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  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 01

به پادکست های یادگیری زبان انگلیسی خوش آمدید! در این قسمت مجریان، تس و راوی، خود را معرفی می کنند و مهمانان آنها در مورد آنجلینا جولی، شهر نیویورک و افراد مشهوری که برای امور خیریه کار می کنند صحبت می کنند. شما همچنین می توانید کارولینا، یک دانشجوی ونزوئلایی را که برای زندگی در بریتانیا می آید، ملاقات کنید. به پادکست گوش دهید سپس اولین تمرین را انجام دهید تا درک خود را بررسی کنید. اگر زمان بیشتری دارید برخی از تمرین های تمرین زبان را انتخاب کنید.

Section 1 - “Susan, this is Paul” – introducing your friends
Ravi: Hello, and welcome to LearnEnglish elementary podcast number one. My name’s Ravi…

Tess: … and I’m Tess. We’re your presenters and we’ve got lots of things for you to listen to today, but before we start, I think we should introduce ourselves. Ravi?

Ravi: OK … erm … I’m Ravi.

Tess: Or, I tell you what, I’ll introduce you and you can introduce me. How about that?

Ravi: Well, OK then. Erm, this is Tess. She’s from London. She’s … how old are you?

Tess: None of your business, Ravi!

Ravi: And she loves dancing and riding her mountain bike. OK?

Tess: OK. And this is Ravi. He comes from Manchester. He’s 23. Oh … aren’t you?

Ravi: Oh yes.

Tess: He likes football, and … he’s a great cook.

Ravi: Thanks! And there’s one more person for you to meet. I’d like to introduce our producer, Gordon. Say hello to everyone Gordon!

Gordon: Hello! Pleased to meet you!

Ravi and Tess: Hi Gordon

Tess: And how are you today?

Gordon: Very well thank you Tess.

Section 2: I’d like to meet
Tess: Good! We’ll speak to Gordon again later in the show but now it’s time to get on with our programme. We’ve got an excellent show for you today, and let’s start with our first section, called ‘I’d like to meet’. We ask people a simple question – which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet? And of course, we ask them to explain why. Our guest today on ‘I’d like to meet’ is Zara Heller from Bristol. Hello Zara and welcome to the show.

Zara: Hello.

Ravi: Hi Zara.

Tess: And what do you do Zara?

Zara: I’m a student, I’m in my last year at school, I’m 16.

Tess: Right. Now let’s ask the question. So Zara, which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet?

Zara: I’d like to meet Angelina Jolie.

Ravi: Angelina Jolie. Great - good choice! Tell us a bit about her.

Zara: She’s an American film actress, she was in ‘Tomb Raider’, and she’s an ambassador for the United Nations too.

Tess: And why did you choose her to talk about today?

Zara: Well, because I really admire her. She’s a famous film star with a lot of money and a famous celebrity film star husband, but she really cares about helping people and she uses her money and her fame to help children and people who are very poor or have a difficult life. I saw a film about her on MTV the music channel – it was a video diary of her visiting Africa and talking about how to stop poverty, and they were really simple things, and I thought it was really cool because MTV doesn’t usually show programmes like that, it’s usually just music videos and things, but because she’s famous and beautiful then people want to see her so she can get a lot of attention for the things that she wants to change.

Tess: Do you like her films? Do you think she’s a good actress?

Zara: Yes I do. I don’t think she’s a great actress, but she’s a good actress, and she’s so beautiful that you just want to look at her all the time.

Ravi: Yeah.

Zara: I think she’s one of the most beautiful women in the world. I love watching her, I love all her films.

Ravi: And what would you like to talk to her about Zara?

Zara: I’d like to talk about her trips to different places all around the world, and about Hollywood, and her family and about what people like me can do to help poor children.

Tess: Well thank you very much Zara. That was really interesting. Personally, I’d like to talk to her about her husband, Brad Pitt. I think he’s gorgeous.

Ravi: OK Tess, calm down. Erm, for all of you listening, we’d like to hear from you. Which famous person, dead or alive, would you like to meet? And why? Email us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org, that’s learnenglishpodcast - all one word – AT - britishcouncil – all one word DOT org, that’s o-r-g. Let us know which famous person you would like to meet and why. 

Section 3: Quiz
Tess: OK. Now it’s quiz time. Every week we’ll have a little quiz to get you thinking. This week it’s the ten second quiz. It’s very easy. We give you a topic and you give as many answers as you can - in 10 seconds. Our two players today are Daniel – Daniel’s 16 and comes from London. Hello Daniel.

Daniel: Hi

Tess: And Alice – Alice is also 16 and she comes from Liverpool. Hi Alice.

Alice: Hello

Tess: Do you both know what to do? OK. We give you a topic, and you have to write down all the words you can think of. For example, we say ‘bathroom’, and you write a list, bath, soap, shampoo, and so on. As quick as you can. Got the idea?

Alice: Yeah

Tess: Good. Okay. Let’s play. You’ve got ten seconds to write down … things you can find in a kitchen. OK? So, for example you could say ‘microwave oven’. OK? Things you can find in a kitchen. Go! (sound of clock ticking) OK, Daniel. How many?

Daniel: Erm, five, Tess.

Tess: How about you, Alice?

Alice: Erm, seven, I think.

Tess: OK, let’s hear your seven words, Alice. Things you find in a kitchen.

Alice: Erm, fridge. Cooker. Pans. Plates. Knife, fork, spoon.

Tess: That’s seven. Well done, Alice. How many did you get, Ravi?

Ravi: Oh, the clock makes me nervous – I can’t think when the clock’s ticking like that. Maybe the question next week will be about football.

Tess: Thanks Daniel, thanks Alice. And if any of you listening have a good game we can play in quiz time, write to us and let us know. The address is learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. We’d love to hear your ideas for games we can play. What’s next, Ravi?

Section 4: Our person in...
Ravi: The next part of the show is called ‘Our person in’. We’ll listen to people in interesting places all over the world telling us something about life in the country they’re in. Today, we’ll hear from Mike Southern. Mike is … Our man in New York.

Mike: New York. What do you think of? Skyscrapers. Taxis. Noise. People. John Lennon said that New York is the capital city of the world – and it certainly feels that way.

But in the centre of this exciting, noisy, polluted city there is a place to find peace and quiet. A short walk from busy Fifth Avenue in Manhattan you’ll find Central Park. Central Park is the green heart of New York City and over 25 million people come here each year to escape the city. People run, swim, climb or simply sit and read a book in the huge park’s different scenery. And it’s not just for people. Lots of rare birds have made their home in the park and there are legends of big cats hiding in the dark trees.

Although it looks completely natural, the park is man made, created over 150 years ago. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed the park at a time when the city was a very crowded, dirty and unhealthy place to live. They wanted to make a place where rich and poor people could find fresh air in the dirty city.

It does the same job today. As a friend of mine always tells me, “Life in New York would be impossible without Central Park”

Tess: Wow! Really interesting. We’ll hear from another one of our people next time. Or if you’d like to write in and tell us something interesting about your city or town, we’d love to hear from you. You can send it to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org

Section 5: Your turn
Tess: Now we’re going out into the street to listen to ‘Your Turn’

Ravi: In this part of the show, we go out into the street to find out what people think about our question of the day. And today we’re going to ask a question about celebrities - like film stars, actors, singers – who promote charities and ask people to give them money or aid. At the beginning of the show, we listened to Zara from Bristol talking about Angelina Jolie. Zara talked about Angelina Jolie’s work for charity. And nowadays, lots of famous people – celebrities - do the same. But is it a good idea? So today’s question is … ‘Is it a good idea for celebrities to do work for charity?’

Tess: Hmm. ‘Is it a good idea for celebrities to do work for charity?’ Interesting question. Let’s listen to the answers.

Voice 1: I think it’s a good thing. People don’t want to listen to boring politicians but everyone likes celebrities so they listen to what they have to say. When Bob Geldof and Bono organised Live8 a few years ago, everybody was talking about how to end poverty in Africa. My little brother was only twelve years old, but he was talking about it. That can’t be bad.

Voice 2: I hate it. The celebrities only want publicity, and they want us to think that they’re really nice people, you know, they care about the world, they care about poverty, so they can sell more records. But it’s a big lie. They’re not interested in poor people or the charities at all.

Voice 3: Why is it a problem? The charities need money, and if celebrities can help them to get more, then what’s wrong with that? I think that some celebrities only want publicity, but, well, who cares! The charities get some money, that’s the really important thing.

Voice 4: If you think for example, Angelina Jolie or George Clooney is really cool, then you want to do the same things that they do. So you might give to charity too because you want to copy your favourite star. I think it’s a good thing. Helping people is cool nowadays.

Voice 5: I think the celebrities do it because they copy other celebrities. Everyone’s doing it nowadays – it’s the fashion to do work for charity. I hate it. These film stars make millions of dollars for a film and live in houses that cost millions of dollars, and travel in private planes and stay in expensive hotels. And then they go and visit some ‘poor people’. It’s ridiculous.

Ravi: OK, some interesting answers there.

Tess: Hmm. Do you have an opinion about this question? We’d love to know what you think. ‘Is it a good idea for celebrities to do work for charity?’ Or do you have an idea for a question that we could ask on Your Turn? Send us an email at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org - and we can take your question into the street.

Section 6: Carolina
Ravi: OK. Now – it’s time to meet Carolina. Carolina is from Venezuela and she’s visiting Britain for the first time. It’s a big adventure for her – she’s going to live, study and she hopes, have a good time here in the UK – and we’re going with her!

Tess: Carolina’s going to study in Newcastle in the north-east of England. She speaks very good English but this is her first visit to Britain, so some things are very strange for her. We’re going to follow Carolina in our podcasts and listen to some of the conversations that she has in lots of different situations. Today we’re going to hear what happened when she first arrived in Britain from Venezuela. Here’s Carolina at Heathrow airport in London. Let’s listen to her conversation at Immigration Control.

Carolina: Excuse me. Am I in the right line for immigration?

Woman: Erm, I don’t know dear. It depends. What nationality are you?

Carolina: Venezuelan.

Woman: No, no, this queue’s for British and European Union members. You need to go … over there – where it says ‘Other passport holders’. Can you see?

Carolina: Oh, yes, OK, thank you.

Immigration Officer: Good evening.

Carolina: Good evening.

Immigration Officer: Where have you travelled from today?

Carolina: From Venezuela, from Caracas.

Immigration Officer: Can I see your passport please? … Thank you. Is this your first visit to the UK?

Carolina: Yes it is.

Immigration Officer: And what are you going to do here?

Carolina: I’m a student. I’m going to study at the University of Newcastle.

Immigration Officer: Is it a full-time course or a part-time course?

Carolina: Erm, full-time, it’s a full-time course.

Immigration Officer: Hmm.

Carolina: I’ve got my letter from the university here. Do you want to see it?

Immigration Officer: Yes please.

Carolina: Here you are.

Immigration Officer: Thank you. And how long is the course? How long do you intend to stay in the country?

Carolina: Three years.

Immigration Officer: Three years. Hmm.

Carolina: Yes, that’s right.

Immigration Officer: Do you intend to work in this country?

Carolina: Oh, no, no, I’m not going to work, well maybe in the university holidays, but the British Embassy in Caracas said that was OK.

Immigration Officer: Yes, that’s correct. Students can work in the holidays.

Carolina: Is everything OK?

Immigration Officer: Yes, everything seems to be in order. I just need to stamp your passport with today’s date. Here you are. Passport and letter.

Carolina: Thank you.

Immigration Officer: I hope you enjoy your stay. Newcastle’s a very nice place. Go down the stairs and turn left to collect your baggage.

Carolina: Thank you very much.

Immigration Officer: Good evening sir. And where have you travelled …….

Tess: Hmm. Carolina did really well there. Airports can be so difficult.

Ravi: I think she did really well, too. I hope she can come and join us in the studio soon. I’d like to meet her.

Section 7 - The joke
Ravi: Well, that’s almost the end …

Tess: Wait a minute Ravi. Don’t forget Gordon.

Ravi: Gordon? What do you mean?

Tess: He wants to tell a joke.

Ravi: Oh no

Tess: Don’t be horrible. Gordon! Joke time! Come on Gordon! Are you ready?

Gordon: Yes, I’m here.

Ravi: I hope this is good Gordon.

Gordon: How long have I got?

Ravi: One minute – at the most.

Gordon: OK then. Erm, right. A chicken walks into a library…

Ravi: A chicken?

Gordon: Yeah. A chicken walks into a library, walks up to the counter and says to the librarian “Book, book”. The librarian gives the chicken two books – she puts the books on the chicken’s head – and the chicken walks out of the library.

One hour later, the chicken walks back into the library. It walks up to the counter and says to the librarian “Book, book”. The librarian gives the chicken two books and the chicken walks out of the library.

An hour later, this happens again. “Book, book”, and the chicken walks out of the library with two books on its head. But this time the librarian thinks, “Hmm, this is strange” so she decides to follow the chicken. She goes out of the library and follows the chicken. The chicken crosses the road, walks along the street, turns the corner, until it comes to the lake. Sitting by the lake is a big, fat frog. The chicken gives the books to the frog and the frog looks at them and says “Read it, Read it”.

Tess: Oh Gordon, that’s terrible.

Ravi: And that’s the end of this part of the show. We have to go now but don’t go away. After this little break you’re going to hear Tom, our English teacher. After every show, Tom talks about the language you heard and gives you ideas to help you learn. So, don’t go away, but we’ll say goodbye now. See you next time.

Tess: Bye! Don’t forget to send us your emails! Here’s that address one more time. It’s learnenglishpodcast2britishcouncil.org.

Tom the teacher
Tom: Hi, I’m Tom. At the end of every podcast you’ll hear from me. I’m going to talk about some of the language you heard in the programmes and talk about ways to help you learn English. Remember Carolina in the airport? Listen to part of her conversation again.

Immigration Officer: Is this your first visit to the UK?

Carolina: Yes it is.

Immigration Officer: And what are you going to do here?

Carolina: I’m a student. I’m going to study at the University of Newcastle.

Tom: Carolina and the Immigration Officer are talking about the future – Carolina’s time in Britain. To talk about the future they both use ‘going to’. The Immigration Officer says “And what are you going to do here?” and Carolina says “I’m going to study at the University of Newcastle”. They both used ‘going to’ to talk about the future because they are talking about plans. When the Immigration Officer says “What are you going to do here?” he’s asking Carolina what her plan is. And she says “I’m going to study” because that’s her plan – she decided it before she left Venezuela.

So, we use ‘going to’ to talk about future plans. But listen to another part of Carolina’s conversation.

Immigration Officer: Thank you. And how long is the course? How long do you intend to stay in the country?

Carolina: Three years.

Immigration Officer: Three years. Hmm.

Carolina: Yes, that’s right.

Immigration Officer: Do you intend to work in this country?

Carolina: Oh no, no, I’m not going to work, well maybe in the university holidays, but the British Embassy in Caracas said that was OK. 

Tom: The Immigration Officer said “How long do you intend to stay in the country?” and “Do you intend to work in this country?” Again he was asking about Carolina’s future plans – but he said “Do you intend”. “Intend” is a formal way to talk or ask about plans. You might hear this verb, “intend”, at an airport immigration desk or on an immigration form. It’s another way to ask about your plans. One more thing. Did you notice that when Carolina arrived at the desk the Immigration Officer said “Good evening”? He didn’t say “Goodnight”. Do you know why not? We only say “goodnight” when we say goodbye or when we go to bed. When we meet someone after around 5 o’clock in the afternoon we say “Good evening” and we only say “goodnight” to people before we go home or before we go to bed.

OK. In another part of the show we heard Daniel and Alice playing a game. Listen to part of it again.

Tess: You’ve got ten seconds to write down things you can find in a kitchen. … OK, Daniel how many?

Daniel: Erm, five, Tess.

Tess: How about you, Alice?

Alice: Erm, seven, I think.

Tess: OK, let’s hear your seven words, Alice. Things you find in a kitchen.

Alice: Erm fridge. Cooker. Pans. Plates. Knife, fork, spoon.

Tom: I hope all of you have a notebook where you keep new words – a vocabulary notebook. Think about how you put new words into your notebook. Do you put them in alphabetically? All the words beginning with ‘A’, then all the words beginning with ‘B’? Or do you organise your new words another way? Some people put words into their notebooks in word families. They put words together that are connected in some way. For example, you could have a page in your vocabulary notebook called ‘kitchen’ and you could keep all the words from the game – fridge, cooker, pan – all of those words – on the ‘kitchen’ page of your notebook. You could have pages for, say, sports –‘football’, ‘tennis’ ‘bowling’ and so on. And you can write more than just the words – you can write the verbs that go with the words – ‘play’ football but ‘go’ bowling or ‘go’ skiing. There’s no right way or wrong way to keep your new vocabulary. You have to find the way that helps you remember the new words.

OK. Oh, erm, by the way, if there are any words from the game that you don’t know remember that you can find them on the website. You can read all of the podcast and if you click on a word it’ll take you to a dictionary that tells you what the word means. We’ll give you that address again at the end – so go and find a pen to write it down!

Right, finally, after every podcast I’ll try to show you something that you can try to use in your own English. This week I heard this interesting expression:

Carolina: Excuse me. Am I in the right line for immigration?

Woman: Erm, I don’t know dear. It depends. What nationality are you?

Tom: Now. There are two things there I want to talk about. Firstly, the old lady called Carolina “dear” – she said “I don’t know dear”. Sometimes, older people might call you “dear”. It’s a friendly, affectionate thing to do. But be careful! It might sound a bit strange if you try to use it yourself.

The other thing I noticed was that the old lady said “It depends”. She didn’t know the answer because she needed more information. Can you translate “it depends” into your language? Try to use it in English this week.


 

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 02

در این قسمت تس و راوی در مورد تعطیلات آخر هفته صحبت می کنند و مهمانان آنها در مورد شکیرا و رقص تانگو در آرژانتین صحبت می کنند. همچنین می توانید سفر کارولینا را در بریتانیا دنبال کنید. آیا او راه خود را برای خروج از فرودگاه پیدا خواهد کرد؟

Section 1 - “Where did you go?” – a weekend away

Tess: Hello and welcome to LearnEnglish Elementary podcast number two. I’m Tess.

Ravi: And I’m Ravi. We’re the presenters and we’re here in the studio with our producer, Gordon. Hi Gordon!

Gordon: Hello!

Ravi: And he’ll be back later with another one of his …. erm, jokes. Now, last week I told you that Tess loved riding her mountain bike and you’ve been away riding your bike this week, haven’t you.

Tess: I have, yes.

Ravi: Where did you go?

Tess: We went to the Lake District, in the North West.

Ravi: Oh. Beautiful. For our listeners who don’t know, the Lake District is in the north west of England and it’s a really beautiful part of the country. I went there last year, you know. It’s a difficult place to ride a bike though – lots of hills.

Tess: I like riding up hills!

Ravi: I prefer riding down them. Did you stay in hotels?

Tess: No, we were camping. We took two small tents with us and at the end of every day we just put the tents up on a camp site. It was great. Really relaxing.

Ravi: What was the weather like? Camping’s great when the weather’s OK but when it’s raining …. it’s horrible.

Tess: Yeah, we were really lucky. It was really sunny. Well, it rained one day but that was OK.

Ravi: Sounds great – I need a holiday! But, well, I think I prefer to spend my holidays on the beach. It sounds like a lot of hard work Tess.

Tess: I love it! I’m going again next year. I can’t wait! But it’s time to move on to the rest of the show – I know we’ve got lots of interesting people to hear from.

Section 2: I’d like to meet

Ravi: So, let’s start with our ‘I’d like to meet’ section. In this part of the show we ask people a simple question – which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet? And of course, we ask them to explain why. Our guest today on ‘I’d like to meet’ is Yasmin from Cardiff. Hello Yasmin and welcome to the show.

Yasmin: Hello. It’s nice to be here.

