Trials and Errors
with its accompanying CD's follows the story of Ann Brown and her new husband JD. They met, fell in love, and married in JD's country and now have come to the US to begin a new life together. It's a drama, with ups and downs, trials and errors. The story begins as they arrive at Ann's parents' house in Springfield - a typical small town in the United States. For the time being they plan to live with Ann's parents.
Ann takes job at the hospital as a nurse's aide, and JD begins his adjustment to a new culture. At home he was a journalist, a person skilled in his own language. Now in the US he is forced to find work as a blue collar construction worker, complete with a hardhat, and he experiences the trials of being a "foreigner" trying to understand new ways of doing things in English, his second, not yet error-free language.
The story is presented on two CDs as 14 "acts." Each act includes three scenes (dialogues), for a total of 42 conversations. Although Ann and JD are the principal "actors," there are several other people involved in their story. Each act concludes with discussions and improvisations in which the learners attempt to apply the drama to their own experiences.
Error correction practice. In addition to portraying the trials of adjusting to a new culture, JD's English is not error-free on the CDs. The listeners are challenged to identify and correct his errors. A partial script with JD's errors highlighted is available in the photocopyable supplement Vocabulary Game Cards and Error Correction Scripts.
Cultural and Language issues explored. Invite your students to follow
Ann and JD from act to act as they deal with the very real trials of:
* Meeting the Parents
* Getting a Job
* Succeeding at Work
* Mistakes and Apologies
* Managing Money and Dreaming
* Finding Housing
* Using Banks and Budgets
* Losing a Wallet
* Buying a Vehicle
* Dealing with Break-downs and Repairs
* Considering Citizenship and Taking an ESL course
* Medical Emergencies
* Having a Baby
* Parenting
