A dog adoption story with two essential phrasal verbs

Hello everyone.

We’re celebrating the holidays this month, so in today’s lesson we’re going to have

a Christmas story.

We’ll look at a couple of phrasal verbs and some other vocabulary too.

Let me introduce you to my friend Geri.

At this time of year she sends us a Christmas card with a picture of her dogs.

Geri currently has seven dogs.

Seven!

But I’ll let her tell the story.

I started making Holiday Cards after I first adopted my dog from a shelter in 2008.

Every year, my Holiday Cards are getting bigger and bigger.

It started with Lou, who was so puppy-like, the shelter staff thought he was just two

years old.

He turned out to be a senior, a 10-year-old, but nevertheless he was the perfect dog.

My next dog was 15-year-old Bitty Bear, who had no idea he was old, had warts, no teeth

and several medical issues.

Then came Cisco who was saved from death row.

And so my holiday card had three old gentlemen with me.

And then there was Benji, who I saved after he was dumped in shelter with a broken leg.

And then came Selena who was stuck in a rescue for six months because she was plain-looking.

Even with Lou and Bitty Bear gone, my family continued to grow.

I adopted Dora, who was left in the yard without food for days at a time by her former

owners.

My next dog, Fluffy, loved to pose for pictures and videos and he figured in two of our two

holiday cards.

And then came Spencer.

Spencer, to this day, is very anxious dog, except with me.

Lastly, I adopted the duo of Dino and Tino.

I was only going to adopt Dino but Dino turned out to be blind and Tino was his seeing eye

dog!

My friends have been taking the photos I have been using for my holiday cards, year after

year.

And so for 2017, here is the holiday card we came up with.

I think we’re all going to have a very merry Christmas.

Did you understand everything?

Let’s look at some of the vocabulary Geri used.

Adopt – this means she took the dog into her family.

We can adopt dogs and we can adopt children.

What else can we adopt?

Tell us in the comments if you think of something.

And a shelter – that’s is a place where people put dogs that have no home.

It’s sometimes called a rescue too.

Let’s hear what Geri said about her first dog again.

It started with Lou who was so puppy-like, the shelter staff thought he was just two

years old.

He turned out to be a senior, a 10-year-old, but nevertheless he was the perfect dog.

Turn out – this is a phrasal verb and it means to happen in a particular way, and we

often use it when something happens that we don’t expect.

So Geri expected Lou to be 2 years old, but then she discovered he was ten.

He turned out to be ten.

That’s pretty old for a dog.

And her next dog was even older.

My next dog was fifteen-year-old Bitty Bear who had no idea he was old, had warts, no

teeth, and several medical issues.

What do you think warts are?

They’re small hard lumps on your skin, caused by a virus.

You don’t need to know this word.

It’s not a common word so forget it.

Make room in your head for more useful words.

Bitty Bear had medical issues - health problems.

We often use the verb 'have' with different health problems - so with pains, diseases

and illnesses.

We can have headaches, we can have the flu, we can have diabetes, and warts.

No, forget that word!

OK.

Bitty Bear was fifteen years old.

Could you say Bitty Bear had 15 years?

Is that correct?

No.

In some languages you can, but not in English.

We’d say he was fifteen years old or he was fifteen.

And we can’t say fifteen years.

It’s fifteen years old or fifteen.

I don’t know why.

It just is.

OK, the next dog.

Then came Cisco who was saved from death row and so my holiday card had three old gentlemen

with me.

A row is a line of something – a row of houses, a row of trees, a row of seats in

the theatre.

Can you think of more kinds of row.

And can you guess what death row is?

It’s a line of cells in a prison where they put people who are going to be killed.

So prisoners who have committed very serious crimes.

But here Geri’s talking about the dog shelter.

If nobody adopts the dogs, they’re often killed.

Luckily Geri saved Cisco when she adopted him.

OK, next one.

And then there was Benji, who I saved after he was dumped in shelter with a broken leg.

What’s the missing word?

It’s dumped.

To dump means to get rid of something that you don’t want any more.

Benji's owner didn’t want him so he dumped him in a shelter.

We also use this verb when we’re talking about dating.

If you don’t like your girlfriend or boyfriend, you can dump them.

Finish the relationship.

OK, next one?

And then came Selena who was stuck in a rescue for six months because she was plain-looking.

Plain or plain-looking means not pretty, so I’m surprised because I think Selena looks

quite pretty.

What do you think?

I expect you know the verb 'stuck'?.

If you’re stuck, you can’t move.

So it means Selena couldn’t leave the shelter or rescue.

The next dog we met was Dora, she was pretty too, and then after that we met Fluffy.

My next dog, Fluffy, loved to pose for pictures and videos and he figured in two of our two

holiday cards.

To pose - it means to stand in a particular position in order to be photographed.

And figured.

This is a verb here and it means to play an important part in something.

OK.

Another dog.

Do you remember this one?

His name is Spencer and he’s very… anxious.

Anxious means nervous.

He’s always worried about something.

And now the last two dogs.

Lastly I adopted the duo of Dino and Tino.

I was only going to adopt Dino, but Dino turned out to be blind and Tino was his seeing eye

dog.

Dino is blind so he can’t see, and a seeing eye dog is a guide dog that sees for him and

helps him.

Can you guess the missing words?

You heard them before.

It’s 'turned out' again – that phrasal verb.

She didn’t expect Dino to be blind, but it turned out he was.

Now there was another very useful phrasal verb she used.

Can you remember what it was?

It had three words.

And so for 2017, here is the holiday card we came up with.

I think we're all going to have a very merry Christmas.

If we come up with something we produce something.

Often it’s an idea, or answer to a problem.

So they came up with the idea for a nativity scene.

And that’s it.

Now you know the story of Geri’s dogs.

Which one did you think was the cutest?

And have you ever adopted a dog from a shelter?

Would you like to?

Write and tell us in the comments.

And have a very, very merry Christmas everyone.

Happy holidays!