Tess: Hello Yasmin. Can you tell us something about yourself?

Yasmin: Well, erm, my name’s Yasmin, I’m 18 years old, I live in Cardiff - that’s in Wales - and I’m training to be a beauty therapist.

Tess: Hmm. A beauty therapist! That’s a great job. Now I’m going to ask the question. So Yasmin, which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet?

Yasmin: Oh, I’d like to meet Shakira.

Ravi: Shakira. This’ll be interesting. Can you tell us something about her?

Yasmin: Sure. She’s a singer – and a dancer too – she’s from Colombia and she sings in Spanish and English.

Tess: And why did you choose Shakira to talk about today?

Yasmin: Erm, for quite a lot of reasons. First, I think she’s a fantastic singer. I just fell in love with her voice the first time I heard her sing. It’s so different. And then, … she writes her own songs – she wrote her first song when she was only 8 I think. I love singing and I write my own songs too, so I understand how difficult it is – and I’d love to sit down with her and write a song together. I’m sure she could teach me a lot.

Tess: Can you play any musical instruments?

Yasmin: The guitar and the piano. In the beginning she wrote songs and sang in Spanish, and she was very famous in Latin America, but she didn’t speak English, so she had to learn it. And I think she learnt it really well. I admire her because she didn’t just translate her old songs from Spanish to English – she wrote new ones in English. It isn’t easy to write songs in a foreign language, but her words are great I think. She still sings in Spanish too – she records two versions of her songs, one in English and one in Spanish. Another reason I like her is because she’s a mixture of different cultures, and that makes her music interesting. Her mother is from Colombia but her father is Lebanese, so there’s a lot of Arabic influence in her music – and not only Arabic – there’s Indian, Brazilian, Iranian - she’s interested in all sorts of music. And I think she’s a nice person too. Her videos are very, well you know, sexy, but I don’t think she’s really like that – she’s got four dogs and she likes working in her garden, and she doesn’t drink alcohol and she doesn’t smoke. 

Ravi: Thanks Yasmin. Erm, one more question. What would you like to talk to Shakira about, if you could meet her?

Yasmin: Oh, lots of things. Like I said before, I’d like to ask her about how she writes her songs. And I’d like her to teach me how to dance. She’s an incredible dancer.

Tess: She certainly is!

Ravi: Thanks Yasmin, that was great. I think I’d really like to meet Shakira too.

Tess: Mmm. I’m sure you would, Ravi. Have you ever met anyone famous?

Ravi: No, I don’t think so. Only you, Tess.

Tess: Right, listeners, remember that we’d like to hear from you. Which famous person, dead or alive , would you like to meet? And why? Email us at ‘learnenglishpodcastATbritishcouncilDOT org, that’s learnenglishpodcast - all one word - at- britishcouncil – all one word DOT org, that’s o-r-g. Let us know which famous person you would like to meet and you could appear on the programme.

Section 3: Quiz

Ravi: OK, now it’s quiz time. This week we’re going to play Hot Seat, and here to play are Ben and Poppy. Hi!

Ben & Poppy: Hello.

Ravi: You’re brother and sister, aren’t you? Who’s the oldest?

Ben: I am. I’m 15.

Poppy: And I’m 14.

Ravi: OK, great. Now, I’ll explain how to play Hot Seat and then we can start. OK? These cards have all got words on. One of you has to explain the words and the other one has to guess them, but remember, you can’t use the word on the card. You have to guess as many words as you can in one minute. OK? So, who’s going to be in the Hot Seat?

Poppy: I am. I’ll guess and Ben will explain the words.

Ravi: OK. You’ve got one minute. Are you ready Ben?

Ben: Ready

Ravi: Ready Poppy?

Poppy: Ready

Ravi: Go!

Ben: It’s yellow, it’s a fruit.

Poppy: Banana

Ben: Erm. It’s got four wheels. You drive it.

Poppy: Car?

Ben: Yes. Erm. You eat it. You make sandwiches with it.

Poppy: Bread!

Ben: You write in it.

Poppy: Diary

Ben: No, you use it in school and you write in it.

Poppy: Is it ‘exercise book’?

Ben: Yes! It’s a sport.

Poppy: Football

Ben: No. You hit the ball over the net. Wimbledon!

Poppy: Tennis!

Ben: It tells the time. It’s got two hands.

Poppy: A watch

Ben: No. It’s on the wall.

Poppy: A clock.

Ben: A big shop. You do all the shopping there. You buy food there.

Poppy: Supermarket

Ben: Yes! It’s an animal. It’s a pet. It says “Woof!”

Poppy: Dog!

Ben: It’s green. It …

Ravi: Stop! Wow! Well done. Let’s count them. How many was that? I think it was eight. Yes – eight. Well done you two.

Tess: Well done. And if any of you listening have a good game we can play in quiz time, write to us and let us know. The address is learnenglishpodcastATbritishcouncilDOT org. We’d love to hear your ideas for games we can play.

Section 4: Our person in...

Ravi: OK, now it’s time for ‘Our Person In’. This is the part of the show where we hear from people in different countries around the world. This week we’re going to listen to Rachel Glover – Rachel is Our Woman in Argentina.

Rachel: I came to live in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina, in 1998. On my first night in this beautiful city I went for a walk in the streets near my new flat. In a small square, close to my home, I heard music. I went to have a look, and for the first time I saw people dancing the tango. The tango is a dance that Argentina gave to the world – but no-one knows exactly when or where people first danced the tango – or even where the word ‘tango’ comes from. At the start of the twentieth century the population of Buenos Aires got much bigger as people arrived from all over the world to start a new life in South America. More than a million people came from Africa and from Europe – Spain, Italy, France, Russia, Poland. The tango began around this time. For me, the dance shows both the sadness of these people who had said goodbye to their homes and also the hope of new start in Argentina. An Argentinian friend told me that you have to learn the tango if you want to understand Argentina. I decided to learn this beautiful dance. I went to a tango school in the centre of Buenos Aires and joined a class. I was very surprised to find that my teacher was not Argentinian but Scottish. Her name was Claire Flanagan – she came to Buenos Aires 15 years ago – because of her love for tango. “I fell in love with the tango and now I’ve fallen in love with Buenos Aires” she says.

Ravi: Great. Can you dance the tango, Tess?

Tess: No I can’t. I’d love to learn.

Ravi: We can learn together.

Section 5: Your turn

Tess: OK then. And don’t forget that you can write in and tell us something interesting about your city or town. You can send it to us at learnenglishpodcastATbritishcouncilDOT org. Right. Earlier, we listened to Yasmin talking about Shakira. Remember Yasmin told us that Shakira records two versions of her songs – one in Spanish and one in English. For this week’s Your Turn we asked some students in London this question – ‘What do you prefer – songs in English or songs in your language?’

Ravi: Good one. Songs in English or songs in your own language. Let’s hear what they said.

Voice 1: I prefer songs in English because I watch MTV all the time and the songs I like are always in English. Russian songs – I come from Russia – are not as good to dance to as songs in English. And it can help me learn English too!

Voice 2: I like some songs in English and some songs in Japanese but I think I like songs in Japanese best because the words are very important to me. In English songs you can’t always hear all the words or you don’t understand some words but when I listen to Japanese songs I can really understand the meaning of the song.

Voice 3: I really like rap music so I listen to a lot of music in English – mostly American music. There are some singers in Germany who rap in German but it doesn’t sound very good to me. I don’t think German is a good language for rapping. I learn some new English words from rap music but I think some of them are words I can’t say in the classroom!

Voice 4: I come from Mexico and I like songs in Spanish best because I think a lot of the songs I hear in English are a bit stupid … I mean it’s only “I love you, baby”, or “I wanna dance with you baby”. The songs I listen to in Spanish are better because the words are about real things and feelings.

Voice 5: Well, I think it’s a strange question. It’s too difficult to answer. It depends. Sometimes I like to listen to songs in English and I study the words and learn some new things but sometimes I just listen to songs in Greek where I understand all the words. I like some songs in English and some songs in Greek. If the music’s good – I like it!

Ravi: Interesting. What sort of music do you like, Tess?

Tess: Oh, I listen to all kinds of music, but I love music I can dance to.

Ravi: And always in English?

Tess: Usually, yeah.

Ravi: How about you, listeners? Do you prefer songs in English or songs in your own language? Why not send us an email and let us know? You can send your emails to us at learnenglishpodcastATbritishcouncilDOT org - we’d love to hear from you.

Section 6: Carolina

Tess: Right, now it’s time to meet Carolina again. Remember that Carolina is from Venezuela. She’s come to Britain to live, study and, she hopes, have a good time – and we’re going with her!

Ravi: She speaks very good English, but this is her first visit to Britain, so some things are very strange for her. Last time we heard Carolina at the immigration desk at the airport where they checked her passport. Next, Carolina went to collect her suitcase but, unfortunately, her suitcase didn’t appear.

Carolina: Oh. Excuse me. Can you tell me where the Lost Luggage Office is please?

Airport worker: It’s over there. That desk over there, near the exit.

Carolina: Thank you.

Carolina: Hello. Erm.. My bag hasn’t arrived. What do I have to do?

Lost luggage clerk: OK. Where have you arrived from?

Carolina: From Venezuela. Caracas. 

Lost luggage clerk: And you’re sure that your bag isn’t on the carousel?

Carolina: I’m sure. I’ve waited for an hour. All the other people on my flight have gone. There are no more bags coming out.

Lost luggage clerk: Hmm. OK. We’ll need to fill in a report. Can I have your name please?

Carolina: It’s Carolina. And my surname is….

Lost luggage clerk: OK. Now we need a description of the bag. Can you tell me what it looks like?

Carolina: Erm, it’s a black suitcase. Quite big.

Lost luggage clerk: Look at these pictures. Which one looks most like your suitcase?

Carolina: Erm, this one, I think.

Lost luggage clerk: The biggest one?

Carolina: Yes, I think so.

Lost luggage clerk: And is it all black? The handle as well?

Carolina: Yes, everything. A black suitcase and a black handle.

Lost luggage clerk: OK. Anything else?

Carolina: Yes. There was a label on it. With my name. And there’s a little white star on the top, next to the handle. So I can see that it’s mine.

Lost luggage clerk: Little ..white …star. OK. Anything else?

Carolina: No. I think that’s everything.

Lost luggage clerk: OK. Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find it. Can you wait a few minutes while I make some calls?

Carolina: OK. Thank you.

Tess: Oh! Poor Carolina. I hope they found her bag.

Ravi: Me too.

Section 7 - The joke

Ravi: We’ll hear more next time but that’s almost everything for today before we listen to Tom, our English teacher.

Tess: Just time for one more thing. (raises voice) Gordon!

Gordon: Yes, here I am.

Ravi: OK then Gordon, let’s hear your joke for today.

Gordon: OK. It’s a camping joke. Tess, you’ll love it.

Ravi: Come on then.

Gordon: Well, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are on a camping trip in the countryside. Late at night, Holmes and Watson are lying on their backs looking up at all the stars in the sky. Sherlock Holmes says, “Doctor Watson, look at all the stars and tell me what important question we have to ask.” Doctor Watson says, “Well, OK. There are millions and millions of stars in the sky. No-one knows exactly how many. There are planets out there that no-one has seen with a telescope. Maybe there is a planet somewhere that is just like Earth. I think the question we have to ask is, “Is there life in another part of our universe?” And Sherlock Holmes says, “Watson, you idiot! The question we have to ask is “WHERE IS OUR TENT?”

Ravi: That’s quite good, actually Gordon. Not bad.

Tess: Well that really is all we’ve got time for. We have to go now but don’t go away. After this little break you’re going to hear Tom, our studio English teacher. After every podcast, Tom talks about the language you heard and gives you ideas to help you learn. So, don’t go away, but we’ll say goodbye now. See you next time.

Ravi: Bye! Don’t forget to send us your emails! Here’s that address one more time. It’s learnenglishpodcastATbritishcouncilDOT org.

Tom the teacher

Tom: Hello again. I’m Tom. At the end of every programme I’ll talk about some of the language you heard in the programmes and talk about ways to help you learn English.

Let’s start by looking at something Carolina said. Listen to how she asked for directions.

Carolina: Oh. Excuse me. Can you tell me where the Lost Luggage Office is please?

Airport worker: It’s over there. That desk over there, near the exit.

Tom: When she asked for directions Carolina said “Can you tell me where the Lost Luggage Office is, please?”. But that isn’t the only way to ask for directions. Can you think of other ways? Carolina could also say “Can you tell me the way to the lost luggage office, please?” or “Can you tell me how to get to the lost luggage office, please?”. There are different ways to ask for directions – you might know some other ways.

One thing though that’s very important is that Carolina asked politely. 

Carolina: Excuse me. Can you tell me where the Lost Luggage Office is please?

Tom: Carolina said “Excuse me” and “please” when she asked. In Britain we say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ a lot. We’re very polite! Some people might not be very happy if you forget to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ so try to remember it.

Now, Carolina used ‘Can you tell me’ to ask for directions but we heard ‘can’ in other parts of the programme too. Listen.

Ravi: Great. Can you dance the tango Tess?

Tess: No I can’t. I’d love to learn.

Tom: And Tess asked Yasmin…

Tess: Can you play any musical instruments?

Tom: Ravi said “Can you dance the tango?” and Tess asked “Can you play any musical instruments?” In these questions ‘can’ is used to talk about ability – ‘I can swim’, ‘I can play the piano’. When Carolina asked for directions – ‘Can you tell me?’, ‘can’ is used as a request – when you ask someone to do something. We use ‘can’ to talk about ability and we also use it to make a request.

Let’s listen again to how Ravi introduced the Hot Seat game.

Ravi: OK, great. Now, I’ll explain how to play Hot Seat and then we can start. OK? These cards have all got words on. One of you has to explain the words and the other one has to guess them.

Tom: Ravi had a pile of cards and each card had a word on it. Now maybe you don’t have anyone around to play ‘hot seat’ with but writing words on cards can still be useful. When I learnt Russian I got a pile of cards and I wrote a Russian word on one side of the card and the English translation on the other side. I put the cards in my coat pocket and everyday on the bus to work I read the cards to see how many I remembered. Every time I learnt a new word in my Russian class I made a card for it – so there were always new cards in my pocket. It really helped me remember new words – you should try it. And if you’ve got a friend to play ‘hot seat’ with – that’s even better!

OK. I want to have a quick look at something else. After every podcast I’ll show you something that you can try to use in your own English – an expression or something like that. This week it was something that Carolina heard in the airport. Listen again to Carolina describing her bag to the man. Listen to the questions that the man asks.

Lost luggage clerk: Look at these pictures. Which one looks most like your suitcase?

Carolina: Erm, this one, I think.

Lost luggage clerk: The biggest one?

Carolina: Yes, I think so.

Lost luggage clerk: And is it all black? The handle as well?

Carolina: Yes, everything. A black suitcase and a black handle.

Lost luggage clerk: OK. Anything else?

Carolina: Yes. There was a label on it. With my name. And there’s a little white star on the top, next to the handle. So I can see that it’s mine.

Lost luggage clerk: Little .. white … star. OK. Anything else?

Carolina: No. I think that’s everything.

Lost luggage clerk: OK. Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find it.

Tom: When Carolina described her bag the man said “Anything else?” Carolina said “No, that’s everything”.

‘Anything else’ is something you hear quite a lot. You hear it in shops and restaurants – when you ask for something the shop assistant or waiter may say “Anything else?” to check if your order is finished. You can reply “That’s everything” or, of course, you can ask for something else! Remember that we usually use anything in questions and negative sentences. That’s why the question is ‘Anything else?’ Try to use ‘Anything else?’ before the next podcast!

OK. I’m going to stop there. I’ll talk to you all again next time. Remember you can send your questions to me at learnenglishpodcastATbritishcouncilDOT org. I’ll be happy to answer them.

In a moment you’ll hear the address for the website where you can read everything you’ve heard in this podcast. Right. That’s all for this time. Bye for now! See you next time.

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 03

در این قسمت تس و راوی در مورد لباس صحبت می کنند و مهمانان آنها در مورد طراح محصولات اپل، جاناتان آیو و فوتبال زنان صحبت می کنند. همچنین می توانید کارولینا را در سفر او از ونزوئلا به بریتانیا دنبال کنید. آیا او چمدانش را پیدا خواهد کرد؟

Section 1 – "Is that a new shirt?" – Making comments on a friend's clothes

Ravi: Hello, and welcome to LearnEnglish Elementary podcast number three. My name’s Ravi.

Tess: And I’m Tess. I’m from London and Ravi’s from Manchester and we’re your presenters.

Ravi: And there’s one more important person for you to meet – our producer, Gordon. Say hello to everyone Gordon!

Gordon: Hello!

Tess: And how are you today Gordon?

Gordon: Very well Tess. And you?

Tess: I’m fine! Good. We’ll speak to Gordon again later in the show. You’re very smart today Ravi. Is that a new shirt you’re wearing?

Ravi: Yes - lovely isn’t it.

Tess: But you told me you’re trying to save money. You said “no more new clothes”.

Ravi: Well, I know, but, well, you know me Tess. I saw it in the shop and I liked it, so I had a look at it, but they didn’t have my size, so I thought oh well, never mind and then I looked again and they did have my size, so I thought, well I’ll try it on but I won’t buy it, and then I tried it on and of course it looked fantastic, and the shop assistant said it looked really good, and I still thought no, I won’t buy it, and then I looked at the price, and it was quite expensive so I thought, no I can’t buy it, and then the shop assistant said that it was in the sale – last week it was eighty pounds, but this week it was only forty pounds, that’s half price … so I bought it.

Tess: Forty pounds!! For a shirt!!

Ravi: But look at it - it’s a great shirt. We have to dress well now Tess – we’re celebrities.

Tess: This is a podcast Ravi! It isn’t MTV! Nobody can see you.

Ravi: Ah – that’s true, but I feel well-dressed, that’s the important thing.

Section 2 – I’d like to meet

Ravi: Now let’s move on to our ‘I’d like to meet’ section. In this part of the podcast we ask people a simple question – which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet? And we ask them to explain why. And today on ‘I’d like to meet’ we’ve got Martin with us. Hello Martin. Welcome to the podcast.

Martin: Hello Ravi. Hello Tess.

Tess: Hi Martin. And where are you from?

Martin: I’m from Glasgow – the biggest city in Scotland.

Tess: But Glasgow isn’t the capital city, is it.

Martin: No, Edinburgh’s the capital city, but Glasgow’s a lot bigger. And we call it the shopping capital of Scotland - we’ve got great shops in Glasgow. It’s a great city.

Ravi: I’d like to visit sometime. I’m the king of shopping – ask Tess, she knows.

Tess: It’s true.

Ravi: Now it’s time for the question. So Martin, which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet?

Martin: I’d like to meet Jonathan Ive.

Ravi: Jonathan Ive? I don’t know who he is.

Martin: Not very many people know his name – he’s English but he works for Apple, the computer company - he joined the company in 1992 – he’s a vice president now I think - and he’s the man who designed the iMac and the iPod.

Ravi: Wow. The man who invented the iPod!

Martin: No, he didn’t invent it – he’s a designer, he designed it. He’s designed other things too, of course, but the iMac and the iPod are my favourites – they’re design classics.

Tess: OK. And why did you choose Jonathan …

Martin: Ive. Jonathan Ive.

Tess: …Jonathan Ive to talk about today?

Martin: Well, I’m a student and I study design – industrial design. And for anyone who studies industrial design, well, Jonathan Ive is the king, you know, he’s a genius, he’s the most important industrial designer in the world. The most important thing for industrial designers is function - you know – what something is used for, what it can do. And with computers speed was the most important thing. Nobody cared what they looked like, people just wanted them to be fast, really fast. But when Jonathan Ive designed the iMac for Apple, he designed something beautiful, and people loved it. It was still a good computer and very easy to use, but they also loved the way it looked – the round shape, the colours – and they all bought it, it was very, very popular. I got my first iMac in 1999 - it was orange, bright orange – it was beautiful - and I think that was the moment when I first decided to be a designer.

