Thats Embarrassing American English Teacher

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GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
THAT’S
EMBARRASSING!
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1 Warm up
Read the following situations and rate them from 1 (least embarrassing) to 10 (most embarrassing).
✷ You walk into a room with people you don’t know and realize that your shoelace is undone.
✷ You’re walking your dog and see someone you think is very attractive. Your dog goes to the
bathroom just as they get near to you.
✷ You accidentally call your female teacher ‘Mom’.

✷ You’re walking down a busy street and trip over your own feet.
✷ You lean in to give a relative a kiss and hit them with your head.
✷ You’re on a first date and you accidently burp loudly.
✷ You’re with your friends and you accidently burp loudly.
✷ You forget your father’s birthday.
✷ A stranger speaks to you in English and you don’t understand, even when they’ve repeated it
three times.
✷ You use a friend’s toilet without realizing that it is broken and won’t flush.
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UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
THAT’S EMBARRASSING!
2 Focus on vocabulary
Part A: Match the vocabulary items to their correct definitions.
a) exacerbate (v) b) incongruous (adj.) c) resentful (adj.) d) foolish (adj.)

f) humiliation (n) g) dignity (n) h) self-importance (n)
1. a feeling of being ashamed because you look stupid in front of other people
and have lost respect
2. not being suitable in a particular situation
3. feeling angry about a situation that you think was unfair
4. make a situation worse
5. not making sensible decisions or showing proper judgement
6. a belief that you are superior to other people
7. respect and honor given to someone by other people
Part B: Complete the following sentences with the vocabulary from Part A. You may need to change
the form of the word.
1. In retrospect, the decision to run naked into the police station was a pretty one.
2. Any sense of I had was lost when I angrily walked out and hit myself in the face
with the door.
3. When he emerged from the toilet to realize he was still on the video call, his was
complete.
4. After all these years, my brother is still of the time I pulled his swimming trunks
down in front of a group of girls he liked.
5. Not realizing he’d ripped the back of his pants was made all the funnier by his .
6. The kids’ laughter over the chair collapsing only served to the teacher’s anger.
7. With him being well over six foot and her being just over four feet tall, they made for a rather
couple.
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3 Focus on idioms
For each of the following sentences, write the meaning of the words in bold.
1. He was so full of self-importance that people couldn’t resist taking him down a peg or two.
2. I ended up with an egg on my face when it turned out that she’d been right all along.
3. I was sitting there minding my own business when a cow came over to me and started eating my
lunch.
4. When he walked into the room with toilet paper stuck to his shoe, everyone cracked up.
5. When everyone turned around to look at me, I wanted to curl up and die.
6. I was trying to enjoy being with my friends, but the situation at work was preying on my mind.
7. I fell over in the middle of the dance floor which everyone saw. I wished the ground would open
up and swallow me.
8. He tried to regain some dignity after he’d squirted ketchup in his face, but there was no coming
back from that one.

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4 Listening for details
Listen to the podcast about an embarrassing situation and possible reasons for its humor. Which of
the following idioms were not mentioned by the speakers?
1. minding your own business
2. curl up and die
3. egg on your face
4. fall about laughing
5. take someone down a peg or two
6. no coming back from that one
7. prey on someone’s mind
8. wish the ground would open up and swallow me
5 Listening comprehension
Listen to the podcast again and choose the best answer a - c for each of the questions 1 - 7.
1. In the anecdote, the train was
a. crowded.
b. virtually empty.
c. about half-full.
2. The first man to use the bathroom was ... the second man.
a. unable to get out for
b. shouted at by
c. disturbed by
3. Why does the male host describe the situation as "beautiful"?
a. Strangers worked together to solve a problem.
b. It brought together a group of strangers in laughter.
c. There was respect for the first man’s dignity.

