Tell the story
The present seems most natural
The
video in this lesson is from a Thai television commercial for a famous
brand of instant shrimp tomyam noodles. When watching and talking about
it with someone else who hasn't seen it, it seems natural to use the
present. Why? Because the situation seems so fresh as we watch it.
Also,
since a commerical like this one is probably repeated often on
television it is very much in our
minds.Let's try telling the story. First watch the commercial several times to see exactly what happens. Then, if your English is good enough, try to tell the story in your own words using the present. You might want to make use of the present progressive in one or two places as well.
Here are some words and expressions you might want to use:
The ad opens in the room of a house with...
a young woman
another young woman, a friend (sister) of hers
ask for a taste – to ask for a small amount of food so you can taste what it is like
spoon
throat – the front part of your neck; the area at the back of your mouth and inside your neck
eyes become glazed – eyes look like they aren't seeing anything
allergic reaction to shrimp – an unpleasant or dangerous reaction to something you body cannot cope with, in this case, shrimp, making you sick or causing your skin to become covered with read marks
play a trick on – to fool someone; to do something that you think is funny to someone
pillow
bounce off
If you need a little more help, here is the same activity, using a fill-in-the blank exercise.
If that is still too difficult for you, here is how I told the story.