Ravi: And what about the iPod?

Martin: Well, the iPod looks fantastic too. It’s another example of perfect design. First, it’s a fantastic idea – it changed the way that millions of people listen to music – even the Queen’s got an iPod. And then, it’s really easy to use, and finally, it’s incredibly beautiful, it’s beautiful to look at - that’s what perfect design is. And that’s why he’s my hero.

Tess: And is there a special question that you’d like to ask Jonathan Ive?

Martin: I’d like to know why he doesn’t want to be famous, why he doesn’t like publicity. Perhaps he’s shy - but he never talks about his personal life, he never goes to social events, you never see his picture in magazines. Everyone in the world knows the iMac and the iPod, but nobody knows the name Jonathan Ive. I suppose I’d like to ask him how he feels about that.

Ravi: Well, I’ve learnt something today.

Tess: So have I. Thank you very much Martin.

Martin: You’re welcome.

Ravi: I’d like to know what the Queen listens to on her iPod! And don’t forget, we’d like to hear from you, our listeners. Tell us which famous person, dead or alive, you’d like to meet – and why. Email us at ‘learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org, that’s learnenglishpodcast - all one word – at - britishcouncil – all one word DOT org, that’s o-r-g

Section 3 – Quiz

Tess: OK. Now it’s quiz time. Every week we’ll have a little quiz to make you think. This week it’s another Ten Second Quiz. It’s very easy - we give you a topic and you give as many answers as you can - in ten seconds. For example, if we say ‘things that are blue’ you can write down ‘the sky’ or ‘the sea’ – as many words as you can think of in ten seconds. Our two players today are Marina – hello Marina…

Marina: Hello.

Tess: … and Ricky. Hi Ricky.

Ricky: Hello.

Tess: And could you tell us a little bit about yourselves?

Ricky: Erm, I’m Ricky, you know that – and I’m from Croydon, south of London, and I’m erm seventeen.

Marina: And I’m Marina, I’m 16 and a half and I’m from Croydon too. We’re at the same school.

Tess: And now for the game. Do you both understand what to do?

Marina and Ricky: Yeah,

Tess: OK. Let’s start. You’ve got ten seconds to write down things that are yellow. OK? So, for example you could say ‘banana’. OK? A banana is yellow. So ‘things that are yellow’. Go!

Tess: OK. Marina, how many have you got?

Marina: Six.

Tess: And how about you, Ricky?

Ricky: Only five.

Tess: OK, so let’s hear your six words, Marina. Things that are yellow.

Marina: The sun, lemons, cheese … the moon – sometimes, butter - and … my hair.

Tess: Your hair? Can we allow that Ravi?

Ravi: I think so. Her hair’s blonde – I suppose that’s yellow. Do you agree Gordon? Yes? OK, you’re the winner Marina. Well done. Sorry Ricky.

Tess: Actually, ‘yellow things’ is really difficult. Can you think of any more Ravi?

Ravi: Well, when Marina said ‘butter’ I thought of ‘margarine’ – but, yes a very difficult quiz.

Tess: So - well done to both of you, but congratulations to Marina, our winner.

Marina: Thanks Tess. Bye

Ricky: Bye.

Ravi: Thanks Marina and Ricky. And as usual, if any of you listening have a good game we can play in quiz time, write to us and let us know. The address is learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. Don’t forget - we’d love to hear your ideas for games we can play. What’s next, Tess?

Section 4 – Our person in

Tess: The next part of the podcast is called ‘Our person in’. Every week we listen to people in interesting places all over the world tell us something about life in the country they’re in. Today it’s Bob Harrison’s turn. Bob lives in South Africa and he’s going to tell us about a very unusual musical instrument. Bob is ‘Our Man in South Africa’.

Bob: If you’re a football fan you’ll know that the World Cup in 2010 will take place here in South Africa. When the famous names and the big stars walk out into the stadiums in 2010 they will hear a sound they’ve never heard before – the ‘vuvuzela’. The ‘vuvuzela’ is almost a musical instrument – but not quite – and you hear it at every football match in South Africa. It’s about a metre long and it sounds a bit like an angry elephant. When you hear a stadium full of fans blowing their ‘vuvuzelas’ the sound is something you’ll never forget. Football is very popular in South Africa. The stadiums fill up early with fans – especially when the South African national team – called the ‘Bafana Bafana’ by their fans – are playing. The smell of food is everywhere – barbecued chicken or beef are very popular choices for football matches. And everywhere the sound of ‘vuvuzelas’. Not everyone loves this strange music. Some fans say they’ve stopped going to matches because the noise is so awful and so, well, noisy. But as for me, well, I like it. I think it makes football matches in South Africa different from anywhere else in the world. The only thing is – I can’t play the ‘vuvuzela’! When I blow it doesn’t sound like an angry elephant so much as a bored bee. I need to practise before 2010!

Tess: So, it’ll soon be World Cup time again Ravi. Are you looking forward to it? You’re a football fan aren’t you?

Ravi: Am I looking forward to it? I can’t wait! And I’d love to go to South Africa to watch it. Those vuvuzelas sound amazing! And barbecued chicken!

Tess: Hmm. You’d better start saving your money then.

Ravi: What money? I haven’t got any.

Tess: Exactly!

Ravi: But you like my shirt – admit it. Anyway, we’ll hear from another one of our people in the next podcast. Or if you’d like to write in and tell us something interesting about your city or town, we’d love to hear from you. You can send it to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 5 – Your turn

Tess: Now it’s time for ‘Your turn’. In this part of the show, we go outside to find out what people think. And today we’re going to stay on the subject of football. We’ve just heard about the World Cup in 2010, but how many people know about another World Cup in 2007? - the women’s world cup. Do you watch women’s football? Or maybe play it? Do you like it? Is it better than men’s football? Why don’t more people watch or play women’s football? Why is men’s football so much more popular than women’s football? So here’s the question for today ‘Why don’t more people watch women’s football’?

Ravi: Good question Tess. ‘Why don’t more people watch women’s football’? Let’s listen to the answers.

Voice 1: Well, I don’t watch women’s football because I don’t like football, and that’s that. All the football fans I know are men – so of course they like to watch men play. They’d only want to watch women if they were, you know, attractive - wearing little tight T-shirts and very small shorts – that’s most men’s attitude. I can’t understand why women want to play football anyway, it’s a ridiculous game – don’t they have anything better to do with their time?

Voice 2: I think it’s just traditional in a lot of countries that football is a man’s game. I used to play ‘football’ – we call it soccer - at home in the States actually. It’s really big there - girls and boys play together at school. There are about 7 million women who play regularly in the States. I think it’s because your football is quite new as a sport in the States so we don’t really see it as a man’s game – we don’t have the same tradition. It’s a game for everybody.

Voice 3: I love watching women’s football. I play at school, lots of girls do. My mum says I’m football crazy. I’m in the school team and I want to play professionally one day. Girls play better than boys – they don’t lie down on the ground and cry and pretend they’re hurt and they don’t argue with the referee all the time. And they aren’t violent, they don’t try to hurt each other.

Voice 4: People don’t watch it because they don’t know about it. Lots of girls and women play football nowadays – the problem is getting people to pay to watch it. We need to take women’s football more seriously, we need advertising and companies to sponsor games and teams, we need a proper professional women’s league with good pay and conditions, we need to see more games on television, then people might be more interested.

Voice 5: People don’t watch it because it isn’t very good – it’s as simple as that. I’ve watched some women’s football, and to be honest, they don’t play very well. They’re slower than men - they aren’t as good technically, the games are boring. Men’s football is good to watch, women’s isn’t. Maybe that ‘ll change in the future, but at the moment, well, I certainly don’t want to watch it.

Tess: Interesting. What do you think Ravi?

Ravi: Well, to be honest, I’ve never watched a women’s football game, but now I think I will – just to see what it’s like.

Tess: Me too. I agree. And what about you? Do you have an opinion about this question? We’d love to know what you think. ‘Why don’t more people watch women’s football?’ Or do you have an idea for a different question that we could ask on Your Turn. Send us an email at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org - and we can ask your question. 

Section 6 – Carolina

Ravi: OK. Now, it’s time to meet Carolina again. Carolina is from Venezuela and she’s visiting Britain for the first time. It’s a big adventure for her – she’s going to live, study and, she hopes, have a good time here in the UK – and we’re going with her! In the last podcast we listened to a conversation that Carolina had at Heathrow airport in London. Do you remember what happened Tess?

Tess: Yep - she lost her luggage. She was waiting at the Lost Luggage desk to see if they could find it.

Ravi: That’s right. Let’s listen to what happened next.

Lost luggage clerk: Yes, that’s right, from erm, Caracas, a blue bag.

Carolina: No, no it isn’t blue, it’s black.

Lost luggage clerk: Oh, erm, sorry, black, not blue. … He’s looking for it now. … Yeah … yeah … yeah, yeah that’s the name. Yeah that’s right. OK, thanks Ben.

Carolina: Have you found it? Is it my bag?

Lost luggage clerk: Yes - this is your lucky day. One of the baggage handlers is bringing it up now, so you can identify it.

Carolina: Oh thank you so much. ….. Erm, I have to get to King’s Cross station to get the train to Newcastle at eight o’clock. How long does it take? Have I got enough time?

Lost luggage clerk: By tube or train?

Carolina: Tube? I don’t understand.

Lost luggage clerk: The underground, you know, the metro. We call it the tube here.

Carolina: Yes, on the tube.

Lost luggage clerk: You’ve got plenty of time. The tube takes about an hour – probably less at this time of the evening. Don’t worry - it’s very easy to find the station - just follow the signs.

Baggage handler: Here you are love - one black bag from Caracas.

Carolina: Yes, that’s mine. Thank you.

Lost luggage clerk: Could you sign your name here ……

Carolina: Excuse me. Could you tell me which train goes to King’s Cross station please?

Tube worker: Piccadilly line miss - the dark blue one on the map. Just follow the signs to the platform. You want an eastbound train – you’re going east.

Carolina: And do I need to change trains?

Tube worker: No, Heathrow and Kings Cross are both on the Piccadilly line. You don’t need to change.

Carolina: Thank you

Tube worker: Miss! You need to buy a ticket first! You can’t go into the station without a ticket.

Carolina: Oh, OK.

Tube worker: The ticket machines are over there.

Carolina: Oh, thank you – but I haven’t got any English money yet – I didn’t have time to change any in the airport.

Tube worker: The machines take Visa or MasterCard.

Carolina: Oh good. I’ve got a Visa card. Thank you.

Tube worker: Then you just put your ticket into the slot to go through the turnstile over there. Put your ticket in and you’ll see a green light – then you can go through. And look after your ticket – don’t lose it – you’ll need to put it into the slot again when you leave the tube station at King’s Cross.

Carolina: OK. Thank you for your help.

Ravi: So Carolina found her luggage in the end. Lucky girl. I lost a suitcase once and I had to wait ten days to get it back.

Tess: You? No clothes for ten days? How did you live?

Ravi: I had to buy some new ones of course.

Tess: Ha ha! So it wasn’t a completely terrible experience then?

Ravi: No, not really.

Section 7 – The Joke

Gordon: Are you ready for me?

Tess: OK Gordon! Right, it’s time for ‘Gordon’s joke’. What have you got for us today Gordon?

Gordon: A good one, as usual. Ha ha. Are you ready?

Ravi: Go ahead Gordon

Gordon: A man went into a pet shop one day. “I’d like a parrot that talks”, he said. The shop assistant said “I’m sorry sir, but you have to teach your parrot to speak.” So the man bought a parrot and took it home with him. A week later he went back to the pet shop. “My parrot still doesn’t speak”, he said. “Oh, really? Well, perhaps he’s bored. You should buy this little swimming pool. He can have a swim and then he might talk”, explained the shop assistant. So, he bought the swimming pool and went home. The next week the man came back again. “He’s still not talking” he said. “Oh dear. Buy this mirror. He’ll swim in the pool, get out and look at himself, then talk.” So the man bought the mirror and went away. A week later he came back a final time. “My parrot is dead”, he said. “Oh, dear! I’m very sorry about that, sir – but tell me, before he died, did he say anything?” “Yes he did. But only one thing.” “Really? What was that?” “Give me food!” 

Tess: Gordon! That’s horrible! He didn’t give it any food! Oh, poor parrot!

Ravi: And that’s the end of this part of the show. We’re going now, but please don’t go away. After this little break you’re going to hear Tom, our English teacher on the podcast. After every show, Tom talks about the language you heard and gives you ideas to help you learn. So, stay with us, but I’ll say goodbye now. See you next time.

Tess: Bye! And don’t forget to send us your emails! Here’s that address one more time. It’s learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org

Tom the teacher

Tom: Hi, my name’s Tom – you’ll hear from me at the end of every podcast. I’m going to talk about some of the language that you heard in the podcast, and talk about ways to help you learn English. In the last podcast, we talked about using ‘can you?’ for a request – to ask someone to do something. Listen.

Carolina: Excuse me. Can you tell me where the Lost Luggage Office is please?

Today we listened to Carolina at the underground station asking someone to help her. Listen to what she said.

Carolina: Excuse me. Could you tell me which train goes to King’s Cross station please?

Tube worker: Piccadilly line miss.

Tom: Carolina says ‘could you?’. We use ‘can you?’ or ‘could you?’ when we’re talking to friends or people that we know well. But we often use ‘could you?’ with people that we don’t know very well, when we want to be very polite. Here’s another example at the airport.

Baggage handler: Here you are love. One black bag from Caracas.

Carolina: Yes, that’s mine. Thank you.

Lost luggage clerk: Could you sign your name here …

Tom: The man at the lost luggage desk uses ‘could you?’ to Carolina because he is being polite. Listen to the pronunciation – ‘could’ … ‘could’. You spell it C-O-U-L-D, but the letter L is silent. ‘Could’. Now listen to the words together. ‘Could you’ . The individual words are ‘could’ and ‘you’ but when we say them together we say ‘could you’. We do this a lot in English. Here’s another example. When we ask a question in the past we can use ‘did you?’ The individual words are ‘did’ and ‘you’ but together we say ‘did you’. A good learner’s dictionary will tell you how to pronounce individual words like ‘could’ – it uses special symbols. But it doesn’t tell you how words sound when we put them together. It’s a good idea to make a note of the pronunciation of common phrases like ‘could you?’ or ‘did you?’. You can use words and sounds from your own language. This will help you to remember how to say them.

There’s another thing I noticed in the same dialogue. Listen to it again, and notice what the man says when he gives Carolina her bag.

Baggage handler: Here you are love. One black bag from Caracas.

Carolina: Yes, that’s mine. Thank you.

Lost luggage clerk: Could you sign your name here …

Tom: He called her ‘love’. Do you remember the old lady at the airport who called Carolina ‘dear’? ‘Love’ is very similar. Older people might call you ‘love’ sometimes, even if they don’t know you. They’re just being friendly, so don’t think it’s strange.

Now, let’s talk about something different – the verb ‘look’. Listen to Ravi and Tess.

Tess: Forty pounds!! For a shirt!!

Ravi: But look at it - it’s a great shirt.

Tom: Ravi is using ‘look’ in the usual way. He wants Tess to look at his shirt carefully to see how nice it is. Now listen to ‘look’ in this section about Carolina’s lost bag.

Lost luggage clerk: Oh, erm, sorry, black, not blue. … He’s looking for it now.

Tom: The man used ‘look for’. He isn’t looking at Carolina’s bag – he doesn’t know where it is – he’s trying to find it. That’s what ‘look for’ means – to try to find something. The meaning of ‘look’ changes because of ‘for’. Now listen to another section – about Carolina’s ticket. How is ‘look’ used here?

Tube worker: And look after your ticket – don’t lose it – you’ll need to put it into the slot again when you leave the tube station at King’s Cross. 

Tom: The man tells Carolina to ‘look after’ her ticket. He means ‘take care of it’, ‘don’t lose it’. The meaning of ‘look’ changes because of ‘after’. So, ‘look at’, ‘look for’ and ‘look after’, all have different meanings. There are lots and lots of verbs like this in English - verbs that change their meanings. ‘Look’ is just one example. Some people call them ‘phrasal verbs’ and some people call them ‘multi-word verbs’. In the first podcast I talked about keeping a vocabulary notebook. Use your notebook to make a note of any multi-word verbs that you notice. You can usually understand their meaning in a sentence, or you can use a learner’s dictionary. For example, you can keep a page of your vocabulary book just for ‘look’ and make new pages for other verbs when you come across them. There you are! Another example! ‘Come across’ means ‘to find something accidentally’ - when you aren’t trying to find it. So now you can start another page for ‘come’.

Now for something different. Do you remember the name of the strange musical instrument that they play at football matches in South Africa? Listen.

Bob: When the famous names and the big stars walk out into the stadiums in 2010 they will hear a sound they’ve never heard before – the ‘vuvuzela’. The ‘vuvuzela’ is almost a musical instrument – but not quite – and you hear it at every football match in South Africa.

Tom: Yes, it’s the vuvuzela. But I’m not really interested in the name. I want you to notice that he says ‘the vuvuzela’. In English we use ‘the’ with the names of musical instruments. So we say ‘I can play the ‘piano’ or ‘can you play the guitar’? This may be different in your language, so try to remember it.

That’s nearly the end. Just one more thing before I go. Here’s a phrase that I’d like you to try and use this week. It’s another multi-word verb with ‘look’, so you can add it to your ‘look’ page in your vocabulary notebook. Listen to Ravi and Tess talking about the 2010 World Cup.

Tess: So, it’ll soon be World Cup time again Ravi. Are you looking forward to it? You’re a football fan aren’t you?

Ravi: Am I looking forward to it? I can’t wait!

Tom: Ravi is looking forward to the World Cup. He’s excited about it. He loves football and he’s going to really enjoy watching it. Can you translate ‘look forward to’ into your language? Try to use it this week. If someone says to you ‘Are you coming to the party on Saturday’ you can say ‘Yes, I’m really looking forward to it’.

OK. That’s all from me. I’ll talk to you all again next time – I’m looking forward to it. Remember you can send your questions to me at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. I’ll be happy to answer your questions! In a moment you’ll hear the address for the website where you can read everything you’ve heard in this podcast. So bye for now! See you next time.

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 04

در قسمت تس و راوی در مورد احساس خود صحبت می کنند و مهمانان آنها در مورد باب مارلی، یک جشنواره غیر معمول و پول بریتانیا صحبت می کنند. می توانید سفر کارولینا را با قطار از لندن به نیوکاسل دنبال کنید. آیا او قطار خود را خواهد گرفت؟

Section 1 – “How are you feeling?” – being sympathetic

Ravi: Hello again and welcome to LearnEnglish Elementary podcast number four. I’m Ravi – from Manchester

Tess: And I’m Tess – from London. Hi. Now, as usual we’ve got loads of great stuff for you to listen to but before we tell you about that - Ravi, I have to ask you, are you feeling better now?

Ravi: Oh, a lot better now thank you.

Tess: On Saturday morning Ravi called me and he sounded terrible. “Oh Tess, I feel really bad.”

Ravi: Yeah, OK. I did feel terrible. I had a really bad cold, a headache, ugh! I had a football match on Saturday afternoon too.

Tess: You didn’t play football, did you?

Ravi: No, I felt too bad. Do you know what I did?

Tess: What?

Ravi: A friend came over and we watched all of the Lord of the Rings films – all three of them. Ten hours of DVDs!

Tess: You’re joking. I can’t watch TV for that long. I get bored. Anyway, I didn’t really like Lord of the Rings. I liked the book. The film’s never as good as the book, I think.

Ravi: I haven’t read the book so I don’t know but, believe it or not, that’s exactly the question we asked people in ‘Your Turn’ this week – ‘Which do you prefer – the book or the film?’