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4. What does the female host think causes the laughter in that situation?
a. The enjoyment derived from seeing a figure of authority looking foolish in front of other
people.
b. The physical comedy involved in a very public situation that was a complete surprise for
everyone.
c. Its unexpected nature and observers who felt relieved that it was someone else who was
embarrassed.
5. The first man reacted to the situation with
a. shock.
b. irritation.
c. amusement.
6. How does the female host think that culture plays a part in the episode?
a. There’s a lot of jokes based around going to the toilet which is inherently funny to a lot of
people.
b. There’s a particular love of people being humiliated, no matter who they are.
c. People get a lot of enjoyment from watching people who think they are better than others
look silly.
7. What does the male host think everyone was laughing about?
a. The general circumstances.

b. The first man’s reaction.
c. The first man’s embarrassment.
6 Reading for accuracy

Choose the best word A - C to complete the gaps 1 - 10 in the article on page six.
1. A. convenient B. convenience C. inconvenience
2. A. Unbelievable B. Unbeknown C. Unbecoming
3. A. left B. right C. straight
4. A. wide B. deep C. long
5. A. make-up B. glasses C. coat
6. A. really B. extremely C. very
7. A. off B. out C. away
8. A. blamed B. shamed C. named
9. A. disappear B. appear C. reappear
10. alarm B. alert C. emergency

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Everyone Knows!
Viral embarrassing situations
1
a. One morning, Anne Hughes was waiting to start work at a store in her hometown in Wales
when a life-changing accident happened. When her boss opened up the store to begin the day, she was leaning
2
against the shutter with her shopping cart. to her, her coat had got caught on the metal screen
and, as it went up, she was hoisted into the air with it. In a panic, she grabbed her shopping cart, but to no avail.
The cart went with her. She shouted to her boss to close the shutter, but she was drowned out by the noise and
3
was hanging several feet above the ground.
b. The entire incident was caught on security CCTV and, as is the way in these modern times, it wasn’t
4
before it found its way onto TikTok bringing Mrs. Hughes’ awkward encounter to the attention of
an international audience. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt, just shaken. Her boss quickly realized what was happening
and came out to save her from the ordeal. Anne was able to see the funny side of the situation. She joked that
5
she would now have to always have her on, thanks to her newfound fame. ‘I’ll never hear the
end of it,’ she said. ‘My boss has said he’s never liked his staff hanging around.’ Shortly afterwards, a local graffiti
6
artist was paid to depict ‘shop shutter gran’ in a mural at the place where it happened. Mrs.
Hughes says she’s very proud of it.
c. In terms of embarrassment, this situation undoubtedly pales in comparison to another viral episode in 2017. Liam
7
Smith went with a woman he’d met on Tinder for a second date, enjoying dinner along with
a few beers. They had a good evening and decided to return to his apartment to end the evening. After they got
8
in, the woman, who was not for reasons which will become clear, asked to use the bathroom.
What happened next is perhaps one of the worst possible scenarios on an early date.
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d. Having used the toilet, she tried to flush it, but the poop refused to . In a panic, she scooped
it out of the toilet in a plastic bag and attempted to throw it out of the window into the garden. Unfortunately,
it became wedged between two non-opening windows instead. In an attempt to save the rapidly deteriorating
situation, she climbed up and tried to retrieve the unpleasant package, but got stuck herself. She finally had to
10
Liam to the situation and, as he was unable to pull her out, he was forced to call the fire brigade.
They had to carefully break the window to get the hapless woman out, but only once they had finished giggling.
sources: bbc.com

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7 Reading comprehension
Part A: Decide if the following sentences are true (T), false (F) or not given (NG).
1. Anne Hughes worked as a sales assistant at the store.
2. Her boss immediately responded when she shouted for help.
3. There is film footage of what happened to Anne Hughes.
4. She received injuries during the incident.
5. Anne’s boss paid for the painting of her famous incident.
6. The viral incident was the first time Liam Smith had met the woman.
7. The fire fighters were amused by the situation when they arrived.
Part B: Answer the following questions in your own words.
1. What does to no avail mean in paragraph A?
2. What did Anne Hughes mean when she said I’ll never hear the end of it in paragraph B?
3. What does pales in comparison mean in paragraph C?
8 Talking point
In pairs, discuss the following questions.
1. What is the most embarrassing situation that you have ever been in?
2. What is the most embarrassing situation that you have seen someone else in?
3. What situations generally have the potential to embarrass you?
4. Is there anything you avoid doing because you’re worried about embarrassment?
5. What do you think is the best way to react to an embarrassing situation? Why?
6. What would you have done in any of the situations described in the reading article or the podcast?

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9 Optional extension / homework
Complete the crossword using vocabulary from the lesson.

