends, or rather with the end of a friendship.

Sometimes good friends simply distance themselves from one another because interests change, social circles shift, a family moves away –these are just a few reasons a friendship might fall apart. Can you think of any other?

Who are your closest friends?
When and where did you meet them?
What makes a friend?
What do you expect from them?
Tell the people in the conversation group about one or more friends you once had but who you are no longer in touch with.
Why did the friendship(s) end?
What's the best way to "dump" a friend?
What is the best way to handle a friendship’s end?
What have you learned from your experiences or from witnessing other friends grow apart?

In preparation for your talking session you can read Alex Williams article in The New York Times It’s Not Me, It’s You, where he explores the topic of friendships coming to an end in the adult world.

Hadley Hooper

Speakout Intermediate: Good neighbours (communities)

How well do you know your neighbours?
What makes a good neighbour?
What about a bad neighbour?
Tell me about the best or worst neighbour you’ve ever had.

These are the questions the people interviewed on the street by the Speakout team answered. Watch the video and note down the answers the different speakers give.



Now it's over to you. Get together with an English-speaking friend or relative with the same level as you and answer the questions above about yourself. Try and use some of the expressions you heard the native speakers use.

You can read the transcript here.

Friends moments: Ross and Chandler dating problems

Watch this three-minute clip from the TV series Friends.

Self-study activity:
Say whether this statements are true or false:

1. Chandler is dating a new girl.
2. The girl lives across the street.
3. Ross and Chandler are dating the same girl. 
4. Ross and Joey finally decide to go out together with the girl.

Who said what throughout the scene, Ross, Chandler, or Joey?

a) “Really?! Joe? What would you do if you were in Ross’s situation?”
b) “Laugh all you want but uh, she actually left me a message saying she’d like to go out again.”
c) “So this is nice! I wish I didn’t have to go, believe me! But unfortunately I have to. Oh uh, by the way, what’s the name the girl you’re dating?

d) “All right, well I guess I’ll just have to do what I do on dates.” 

You can read the transcript here.

Key:
Statements 1-3 are true; statement 4 is false.
a) Chandler b) Ross c) Chandler d) Joey

Anecdote: A friend

This is another MacMillan video to illustrate the use of anecdotes in the English class.

Today's anecdote is about a friend who is very different from you.

First of all, listen to Laila talking about her friend. Answer the questions below to check your comprehension.

1 What’s Laila’s friend’s name?
2 When and where did they meet?
3 What was Michelle’s opinion of Laila?
4 What was Laila’s opinion of Michelle?
5 In what ways is Michelle different from Laila?
6 In what ways are they similar?
7 How often do they see each other now?
8 What does Michelle do?
9 When did they last see each other?
10 What did they do on that day?

Now it's over to you. If possible, get together witn an English-speaking friend or relative and talk about a friend who is very different from you. Use these questions as a framework to tell your anecdote.

What's your friend's name?
Where and when did you meet?
Why did you become friends?
What opinion do you have of each other?
In what ways are you similar and different?
How often do you see each other now? And in the past?
What do you usually do together?

Key:
1 Michelle 2 Five years ago at Cardiff University 3 She was funny 4 She was quirky 5 Michelle is very athletic, she swam for her county, she loves red wine, she’s flaky (=a bit irresponsible) so she may not turn up if you have decided to meet 6 They are outgoing, sociable, they like a good party, they speak their mind (=they are frank) so they have their ups and downs although they never fall out (=argue) 7 Once every six months 8 She’s a high-powered solicitor in another city 9 On Laila’s birthday 10 They wanted to go to a Banksy exhibition, but they changed their mind because it was all sold out and went to a mug painting place, where they both made a mug

Talking point: Do boys have less intense friendships than girls?

How important are your friendships?
How do you think boys’ friendships differ, in general, from girls’?
Do boys' friendships often “fade” in intensity in adolescence and after?
If so, why do you think that is?
Do you think everyone needs intimate friendships to be healthy and happy?
Why or why not?
Do you find that girls are encouraged to cultivate more intense friendships than boys?
Do stereotypes ever get in the way of having the relationships you want to have with a friend or friends? Have you ever suffered the loss of a close friendship?