Tess: Really? I bet everyone says that books are better.

Ravi: I’m not so sure. Anyway, that’s for later.

Section 2 – I’d like to meet

Ravi: Now it’s time for ‘I’d like to meet’. In this part of the podcast we ask people a simple question – which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet? And we ask them to explain why. So let’s say hello to this week’s guest, Marcus, from London. Welcome to ‘I’d like to meet’ Marcus.

Marcus: Thank you Ravi.

Tess: Hello Marcus.

Marcus: Hi Tess.

Tess: And you’re from London Marcus. That’s where I’m from.

Marcus: That’s right. I was born here - and I’ve lived here all my life.

Tess: And what do you do?

Marcus: I work in a supermarket, but I want to be a professional musician – that’s my ambition for the future.

Tess: We all need ambitions Marcus – and that’s a good one. Now I’m going to ask the question. So Marcus, which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet? I think I can guess – you’re going to talk about a musician aren’t you?

Marcus: You’re right Tess.

Ravi: Hmm. She’s always right!

Marcus: I’d like to meet Bob Marley.

Tess: Bob Marley! He’s one of my heroes. I’m sure all our listeners know Bob Marley, but could you explain who he is for us?

Marcus: Bob Marley was Jamaican – and he was the man who gave reggae music to the world – the world outside Jamaica of course. And the Rastafarian religion too – he was also famous for his religious beliefs. He was born in 1945 and died in 1981. So, he died very young – he was only in his thirties.

Tess: Hmm.

Ravi: How did he die?

Marcus: He had cancer.

Ravi: And why did you choose him to talk about today?

Marcus: Bob Marley never wrote a bad song. My father was a big Bob Marley fan so I grew up listening to his music at home when I was a kid – I used to listen to it when I was sad - it’s impossible to listen to Bob Marley and feel unhappy - that was his message to the world –“‘Don’t worry, be happy”. He wasn’t interested in negative things – his music was always positive. He’s a legend. He was the first ‘superstar’ from a poor country – and that’s why people from poor countries all over the world love him so much – his music speaks to them. Everywhere you go, everywhere in the world, people know and love Bob Marley – everywhere. He was poor, he grew up in an area called Trench Town - a very poor area in Jamaica, with gang problems and drug problems. He left school when he was fourteen and started work. His message is universal – it’s a protest really. It’s about how human beings are all the same, black or white, rich or poor, and his religion helped him to understand that. He once said “I don’t stand for the black man’s side, I don’t stand for the white man’s side – I stand for God’s side”. God was very important to him - he was a very spiritual man. I’m a musician and I want my music to have a message – I want to make people feel good. Like in the song “One love, one heart, let’s get together and feel all right” – that’s the message - it’s so simple.

Tess: And is there a special question that you’d like to ask him Marcus?

Marcus: Thousands! But no, not really, not one special question. I’d like to sit and talk to him for a long time – all night if I could - but no, not one special question.

Ravi: I enjoyed that Marcus. Thanks a lot.

Tess: Me too. Thank you.

Marcus: Thank you

Ravi: And remember listeners, that we’d like to hear from you. Which famous person, dead or alive, would you like to meet? And why? Email us at ‘learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org - that’s learnenglishpodcast - all one word - AT- britishcouncil – all one word - DOT org, that’s o-r-g. Let us know which famous person you would like to meet.

Tess: Oh, I feel like listening to some Bob Marley now.

Section 3 – Quiz

Ravi: No time for that Tess, it’s time for our quiz. Every week we have a little quiz to make you think. This week we’re going to play Hot Seat again. Here to play are Hannah and Max. Hi Hannah.

Hannah: Hello

Ravi: Hi Max

Max: Hello.

Ravi: You’re both from Sheffield, is that right?

Max: Yeah

Ravi: And how old are you?

Max: I’m seventeen

Hannah: And I’m sixteen. We go to the same school. St Joseph’s.

Ravi: Are you in the same class?

Hannah: We are, yeah.

Ravi: OK. And who’s doing what? Who’s going to explain the words and who’s going to be in the Hot Seat?

Hannah: I’ll explain and Max’ll guess.

Ravi: OK. OK, Max?

Max: OK.

Ravi: Right. Remember how to play? These cards have all got words on. Hannah has to explain the words and Max has to guess them. But remember Hannah, you can’t use the words on the card. Max, you have to guess as many words as you can in one minute. OK?

Hannah and Max: OK

Ravi: Then let’s go. You’ve got one minute starting now!

Hannah: Erm .. big thing. On the sea. You sail in it.

Max: Boat? Ship.

Hannah: Ship! An animal. Small. Big ears.

Max: Elephant.

Hannah: No. It’s small. Carrots! It eats carrots.

Max: Rabbit.

Hannah: Yes, yes! Erm .. you do it at the disco.

Max: Dance.

Hannah: Yes! It’s a fruit I think. It’s very hard. It’s got milk inside. You can eat part of it but not the outside.

Max:Coconut!

Hannah: Yes! Erm, you go there when you’re sick.

Max: Hospital. Doctor’s.

Hannah: Hospital. It’s white. Comes from a cow. You drink it.

Max: Milk.

Hannah: It goes across the river. You cross it.

Max: A bridge

Hannah: You stand under it in the morning and you wash yourself.

Max: Shower!

Hannah: It’s a day. Erm …you’ll be eighteen

Max: Birthday.

Ravi: We’ll give you ‘birthday’. Fantastic. How many was that? I make it nine. Is that right? Yes, nine. Brilliant. Well done Hannah and Max!

Tess: Well done! And if any of you listening have a good game we can play in quiz time, write to us and let us know. The address is learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. We’d love to hear your ideas for games we can play. Phew! It makes me tired just listening to Hot Seat so now we’ll have something a bit more relaxed.

Section 4 – Our person in

It’s time for ‘Our Person In’. This is the part of the podcast where we listen to people in interesting places all over the world telling us something about life in the country they’re in. This week Robert Watson is Our Man in Hong Kong.

Robert: In the centre of Hong Kong everything is new, modern and busy. It’s difficult to think what the city was like a hundred years ago. But only forty-five minutes away from the centre, on the small island of Cheung Chau we can see another side of Hong Kong – a side that is not very different from how it was centuries ago.

Every year, in May, Cheung Chau celebrates its Bun Festival. The buns are small, white, bread rolls and huge towers made of bamboo are covered in the sweet buns in the festival, which lasts for a week. No-one knows exactly why the festival started but there is a procession to honour

Pak Tai – the sea god. In this procession, children in fantastic costumes are carried through the village. The costumes hide the seats that the children are sitting on and it looks like they are flying. For three days before the festival no-one on the island eats meat. The butcher’s shop is closed and restaurants serve only vegetarian dishes. Even the small McDonald’s on the island sells only vegetarian food for these three days. Perhaps, for three days, this quiet corner of one of the busiest places on earth is the only place where you can’t buy a Big Mac at McDonald’s!

Tess: No Big Macs. Sounds great.

Ravi: Oh come on Tess, everybody eats a Big Mac now and then.

Tess: I don’t. Ugh!

Ravi: You never eat fast food?

Tess: I try not to. Horrible stuff!

Ravi: Actually, fast food might be a good idea for Your Turn – but not this week. Your Turn, listeners, is when we go into the street

Tess: Oh, you forgot to give the address.

Ravi: Oh right. Yes. Sorry. If you’d like to write in and tell us something interesting about your city or town, we’d love to hear from you. You can send it to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 5 – Your turn

Ravi: OK. Now we can move on to Your Turn. We went out into the street to find out what people think about this question: “Which do you prefer – the book or the film?”

Tess: Book or film? For me, the book, but let’s hear what people said.

Voice 1: I definitely prefer the book. I love going to the cinema but if there’s a book and I’ve read it, then I never go to see the film. Reading books is all about imagination and the film spoils that. Like when you read a book and you can’t imagine the character because you keep thinking of, say, Brad Pitt’s face.

Voice 2: The film definitely. Look at Lord of the Rings. It’s a really long book. In fact it’s three long books – it takes months to read and with the film you get all the special effects and it looks fantastic – much more exciting than the books.

Voice 3: It depends. It depends on the book. If it’s a serious book by a good writer then the book is always better than the film but if it’s not a great book – a thriller or something like that – the film can be better than the book.

Voice 4: Uh, the book, for me. You have to work harder with a book – you have to make the pictures in your head but when it’s a good writer it’s like watching a film – you make the book into your own film, in your head, and everyone has a different film – that’s much better!

Voice 5: I think I prefer films. You get more from a film. In a book you only get the story and you have to imagine how things look. In a film you get the story and you get the actors and music and everything. For example, if a film is set in Japan you get to see Japan. I’ve never been to Japan – I can’t imagine it! A film shows you more.

Tess: Well, I disagree with him but there were some interesting opinions there.

Ravi: Remember that we’d love to know what you think. ‘Which do you prefer – the book or the film?’ Or do you have an idea for a question that we could ask on Your Turn? Send us an email at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org and we can ask your question in another podcast.

Section 6 – Carolina

Tess: Now it’s time to meet Carolina again. As you probably remember, Carolina is a Venezuelan student and she’s visiting Britain for the first time. She’s going to Newcastle, in the north east of England. She’s going to live and study there, and of course, have a lot of fun – we hope! In the last podcast we listened to Carolina’s conversation at the underground station. She was going to King’s Cross station to get the train to Newcastle.

Ravi: That’s right. And she was worried that she didn’t have time to get to the station to catch her train.

Tess: But everything was all right. Carolina caught her train – with only a few minutes to spare. So let’s listen now to what happened on the train to Newcastle.

Carolina: Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?

Jamie: No, it’s free. Sorry, I’ll move my bag.

Voice over PA system: …situated towards the front of the train. We would like to remind passengers that coach F, at the rear of the train, is the Quiet Coach. If you are sitting in coach F, please use all electronic equipment quietly and switch mobile phones to silent mode. Please be considerate to other passengers. Thank you.

Carolina: Coach F?

Jamie: Yeah, this is a Quiet Coach. There’s a sign - look. No mobile phone conversations. No noise. It’s cool. I hate listening to other people’s conversations.

Carolina: Oh, OK. I didn’t know. It’s a good idea.

Jamie: Yeah. Where are you going?

Carolina: Newcastle.

Jamie: Me too. Do you live there?

Carolina: No, I’m going to study there – at the university. What about you? Do you live there?

Jamie: Yeah. I’m at the university too. It’s a great city. You aren’t English are you.

Carolina: No, I’m Venezuelan.

Jamie: Cool. You speak really good English.

Carolina: Thank you. My mother’s English, but I’ve never been to Britain before. It’s all a bit strange.

Man on train: Hello? Dan? Yes, hi, how’s it going? Yes, I’m on the train. Yeah? Yeah it finished at six o’clock more or less….

Woman on train: Excuse me! This is a quiet coach. Could you have your conversation in the corridor?

Man on train: What? Uh? Yeah, OK, sorry. Yeah, Dan, sorry, what did you say? I didn’t hear you, I’m in the quiet coach - some woman was complaining about …

Jamie: I’m going to get a coffee or something. D’you want anything?

Carolina: Erm, I don’t know, what have they got?

Jamie: Come with me then, you can have a look. They’ve got sandwiches and stuff too.

Carolina: OK.

Jamie: There you go – there’s the list on the wall. What d’you fancy?

Carolina: Fancy? What do you mean?

Jamie: Sorry. What would you like. What do you fancy means what would you like.

Carolina: Do you think I can pay with my visa card? I still haven’t got any English money – I lost my bag, and then I nearly missed the train …

Jamie: Don’t worry about it. This one’s on me. I’ll pay. Have a toasted sandwich – they’re good. Cheese and tomato?

Carolina: Cheese with tomato? In a toasted sandwich?

Jamie: Delicious!

Carolina: Oh no!

Jamie: What about cheese and ham then?

Carolina: Yes, cheese and ham please

Jamie: And to drink? Coke? Orange juice? A beer?

Carolina: Erm, orange juice please.

Assistant: Can I help you?

Jamie: Yes, erm two toasted sandwiches please - one cheese and tomato, one cheese and ham - an orange juice and a coke. How much is that?

Assistant: Two toasted sandwiches, three forty-five each, coke ninety p, orange juice one pound forty, that’s nine pounds twenty please.

Jamie: Here you are.

Assistant: And that’s eighty p change. Thank you.

Carolina:That’s very kind of you. It’s a lot of money. That’s nearly ten pounds.

Jamie: Don’t worry about it. I’m a real gentleman. Tell you what, you can take me out for lunch one day in Newcastle. You can pay for me. I’ll give you my phone number. Is that a deal?

Carolina: OK. It’s a deal.

Jamie: Good. Now let’s sit down and eat these.

Carolina: OK

Tess: Hmm. Jamie sounds nice.

Ravi: Uh, honestly, you women!

Tess: What?!

Ravi: Never mind.

Section 7 – The Joke

Ravi: Right, that’s almost the end but we can’t go before we hear from Gordon, our producer. Hey, Gordon, I’ve got a joke for you this week.

Gordon: Oh yes? Erm, come on then, let’s hear it.

Ravi: OK. What’s red and invisible?

Gordon: Erm, I don’t know. What’s red and invisible?

Ravi: No tomatoes!

Gordon: Ho, ho, ho! That’s worse than mine. Leave the jokes to me Ravi.

Ravi: Come on then, let’s hear it for this week.

Gordon: Right. I’ve got the perfect joke for this week’s podcast. Ready?

Ravi: OK.

Gordon: OK then. A man goes into a cinema to watch a film. He sits down and in front of him there’s a man and a dog.

Ravi: You can’t take dogs into a cinema, can you?

Gordon: You can in this cinema. Anyway, the film’s a romantic comedy. After a little while there’s a funny part in the film, and – amazing – the dog starts laughing at the film.

Ravi: Uh-huh.

Gordon: Yeah. A little while after that there’s a very sad scene. The dog starts crying its eyes out. This goes on for the whole film – the dog laughs at the funny parts and cries at the sad parts. Well, at the end of the film, the man waits outside the cinema until the man with the dog comes out. “Excuse me” he says, “I watched your dog crying and laughing all through the film. It’s absolutely amazing”. “I know” says the man with the dog. “It is amazing. He hated the book”. 

Tess: Are all your jokes about funny animals Gordon?

Gordon: Ah well, most of them, yes.

Ravi: OK. We have to go now but don’t go away. After this little break you’re going to hear Tom, our English teacher. After every show, Tom talks about the language you heard and gives you ideas to help you learn. So, don’t go away, but we’ll say goodbye now. See you next time.

Tess

Bye! Don’t forget to send us your emails! Here’s that address one more time. It’s learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Tom the teacher

Tom: Hi, my name’s Tom – you’ll hear from me at the end of every podcast. I’m going to talk about some of the language that you heard, and talk about ways to help you learn English. The first thing I want to talk about today is British money. British money is ‘pounds’ and ‘pence’. One pound is one hundred pence - there are a hundred pence in a pound. Listen to Carolina and Jamie buying food on the train. Listen to how much everything costs.

Assistant: Can I help you?

Jamie: Yes, erm two toasted sandwiches please - one cheese and tomato, one cheese and ham - an orange juice and a coke. How much is that?

Assistant: Two toasted sandwiches, three forty-five each, coke ninety p, orange juice one pound forty, that’s nine pounds twenty please.

Tom: Did you notice that she didn’t say ‘three pounds and forty-five pence’? She said ‘three forty-five’. British people often say prices like this. Sometimes they say ‘pounds’ and sometimes they don’t. The woman said ‘nine pounds twenty’ for the total. You will hear people say prices in both ways. But – it’s important to remember that if the price is only pounds – when there are no pence in the price, then we always say ‘pounds’. For example, we can say ‘three pounds forty-five’, or ‘three forty-five’ – but we must always say ‘three pounds’. Now let’s think about the pence. Listen again to the prices.

Assistant: Two toasted sandwiches, three forty-five each, coke ninety p, orange juice one pound forty, that’s nine pounds twenty please.

Tom: Did you notice that she didn’t say ‘pence’? British people don’t usually say ‘pence’. If the price has pounds first, then we understand that the second number is pence. We don’t need to say anything, just the number. But Jamie’s coke was ‘ninety p’. If the price is only pence, then we say p. It’s a short way of saying pence. ‘p’ means pence.

I’d like to say something else about Carolina and Jamie’s conversation. Jamie uses a lot of phrases that are probably new for you. They are phrases that you don’t often read in coursebooks or learn in classes. But they’re phrases that British people use a lot. Here’s an example.

Jamie: There you go – there’s the list on the wall. What d’you fancy?

Carolina: Fancy? What do you mean?

Jamie: Sorry. What would you like. What do you fancy means what would you like.

Tom: ‘What do you fancy?’ is very informal. Carolina doesn’t understand so she asks Jamie. She says “What do you mean?”. Then Jamie explains that ‘What do you fancy’ means ‘What would you like?’

Here’s another example, from Jamie again. Listen for a phrase that’s new for you.

Carolina: Do you think I can pay with my visa card? I still haven’t got any English money – I lost my bag, and then I nearly missed the train …

Jamie: Don’t worry about it. This one’s on me. I’ll pay. Have a toasted sandwich – they’re good. Cheese and tomato?

Carolina: Cheese with tomato? In a toasted sandwich?

Tom: Jamie says ‘This one’s on me’, which is an informal way of saying ‘It’s OK, I’m going to pay for this’. Try to remember phrases like this when you notice them. And do what Carolina did – ask ‘What do you mean?’ if you don’t understand.

Now, I’ve got an interesting word to talk about next. The word is ‘stuff’. Listen to Tess speaking and see if you can understand what ‘stuff’ means.

Tess: And I’m Tess – from London. Hi. Now, as usual we’ve got loads of great stuff for you to listen to but before we tell you about that; Ravi, I have to ask you, are you feeling better now? 

Tom: ‘Stuff’ just means ‘things’. British people use it a lot when they’re speaking. Here’s another example.

Jamie: I’m going to get a coffee or something. D’you want anything?

Carolina: Erm, I don’t know, what have they got?

Jamie: Come with me then, you can have a look. They’ve got sandwiches and stuff too.

Carolina: OK.

Tom: Jamie doesn’t want to tell Carolina all of the things that she can buy, so he just says ‘sandwiches and stuff’ – all the other things that they can buy to eat on the train. The next time you listen to a film or a TV programme in English, listen for people saying ‘stuff’. I’m sure you’ll notice it a lot now.

It’s nearly time for me to go, but first, I want to give you a phrase for you to try and use this week. Do you remember the question in today’s ‘Your Turn’? It was ‘Which do you prefer – the book or the film?’ Listen to one of the answers.

Voice 3: It depends. It depends on the book. If it’s a serious book by a good writer then the book is always better than the film but if it’s not a great book – a thriller or something like that – the film can be better than the book

Tom: He says ‘It depends’. We talked about ‘it depends’ in the first podcast. This time ‘it depends’ means ‘I’m not sure because sometimes I have one opinion and sometimes I have a different opinion.’ Let’s look at how to use it in a sentence. The man says ‘it depends on the book’.

Notice the preposition. We say ‘it depends on something’. So if someone asks you a question, like ‘Do you like dogs?’ you can say ‘Well, it depends on the dog – I like small dogs, but I don’t like big ones’. Try to use it this week.

OK. That’s all from me today. I’ll talk to you all again on the next podcast. Remember you can send your questions to me at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. I’ll be happy to answer your questions! In a moment you’ll hear the address for the website where you can read everything you’ve heard in this podcast. So bye for now! See you next time.