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TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
Transcripts
4. Listening for details
Jamie: ... Talking of embarrassment, I’ve got a perfect example for you. So you know the fairly
modern trains in the UK where the bathroom is close to the door and it’s operated by
buttons? Inside there’s a button that opens and closes the door and another that locks it?
They’re quite large and wheelchair accessible?
Dakota: Oh yeah, with the thing above the sink that gives you water, and soap and dries your
hands?
Jamie: Yes. So I was on one of those recently and it was quite busy, so a lot of people were
standing up because they couldn’t get a seat. So this guy comes through and goes into
the bathroom. Everyone was just looking at their phones and minding their own business.
He disappears into the bathroom and the door shuts. So far, so good. No problem.
Dakota: Oh no. I’m feeling embarrassed already and I don’t know what happens.
Jamie: About a minute after he’d gone in, another guy comes around the corner and goes to use
the bathroom too. He pushes the button and it slowly opens to reveal the first guy, sitting
on the toilet, pants around his ankles. He’d forgotten to lock the door. He looks up to see
about fifteen strangers looking at him. He can’t do anything about it because he’s too far
away from the door. The second guy apologizes and hits the button again and the door -
very slowly - closes again.
Dakota: (laughs) Oh my word! I’d want to curl up and die! What happened?
Jamie: Fifteen strangers cracking up is what happened. It was kind of beautiful as everyone
bonded over this poor guy’s humiliation. Of course, he then had to come out of the
bathroom in front of everyone when he’d finished. When he came out, he said something
like ‘Ha ha, very funny,’ but very quickly got out of there, unsurprisingly.
Dakota: It’s interesting, isn’t it? Because I think anyone listening to that story would find it funny
and it’s because there’s a couple of things going on. Firstly, there’s the incongruous
element of seeing someone in such a personal situation in a public setting. Then there’s
the relief that you’re not the one that it’s happening to.
Jamie: That’s right. And later I wondered if he ever saw the funny side. He seemed quite resentful
when he came out, and you can understand why. No one wants to be laughed at by people,
but in a lot of ways he exacerbated the situation by being so serious about it. Some people
started laughing even more when he reacted against the situation which made him look
even more foolish.
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Dakota: Well, yes. There’s quite a tradition in our culture of laughing at self-importance too. We
love to take people down a peg or two. So by trying to regain some dignity, he made
everyone want to laugh at him more. Everyone’s just seen you on the toilet. I mean,
there’s just no coming back from that one, is there?
Jamie: Yes, and the thing is, people don’t remember details in situations like that. I’m sure it
preyed on his mind for days afterwards. But I’d be willing to bet that if the people there
saw him half an hour later, they wouldn’t have recognized him. The humor came from the
situation, there was nothing personal about it. You could have swapped him for absolutely
anyone else and it would still have been funny.
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Key
1. Warm up
5 mins.
This task is a light-hearted introduction to the subject of embarrassment. People are embarrassed by different
things, so it will be interesting to note how students react to the different situations. Note that there will be
the chance to discuss more personal examples of embarrassment at the end, so try to keep this focused on
hypothetical situations.
2. Focus on vocabulary
10 mins.
Part A
Students match the vocabulary items to their correct definitions.
1. f) humiliation (n) 2. b) incongruous (adj.)

3. c) resentful (adj.) 4. a) exacerbate (v)
5. d) foolish (adj.) 6. h) self-importance (n)
7. g) dignity (n)
Part B
Students complete sentences with the vocabulary from Part A. They may need to change the form of the word to
fit the sentence.
1. foolish 2. dignity
3. humiliation 4. resentful
5. self-importance 6. exacerbate
7. incongruous
3. Focus on idioms
5 mins.
Students write the meaning of the words in bold. Monitor the task.
Note that cracking up (laugh without being able to stop) is a phrasal verb.
1. make someone realize that they are not as important or as good as they believe themselves to be
2. made to look stupid
3. not being nosy or showing interest in anyone else’s affairs (note: not to be confused with ‘mind your own
business’ which is telling someone not to interfere or be nosy)
4. laughed a great deal
5. feel a great deal of embarrassment
6. constantly worry about something
7. want to find some relief from a very embarrassing situation
8. no ability to recover from a very embarrassing situation
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4. Listening for details
5 mins.
Students listen to the podcast and tick all the idioms not mentioned in the recording.
3. ✓ egg on your face 8. ✓ wish the ground would open up and swallow me
5. Listening comprehension
10 mins.
Students listen to the podcast again and choose the best answer a - c for each of the questions. Ask students to
answer the questions after the first listening, then listen again to check their answers.
1. a. 2. c. 3. b. 4. c. 5. b. 6. c. 7. a.
6. Reading for accuracy
10 mins.
Students read an article about viral embarrassing situations and choose the best word A - C to complete the gaps
1 - 10 in the text. You may want to set a strict time limit on this task to encourage students to skim the text.
1. convenience 2. Unbeknown
3. left 4. long
5. make-up 6. very
7. out 8. named
9. disappear 10. alert
Article sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-68480196
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-68582018
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-41167296
7. Reading comprehension
10 mins.
Part A
Students decide if the following sentences are true (T), false (F) or not given (NG). Ask them to underline where
they find the answer. If they are unable to do this, the answer is likely to be not given.
1. Not given. (She was actually a cleaner.)

