M: Hello everyone! And welcome back to another lesson atEnglishPod! My name is Marco. 
C: And my name is Catherine and in the spirit of Halloween we have a Halloween lesson 
for you. 
M: Happy Halloween! It’s Halloween. 
C: It’s Halloween. And this is an elementary level lesson, so we’re talking about some 
basic, but important things today. 
M: Exactly, so, um, we’re not gonna preview anything, because the dialogue is pretty 
simple. So why don’t we listen to it for the first time and we’ll be right back? 
A: Trick - or -treat
B: Tom, aren’t you a littletoo old to be trick-or - treat-
ing?
A: What are you talking about? Where is your Hal-
loweenspirit? Didn’t you ever dress up in a cos-
tume and go around the neighborhood trick-or-
treatingwith your friends?
B: Of course I did, but when I was ten! Trick -or-
treatingis for kids, plus, I ’msure people will think
you’re a kidnapper or something, running around
with kids NCP at night.
A: Whatever, I’mgoing next doorI heard Mrs. Robin-
son is giving out big bags of M&Ms!
M: Alright, we’re back, so trick-or-treating. 
C: Ding-dong. 
M: Ding-dong, trick or treat. Alright, so, um, we’re gonna explain what, uh, trick-or-treating 
is, uh, just in a little bit. But before we get into it, why don’t we take a look at four 
important words in “language takeaway”? 
Voice: Language takeaway. 
C: Well, the first one, Marco, is very important, because it’s the name of the special holyday 
that isn’t celebrated everywhere, it’s only celebrated in some places. 
M: Uhu. 
C: And Americans, I think, love it above all else. 
M: Right, yeah, Halloween. Now, uh, this actually comes from All Hollows’ Eve, right? 
C: That’s right, so it’s the s… it’s the night of the spirits of the dead. 
M: Right, exactly, so the day of the dead. And, uh, as Catherine mentions, it’s celebrated in 
different ways in different countries, but I think, ah, probably the United States is one of the 
few that… where people dress up and go trick-or-treating in ??? 
C: That’s right. 
M: Alright. 
C: And Halloween is the last day of October, so October 31st. And it’s a really fun holiday 
where mostly children dress up in costumes and they ask for candy. 
M: Alright, so to dress up means to get in a costume. 
C: Right, well, you could say dress up to mean a couple of different things, but in this case 
you dress up in a costume, so that means you… you change your clothes so that you’re 
wearing a costume, which is maybe a witch’s costume or a vampire or something scary. 
M: So you would say, uh: he dressed up as a vampire. 
C: He dressed up as a vampire or, uh, they got dressed up for the… for the wedding. 
M: Okay, very good. So, dress up. And then we have the wordkidnapper. 
C: Mm. 
M: So… 
C: So the friend is afraid that… that his friend will look like a kidnapper… 
M: Right. 
C: If he goes out trick-or-treating with the kids. 
M: Right. 
C: And so, a kidnapper, it comes form the word “to take” or “to grab”. 
M: Uhu. 
C: So kidgrabber and that means that you’re going to take children from… from the street 
and steal them. 
M: Right, but, ah, you can kidnap an adult, so it’s not only for kids. 
C: That’s right, it’s for any kind of person who you take without them wanting you to, so 
against their will. 
M: Okay, kidnapper. And finally we have M&Ms. What are… what are M&Ms? 
C: M&Ms… 
M: Not the singer, right? 
C: No, Eminen is spelled differently, the singer. This is, uh, a delicious chocolate treat, it’s a 
candy. 
M: Uhu. 
C: And it comes in big brown bags. And if you want them with peanuts, they come in a 
yellow bag and it’s… 
M: You know your M&Ms. 
C: Oh, man, I could tell you all the colors. But, uh, M&Ms are really delicious, uh, and it’s 
a… actually a brand, M&Ms. 
M: It’s a brand. Right, so, many people probably know it, but, um, just in case they’re 
called M&Ms, very good candy. Alright, so, uh, these words were relatively easy and simple, 
so why don’t we listen to our dialogue again? Let’s slow it down just a little bit and we’ll be 
right back to take a look at “fluency builder”. 