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 05

در این قسمت تس و راوی در مورد حیوانات خانگی صحبت می کنند و مهمانان آنها در مورد دیدیه دروگبا و زندگی در نیوزیلند صحبت می کنند. همچنین می‌توانید ماجراجویی‌های کارولینا در بریتانیا را با رسیدن او به محل اقامت دانشجویی‌اش در نیوکاسل دنبال کنید. آیا او دوستان جدیدی پیدا خواهد کرد؟

Section 1 - “I didn't know you had a dog!” – talking about pets

Ravi: Hello again and welcome to LearnEnglish Elementary podcast number five. I’m Ravi – from Manchester

Tess: And I’m Tess – from London. We’re here with Gordon – our producer. Hello Gordon.

Gordon: Hello!

Tess: …. and, as usual, we’ve got lots of interesting things for you to listen to. But first of all, do you want to know my big news for this week, Ravi?

Ravi: Let me guess. You’re going to be the star of a brand new Hollywood movie? You’ve won the lottery?

Tess: Not quite, Ravi. I’ve got a cat!

Ravi: Really?

Tess: Well, it’s just a baby cat – a kitten, but yes, I got him yesterday. He’s gorgeous.

Ravi: It’s a boy cat then? Where did you get him? Tess: Well, my friend Kate found him in the street. And Kate’s already got two cats so I said I’d take this one.

Ravi: What colour is he?

Tess: Well, he’s only small but he’s a brown tabby.

Ravi: What’s a tabby again? Is that the stripy one?

Tess: That’s it – tabbies are the ones with sort of dark stripes – like a tiger. He’s really lovely.

Ravi: What are you going to call him?

Tess: D’you know, I just don’t know. I’ve got lots of ideas for names but I can’t decide. I thought maybe you could help me. What would you call a cat?

Ravi: Hmm. That’s a difficult question. To be honest, Tess, I’m more of a dog person. I’ve never really thought about names for cats.

Tess: You don’t like cats?

Ravi: Well, it’s not that I don’t like cats. I just prefer dogs, that’s all. Anyway, I’ve got an idea, why don’t you call your cat ‘Gordon’.

Tess: Hmm. I don’t think so. I need to think of a name soon though, really. Anyway, let’s move on.

Section 2 – I’d like to meet

Tess: Let’s start with I’d Like to Meet. If you’re listening for the first time, I’d Like to Meet is the part of the show where someone tells us about the famous person – alive or dead – that they’d like to meet – and why. This time round we’ve got Olu with us. Hi Olu.

Olu: Hi Tess.

Tess: Where are you calling from Olu?

Olu: From West London.

Tess: And what do you do?

Olu: I’m still at school. In Year 12 Tess: OK. And who would you like to meet, Olu? Who are you going to talk to us about?

Olu: I’d like to meet Didier Drogba.

Ravi: Drogba? The footballer? Chelsea? You do know I’m from Manchester, don’t you, Olu? You know, Manchester United?

Olu: Yeah, well, it’s not just because he’s Chelsea.

Tess: Come on Olu – don’t listen to him. Why would you like to meet Didier Drogba? Tell us something about him.

Olu: Well, he’s a footballer – you already know that – and he’s from Ivory Coast, in West Africa, and he plays great football.

Tess: And do you like him because he’s a good footballer?

Olu: Well, I do, I like the way he plays and he scores some great goals and all that, but there’s more than that. He was born in Ivory Coast but he moved to France when he was five – he went on his own to live with his uncle. Imagine that – a five year-old boy moving to a new country by himself?

Tess: Wow.

Olu: And then he went back to Ivory Coast but moved back to France a bit after that. His family were really poor, you know, and they had to move around to look for work and that.

Tess: So did he start playing football in Ivory Coast?

Olu: No – in France. And this is another thing I like about him, see, most players at the really big clubs go there when they’re quite young but Drogba played for a few years with small teams and worked his way up, through hard work. He was 26, I think, when he went to Chelsea. But anyway, what I like him for most is that even though he’s made it now and he’s got loads of money and that he really hasn’t forgotten where he came from. He does loads of work for Unicef – he’s like an ambassador or something for them so he does all this charity work. Y’see, my dad came here from Nigeria when he was really small and, I’ve never been to Africa but all you see on TV is about problems in Africa all the time so it’s really good to see someone who comes from somewhere like Ivory Coast doing good things, you know.

Ravi: And Ivory Coast were in the World Cup in Germany, weren’t they?

Olu: Yeah. It’s the first time they’ve got to the World Cup Finals, and they did OK. Drogba was African footballer of the year as well.

Tess: And what would you like to say to Didier Drogba if you met him, Olu?

Olu: Erm, I guess I’d say thank you to him for the work he does for Africa and for showing people something good from Africa. And for scoring all those goals for Chelsea!

Ravi: Hmmm. I don’t know about that. But that was great Olu, thank you.

Tess: And don’t forget, we’d like to hear from you, our listeners. Tell us which famous person, dead or alive, you’d like to meet – and why. Email us at ‘learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org., that’s learnenglishpodcast - all one word – at - britishcouncil – all one word dot org, that’s o-r-g.

Ravi: I’ll tell you what Tess, why don’t you call your cat Didier? That’s a great name for a cat.

Tess: Hmm. I don’t think so, really.

Section 3 – Quiz

Tess: OK. Now it’s quiz time. What is it this time Ravi?

Ravi: It’s something a bit different today – we’ve got our two players joining us on the telephone – I hope – Hello Vineeta?

Vineeta: (on phone) Hi Ravi

Ravi: And hello Jason.

Jason: (on phone) Hello

Ravi: Jason – where are you from and how old are you?

Jason: Erm .. I’m 15 and I’m from Durham.

Ravi: Near Newcastle? That’s where Carolina is. What’s the weather like in Durham today Jason?

Jason: Not great, really. It’s a bit cloudy.

Ravi: Oh dear. How are things where you are Vineeta? Where are you?

Vineeta: I’m in Plymouth.

Ravi: OK Plymouth – we’ve got opposite ends of the country here, Durham and Plymouth. It’s north against south. Sorry, Vineeta, what’s the weather like in Plymouth?

Vineeta: Not too bad. Quite sunny.

Ravi: OK. Better than Durham. Right. Do you both know what you have to do? I’ll explain for our listeners. I’m going to ask Jason and Vineeta some questions. To answer, they press any button on their phone and we’ll hear a buzzer. Let’s hear yours Jason.

(sound of Jason’s buzzer)

Ravi: And yours Vineeta (sound of Vineeta’s buzzer)

Ravi: Great. Now, the quiz is called ‘Beginning With ..’ – your answer has to begin with the letter I give you – so if I say, for example, ‘a sport beginning with 'F’ you could say ‘football’. Let’s have a practice run to begin with. Fingers ready? An animal beginning with P

(Jason’s buzzer)

Ravi: Jason?

Jason: Polar bear

Ravi: Yes. OK then, let’s play. First one to three is the winner. Ready?

Jason & Vineeta: Ready

Ravi: OK then, let’s go. A vegetable beginning with ‘L’ (Jason’s buzzer)

Ravi: Jason!

Jason: Lettuce

Ravi: Right. One nil to Jason. A colour beginning with ‘Y’.

(Jason’s buzzer)

Ravi: Jason again.

Jason: Yellow

Ravi: Right. Two nil. Come on Vineeta. A bird beginning with ‘E’.

(Vineeta’s buzzer)

Ravi: Vineeta.

Vineeta: Eagle.

Ravi: Yes. Well done Vineeta. Two one. OK. A sport beginning with ‘G’

(Jason’s buzzer)

Ravi: Jason.

Jason: Golf

Ravi: Yes! That’s three for Jason so you’re the winner. Well done Jason. And bad luck Vineeta. He was just a bit quicker than you.

Vineeta: Yeah.

Ravi: But never mind. Well done to both of you and thank you both for playing. Now, Tess, a cat’s name beginning with …..

Tess: I wish I could decide. Remember listeners that if you’ve got any ideas for games we can play, we’d love to hear them. You can send them to the usual address..

Section 4 – Our person in

Tess: Right, now then. The next part of our podcast is Our Person In – the part of the show where we hear from different people around the world. You’ll like it this time Ravi – you like Lord of the Rings. Graham Baxter is …Our Man in New Zealand.

Graham: When I was a boy and I first read Lord of the Rings, I dreamt of visiting the places Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, created. Hobbiton, Middle Earth, Mount Doom. Now, finally, I have found all of these places, here, in New Zealand.

Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings films, was born in Wellington – the capital city of New Zealand. When he was looking for places to make the fantastic worlds he needed for his films he knew where to look. New Zealand has all kinds of scenery – and you can see a lot of it in the three films. The green hills of Matamata became Hobbiton and the Queenstown area became the Eregion Hills – and lots of other places – all with a little bit of help from computer magic.

People in New Zealand are proud of their country’s star role in the films but they are also happy at what Lord of the Rings has done to bring tourists to New Zealand. After the third film in the trilogy, The Return of the King, won 11 Oscars the number of tourists who visited New Zealand went up by 8%. More than a billion people have visited the Lord of the Rings website – fantastic publicity for this small country.

For me, this is my boyhood dream come true – a tour of the amazing worlds of Lord of the Rings – and all right here in New Zealand.

Ravi: Great. I’d love to go to New Zealand. I’ve always wanted to go.

Tess: Me too. The scenery sounds amazing. And it always looks so green in pictures.

Ravi: Yeah. It looks fantastic. Don’t forget listeners that we’d love to hear about the scenery or countryside in your country. Is there a special place you like to go or some especially famous countryside? You can write and tell us about it. As usual the address is learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. Go on, why not write, we’re always happy to hear from our listeners?

Section 5 – Your turn

Tess: Now, for Your Turn this time, since I’ve got a new cat, we decided to ask people a very important question – “Which do you prefer - cats or dogs?” It’s a very simple question but people have very strong opinions. Let’s hear what they said.

Voice 1: Dogs. Definitely. Why? Look – if you’ve got a dog it really loves you. All cats care about is who feeds them. You can think a cat loves you but if someone else gives it food it’ll be gone.

Voice 2: Well, I’ve got two cats so I think you know what my answer will be. But cats are just so much easier to look after. With dogs you’ve got to take them for walks all the time and all of that and you have to clean up their poo – yeuch.

Voice 3: That’s easy. Dogs are noisy, smelly and stupid; cats are much more intelligent. If you’re sitting on your sofa, right, it’s lovely when a cat comes and sits on you and purrs. Would you want a big daft dog to come and sit on you?

Voice 4: Cats are just so boring. All they do is sit around and sleep all day. They’re selfish, basically. Dogs play with you and stuff. They’re fun, you know.

Voice 5: Well, to be honest, I’m not really an animal lover. I think it’s cruel to keep dogs in the city – they should be in the country. Cats make me sneeze and they’re a real problem if you want to go on holiday. If I had to have a pet I’d probably have a goldfish.

Ravi: Interesting. What about you Tess? Why do you prefer cats?

Tess: I just do. Cats are so much more intelligent than dogs, I think. I like dogs too but, you know, like the last person said, I think it’s a bit cruel to keep a dog in a small flat like mine.

Ravi: OK. What about you listeners? Cats or dogs – which do you prefer? You can write and let us know. It’s learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. We’d love to hear from you.

Section 6 – Carolina

Tess: Right. Now it’s time to meet Carolina again. Carolina is from Venezuela and she’s come to the UK to live and study – and have fun! Last time we listened Carolina was on the train from London to Newcastle in the north of England, where she’s going to study at university. Let’s see what happened when she arrived in Newcastle. Another student is showing her round the student accommodation. 

Gemma: ... and if you get lost just ask someone. Anyway, this is the kitchen. Like I said, there are five of you in this flat and this is the kitchen for your flat. The other flats have all got their own kitchens. Right – I think that’s everything, I’m going to get back. I’m sure you want some time to unpack your stuff. Some of the other girls in your flat are here already. You’ll probably meet them here in the kitchen a bit later.

Carolina: OK. Thanks Gemma. Thanks for showing me around.

Gemma: No problem. I’ll probably see you around. OK. See you. I’m sure you’ll have a great time in Newcastle.

Carolina: Thanks. Bye

(in the shared kitchen )

Carolina: Erm. Hello. Charlotte: Hi. Oh! Are you in Room 4? Hi! Come in!

Carolina: Hi. Yes, I’m in Room 4. I’m Carolina.

Charlotte: Hi Carolina. I’m Charlotte. Nice to meet you. I’m in Room 2. We’re neighbours.

Carolina: Oh, right. Nice to meet you.

Emily: I’m Emily. I’m in number 1.

Carolina: Nice to meet you.

Emily: Nice to meet you.

Jenny: And I’m Jenny. Hi.

Carolina: Hi Jenny. Do you all know each other?

Jenny: No – we just met this afternoon. There’s another girl, Beth, but she’s not here at the moment. Have you just arrived? I’m sorry – I didn’t catch your name.

Carolina: Carolina. Yes, erm, I arrived about an hour ago.

Charlotte: Did you fly to Newcastle?

Carolina: No, erm, I got the train to Newcastle. I flew to London – to Heathrow.

Charlotte: Ah, OK. Where are you from?

Carolina: I’m from Venezuela.

Emily: Really? Wow! Have you flown from Venezuela today? You must be exhausted.

Carolina: Yes. I am actually. I just wanted to meet you all before I went to bed.

Jenny: What’s the time difference between here and Venezuela?

Carolina: It’s four hours behind here. So it’s seven o’clock in the evening in Venezuela now.

Charlotte: Do you want a cup of tea Carolina?

Carolina: Erm. .. No thanks. I’m going to go to bed. Erm. Do any of you know where we have to go to register tomorrow?

Emily: I do. I went there today. I can go with you if you want?

Carolina: Really? That would be great.

Jenny: Can I come too? I need to register as well. What course are you doing Carolina?

Carolina: Erm … Environmental Science. How about you?

Jenny: French and Politics. I think we have to register in the same place.

Emily: You do. It’s all in the same building. Shall we go at about nine tomorrow morning? Is that too early for you Carolina?

Carolina: No. Nine o’clock is OK. If that’s OK with you, sorry, erm …Jenny? Jenny: Nine’s fine. It’s a date! Now, you get yourself to bed Carolina – you look exhausted.

Carolina: OK. I am. Nice to meet you all. See you in the morning.

Charlotte/Jenny/Emily: Goodnight/See you tomorrow/See you in the morning.

Tess: Right. Carolina seems to be OK in Newcastle. Her flatmates sound nice.

Ravi: Yeah. How does it work? She doesn’t share a room with anyone, does she?

Tess: I don’t think so. I didn’t. Usually a ‘flat’ has four or five rooms – single rooms – and then those four or five people have a shared kitchen and maybe a shared bathroom too.

Ravi: Oh, OK. I see. Anyway, we’ll hear more about Carolina next time.

Section 7 – The Joke

Ravi: Now it’s time for …da-dah! Gordon and his amazing jokes. So what have you got for us today Gordon? Parrots? Talking dogs?

Gordon: Chickens. They can’t talk though.

Ravi: OK. Come on then. Let’s hear it.

Gordon: OK. A man is driving slowly down a country road when he sees a chicken run in front of his car. Nothing strange about that – but then, he notices that the chicken has three legs. "How strange" he thinks, "a three-legged chicken". He starts to drive a bit faster – 40 kilometres an hour - but the chicken goes faster too. He drives a bit faster – 70 kilometres an hour – but the three-legged chicken just runs faster too. The man goes faster and faster but the chicken keeps running. When they are both doing over one hundred kilometres an hour, the chicken turns a corner into a farm.

Quickly, the man stops his car. The farmyard is full of three-legged chickens. There are three-legged chickens everywhere. So, he sees the farmer in the farmyard and he asks him, “Where do all of these three-legged chickens come from? 

This is amazing”. “I breed them” says the farmer. “There are three of us, me, my wife and our son. We all like chicken legs, so … I made a three-legged chicken, so we can all have a leg at dinner time”. “Amazing” says the man, “How’s the meat? Does it taste good?”

“Well”, says the farmer, “I don’t know. We haven’t caught one of them yet.”

Tess: I don’t get it.

Ravi: Oh, Tess. They can’t catch the chickens because they’re so fast.

Tess: So do they taste good or not?

Ravi: Never mind Tess, never mind. Right. That’s all we’ve got time for this time but don’t go away. After this little break you’re going to hear Tom, our English teacher. After every show, Tom talks about the language you heard and gives you ideas to help you learn. So, don’t go away, but I’ll say goodbye now. See you next time.

Tess: Bye! Don’t forget to send us your emails! Here’s that address one more time. It’s learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Tom the teacher

Tom:

Hi, my name’s Tom – you’ll hear from me at the end of every podcast. I’m going to talk about some of the language that you heard, and talk about ways to help you learn English. Today I want to talk about verbs. You probably know that most verbs in English are ‘regular’. That means that the forms are very easy to remember. For all regular verbs, we make the past form in the same way. We add ‘E, D’ (or just ‘D’ if the verb already ends in ‘E’). For example, the verb ‘look’. The verb is ‘look’ and to make the past form we just add ‘E,D’. ‘Looked’. And the verb ‘like’. It already ends in ‘E’ so we just add ‘D’ to make the past. ‘Liked’.

So far so good. But the bad news is that a lot of the most common English verbs, verbs that you need to use all the time, are ‘irregular’. This means that they don’t follow the same rule. ‘Have’ is an irregular verb. You already know that the past of ‘have’ isn’t ‘haved’ – it’s ‘had’. But there are a lot more of them.

Listen to part of Carolina’s conversation with her new flatmates. Can you hear the three different forms of the verb ‘fly’?

Charlotte: Did you fly to Newcastle?

Carolina: No, erm, I got the train to Newcastle. I flew to London – to Heathrow.

Charlotte: Ah, OK. Where are you from?

Carolina: I’m from Venezuela.

Emily: Really? Wow! Have you flown from Venezuela today? You must be exhausted.

Did you hear the three forms? They were ‘fly’, ‘flew’ and ‘flown’. If you use a coursebook, or have a grammar book to study, it probably has a list of irregular verbs. And the list is organised in three columns. If you look for the verb ‘fly’ you will see ‘fly’ in the first column, ‘flew’ in the second column and ‘flown’ in the third. Listen again.

Charlotte: Did you fly to Newcastle?

Carolina: No, erm, I got the train to Newcastle. I flew to London – to Heathrow.

‘Fly’ is the base form of the verb – some people call it the infinitive. We use it in lots of different ways. For example – we use it with ‘going to’ to talk about the future. ‘He’s going to fly to London next week’. We use it with ‘do’ and ‘did’ to make questions, ‘Did you fly to Newcastle?’

Remember that this first column is not the present tense. It might look the same – we say ‘I fly to London every week', but remember that we say ‘he or she flies’.

The second column is ‘flew’. This column is easy - it’s the past simple form. ‘Flew’ is the past simple of fly. Carolina flew to London and then she got the train to Newcastle.

Now let’s look at the third column. Listen again.

Carolina: I’m from Venezuela.

Emily: Really? Wow! Have you flown from Venezuela today? You must be exhausted.

The third column is ‘flown’. Some people call it ‘the past participle’. We never use this form alone – we use it with other verbs. We often use it with ‘have’ or ‘has’ to make the present perfect, like Emily did – ‘Have you flown from Venezuela today?’. Or we can say ‘I’ve never flown in a helicopter’.

We also use the third column with the verb ‘be’ in sentences like ‘Nissan cars are made in Japan’ or ‘My bag was stolen on the bus’. So, that’s the three columns in an irregular verb list. 

Now we need to think about the best way to learn these irregular forms. It probably isn’t a very good idea to sit down with a list of irregular verbs and try to learn all of them. There are a lot of irregular verbs in English, and some of them will be verbs that are new to you. The important thing is to learn the three forms of the verbs that you already know, so that you can use those verbs correctly.

Make a page in your notebook for irregular verbs – make three columns and fill in the verbs that you already know. Verbs like ‘make’, ‘do’, ‘meet’, ‘have’ and ‘go’ for example. Then write a sentence with each form as an example. Example sentences will help you to remember the forms. Then when you find a new verb you can add it to your list. You can find a link to a list of irregular verbs on our website – use it to check the forms of the verbs that you know and add them to your notebook.

