Ruth (Grinning from ear to ear): Hi Ben!

Ben: Hi Ruth. You look like you woke up on the right side of the bed this morning.

Ruth: Yeah, you could say that. I just got a new job!

Ben: Oh wow, that’s really cool.

Ruth: I know; I’m over the moon.

Ben: So what will you be doing?

Ruth: I’m going to be a working in adventure tourism, being a skydiving instructor.

Ben: Wow, that’s an awesome job, you will have so much fun! It will be scary though; do you think you will be able to handle it?

Ruth: I think so. I have done a lot of training and I’m feeling fairly confident.

Ben: Well good luck, you’ll have to let me know how it goes.

Ruth: Thanks, I will.

Glossary:

Grinning from ear to ear: This means that the person is extremely happy. It is as if their smile is so big that the corners of their mouth are reaching their ears.

Example Sentence: “After Fleur brought her plane ticket she was grinning from ear to ear.”

Woke up on the right side of the bed: This means that from the moment a person got out of bed they were very happy.

The opposite is, “Woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” this means that the person is in a bad mood and has been in a bad mood since they woke up.

Example sentence: a mother is talking to her son who is in a bad mood, “John, why are you so grumpy? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?”

You could say that: This means that the person agrees with what the other person has said.

I’m over the moon: This means that a person is very happy. They are feeling so happy that they could reach the moon.

Adventure Tourism: This is a tourist industry that is very popular in New Zealand. It involves doing very exciting activities that are sometimes scary. Some examples are mountain biking or bungy jumping (jumping off a bridge with a rope tied around your ankles).

Skydiving Instructor: This is a person who teaches other people how to skydive. Skydiving is when a person jumps out of an aeroplane with a parachute attached to their back.

Handle : In this context the word handle refers to a person’s ability to cope with a situation. Ben is questioning Ruth, asking her if she thinks she will be ok doing such a scary job.

Example Sentence: “When you become a security guard, you will have to work very long hours in the evening, but you will not be allowed to fall asleep, do you think you will be able to handle it?”

This means, “do you think you will be able to cope with it?”

Let me know how it goes: In this situation Ben is asking Ruth to tell him about the job after she has been working for a couple of weeks. It is a casual expectation; next time they see each other, Ruth will tell Ben how her new job is going. However she is not expected to go out of her way to tell him, she will not ring him to tell him about her job, she will just wait until she sees him next.