A: Trick - or -treat
B: Tom, aren’t you a littletoo old to be trick-or - treat-
ing?
A: What are you talking about? Where is your Hal-
loweenspirit? Didn’t you ever dress up in a cos-
tume and go around the neighborhood trick-or-
treatingwith your friends?
B: Of course I did, but when I was ten! Trick -or-
treatingis for kids, plus, I ’msure people will think
you’re a kidnapper or something, running around
with kids NCP at night.
A: Whatever, I’mgoing next doorI heard Mrs. Robin-
son is giving out big bags of M&Ms!
Voice: Fluency builder. 
M: Alright, we’re back, so on fluency builder we promised that we were gonna look at this 
word trick-or-treating, so let’s look at it now.Trick-or-treat, it’s a verb, right? To trick-
or-treat. 
C: To tick-or-treat and it comes from the words that we say when we’re children to the 
person whose door we knock on. So, for example… 
M: Okay. 
C: I say… [knock-knock] 
M: And then I open the door. 
C: Uhu, I say: trick or treat! 
M: Hehe. Okay, so what are supposed to do in this… when somebodyasks trick-or-treat? 
C: Well, I’m hol… I’m a child, I’m holding my bag and you’re supposed to say “happy 
Halloween” and give me some candy. 
M: Okay. 
C: Alright, so trick-or-treat means you could either trick someone… 
M: Uhu. 
C: You can play a trick on them like, um, scare them or put some toilet paper on their 
house. Or you can give them a treat… 
M: Aha. 
C: Um, or accept a treat. So the idea is: if you don’t give me a treat, I will do something 
bad to you. 
M: Uh, I see, but this isn’t really happened, right? Like, uh, when kids go to people’s 
houses, they say “trick or treat” and then they get candy automatically. 
C: All… almost automatically, yeah. Sometimes people avoid the holiday and they… they 
close their doors and lock them and they don’t answer the door. 
M: Yeah. 
C: And that’s when someone maybe throws an egg at the house or does something ??? 
M: Or puts toilet paper on their trees. 
C: Yeah, yeah, so “trick or treat” is what we say… 
M: Uhu. 
C: But it’s also that we can do. So we can go trick-or-treating. 
M: Go trick-or-treating. 
C: Uhu. 
M: Right, okay, very good, trick or treat. And now we have another phrase here that’s a 
little bit complicated, but when the friend answered the door, he said: aren’t you a little 
too old to be trick-or-treating? 
C: Alright, I like this phrase, because it’s sarcastic. 
M: Hehe. 
C: The person is not asking a real question, he’s saying: listen, you ARE too old… 
M: Right. 
C: To be trick-or-treating. And so, in this case “are you mmm…” 
M: Uhu. 
C: Is a way to introduce something that we know is true, that we think is true. It’s… it’s 
kind of rude and sarcastic. 
M: So, if I say: aren’t you supposed to be at work? 
C: Uh! Ouh. 
M: Right? So… 
C: Should. 
M: Hehe. So it’s… it’s in… it’s in that form. You’re not really asking a question, you’re more 
demanding a… an explanation. 
C: Right, it’s a suggestion, it’s like you’re probably supposed to be at work right now. 
M: Right, right. 
C: So, Marco, aren’t you supposed to be at school right now? 
M: Hehe. So, do we always, uh… but we always use it in that sense, right? Aren’t you and 
then… 
C: Yeah, aren’t you mmm… Aren’t you a little old for that kind of, uh, an outfit? 
M: Alright, so aren’t you. Alright, very good, so those are the two phrases for fluency 
builder today. Let’s listen quickly to our dialogue one more time and we’ll be right back. 
A: Trick - or -treat
B: Tom, aren’t you a littletoo old to be trick-or - treat-
ing?
A: What are you talking about? Where is your Hal-
loweenspirit? Didn’t you ever dress up in a cos-
tume and go around the neighborhood trick-or-
treatingwith your friends?
