A. Conversation Questions
👉 Do you have enough free time?
👉 What do you do in your free time?
👉 Do you have free time on Sundays? What do you do?
👉 Do you have much free time during the week (from Mon to Fr)? Why? Why not?
👉 Do you like to watch movies/series? (...like to play tennis, ...)
👉 What was the last movie you watched?
👉 When did you watch it?
👉 What was it about?
👉 Did you like it?
👉 Are you watching any series now?
👉 How long have you been watching it?
👉 Do you watch it every day?
👉 When do you usually watch it? During the week or at the weekend?
👉 What are you going to do next weekend?
👉 What did you do last summer vacation?
👉 How long did you stay there?
👉 Who did you go with?
👉 How did you get there?
👉 Where did you stay?
👉 What did you do last weekend?
👉 Do you have any hobbies? What is it?
👉 How do you like to spend your free time?
👉 Do you like to shop?
👉 Do you like to go to the cinema?
👉 Do you like to chat to people online?
👉 Do you like to play computer games?
👉 Do you go to discos?
👉 What´s your favorite type of store/shop? What´s its name?
👉 When you go shopping what do you usually buy? If you had more free time, what would you do with it?
👉 Tell me about some good places to hang out in ... (in your city).
👉 Why are they good?
👉 Where do young people in Brazil usually spend their free time?
👉 Would you like to have more free time?
👉 What would you like to give up so that you could have more free time?
👉 Do men and women spend their free time differently in Brazil? How?
👉 If it were suddenly announced that tomorrow was a national holiday, what would you do?
👉 What do you do in your free time?
👉 Do you have free time on Sundays? What do you do?
👉 Do you have much free time during the week (from Mon to Fr)? Why? Why not?
👉 Do you like to watch movies/series? (...like to play tennis, ...)
👉 What was the last movie you watched?
👉 When did you watch it?
👉 What was it about?
👉 Did you like it?
👉 Are you watching any series now?
👉 How long have you been watching it?
👉 Do you watch it every day?
👉 When do you usually watch it? During the week or at the weekend?
👉 What are you going to do next weekend?
👉 What did you do last summer vacation?
👉 How long did you stay there?
👉 Who did you go with?
👉 How did you get there?
👉 Where did you stay?
👉 What did you do last weekend?
👉 Do you have any hobbies? What is it?
👉 How do you like to spend your free time?
👉 Do you like to shop?
👉 Do you like to go to the cinema?
👉 Do you like to chat to people online?
👉 Do you like to play computer games?
👉 Do you go to discos?
👉 What´s your favorite type of store/shop? What´s its name?
👉 When you go shopping what do you usually buy? If you had more free time, what would you do with it?
👉 Tell me about some good places to hang out in ... (in your city).
👉 Why are they good?
👉 Where do young people in Brazil usually spend their free time?
👉 Would you like to have more free time?
👉 What would you like to give up so that you could have more free time?
👉 Do men and women spend their free time differently in Brazil? How?
👉 If it were suddenly announced that tomorrow was a national holiday, what would you do?
A love for Disney and sheltering in place, gave birth to a roller coaster in a California backyard
By Lauren M. Johnson and Jeffrey Kopp, CNN
👇Man Recreates Disneyland Ride In Back Garden👇
Many people have adopted new hobbies to help cope with spending more time at home during the pandemic, but few have taken it to the level of a California family, who built a 400-foot roller coaster in their parents' backyard.
Since their favorite theme park was closed due to Covid-19, Sean LaRochelle, a graduate student pursuing his master's in architecture at Clemson University, decided to bring a little bit of Disneyland right into their backyard.
LaRochelle, his wife and their three children were quarantining with his parents and his siblings (sisters and brothers) at their home in California's Napa Valley when he decided on a whim to try and build a coaster.
The track ended up being 400 feet long.
The coaster, inspired by the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland, took four months to build.
"I went up to my dad and I was like, I think we're going to build a roller coaster in the backyard. And he's like, "Oh yeah, that's fine. No worries." I don't think he realized how big it was going to be, but he was super supportive," LaRochelle told CNN.
30 friends helped bring the vision to life.
The coaster ended up being approximately 400 feet in length. Only one rider goes at a time, but it takes 50 seconds to ride from start to finish.
LaRochelle utilized the talents of 30 friends to not only create the roller coaster itself, but to bring it to life. It is based on the Matterhorn, a roller coaster at Disneyland in Anaheim.
The Matterhorn simulates an Alpine sled hurtling down a mountain while trying to avoid a yeti trying to capture the sled. The ride is named after the 14,692-foot peak in the Alps near the border of Italy and Switzerland.
"We've got, you know, rock formations and waterfalls and an animatronic yeti. And you do a couple of loops around the mountain and try to escape its clutches," he said.
LaRochelle has fond memories of the iconic ride and trips to the park with his family, so the attention to detail was key for him.
"I wanted to do it really well. I wanted to be incredibly detailed. I was like, imagine that I was an Imagineer and that I was trying to put the same care and quality into the product. And so for me, that was the most important thing," he said.
He started construction on it in March and finished in July. LaRochelle said it was basically a full-time job for he and his brother Michael on top of the full-time jobs they already had.
