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Homemade Gifts
Homemade Gifts

Learn English with this homemade gifts English lesson

Date: Oct 10 2018

Themes: Alternative, Friend

Grammar: Gerunds vs. Infinitives

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Have you ever seen something at a store and thought, “I can make that myself”? For people who are on a budget or feeling broke, making DIY gifts for friends and family is a cheap and fun solution. Even if you’re not the most crafty person in the world, there’s something out there that you can create by hand.

Fruit preserves and baked goods are always popular if you’re good at cooking and baking. If you’re more of a crafty type, you can knit a hat or a sweater. Another option is looking for something unique at a thrift store that you can repaint or decorate for a particular person. What matters most is that whoever gets your present knows that you made it especially for him or her.

Find out how Mason helps Lily in this English lesson about a birthday emergency.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Lily

Lily

Mason

Mason

Lily:  I am so broke. I have five birthdays coming up and I’ve got to come up with all of these gifts. I don’t know what to do!

Mason:  Why don’t you just DIY something? You could make them something yourself.

Lily:  I’ve never really been very good at do-it-yourself kind of things. I tried to learn how to knit and that didn’t go very well. I ended up entangling myself in an entire ball of yarn. It was bad!

Mason:  Maybe knitting stuff isn’t the kind of crafty that you are, but you can find lots of creative ways to make stuff on a budget. I like to buy stuff at thrift stores, then spruce it up a little bit. You buy a lamp and then take an old map and then you make the map into the lampshade. It looks super cool!

Lily:  That’s a good idea.

Mason:  Or you slap a new coat of paint on something. That’s not super hard and it looks pretty good all of a sudden.

Lily:  I’m a handy baker. I could do baked goods, or I could make some preserves. Everybody always says how much they like my pies, so maybe I can do something like that. I don’t know, though. Is that alright? To give somebody a pie as a birthday gift?

Mason:  Well, I’m already signing up. You owe me a pie for my birthday. I’m excited.

Lily:  I guess that’s an IOU.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Lily’s having a birthday emergency. She knows five people whose birthdays are coming up, but she doesn’t have any money to buy presents for them. Mason thinks that Lily should just make something herself. His do-it-yourself presents usually come from a thrift store. He finds something cool, then paints it or decorates it to make it unique before giving it away as a gift.

Lily likes his idea, but then she remembers that everyone enjoys her cooking. She’s especially good at baking. Lily wonders if it’s OK to give a pie as a birthday present, but Mason assures her that it is. In fact, he wants one for himself.

What’s the best DIY gift you’ve ever received or made? What would you rather buy handmade than from a store?

 

Comments

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Staisy

Staisy

Russian Federation

It is nice for me to get original homemade gifts, but in my turn I prefer looking for presents for friends and relatives at shops and stores rather than making them by myself, as I am not a creative person.

02:06 PM Oct 25 2013 |

1 person likes this

princessanika

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Homemade Gifts! sometimes we do it! sometimes just sometimes when we want go to our relative’s house,my mother make sth means make a food such a pie or cake,chocolate or like these. we bring that for our relatives. I think it’s good and very healthy.

07:19 PM Oct 13 2013 |

1 person likes this

Juneshang

Juneshang

China

The TV play”Desperate Housewives” has a housewife named Bree. She is very good at cooking. Everyone who received her dessert feels very happy.


So if one want to do some home-made gift for the other people,It depands on two point:  one is the skill to do the hand-made,Second depands on the people,some people don’t like hand-made gift. Just like Bree,if she received some other’ dessert,she will feel bad.

07:59 AM Oct 03 2013 |

1 person likes this

taauiza

taauiza

Jordan

hello


I have never made DIY  but when i studied this lesson i opened youtube to see handicrafts


I think handicrafts need talents and not every one has talent and it needs time and not every one has a free time to do that 



I prefer  buying  ready crafts in  a cheap prices 



yara >>>

09:50 PM Sep 30 2013 |

2 people like this

 julito

julito

Argentina

I can understand Lily`s predicament  ,I hope that she  might be able  to come up with an idea  to solve her problem without having  to bankrupt  her  saving account . I usually  prefer, if the people are adults , to present them with a bottle of wine or in the case they are children to give some money to  the mom to buy them a  gift in my name  .  I must be sincere, when one birthday party comes after another , thinking  on all the expenses I would have thenceforth , I am not happy at all..lol…... The best DIY  that I have received ?, well , that is the one that I know comes from the heart. I have a friend, she is a gifted painter , I have received from her one of her  paintings. A blue ocean ,palm trees , sandy beaches. Looking at it, I can dream that I am  in a  south pacific island without leaving my home. jejejejej!!!!

09:28 PM Sep 30 2013 |

mitya09

Russian Federation

It’s so interesting to get things, which can fulfill their potential. Without any additional options. I try to give DIY to someone.

04:06 PM Sep 30 2013 |

mnioua

mnioua

Morocco

For me the Diy gifts is more important than gift expensive, because the first your friend or the person that give you a DIY gifts try to make you happy without money , and the money can’t buy happines 

12:12 PM Sep 30 2013 |

Seiyf_khawas

Turkey

ı would prefer always DIY gifts,coz they are healtier ,more natural and fresh ..

09:42 AM Sep 30 2013 |

I M P E R I V M

United States

I love it when women show their love by giving knitted sweaters! it is so cute and warm. too bad most women dont knit anymore…

05:19 AM Sep 30 2013 |

shumailakamran

Pakistan

Let me think.Thats really an interesting queston.The best DIY gift i made was diaper cake for my friend son’s, on his first birthday party.


Although i am not so crafty, but i prefer making  handmade jewellery. I enjoyed making it for my friends as it is unique in it sense and also precious for me. As far as i am concerned i always prefer to gift DIY gifts.

03:32 AM Sep 30 2013 |

DanielBorges

Portugal

As a gift, i have received a craft magazine with personal photos from one interrail experience that i took. I loved!
Regarding craft products, i confess that i don’t buy handmade such much as i should. Because craft is an art that should be preserved due to is cultural importance. Even so, i remember that my classic guitar is handmade. I preferred that due to the quality of the wooden and because of the acoustics. I also buy some african crafts. For example, i have an african wooden hippo!
I remeber also of doing my self a nativity scene for christmas! I confess that it really didn’t looks like a barn at the end but, it has 100% handmade warranty! :)

10:40 PM Sep 27 2013 |

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