B: Of course I did, but when I was ten! Trick -or-
treatingis for kids, plus, I ’msure people will think
you’re a kidnapper or something, running around
with kids NCP at night.
A: Whatever, I’mgoing next doorI heard Mrs. Robin-
son is giving out big bags of M&Ms!
C: Alright, so, Marco, have you ever trick-or-treated? 
M: I did… I did, I used to go trick-or-treating when I was, um, little and it was actually 
really fun. 
C: We use to have competitions about who had the most candy. 
M: I’ve heard about this. 
C: Right, cause you don’t necessarily bring a bag, you bring up pillow case. 
M: Right. 
C: And you fill your pillow case with candy. 
M: Now, the interesting thing is that, um, sometimes you wouldn’t necessarily only get 
candy from people. 
C: Right, sometimes you got weird things… 
M: Yeah. 
C: Like pennies. 
M: Yeah. 
C: Or toothbrushes. 
M: Yeah, yeah. 
C: Or apples. 
M: Yeah, so you would go to someone’s house and they would give you an apple and you 
would be like, okay. Hehe. 
C: But there’s always an old lady who lived near, um… well she lived in the neighborhood 
and every neighborhood had one, you know… 
M: Uhu. 
C: All my friends had a lady they would go to and she gave the fullsized candy bars. 
M: Wow. 
C: Right, because normally stores sell small candy bars for the Halloween holiday… 
M: Right. 
C: Because they’re smaller, they’re chipper. That’s easier to give them to many people. 
M: Uhu. 
C: But there’s always one person who has the big, fullsized candy bars and everyone goes 
to her. 
M: Right, exactly. And actually it’s amazing how, um, Halloween is such an important event 
in the States, because everyone dresses up, everyone puts out decorations 
or pumpkins outside of their homes. 
C: Uhu. 
M: They have pumpkin carving contest which are really cool how theycarve out pumpkins. 
C: They make faces in the pumpkins and then we can put a candle inside… 
M: Right. 
C: Light it up, it’s really fun. 
M: So that’s called a Jackolantern, right? 
C: That’s right, uhu. 
M: Why is it called a Jackolantern? Do you know? 
C: I’ve no idea. 
M: It’s weird. 
C: Maybe it’s like Jack, like a person, looks like a person’s face. 
M: Maybe Jack invented it. 
C: Cause a lantern is a light, you know… 
M: Right. 
C: It’s like a light with a candle in it, so… 
M: Yeah. 
C: Uhu. 
M: It’s actually a very, uh… it’s a very fun, um, holiday. It’s… it’s really interesting in… it’s 
kind of strange when people really oppose it, because they say that it’s, um… you know, it 
has to do with the devil or it has to do… it’s a pagan ritual an things like this. But, you 
know, it’s just good fun. 
C: It’s fun, it’s silly, everyone likes to dress up in a costume. 
M: What was the weirdest costume that you’ve, uh, dressed up as… as an adult? Or… cause 
I know you’ve dressed up as an adult as well. 
C: Absolutely… I dress up every year. I was Pippi Longstockings last year. Well, um, as a 
chilled one year I dressed up as an injured soldier, cause like my dad was in the military, so 
we always had fatiguesaround the house. 
M: Aha. 
C: And so, I used those fatigues and like put blood on my face and I had crutches. People 
thought that I really had a broken leg… 
M: Wow. 
C: So they used to give me double… they gave me… that year they gave me double the 
candy, because they thought; oh, here’s a poor girl on crutches… 
M: And trick-or-treating. 
C: And my… my costume was an injured soldier, so they… they ???understand it. 
M: Hehe. 
C: It was really funny. 
M: Nice. Well, we wanna hear about you guys, if you go trick-or-treating or if you dress up 
for Halloween. I know that many places around the world have, uh, parties or festivities for 
Halloween and… 
C: Uhu. 
M: And people dress up. So come to our website englishpod.com, we’ll see you guys there 
and, uh, we’ll see you guys next time… 
C: Happy Halloween! 
M: Happy Halloween!