Now let’s talk about something different. The weather. Listen to Ravi talking to the people who are going to do the quiz.

Ravi: What’s the weather like in Durham today Jason?

Jason: (on phone) Not great, really. It’s a bit cloudy.

Ravi: Oh dear. How are things where you are Vineeta? Where are you?

Vineeta: (on phone) I’m in Plymouth.

Ravi: OK Plymouth – we’ve got opposite ends of the country here, Durham and Plymouth. It’s north against south. Sorry, Vineeta, what’s the weather like in Plymouth?

Vineeta: Not too bad. Quite sunny.

Now, some people say that the British talk about the weather all the time. Well, we don’t talk about it all the time, but it is true that we talk about it a lot. I think one reason for that is that the weather here changes a lot. You can never be sure of the weather in Britain – it’s often a surprise - so there is always something to say about it.

But we don’t often have long conversations about the weather. It’s a very useful way of starting a conversation with someone, especially someone that you don’t know very well, in a shop for example. You can say “Nice weather isn’t it?” or “What terrible weather we’re having”, or “What a lovely day”. The person will respond and then probably move the conversation on to another topic.

One more thing about the weather. A lot of people think that the British use the phrase “It’s raining cats and dogs”. Now, this phrase does exist in English, but I must say that I’ve never used it in my life, and I don’t remember anyone saying it to me either. It really isn’t very common, and it’s probably best not to use it yourself. It really isn’t very natural.

Before I go, I’d like to tell you about a useful phrase that I noticed in this podcast. Listen to this extract. Gemma has just shown Carolina her new flat. Listen to the phrases she uses when she says goodbye.

Gemma: Right – I think that’s everything, I’m going to get back. I’m sure you want some time to unpack your stuff. Some of the other girls in your flat are here already. You’ll probably meet them here in the kitchen a bit later.

Carolina: OK. Thanks Gemma. Thanks for showing me around.

Gemma: No problem. I’ll probably see you around. OK. See you. I’m sure you’ll have a great time in Newcastle.

Did you notice that Gemma says “I’ll probably see you around”? Gemma hasn’t made any arrangements to see Carolina again, and they aren’t doing the same course, but because they both study at the same university, they might meet one day in the café or in a corridor. So she says “I’ll probably see you around”. Try to use “I’ll probably see you around” when you say goodbye to someone this week.

OK. That’s all from me today. I’ll talk to you all again on the next podcast. Remember you can send your questions to me at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. I’ll be happy to answer your questions! In a moment you’ll hear the address for the website where you can read everything you’ve heard in this podcast. So bye for now! See you next time..

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 06

در این قسمت تس و راوی در مورد مشکلات سفر صحبت می کنند و مهمانان آنها در مورد هنرمند مکزیکی فریدا کالو و زندگی در قزاقستان صحبت می کنند. همچنین می‌توانید کارولینا را دنبال کنید، زیرا او وارد زندگی دانشجویی می‌شود و همه چیز را درباره باشگاه‌ها و جوامع دانشجویی می‌داند. آیا او به یک باشگاه دانشجویی می پیوندد؟

Section 1 – “I've had a nightmare journey” – arriving late

Tess: Hello again and welcome to LearnEnglish Elementary podcast number six. I’m Tess – from London. And he’s Ravi, from Manchester.

Ravi: Hello.

Tess: And I have to say to the listeners, Ravi has just arrived. What happened Ravi? Oversleep?

Ravi: Oh, I’ve had a nightmare journey. The underground was closed for some reason so I had to get a bus and of course the bus was absolutely packed because the underground was closed and the traffic was awful. What a nightmare. Still, I got here. Just in time. What about you? Was your journey OK?

Tess: Well, I came in the car this morning. It was busy, but not too bad, you know.

Ravi: Ah well, you see. I was nearly late but you know – I use public transport because I care about the planet and the environment, but if you want to take your car ..

Tess: You use public transport because you haven’t got a driving licence. You won’t want a lift home then in my terrible car, will you?

Ravi: Oh, very kind, thanks – that’ll be lovely. Hey – I know what I wanted to ask you – your cat – has it got a name yet?

Tess: Yes. Yes, he has. He’s called Oscar.

Ravi: Oscar? Hmm. I quite like that. Why Oscar?

Tess: I don’t know, to be honest. He just looks like an Oscar. He’s so cute Ravi.

Ravi: Hmm. I still think you should have called him Gordon. How are you today Gordon?

Gordon: Fine, thanks Ravi.

Ravi: Gordon’s our producer - and king of the terrible jokes. We’ll hear from him again later. But now, on with the show. Tess, what have we got?

Tess: We’ve got all sorts. We’ve got the quiz, we’ve got Kazakhstan, we’ve got Carolina’s new flatmates and we’ve got I’d Like to Meet. Do you want to tell us about it?

Section 2 – I’d like to meet

Ravi: OK. In this part of the podcast we ask people a simple question – which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet? And we ask them to explain why. So let’s say hello to this week’s guest, Vanessa, from Cambridge.

Tess and Ravi: Hi Vanessa.

Vanessa: Hello. It’s great to meet you both.

Tess: It’s nice to meet you too. And what do you do Vanessa?

Vanessa: I’m a student. I study law.

Ravi: Law? So you’re going to be a lawyer – that’s a good job to have.

Vanessa: Well, yes, I hope so.

Tess: Were you born in Cambridge or do you study there?

Vanessa: Both actually. I’ve lived there all my life, - and now I study there too.

Ravi: So you live at home with your parents right?

Vanessa: No, I live in university accommodation – I think it’s better.

Tess: Well, you probably have a lot more fun.

Vanessa: Yes, it’s good.

Tess: Now it’s time to answer the question. So Vanessa, which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet?

Vanessa: Frida Kahlo, the painter.

Ravi: OK. I’ve heard the name – there was a film wasn’t there? But I don’t know anything about her.

Vanessa: Yeah, It was a good film – with Salma Hayek – she was Frida.

Tess: Yeah, great film. Loved it.

Vanessa: Frida Kahlo was Mexican, she was born at the beginning of the century and she died in the 1950s. When she was nineteen she was in a horrible bus accident. She had terrible injuries – I won’t describe them all, but she had to have a lot of operations, and she was in bed for a long time. She liked painting, so her mother bought a mirror and put it over her bed. So she started painting pictures of herself – self portraits. And she never stopped painting after that.

Tess: The pictures are a bit strange though aren’t they. I’m not sure I’d like one in my living room.

Vanessa: Well yes … and no. Some people think that she was a surrealist, like Salvador Dali – that she painted dreams – but that isn’t true. She painted her life – all the things that happened to her. And her life was a bit strange – or let’s say ‘unusual’ – so the pictures are ‘unusual’ too. They’re her life – her paintings tell her story. Because of the accident she couldn’t have children – and you see that in her pictures too. I love her. Madonna collects her paintings – she once said that she couldn’t be friends with anyone who doesn’t like Frida Kahlo. She’s incredibly famous now – one of her paintings – ‘Roots’ I think it was – was sold in 2006 for five and a half million dollars. 

Ravi: Five and a half million dollars! I wouldn’t mind that in my living room.

Vanessa: Well yes – I think Frida would be very surprised too. That’s what I’d like to tell her if I could meet her – how famous she is now, and how much people – especially women – love her work.

Tess: She’d probably like to see the film too.

Vanessa: Yes – that’s true. It would be really interesting to hear what she thinks of it.

Ravi: I think I’m going to look at some of her pictures on the internet. You’ve got me interested now.

Vanessa: And try and see the film if you get the chance – it’s called “Frida”.

Ravi: I will. Thanks a lot for that Vanessa – and good luck with your law course.

Vanessa: It was a pleasure. Thanks a lot.

Tess: Yes, thanks Vanessa. That was great. And don’t forget that we’d like to hear from you. Why not write and tell us about who you’d like to meet? You can send your own or you can look at what other people have sent in by checking out our website.

Section 3 – Quiz

Ravi: So, as usual, it’s quiz time next. Tess? What have we got?

Tess: We’re going to play ‘Beginning With’ again. And, I hope, we’ve got our two players ready on the telephone. Hello? Will?

Will: (on phone) Hi Tess.

Tess: …and Jodie.

Jodie: (on phone) Hello

Tess: Let’s start with you Jodie. Where are you calling from?

Jodie: From Cardiff.

Tess: In Wales. Do you like it?

Jodie: Yeah, it’s great. It’s a capital city, you know, so there’s quite a lot to do.

Tess: And what do you do Jodie?

Jodie: I’m still at school. I’m 16 so I’m doing my GCSE exams this year.

Tess: OK. Well good luck with them and good luck with the game today. Now, Will. Where are you?

Will: In Peterborough.

Tess: Ah, OK. I know where that is. And what’s it like?

Will: Erm, it’s a bit boring really. Like, there isn’t really anything to do for people my age.

Tess: Oh dear. I’m sure it’s not that bad. How old are you?

Will: I’m 16 as well. I’m at school, like Jodie.

Tess: OK. Well, good luck to you too Will. I know you both know what to do but I’ll quickly remind you. I’ll ask the questions and to answer you press any button on your phone and we’ll hear a buzzer. Let’s hear your buzzers. Will. (sound of Will’s buzzer). OK. Jodie. (sound of Jodie’s buzzer). OK. The questions tell you what letter the answer starts with. So, I might say ‘A form of transport beginning with ‘T’’ – and you can say ‘train’ or ‘tram’ or another transport that begins with ‘T’. OK? Ready?

Will / Jodie: Yep.

Tess: Then let’s go. Remember it’s first one to three. Fingers on buzzers. Can you name …. a fruit beginning with ‘P’.

(Jodie’s buzzer)

Tess: Jodie.

Jodie: Pear

Tess: Yes. One nil to Jodie. A colour beginning with ‘P’

(Will’s buzzer)

Tess: Will.

Will: Purple.

Tess: Yes. One one. An animal beginning with ‘W’.

(Will’s buzzer)

Tess: Will again.

Will: Wolf.

Tess: Right. Two one to Will. A country beginning with ‘A’.

(Will’s buzzer)

Tess: Will.

Will: Africa. No. Sorry.

Tess: No. A country, not a continent. Jodie?

Jodie: Argentina.

Tess: Yes. Two two. So the next one is the decider. Ready? A sport beginning with ‘B’ (Jodie’s buzzer)

Tess: Jodie!

Jodie: Badminton

Tess: Yes! Well done Jodie. And bad luck Will. Jodie wins this week’s LearnEnglish book token to buy any book you want. What kind of book are you going to buy Jodie?

Jodie: Oh, I don’t know. I’ll have to think. Probably like, a novel or something.

Tess: OK, well enjoy it, whatever it is – the book token will be in the post on its way to you today. Thank you both for playing and remember, if you’re listening, we’d like to hear your ideas for games we can play. Send them to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Ravi: You know we’d love to hear them.

Section 4 – Our person in

Ravi: Right. It’s time for Our Person In. I’m looking forward to this. In this part of the podcast we hear from different people around the world and this time, Rebecca Dalton is … Our Woman in Kazakhstan.

Rebecca: On a cold winter’s morning, with thick snow on the ground around us, I watched the magnificent golden eagle fly high into the sky above us before returning to the arm of the berkutchy and sit on his thick leather glove.

I had travelled for over 6 hours on difficult roads to meet this man – the name berkutchy means ‘the eagle king’. The journey gave me an idea of just how big – and how empty – Kazakhstan is. It is the ninth biggest country in the world, bigger than all of western Europe, yet it has a population of only fifteen million so most of the country is almost empty. And this empty countryside has everything; a major mountain range on the border with China, great lakes and rivers, deserts and plains. Most importantly for Kazakhstan, it also has oil – perhaps twenty per cent of the world’s supply – and many valuable metals can be found here.

Over ten years ago, Kazakhstan moved its capital city. The new capital, Astana, is full of new buildings designed by famous international architects – a thoroughly modern city. Yet it is out here on the empty plains watching the golden eagle fly that you get a true feeling of this little known country.

The oil and valuable metals will bring changes to Kazakhstan in the years to come but you feel – and hope – that the berkutchy will continue to fly his eagles in this wonderful, lonely space.

Tess: It’s amazing isn’t it? Kazakhstan is absolutely huge but most of us don’t know anything at all about it.

Ravi: Yeah. It sounds fantastic though, doesn’t it?

Tess: You say that about everywhere – New Zealand, South Africa …

Ravi: It’s true, I know. I’d love to travel round the world one day and see all of these places.

Tess: By public transport?

Ravi: OK. But I really do want to travel. But the next best thing, listeners, is hearing about your countries so do remember that you can send your texts to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. Tell us something interesting about your city or your country.

Tess: That would be great.

Section 5 – Your turn

Tess: Now it’s time for Your Turn. Your Turn is when we go out in the street to find out what people think. This time the question was ….. "How green are you?"

Ravi: Nice one. “How green are you?” – what do you do to help save the planet? Like I use public transport.

Tess: OK. Let’s hear what people said.

Voice 1: What do I do to help save the planet? Not enough. I hate to say it, but it’s true, I mean, I always try to remember not to use plastic bags or recycle or whatever but I always forget. I really have to try to do more.

Voice 2: Well, we recycle pretty much everything we can, you know, bottles, cans, newspapers and all that but to be honest we don’t do much else.

Voice 3: I do as much as I can. You have to, you know? We all have to. I don’t take short-haul flights anymore – I used to fly down to London quite a lot – and of course I recycle and everything else I can.

Voice 4: I know I’m not going to make myself popular saying this but I don’t really do very much. Look – there are factories all over the world putting out loads and loads of pollution every single day and I don’t see how saving your old newspapers is going to help apart from making people feel good about themselves.

Voice 5: I’ll tell you the greenest thing I do – I grow almost all my own vegetables. I’ve really started thinking about where my food comes from and the food miles and that – you know, like I won’t buy food that’s been flown here from Australia or something.

Tess: They make me feel a bit guilty. Some people do so much. I feel like the first woman who said she didn’t do enough. I don’t think I do enough. I do recycle things though.

Ravi: Me too. It’s difficult though, isn’t it? Anyway, remember, listeners, that we’d love to know what you think. How green are you? What do you do to help save the planet? You can write and tell us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 6 – Carolina

Tess: Right. Now it’s time to join Carolina again in Newcastle. Carolina is from Venezuela and she’s come to Britain to live, study and have fun. She’s at Newcastle University in the north east of England, studying Environmental Science. Last time we listened Carolina had just arrived and met her new flatmates at the university. Let’s see where she is this time.

Carolina: ... and it starts on Friday afternoon. Anyway, thank you Emily – that would have been really difficult without you.

Emily: No problem. Are you coming to the Societies Bazaar?

Carolina: The what?

Emily: Oh, sorry, the Societies Bazaar. The meeting for all the different student clubs at the university.

Carolina: Oh, yes, I know. I read about it. It’s a bit different from universities at home but I think I understand. All the different clubs come to this – ‘bazaar’ – is that right? – and all the first year students join the clubs they want to.

Emily: But remember that the first year students are called ‘freshers’ – all of this is important Carolina!

Carolina: Freshers! That’s right. Because we’re fresh, I suppose. Can you join as many clubs as you like?

Emily: Yeah, as many as you want. But you have to pay, remember. It’s in there – over there. It looks quite crowded. Shall we go in?

Emily: ... I don’t know really – it’s a bit too crowded for me. Listen, I’m going to go and join the queue for the basketball club. Do you want to meet back here in about 20 minutes?

Carolina: OK. I want to join the International Students Society but the queue is too big. I’m going to have a look round and wait for the queue to get smaller.

Emily: OK. I’ll see you back here, yeah? In about 20 minutes?

Carolina: OK. See you later.

Student: ... Conservation Society – just five pounds membership. Come and join us.

Carolina: Erm, hi. Erm. I’m not quite sure what the Conservation Society is. Can you tell me a bit about it?

Student: Definitely. We go out into the countryside and we do things to help the environment – sort of countryside management – you know, erm … looking after forests erm .. making the countryside better for animals and birds and things … erm.. it’s quite hard to explain really. Ah, look, here comes the society president. I’m sure he can tell you about it better than me.

Carolina: Jamie. Hi. We met on the train, remember?

Jamie: Carolina! Hi. How are you? Did you find your room OK and everything?

Carolina: Yes. Thank you. And you’re the president of the Conservation Society? Your friend was telling me about it.

Jamie: Yes. Are you going to join? Remember I was telling you about the countryside in Northumbria? North of Newcastle. It’s really beautiful. You should join and come and see it with us. I’m sure it’s a bit different from Venezuela.

Carolina: OK. You’ve persuaded me. What do I have to do to join?

Jamie: Excellent. You just have to fill in this form. I’ll fill it in for you. Carolina. What’s your surname?

Carolina: Del Barco Do you want me to spell it?

Jamie: Yeah, please. Is it one word or two words?

Carolina: Two words. d-e-l .. small ‘d’ , then capital B, a-r-c-o

Jamie: And have you got your email address yet?

Carolina: My university email? No, not yet. But you can use another address. It’s caro del b eighty eight @ ready net .V-Z.

Jamie: Can you spell that for me?

Carolina: OK. It’s Caro del B – c-a-r-o-d-e-l-b – all one word. Eighty eight. At. Ready Net – r-e-a-d-y-n-e-t dot v-z.

Jamie: ... net dot v z. OK, great. And have you got a mobile number yet?

Carolina: Yes. Oh, just a moment, I’ll have to look at my phone. I haven’t learnt it yet. Here it is. Oh double three four seven four six one oh three seven.

Jamie: Oh double three...

Carolina: Oh double three four seven four six one oh three seven.

Jamie: ...four seven four six one oh three seven. Right. Thanks. What department are you in Carolina? I can send you our booklet. I haven’t finished writing it yet.

Carolina: Environmental Science. In the Daish building. Can you send it there?

Jamie: Yeah. No problem. The booklet’s got all the information in it. We usually meet on Sundays and talk about what we’re going to do and things. We’re all going out to the pub this Thursday, if you want to come. I’ll give you a ring and let you know where we’re going, if that’s OK?

Carolina: Yeah. Great.

Jamie: Right. That’s everything. Actually, there’s one more thing. I seem to remember that you said you’d take me to lunch. Do you want to go and get a sandwich somewhere?

Carolina: Yes, I did, didn’t I? OK. Erm … I just need to talk to my friend... 

Ravi: Were you in any societies at university Tess?

Tess: Loads. Well, I joined lots of societies in my first year but I didn’t really do a lot. I was in the cycling society. And I used to play volleyball. Anyway, what about Jamie and Carolina going out for lunch, eh?

Ravi: What about it? Oh, I see what you mean. Hmm.

Section 7 – The Joke

Ravi: Well, that’s almost everything for today but a podcast wouldn’t be a podcast without a joke from Gordon. Are you ready Gordon?

Gordon: I am, Ravi. Another special one for you today.

Ravi: I’m sure it is Gordon. All of your jokes are ‘special’. In their own way. Let’s hear it.

Gordon: Anyway, a rabbit walks into a butcher’s shop and says “Have you got any carrots?”. And the butcher says “No. This is a butcher’s shop – we don’t sell carrots,” and the rabbit says “OK” and goes out of the shop.

An hour later, the rabbit comes back. “Have you got any carrots?” And the butcher says “No, I told you, this is a butcher’s shop – we haven’t got any carrots”.

An hour later – it happens again, and an hour after that, it happens again. Well, the butcher’s getting really annoyed. Next time the rabbit comes in – “Have you got any carrots?” the butcher says “Look, I’ve told you – we don’t have any carrots here. If you come back to this shop one more time I’m going to take a hammer, take some nails and I’m going to nail your ears to the floor! OK?”

So, the rabbit goes away. But, guess what, an hour later, the rabbit comes back and walks into the shop. “Have you got any nails?” “No” says the butcher.