2. False. "She shouted to her boss to close the shutter, but she was drowned out by the noise and was left dangling
several feet above the ground."
3. True. "The entire incident was caught on security CCTV..."
4. False. "Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt, just shaken."
5. Not given. It doesn’t say who paid for the mural.
6. False. "Liam Smith went out with a woman he’d met on Tinder for a second date..."
7. True. "They had to carefully break the window to get the hapless woman out, but only once they had finished
giggling."
Part B
Ask the students to answer the questions based on the context of the highlighted phrases.
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1. It didn’t make any difference / had no effect.

2. That people will never stop talking about it.
3. It means seems less serious / important than something else.
8. Talking point
10 mins.
Ask students to discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. Circulate and help as needed.
9. Optional extension / homework
10 mins.
Students complete the crossword using vocabulary from the lesson.
Answers:
Across: 4) shutter, 6) ordeal, 7) scoop
Down: 1) hapless, 2) deteriorate, 3) mural, 4) shaken, 5) hoist
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HEAAADERLOGORIGHT

GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

QrrkoD Scan to review worksheet

✷ You accidentally call your female teacher ‘Mom’.

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 1/8

Part A: Match the vocabulary items to their correct deﬁnitions.

a) exacerbate (v) b) incongruous (adj.) c) resentful (adj.) d) foolish (adj.)

3. feeling angry about a situation that you think was unfair

4. make a situation worse

5. not making sensible decisions or showing proper judgement

6. a belief that you are superior to other people

7. respect and honor given to someone by other people

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 2/8

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 3/8

4 Listening for details

1. minding your own business

2. curl up and die

3. egg on your face

4. fall about laughing

5. take someone down a peg or two

6. no coming back from that one

7. prey on someone’s mind

8. wish the ground would open up and swallow me

1. In the anecdote, the train was

a. unable to get out for

3. Why does the male host describe the situation as "beautiful"?

a. Strangers worked together to solve a problem.

b. It brought together a group of strangers in laughter.

c. There was respect for the ﬁrst man’s dignity.

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 4/8

5. The ﬁrst man reacted to the situation with

a. The general circumstances.

6 Reading for accuracy

1. A. convenient B. convenience C. inconvenience

2. A. Unbelievable B. Unbeknown C. Unbecoming

3. A. left B. right C. straight

4. A. wide B. deep C. long

5. A. make-up B. glasses C. coat

6. A. really B. extremely C. very

8. A. blamed B. shamed C. named

9. A. disappear B. appear C. reappear

10. alarm B. alert C. emergency

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 5/8

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 6/8

1. Anne Hughes worked as a sales assistant at the store.

2. Her boss immediately responded when she shouted for help.

3. There is ﬁlm footage of what happened to Anne Hughes.

4. She received injuries during the incident.

5. Anne’s boss paid for the painting of her famous incident.

Part B: Answer the following questions in your own words.

1. What does to no avail mean in paragraph A?

3. What does pales in comparison mean in paragraph C?

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 7/8

9 Optional extension / homework

Complete the crossword using vocabulary from the lesson.

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 8/8

4. Listening for details

1. f) humiliation (n) 2. b) incongruous (adj.)

4. Listening for details

6. Reading for accuracy

1. Not given. (She was actually a cleaner.)

1. It didn’t make any diﬀerence / had no eﬀect.