– C1 (advanced) –

Practice Your Listening Comprehension

Practice Your Reading Comprehension

“Stretchy Pants” by country music star Carrie Underwood is a comical Christmas carol that speaks on a common reality of the holiday season in Canada and the United States: when people get together they feast, and that feast is a special one, made from dishes and desserts uniquely eaten at Christmastime, so sometimes excitement for the food supersedes logic; there is just so much delicious food and so little space in our stomachs! And yet, so many people across both countries culturally eat more than they should at this time. Hence the need for pants that stretch.

WHAT TO LEARN

While listening to this silly tune, English learners can practice and improve a variety of language elements:

• informal American English

• a Southern American accent

• American humour

• idioms

• contractions

• the present simple

• the present perfect

• phrasal verbs

• three uses of the verb, “to get,” in context

• one use of “ain’t” in context

• g-dropping

• vocabulary

  • hunger

  • eating

  • food

  • clothing

  • Christmas

• and more!

Do people in your country often eat more than they should on a particular holiday? What holiday is that? What kinds of food do they traditionally eat? Practice your English by letting me know in the comments below.

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ATTRIBUTION

• “My Gift” album cover thumbnail photo courtesy of Apple Music, Fair use, Wikipedia