“Have you got any carrots?”

Ravi: Actually Gordon, I think that’s the best one so far. You’re getting better. Right. We have to go now but don’t go away. After this little break you’re going to hear Tom, our English teacher. After every show, Tom talks about the language you heard and gives you ideas to help you learn. So, don’t go away, but I’ll say goodbye now. See you next time.

Tess: Bye! Don’t forget to send us your emails! Here’s that address one more time. It’s learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Tom the teacher

Tom: Hi, my name’s Tom. At the end of every podcast, I talk about some of the language that you heard, and some ways to help you learn English. The first thing I want to talk about today is the word ‘like’. ‘Like’ can be used in lots of different ways in English. Listen to Tess talking to Jodie at the beginning of the quiz. Listen for the word ‘like’.

Tess: Let’s start with you Jodie. Where are you calling from?

Jodie: (on phone) From Cardiff.

Tess: In Wales. Do you like it?

Jodie: Yeah, it’s great. It’s a capital city, you know, so there’s quite a lot to do.

Tom: This is the use of ‘like’ that I’m sure you already know. It’s being used as a verb. Tess asks Jodie if she enjoys living in Cardiff. Now listen to Tess again, talking to Will this time. Listen for the word ‘like’. Is it a verb here?

Tess: Now, Will. Where are you?

Will: (on phone) In Peterborough.

Tess: Ah, OK. I know where that is. And what’s it like?

Will: Erm, it’s a bit boring really.

Tom: Tess asks Will "What is it like?". She’s asking him to describe Peterborough. Will could say "It’s very big" or "It’s very quiet" or "It’s got a lot of shops". In the question "What’s it like?", ‘like’ is a preposition, not a verb. The meaning isn’t connected to the meaning of ‘like’ as a verb. It’s a very common question in English – when we want someone to describe something to us, we often use "What’s it like?". A good example is "What’s the weather like in London?". We want the person to tell us if it’s raining or sunny, if the weather’s good or bad. Or "What’s your teacher like?". We want you to describe your teacher. Maybe "She’s young" or "She’s blonde with blue eyes" or "She’s very friendly" or even "She’s terrible!" – any answer that describes her in some way.

Now listen to Tess and Jodie again. Listen to how Jodie uses ‘like’. 

Tess: Yes! Well done Jodie. And bad luck Will. Jodie wins this week’s Learn English book token to buy any book you want. What kind of book are you going to buy Jodie?

Jodie: Oh, I don’t know. I’ll have to think. Probably like, a novel or something.

Tom: Hmmm. Jodie’s going to buy “probably like, a novel or something”. She isn’t using ‘like’ as a verb or a preposition here. She’s using it as a ‘filler’.

A ‘filler’ is something that we say to give us more time to think, for example ‘erm’ or ‘uh’, or ‘I don’t know’. You will hear young native English speakers use ‘like’ a lot in this way. You’ll hear for example “Yeah, it’s like, really cool”. Remember that this is a very informal way to speak. If you want to use ‘like’ in this way, then only do it with groups of young friends – and not in more formal situations, with your teacher for example. Next time you watch a ‘teenage’ film in English, listen for ‘like’ used in this way. I’m sure you’ll notice it a lot.

It can be difficult to know which words and phrases are informal in English. You may hear a new phrase in a film or a song and want to use it. But can you be sure that you’ll use it in the right situations with the right people? A good learners’ dictionary can help you with this. It will tell you when a word is informal. Most dictionaries use the letters infml, next to the word. This means ‘informal’, so then you can make a note in your vocabulary notebook so that you won’t forget.

Let me give you an example. The word ‘children’ isn’t formal or informal. You can use ‘children’ in any situation, with your friends or even if you are talking to the Queen!. It’s never wrong. It’s what we call a ‘neutral’ word. But the word ‘kids’ – which can mean exactly the same as children – is a lot more informal. It would sound strange to talk about ‘kids’ at a formal party for example. Check the word ‘kids’ in your dictionary now and see if it tells you that it’s an informal word.

Now let’s talk about something different. When someone tells you their phone number or address, it can be difficult to remember it and write it down at the same time. It can be difficult for native speakers, but may be more difficult if English isn’t your first language. Of course, you can say “I’m sorry – could you say that again?” or “Could you repeat that please?”. But listen to what Jamie does when Carolina tells him her phone number.

Carolina: Here it is. Oh double three four seven four six one oh three seven.

Jamie: Oh double three...

Carolina: Oh double three four seven four six one oh three seven.

Jamie: ...four seven four six one oh three seven. Right. Thanks.

Tom: Jamie can only remember the first three numbers. So he repeats them “Oh double three” and then he pauses. He stops and waits. This shows Carolina that he wants her to repeat the rest of the numbers for him. He doesn’t need to ask. We do this a lot in English – maybe you do it in your language too - or maybe not. We do it with telephone numbers, addresses and even names if someone is spelling them out for us. If your English teacher says, “The homework is workbook, page 65, exercises 1, 3 and 7” – and you can’t remember and write it down at the same time, you can say “Workbook page 65..” and stop. Your teacher will then repeat “Exercises 1, 3 and 7”.

Here’s another thing that I noticed in this podcast. Listen to Will and Jodie introducing themselves at the beginning of the quiz. They’re both sixteen years old, so listen to what Will says.

Jodie: I’m still at school. I’m 16 so I’m doing my GCSE exams this year.

...

Will: I'm 16 as well.

Tom: Yes, he says "I’m sixteen as well". ‘As well’ means the same as ‘too’ in this phrase. You can say "I’m sixteen too" or you can say "I’m sixteen as well".

But be careful. You can say "Me too" but we don’t say "Me as well". If your friend says "I’m going to Ana’s party tomorrow", you can say, "Me too" or you can say "I’m going too" or you can say "I’m going as well". Try to use ‘as well’ when you’re speaking English this week.

OK. That’s all from me today. I’ll talk to you all again on the next podcast. Remember you can send your questions to me at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. I’ll be happy to answer your questions! In a moment you’ll hear the address for the website where you can read everything you’ve heard in this podcast. So bye for now! See you next time.

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 07

در این قسمت تس و راوی در مورد خانواده های خود صحبت می کنند و مهمانان آنها در مورد دکتر محمد یونس برنده جایزه صلح نوبل و زندگی در قاهره صحبت می کنند. شما می توانید کارولینا را در نیوکاسل دنبال کنید، اما در این قسمت او احساس خوبی ندارد. آیا او باید به دکتر مراجعه کند؟

Section 1 – "Your mum and dad live in Brighton now, don’t they?" – Talking about family

Ravi: Hello hello and welcome to the LearnEnglish Elementary podcast number seven. I’m Ravi, from Manchester …

Tess: And I’m Tess, from London. As usual we’ve got lots of interesting stuff for you to listen to – we’ve got the quiz, we’ve got Carolina … and .. we’ve got our producer Gordon, as usual. Hello Gordon.

Gordon: Hi Tess. Hi Ravi.

Tess: Hiya. Have you had your hair cut Ravi?

Ravi: I have, yeah, do you like it?

Tess: Yeah, I do, it’s nice. It’s quite short for you. Shorter than usual. Are you changing your image?

Ravi: No, not really. I just fancied a change, you know. And I’ve got a big family party this weekend so I thought I’d get my hair cut for that.

Tess: You want to look smart. Fair enough. What’s the party?

Ravi: It’s my dad’s fiftieth birthday. My mum’s organised a surprise party for him.

Tess: Oh, brilliant. What a nice idea. Your mum and dad live in Brighton now, don’t they?

Ravi: Yes. They moved down there a couple of years ago. My big sister’s still in Manchester though.

Tess: How many brothers and sisters have you got again? I can never remember.

Ravi: I’ve got one older sister and two younger brothers. Hang on a sec. That’s them there.

Tess: You keep a picture of your family in your wallet? How sweet.

Ravi: Yeah. Course I do. That’s Asha, my big sister, there. She’s 3 years older than me.

Tess: She’s really pretty. It’s a shame our listeners can’t see this. You do realise that Ravi, don’t you.

Ravi: I know I know – but it’ll only take a minute. That one’s Deepak – he’s at university in Bristol and that’s Vikram. He’s still at school.

Tess: Hey, your brothers are both really good-looking. What happened to you?

Ravi: I knew you were going to say that.

Tess: Only joking Ravi. Anyway, we’d better move on – we’ve got a lot to get through.

Section 2 – I’d like to meet

Ravi: Right. So let’s start with I’d Like to Meet.

Tess: OK. In this part of the podcast we ask people a simple question – which famous person, dead or alive would you like to meet? And we ask them to explain why. So let’s say hello to this week’s guest, Muhammed from Manchester. Hi Muhammed. Welcome to ‘I’d like to meet’.

Muhammed: Hi Tess and Ravi

Ravi: Hi Muhammed. So you’re a Manchester boy like me. Good football team eh.

Muhammed: Which one?

Ravi: Which one!? No – don’t tell me you’re a Manchester City supporter! Noooo!

Muhammed: I’m afraid so. Sorry Ravi.

Tess: Ravi can’t speak – so I’ll continue. What do you do Muhammed?

Muhammed: I’m at college at the moment - but when I finish I want to join the police.

Tess: You want to be a policeman. What made you decide to do that?

Muhammed: My uncle’s a policeman. I don’t know really – it’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.

Tess: OK. Now, who are you going to talk about today Muhammed – who’s the person that you’d like to meet – if you had the chance?

Muhammed: I want to talk about Muhammed Yunus.

Tess: OK. Off you go.

Muhammed: Well, he’s from Bangladesh – from Chittagong actually – that’s where my dad’s family came from – we’ve still got relations living there. And I think everyone knows his name now – since he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 – well he won it with his bank.

Ravi: A bank won the Nobel peace prize?

Muhammed: Yes. The Grameen Bank? Microcredit?

Ravi: Well, yeah, it sounds familiar.

Muhammed: It’s a bank for poor people.

Tess: Perhaps you’d better explain how it works Muhammed.

Muhammed: Well, it all started when he - Dr Yunus – he’s a professor of economics - he visited a village outside Chittagong, and he talked to a very poor woman – and he realised that she only needed a small amount of money – just a couple of dollars – and then she could buy materials to make things and sell them and earn money. She couldn’t borrow money from the bank because they didn’t believe that she would pay it back. He found more people in the same situation - think it was forty-two people in the village – and all of them together only needed twenty-seven dollars -- that’s all they needed to be able to start making money for themselves. So he lent them the money - and they all paid it back to him later. Then he went to other villages and did the same thing. So he started his own bank – the Grameen Bank – to lend small amounts of money to poor people, mostly women actually. That’s what microcredit means.

Tess: What kinds of things do they use the money for?

Muhammed: Well, a woman can buy a cow, and then she can sell the milk and pay to send her children to school. Or she could buy a mobile phone – the villages don’t have telephones – and then people can pay to use her phone. They aren’t expensive things – it just means that poor people can start to earn money. And now the Grameen Bank lends millions and millions of dollars to people.

Ravi: And they all pay it back?

Muhammed: Most of them yes – something like 99 per cent. And now countries like the United States and Britain are using the idea too, it’s all over the world - so – well, I think he’s brilliant – a real hero. That’s what I’d like to say to him.

Tess: Well thank you Muhammed. That was really interesting.

Muhammed: Thanks.

Ravi: There’s an old joke isn’t there – something about ‘a bank will only lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it’.

Tess: Well yes – it’s true isn’t it! I’d never really thought about it before.

Ravi: No, nor me.

Section 3 – Quiz

Ravi: OK. Let’s move on now to quiz time. A little game to make you think. Let’s see who we’ve got on the phone today. Hello?

Niall: (on phone) Hi Ravi.

Ravi: Niall? Hello Niall, where are you calling from?

Niall: From Belfast.

Ravi: Ah, Northern Ireland. Lovely. And what do you do Niall?

Niall: Well, I work in a shop but I’m going to university soon.

Ravi: OK. What are you going to study?

Niall: Spanish

Ravi: Ah. Buenos dias!

Niall: Buenos dias, Ravi

Ravi: Actually, that’s all the Spanish I know. OK, so we’ve got Niall from Belfast and Nikki. Hi Nikki.

Nikki: (on phone) Hi Ravi

Ravi: And where are you from Nikki?

Nikki: From Luton. North of London.

Ravi: I know it well. My uncle lives there. And what do you do Nikki?

Nikki: I work in a garden centre.

Ravi: Very nice. Right. We’re going to play ‘Something Beginning with’ again. I’m sure you both know how to play but I’ll explain the rules. I’m going to ask the questions and when you know the answer you press any button on your phone. Let’s hear your buzzer, Niall. (Niall’s buzzer). And yours Nikki (Nikki’s buzzer). Right. I ask the questions and give you a letter. So, I might say for example "A sport beginning with ‘F'" and when you think of a sport beginning with ‘F’ you press your buzzer. Can either of you think of a sport beginning with ‘F’?

(Niall’s buzzer)

Niall: Football

Ravi: Exactly. The winner is the first person to get three answers right. Are you both ready?

Niall/Nikki: Ready/OK

Ravi: Then let’s go. Can you tell me a fruit beginning with ‘C’?

(Nikki’s buzzer)

Ravi: Nikki

Nikki: Cherry

Ravi: Yes. One nil to Nikki. Can you tell me a means of transport beginning with ‘T’?

(Niall’s buzzer)

Ravi: Niall.

Niall: Train.

Ravi: Yes. One one. Next one. Can you tell me an animal beginning with ‘F’?

(Niall’s buzzer)

Ravi: Niall.

Niall: Fox.

Ravi: Yes. Two one to Niall. Can you tell me an item of clothing beginning with ‘S’

(Nikki’s buzzer)

Ravi: Nikki.

Nikki: Socks

Ravi: Yes. Two two. So this one is the decider. Ready? Can you tell me … a vegetable beginning with ‘C’?

(Niall’s buzzer)

Ravi: Niall!

Niall: Cauliflower.

Ravi: Cauliflower. Yes. So Niall is today’s winner. Well done Niall. Bad luck Nikki. The podcast book token will be on its way to you soon to buy any book you want. You can get a Spanish book.

Niall: I might do that Ravi. 

Ravi: OK. Thanks to both of you for playing and the rest of you, remember you can send your ideas for games to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 4 – Our person in

Tess: Right. Let’s move on now to Our Person In. This is the part of the podcast when we hear from different people all over the world. This time, Susan Harold is Our Woman in Egypt.

Susan: When I first arrived in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, 10 years ago, I was working as a teacher. I had lessons in different parts of the city and I had to take a lot of taxis – the underground in Cairo doesn’t cover many areas of this huge city. Black and white taxis are a familiar sight here and it’s a cheap way to travel but I found it very difficult.

The big question was – how much do I have to pay? I watched my Egyptian friends in taxis. They didn’t ask the driver “how much?” at the start of the journey, there was no meter in the car to say how much and they didn’t ask ‘how much?’ at the end of the journey – they just handed over the correct amount of money and walked away. “But how do you know how much to pay?” I would ask. A shrug of the shoulders, “We just know.”

Gradually, over the years, I have started to understand the payment system in Cairo taxis. There are several things to think about. How far are you going? How long will you spend in the car? What time of day is it? How many people are in the car? My Egyptian friends can make all the calculations and know exactly how much to pay without a word being spoken.

Unfortunately, the rules can be different for tourists. You might have to pay more if you travel to or from one of the big international hotels in the city. In fact, you might have to pay a little bit just because you’re a tourist. But don’t let that stop you taking taxis in Cairo. In my opinion, there’s no better way to really see the life of this amazing city.

Ravi: I went to Cairo on holiday a couple of years ago and it was unbelievable. I mean, it’s a fantastic city, the pyramids are just incredible and everything but it’s just so big and the traffic …oof!

Tess: Did you take a taxi?

Ravi: I didn’t. I was too scared to cross the road most of the time. I’d love to go back though.

Tess: Well. listeners, remember that you have the chance to join in too. This time we’d like to hear about taking a taxi in your country. You can send it to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. Actually, taxi might be one of the answers in the next part of the podcast.

Section 5 – Your turn

Tess: It’s time for Your Turn when we go out into the street to find out what people think. And the question this time was ‘What’s the best way to travel?’

Ravi: Actually, that’s quite a difficult question. Erm .. I think I’d say flying. Except it’s really bad for the planet.

Tess: Well, let’s hear what our people said.

Voice 1: Oh, by train. Definitely. You know, you can get up and walk around and you can’t really do that in a plane or a car. And you can just sit and watch the world go by. Not too fast, not too slow. Just right.

Voice 2: Well, I shouldn’t really say this but I love driving. It gives you that feeling of independence that you don’t get with any other transport. You can just go wherever you want. The world’s your oyster. I’d love to drive all the way across America one day.

Voice 3: I know lots of people don’t like it but I really like flying. I still think it’s amazing that we can do it. When you stop to think about it, it’s incredible. And I love the view from up there. Mind you, it’s really bad for the planet, I suppose.

Voice 4: Well I’ve travelled on the underground today but if I had to say what the best way to travel is I’d say bicycle. I think it’s the satisfaction of getting around by your own effort. And it’s good for you.

Voice 5: I’d probably say ‘on foot’, really. I mean, it depends. I love walking in the countryside – it’s not so much fun in the city, I guess. I’ll tell you what isn’t the best way to travel. Flying. I hate it. I’m terrified.

Ravi: Nah, I disagree, I really like flying. What about you Tess?

Tess: I’m surprised that nobody said ‘boat’. I love travelling by boat. We went on a boat holiday when I was a kid – I loved it.

Ravi: And we’d love to hear what all of you out there think. What do you think is the best way to travel? Write and let us know. learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 6 – Carolina

Tess: OK. Time now to find out how Carolina’s getting on in Newcastle. Carolina, you might remember, is a student from Venezuela who’s come to Britain to live, study and have fun. Last time we listened, Carolina joined some societies at the university but this time she’s not feeling too well.

In the shared residence kitchen

Carolina: Hi Emily.

Emily: Hi. What are you doing here? I thought you had a seminar at 10 o’clock.

Carolina: I did, but I’m not feeling very well. (she sneezes)

Emily: Bless you! You sound terrible. You’d better go to bed. Did you tell your tutor that you were ill?

Carolina: No, I was early, he wasn’t there, but I left a note on the door. I said I was sorry, but I was very constipated.

Emily: Constipated? Why did you tell him you were constipated?

Carolina: Well, because I am. (she sneezes) See, I can’t stop sneezing.

Emily: You don’t sneeze when you’re constipated. Constipated means that you can’t go to the toilet, you know, you’re blocked ….. , you know, you try and try but you can’t …. well you know.

Carolina: Oh no! I was thinking in Spanish! In Spanish we say I’m constipada! (she sneezes)

Emily: Well in English it’s a cold. You say I’ve got a cold – a bad cold.

Carolina: I knew that! I’ve got a cold! What a stupid mistake! It’s because I’m ill – my head feels like it’s full of, I don’t know, ….. cake.

Emily: Cake?!

Carolina: And I left a note on the door. Everyone’s going to laugh at me.

Emily: No they won’t. Don’t be silly. Everyone knows English isn’t your first language – you made a mistake that’s all.

Carolina: But they won’t know it’s a mistake. (she sneezes) They’ll think I wanted to tell everyone that I was constipated, that I couldn’t go to the toilet. Oh, I want to go home to Venezuela.

Emily: Look, it’s not ten o’clock yet. I’ll go the room and take the note off the door and explain to…. who?

Carolina: Professor Grogan. Room 102. It’ll be too late.

Emily: And you can go to the chemist’s and get yourself something to take. Then come back here and go to bed. You look awful. Have some hot lemon and honey – that’s what my mother always gives me.

Carolina: (she sneezes) OK, thanks a lot Emily.

At the chemist’s

Chemist: Good morning. Can I help you?