"Basically, it was after work every day, we'd work until it got dark. And then we'd wake up early in the morning, we'd work until we had to go to work. And then on the weekends, it was 24/7 pretty much," he said.
Only one person rides at a time and it takes 50 seconds start to finish.
"We're not, you know, mechanical engineers. We're not, you know, artisans, we're just people. And you know, I think it goes to show that anyone can do this stuff."
LaRochelle said he and his brother used a lot of resources they found on the internet in addition to including their friends and family. In the end, all of the work paid off.
He didn't have an estimate for how much it cost to build. "The joke was, it was the Trump stimulus check coaster. We ended up spending a little bit more than that," LaRochelle said.
30 friends helped bring the vision to life.
The coaster ended up being approximately 400 feet in length. Only one rider goes at a time, but it takes 50 seconds to ride from start to finish.
LaRochelle utilized the talents of 30 friends to not only create the roller coaster itself, but to bring it to life. It is based on the Matterhorn, a roller coaster at Disneyland in Anaheim.
The Matterhorn simulates an Alpine sled hurtling down a mountain while trying to avoid a yeti trying to capture the sled. The ride is named after the 14,692-foot peak in the Alps near the border of Italy and Switzerland.
"We've got, you know, rock formations and waterfalls and an animatronic yeti. And you do a couple of loops around the mountain and try to escape its clutches," he said.
LaRochelle has fond memories of the iconic ride and trips to the park with his family, so the attention to detail was key for him.
"I wanted to do it really well. I wanted to be incredibly detailed. I was like, imagine that I was an Imagineer and that I was trying to put the same care and quality into the product. And so for me, that was the most important thing," he said.
He started construction on it in March and finished in July. LaRochelle said it was basically a full-time job for he and his brother Michael on top of the full-time jobs they already had.
"Basically, it was after work every day, we'd work until it got dark. And then we'd wake up early in the morning, we'd work until we had to go to work. And then on the weekends, it was 24/7 pretty much," he said.
Only one person rides at a time and it takes 50 seconds start to finish.
"We're not, you know, mechanical engineers. We're not, you know, artisans, we're just people. And you know, I think it goes to show that anyone can do this stuff."
LaRochelle said he and his brother used a lot of resources they found on the internet in addition to including their friends and family. In the end, all of the work paid off.
He didn't have an estimate for how much it cost to build. "The joke was, it was the Trump stimulus check coaster. We ended up spending a little bit more than that," LaRochelle said.
A lot of hard work to spread a little bit of joy
"Really, it's only been positive feedback. And I think, you know, we live in such a tumultuous time right now and having somebody, or just even seeing a collaborative group of people putting together something that is creative, that's trying to bring some joy to people, I think that really only helps, especially because of everything that's going on," he said.
Though the ride will survive for a while longer, LaRochelle said it is only meant to be temporary and they will eventually knock it down, but for now, the intent is to continue to spread just a little bit of joy.
"I hope that the future of the ride is that people look at it as something that inspired other people, you know, and maybe we'll make another ride, who knows," he said.
"Really, it's only been positive feedback. And I think, you know, we live in such a tumultuous time right now and having somebody, or just even seeing a collaborative group of people putting together something that is creative, that's trying to bring some joy to people, I think that really only helps, especially because of everything that's going on," he said.
Though the ride will survive for a while longer, LaRochelle said it is only meant to be temporary and they will eventually knock it down, but for now, the intent is to continue to spread just a little bit of joy.
"I hope that the future of the ride is that people look at it as something that inspired other people, you know, and maybe we'll make another ride, who knows," he said.
B. Listen to this audio, fill in the gaps and answer the questions below:
👉 Interviewer: _____ _____ people who like roaller coasters. _____ _____ people who love roaller coasters. And then, _____ _____ people like Will Pemble. All I need is a bit of __________ to say ‘yes’ to a _____ _____ .
👉 Will: My name is Will Pemble and I built a roller Coaster in my ___________.
👉 Interviewer: Well, of course he did.
👉 Will: I _______ a roller coaster on my backyard because once upon a time, when my son was 10 years old, we came home from vacation and he asked me: _________ ___ be great if we had a roller coaster in the _______? It took me five seconds to know, for absolute certain, that it would be great.
The first time we wanted to build a roller coaster ______ _____ a whole lot of information about it. ______ _____ a couple of videos online that we could look. But these companies didn´t really like to share their secrets.
👉 How did he have to learn to build it?
👉 How many coaster has he built in his life?
👉 What was his first coaster made of?
👉 Where did he build the other four coasters?
👉 How much does it take from the bottom to the top of the hill?
👉 How fast can it run?
👉 How long does this ride take?
👉 Does it go upside down?
👉 What do Will Pemble and his coaster collaborator, John Elliot, are working on?
👉 What do they do before they built any coasters? Fill in the gaps below:
👉 Before we ____ this coaster or any of the other coasters, we started with a _________, and we did _____ by _____, ______ and ______, on how the ______would behave, how the _______would behave, what the ______ needed to be, what the _____ toll would need to be and all of the things we figured out before we ever started to build any of it. That is the only way you can have it turn out predictably.
👉 What advice does he give to anyone who wants to make a roller coaster in the yard?
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