Students listen to a humorous, absurd conversation between friends trying (and failing) to coordinate a time to meet. Activities include vocabulary pre-teaching, comprehension questions, analysis of humor and irony, role-playing social planning conversations, and a creative writing task inventing ridiculous excuses. Students practice using informal conversational language, expressing availability and constraints, and understanding comedic exaggeration and irony.

When was the last time you tried to make plans with your friends? 		How did it go?

Why do you think it’s so hard for adults to make plans?

Do you think that people nowadays are much busier than they were 		  in the past? Why/Why not?

How important is it for you to meet your friends and family regularly?

Do you use any tools or apps to organize your schedule?

What is absurd or unrealistic about the conversation?

What do the excuses (e.g., "my arm fell off," "the feds are on my tail") tell us about the speakers?

How difficult is it to organize a time to meet with your friends? What problems usually come up? Have you ever had a conversation like this one?

A group of friends attempts to make plans to hang out. The first speaker admits they want to meet so they "don't feel like a friendless loser." The conversation quickly descends into absurdity as they try to coordinate availability: one friend is only free on even-numbered days, another only on dates with prime numbers. They then introduce increasingly ridiculous mathematical conditions about arrival times, involving squares, equations, and constraints like "the last to arrive shall be a woman" and "the first to arrive shall be a man." After much chaos, they finally agree on 5:27 p.m. on Thursday. Immediately, friends begin canceling with absurd excuses: "my sister's in town," "I'm a total flake so the feds are on my tail," and "my arm fell off." The final speaker reflects on friendship, saying "friends are always here for each other" before immediately canceling as well. The conversation ends with a nonsense word ("Shetty") and a trailing thought. The humor comes from the contrast between the sincere-sounding statements about friendship and the ridiculous excuses, as well as the overly complicated planning process.

Scheduling A Hangout With Friends Is Literally Impossible

scheduling-a-hangout-with-friends-is-literally-impossible

Let's do English ESL general vocabulary practice. Students listen to a humorous, absurd conversation between friends trying (and failing) to coordinate a time t…