Before you get together with your conversation group to discuss the topic of differences between boys and girls in the concept of friendship you may wish to read this The New York Times article by Jan Hoffman “Allowing Teenage Boys to Love Their Friends”.

During your discussion, you may need to interrupt your partners on occasion. Do it politely using some of these expressions:

Can I interrupt just for a moment?
Excuse me for interrupting, but …
I’d like to comment on that.
Sorry to interrupt, but …

Similarly, after being interrupted you will be willing to return to what you were saying. Use some of these expressions to do so:

As I was saying …
To get back to what I was saying, …
I’d like to get back to …
Anyway, …

Speakout elementary: Where do you live?

Where do you live? is another video from the Speakout Longman series. Watch the video and note down the answers the people interviewed give to the questions below.

Then answer the questions for yourself, if possible with an English-speaking friend or relative. You may wish to try and read the transcript here beforehand and choose some of the expressions the native speakers used in their answers.

Where do you live?
Do you live on your own, or with friends or family?
How often do you see your friends and family?
What do you like doing with friends or family?

What is your online life like?

Do you use social media?
What do you use social media for?
Do you have many 'social media friends'?
How did you meet them?
How well do you know them?
Have you ever thought how odd your online life is?
Have you ever thought what could go wrong with it?

Two Boys is the latest Nico Muhly's opera and this is the YouTube trailer they have used to advertise it. The opera tries to warns us about the dangers of living our life online.

Speakout Pre-intermediate: Friends (life)

How many close friends do you have?
What does a friend mean to you?
How do you keep in touch with your friends?
What do you look for in a friend?

Watch this video clip from Speakout Pre-intermediate and note down the answers the interviewees give to the questions above.



You can read the transcript here.

The importance of friendliness

Self-study activity:
How important is being friendly in life?

We are going to watch a short presentation about the importance of friendliness at work.

Before that, go over the list of topics below and discuss with an English-speaking friend or relative the statements below. Do you agree with them? To what extent can you apply them to your everyday life or work situation?

A friendly staff attract loyal customers
An angry boss transfers his/her mood to the others
Bosses set the tone for the rest of the people in the company
There are several degrees of friendliness in your place of work
Friendliness is a top quality
Friendliness should be a contagious disease
The atmosphere at work must be fun

Now watch the video and number the topics in the order in which they are mentioned.



You can read the transcript here.

Key:
1 Friendliness, a top quality; 2 Degrees of friendliness in your place of work; 3 A friendly staff attract loyal customers; 4 Bosses set the tone for the rest of the people in the company; 5 Friendliness should be a contagious disease; 6 An angry boss transfers his/her mood to the others; 7 The atmosphere at work must be fun

Rent-a-friend

Self-study activity:
Discuss these questions with an English-speaking friend or relative.
Have you ever needed to attend a social occasion and found you had nobody to go with?
Have you ever felt uncomfortable because you have been eating out or shopping on your own?
Have you ever had to do some menial jobs you really didn't feel like doing?
Have you ever thought about the possibility of 'renting' a person to stand by you in the above-mentioned situations?
Would you be willing to resort to that type of service?
How much would you be ready to pay a person to keep your company?
Would you be keen on working for a 'rent-a-friend' company?
What prospective problems can this type of worker face?
How much money could you make?

Now watch this Fox video clip and find out how popular this type of business is in the US. You can read a transcript here.

The animal odd couple

Self-study activity:
Watch the news item and answer the questions that follow.



1. All the animals in the sanctuary have a ...
2. How many stray dogs are there in the sanctuary?
3. How big is the sanctuary?
4. How often did Bella visit Tara during Tara's recovery?

You can self-correct the activity by reading the transcript for the news here.

Self-study activity:
Do you know any other stories of loyalty between friends?
And stories of disloyalty?
Discuss with an English-speaking friend.