Carolina: (she sneezes) Yes please. I can’t stop sneezing. (she sneezes) Have you got anything I can take?

Chemist: Is it a cold or an allergy?

Carolina: It’s a cold. I don’t have any allergies, at least I don’t think so.

Chemist: Have you got any other symptoms? (Carolina sneezes) A sore throat? A headache? A cough?

Carolina: Yes, my throat hurts – it hurts when I eat or drink, and my head hurts too.

Chemist: Have you got a temperature?

Carolina: A temperature? (she sneezes) What’s that? I’m sorry, my English is terrible today.

Chemist: You know, have you got a high temperature, do you feel hot? Is your face hot?

Carolina: You mean a fever? Yes, yes, I think so, my face is hot but my body feels cold.

Chemist: OK. It sounds like a bad cold. Let’s see … ... this should help. Are you allergic to any medicines?

Carolina: No, no I’m not. How often do I have to take it?

Chemist: Two spoonfuls, four times a day. The instructions are on the bottle. Don’t take it if you’re driving, it might make you sleepy.

Carolina: That’s OK. I just want to go to bed. Should I take anything else?

Chemist: Vitamin C will help. Here you are. Take one of these three times a day. And drink plenty of water. Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?

Carolina: Venezuela. I’ve only been here a few weeks.

Chemist: Ah. Venezuela. I expect our English weather is a bit too cold for you then. Spend the rest of the day in bed and keep warm. You’ll feel a lot better tomorrow.

Carolina: I hope so.

Chemist: If you still feel terrible in two or three days then you should go and see a doctor.

Carolina: Thank you very much. And how much is that for the medicines?

Tess: Poor Carolina. It’s terrible when you feel ill in a foreign country. 

Ravi: "I am constipated."

Tess: Oh, stop it Ravi.

Ravi: Yeah, you’re right. It is quite funny though. And she got some medicine so I’m sure she’s OK.

Section 7 – The Joke

Ravi: Anyway, that’s almost the end of another podcast but, as usual, before we go, we’re going to hear from Gordon with another one of his amazing jokes. Gordon?

Gordon: Yep.

Ravi: What have you got for us?

Gordon: Another dog, Ravi.

Ravi: Come on then, let’s hear it.

Gordon:

Right. A dog goes to put an advert in a newspaper. In the lonely hearts column, you know.

Ravi: To find a girlfriend?

Gordon: Right. Anyway, the assistant at the newspaper says "That’s fine, just fill in your name and address on this form and then write your advert in the box underneath." “OK”, says the dog.

He fills in the form and then he stops to think for a bit and then he writes in the box – "woof, woof, woof. Woof, woof. Woof, woof, woof, woof." He gives the paper to the assistant and she has a look at it and says to the dog, “You know you’ve got nine woofs here – you can have an extra one for no extra charge – it’s ten words for £5. Why don’t you add another ‘woof’?”

The dog looks really confused. “Another ‘woof’? That wouldn’t make any sense at all”.

Ravi: I quite like that one. Your dog jokes are the best ones Gordon. You should concentrate on them. What do you think Tess?

Tess: Quite funny – but don’t look for work as a comedian just yet Gordon. Anyway. That’s everything from us for this time. After this little break you’ll hear from Tom, our English teacher who’ll talk about the language you heard and give you ideas to help you learn. So we’ll say goodbye but don’t go away.

Ravi: And remember to keep your emails coming to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Tess & Ravi: Bye!.

Tom the teacher

Tom: Hi, my name’s Tom. At the end of every podcast, I talk about some of the language that you heard, and some ways to help you learn English. Today I want to look at some verbs that we use to describe things – or to describe the idea that we have about them. Listen to Emily and Carolina talking. Remember, Carolina is ill. What phrase does Emily use to describe her?

Emily: Hi. What are you doing here? I thought you had a seminar at 10 o’clock.

Carolina: I did, but I’m not feeling very well. (she sneezes)

Emily: Bless you! You sound terrible.

Tom: Emily says “You sound terrible!” We use the verb ‘sound’ when we are talking about something we can hear. Emily can hear that Carolina is ill from her voice, and also from her sneezes. So she uses ‘sound’. If your friend tells you all about her new boyfriend, but you haven’t met him yet, you can say “He sounds nice.” You have the idea that he is nice from what she has said about him, from what you’ve heard. So you can use ‘sound’. Now listen to Emily again. How does she describe Carolina this time?

Emily: And you can go to the chemist’s and get yourself something to take. Then come back here and go to bed. You look awful. Have some hot lemon and honey – that’s what my mother always gives me.

Tom: This time Emily says “You look awful”. This time, she can see that Carolina is ill - it isn’t just her voice now. Her eyes are probably red, and she might be very pale. So this time Emily says “You look awful”. If your friend shows you a photograph of her new boyfriend, and you haven’t met him yet, you can say “He looks nice”. You have the idea that he is nice from the photo – from what you can see. So you can use ‘look’. A lot of languages use words that translate as ‘seem’ or ‘appear’ in all of these situations, so using ‘look’ and ‘sound’ might be a bit strange for you. Try to notice people using ‘look’ and ‘sound’ in the English that you read and hear, and try to use those phrases yourself.

Now I want to talk about something that’s very important when you learn a new language. Do you remember Carolina’s problem with the word ‘constipated’? 

Emily: Constipated? Why did you tell him you were constipated?

Carolina: Well, because I am. (she sneezes) See, I can’t stop sneezing.

Emily: You don’t sneeze when you’re constipated. Constipated means that you can’t go to the toilet, you know, you’re blocked ….. , you know, you try and try but you can’t …. well you know.

Carolina: Oh no! I was thinking in Spanish! In Spanish we say I’m constipada! (she sneezes)

This is a very common problem. It depends what language you speak, but sometimes there are words in your language that are very similar to a word in English. And very often they have the same meaning too. For example, ‘arriver’ in French is similar to ‘arrive’ in English, and the meaning is the same. These words can help you a lot.

But be careful! As we just heard with Carolina, sometimes the words don’t have the same meaning at all! The word ‘constipada’ in Spanish looks and sounds the same as the English word ‘constipated’. But the meaning is completely different. We call these words ‘false friends’. They look or sound the same as a word in another language – so you think they are ‘friends’ - but they don’t have the same meaning. The German word for ‘poison’ sounds the same as the English word ‘gift’ – which means ‘a present’. In Finnish, the word for ‘cat’ can sound like the English word ‘kiss’. False friends can be very dangerous!

When you hear a word in English that sounds or looks the same as a word in your language, the first thing to do is notice the context – the situation where you heard or saw the word, what the people were talking about. This will help you to understand the meaning of the word. Then, if you’re still not sure, check the word in your English learners’ dictionary. And finally, if it is a false friend, then make a note of it on a special page in your vocabulary notebook and make a really special effort to learn it – and remember it. It isn’t easy - even people who speak English very well still make mistakes with false friends – just like Carolina did – when they’re tired or not concentrating.

Now let’s look at a useful phrase that we use in English when we want to ask a personal question. Listen to Carolina and the chemist. What phrase does he use when he asks her a personal question?

Chemist: Vitamin C will help. Here you are. Take one of these three times a day. And drink plenty of water. Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?

Carolina: Venezuela. I’ve only been here a few weeks.

Tom: He says “Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?” Of course, in a different situation, with your new classmates for example, “Where are you from?” isn’t a very personal question, but the chemist doesn’t know Carolina, and in this situation – Carolina is buying some medicine for her cold – Carolina might be offended – she might think the question isn’t appropriate. So he adds “if you don’t mind me asking”. This makes the question more polite. If you want to ask someone a question but you aren’t sure if it’s polite to ask, then use “if you don’t mind me asking”.

Just before I go, let me give you a phrase from the podcast that you can use. Listen to what we say in English when someone sneezes – atchoo!.

Emily: Hi. What are you doing here? I thought you had a seminar at 10 o’clock.

Carolina: I did, but I’m not feeling very well. (she sneezes)

Emily: Bless you! You sound terrible. You’d better go to bed. Did you tell your professor that you were ill?

Tom: Yes, we say “Bless you!”. Some learners think that we say “God bless you” – well maybe that was the original phrase that people used a long time ago, but nowadays it’s just “Bless you!”. Use it the next time someone sneezes near you!

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 08

در این قسمت راوی از تس درخواست لطفی می کند و مهمانان آنها در مورد دیوید آتنبورو، مجری و طبیعت شناس بریتانیایی و کریسمس در پراگ صحبت می کنند. می‌توانید کارولینا را در حالی که با چند دوست از یک میخانه بازدید می‌کند، دنبال کنید. او در مورد میخانه های بریتانیا چه فکری می کند؟

Section 1 – “I wanted to ask you something” – asking for a favour

Tess: Hello again and welcome to the LearnEnglish Elementary podcast number eight. I’m Tess, from London.

Ravi: And I’m Ravi, from Manchester. You’re looking great as usual Tess, how are you?

Tess: Thanks, Ravi. I’m very well thanks. How are you?

Ravi: I’m fine thanks. Actually, I’m very well. You know I told you I was looking for a new flat?

Tess: Yes.

Ravi: Well, I found a new place over on Carswell Road – near the swimming pool. It’s really nice. Much bigger than the one I’m in now.

Tess: What’s the rent like?

Ravi: Well, it is quite expensive, quite a bit more than I pay now. But it’s a lot nicer.

Tess: Great. When are you moving.

Ravi: Well, I wanted to ask you about that. What are you doing on Saturday?

Tess: Nothing special. Why?

Ravi: Well, do you think you could help me move some stuff to my new place? Can you spare two or three hours in the afternoon?

Tess: Yeah, I suppose so.

Ravi: You can say ‘no’ if you want to you know.

Tess: No, it’s OK, I don’t mind.

Ravi: That’s brilliant. Thank you. I’ll tell you what, I’ll make dinner for you at the new flat after we’ve moved my things. Does that sound OK?

Tess: Ooh. That’ll be lovely, thanks.

Ravi: Great. Have a think about what you want to eat. Right. Well, we’d better get on. Lots of things for you, as usual. We’ve got Gordon – hello Gordon

Gordon: Hello

Ravi: Gordon’s our producer and king of the bad jokes. We’ve got the quiz, we’ve got fish in the bath we’ve got good and bad TV but first of all we’ve got I’d Like to Meet.

Section 2 – I’d like to meet

Ravi: And joining us today is Megan. Hello Megan.

Megan: Hi Ravi.

Ravi: Where are you today Megan?

Megan: I’m at home. In Reading.

Ravi: Oh yeah, I know it. Do you like it?

Megan: It’s OK. I quite like it, yeah.

Ravi: OK then Megan, tell us, who would you like to meet?

Megan: I’d like to meet David Attenborough.

Ravi: Great choice. I know who David Attenborough is – I think anyone who watches television in Britain will know who he is – but maybe you can explain to people who don’t watch television in Britain who David Attenborough is and what he’s well known for.

Megan: Well actually Ravi, David Attenborough’s wildlife programmes have been seen by more than one billion people all over the world so I think people will know who he is. They might not know his name but I think they’ll recognise him. Erm, he’s a TV presenter and he makes programmes about nature and wildlife and the natural world and they are just fantastic. Erm .. I’ll say the names of some of the programmes in case anyone recognises them, erm, there was Life on Earth, the Life of Birds, the Blue Planet, Planet Earth – there’s been so many of them.

Ravi: And what is it about David Attenborough that you like?

Megan: Oh, everything. He’s getting quite old now – he’s over 80 now, but he looks great – he’s got really white hair. And I love his voice – he just sounds so interested in the animals that he’s talking about and sometimes he gets really close to them and he’s almost whispering but you can just see how interested and excited he is. I think the programmes are brilliant. But the other thing is that the programmes are always about the animals not about him. Y’ know some presenters just talk about themselves all the time. I think his programmes are the best things on TV.

Ravi: So, you like animals then Megan?

Megan: I love them. I want to be a vet.

Ravi: And what would you say to David Attenborough if you met him?

Megan: Well, I’d like to say "thank you" I think for his programmes and tell him that I think they’ve been really important in telling people about climate change and global warming and the real things that are happening to animals because of what people do. I think his programmes have made a lot of people realise the problems animals have to face. And I’d like to ask him what he thinks will happen in the future, y’know, if it’s too late to save the planet, kind of thing.

Ravi: Y’know. I think I’d really like to meet David Attenborough as well. I really love those programmes. Do you know what he said about TV advertisements Megan?

Megan: No?

Ravi: He said he will never do an advertisement on TV. He says if people know you will take money to say you like something then they can’t trust you anymore or believe what you say.

Megan: Yeah. You really do trust him when you listen to him.

Ravi: Well, thanks Megan – that was great. And remember that we’re always happy to hear from you so if you’d like to tell us about a TV presenter in your country you can send it to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org, that’s learnenglish - all one word - at- britishcouncil – all one word DOT org, that’s o-r-g.

Section 3 – Quiz

Tess: OK now. It’s time for our quiz, as usual. Our players this time are Amy. Hi Amy.

Amy: (on phone) Hello

Tess: And Brandon. Hello Brandon.

Brandon: (on phone) Hi Tess.

Tess: Let’s start with you Amy. Where are you calling from?

Amy: From Leeds. I’m from Yorkshire.

Tess: And what do you do?

Amy: I’m studying to be a nurse. I’ve just started.

Tess: Oh. Are you enjoying it?

Amy: Yeah, it’s great so far.

Tess: OK. Great. Now how about you Brandon. Where are you calling from?

Brandon: I’m in Penzance in Cornwall.

Tess: Wow – the very tip of the country. I used to go to Cornwall on holiday when I was a kid.

Brandon: We still get loads of holidaymakers every year.

Tess: Well, it’s such a beautiful area. Anyway, we’ve got a new quiz for you this time – a numbers quiz. How are you with numbers Amy?

Amy: Well, I’ll do my best.

Tess: OK. Here’s what you have to do. You’re going to work together to answer some riddles. I’ll give you an example. There are 7 D in a W. Can you tell me what the ‘D’ and the ‘W’ stand for?

Brandon: Is it 7 days in a week?

Tess: OK, so you get the idea. Now, either of you can answer and if, together, you can get five correct answers, you both win a prize. OK you two?

Brandon & Amy: OK / Yes

Tess: So, here’s the first one. There are twelve M in a Y.

Amy: Twelve months in a year?

Tess: Well done! One out of one. Next one. Twenty-four H in a D.

Brandon: Twenty-four hours in a day.

Tess: That’s it. Two out of two. Three more to get. Next one. Sixty S in an M.

Brandon: It’s sixty seconds in a minute, isn’t it?

Tess: It is. Two more to get. Normally, there are 30 or 31 D in an M.

Amy: Days in a month?

Tess: Right! Four out of four. One more to get. Sixty M in an H.

Brandon: Sixty minutes in an hour!

Tess: Yes Well done you two! Five out of five. OK – you’ve both won a book token and we’ll be sending them to you very soon. Thanks for playing – and well done. Ravi – I’ve got one for you. Eleven P in an F T.

Ravi: Easy. Eleven players in a football team. Good game though. Remember if you’re listening that you can send your ideas for games we can play to learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 4 – Our person in

Ravi:

OK. Time now for Our Person In. At the start of the podcast I promised you fish in the bath – and here they come. Bill Steadman is our man in Prague.

Bill: When the huge fish tanks appear outside supermarkets here in Prague you know that it must be almost Christmas. The tanks are full of carp – the fish traditionally eaten at Christmas here in the Czech Republic and in other central European countries.

For my first Christmas in the Czech Republic I found this tradition a little strange. Carp isn’t usually eaten in Britain – it’s a fish that is often full of small bones and the flavour is a little, well, different. But what I found really strange about the Czech habit of eating carp at Christmas is how they do it.

People usually buy the fish from tanks outside supermarkets and take them home– alive – and put them in the bath. Spending a few days in clean bath water cleans the carp and makes it taste better when it is eaten on Christmas Eve. A friend of mine told me that when her son was four years old he asked why they were keeping the carp in the bath. “To clean it” she told him. Later that day my friend went to look at the carp in the bath and saw, to her horror, a bath full of bubbles. Her helpful son had added a generous handful of soap powder to the bath to make sure their carp was lovely and clean. That was one family that didn’t eat carp that year.

All my friends with children tell me that there is one golden rule – never give your carp a name. When Christmas Eve arrives you’ll find it very difficult to explain to your children why their pet has suddenly disappeared.

Tess: Ahh. So the poor children think they’ve got a fish as a pet and then it disappears and they have to eat it for Christmas. Poor things.

Ravi: What I want to know is how do they have a bath when the fish is in the bath? Do they just have a bath with the fish? Very strange. But anyway, if any of you has something interesting to tell us about what you eat at festivals in your country then write and let us know. The address is learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 5 – Your turn

Tess: Now, let’s move on to Your Turn, the part of our podcast when we find out what you think. This time round we asked a two part question – what are the best – and worst – things on TV. Let’s hear some answers.

Voice 1: Best thing – sport. I know people complain about it but it’s all I watch, really. Worst thing – reality TV shows – definitely. There are hundreds of them and they are all completely stupid.

Voice 2: Well, I like soap operas. I watch two or three of them, you know. You really feel like you know the characters. I’ve watched them for years. What do I always switch off? Probably the weather forecast. It’s never right so what’s the point in watching it?

Voice 3: [Note from editor: For technical reasons, this voice is missing from the audio recording.] I don’t watch much TV but I do like the nature documentaries. I saw one about whales and it was just amazing. I don’t know how they do it. But apart from that, I don’t know. There’s too much sport on television. I just turn it off straight away.

Voice 4: I can’t really go to the cinema very often now I’ve got children so I like to watch films on TV. They don’t have the most recent films but, you know, it’s OK. That’s what I watch mostly. I can’t stand all the sport on TV though. It never ends!

Voice 5: Erm.. what do I like? Have you seen Silver Fox? I love action programmes like that, you know, exciting things. It’s better than the news and the political programmes and that. Bo-ring!.

Tess: How about you Ravi. What would you say?

Ravi: Sport, I’m afraid. That’s pretty much all I watch on TV. I watch DVDs most of the time. Let us know what you think – what are the best – and worst – things on TV? Send your answers to learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 6 – Carolina

Ravi: OK. It’s time now to catch up with Carolina. Carolina, you’ll remember, is from Venezuela and she’s come to England to live, study and have fun. She wasn’t having much fun last time because she had a really bad cold but she’s feeling better now and she’s going out to the pub with some friends.

In the pub

Jamie: Carolina! Hi! We’re over here!

Carolina: Oh hi! I couldn’t see you!

Voice: ... And the man says “I know. It is amazing. He hated the book”.

Jamie: Come and sit down. There’s a space next to Henry.

Carolina: Excuse me, sorry. Hello Henry.

Henry: Hi.

Jamie: And this is Helen, and Nigel, and Gemma and Jake.

All: hi, hello, hi Carolina etc

Carolina: Hello everybody.

Jake: Right. It’s my round.

Carolina: Round? I don’t understand.

Jamie: Haven’t you ever been to a pub before?

Carolina: No, it’s the first time.

Jamie: We take it in turns to buy a round – that’s what you do in a pub. Everyone buys a round.

Carolina: But is a round a drink?

Jamie: No. One person buys a drink for everyone at the table – that’s called a round. Then next time someone else buys one. Henry bought the first one and now Jake’s buying the next one, so it’s his round. But you don’t have to…. not if you don’t want to….if you don’t want a drink or something.

Carolina: Oh… no, that’s OK. I’ll buy a round later.

Jake: So, same again everybody?

All: yes, yes please, yep, same again, same for me please.

Jake: Carolina? What are you drinking?

Carolina: Oh dear I don’t know. What is everyone else having?

Jamie: I’m having Newcastle Brown. It’s a really good beer. From Newcastle of course.

Carolina: Ugh! It doesn’t look like the beer I know. It’s very dark!

Jamie: No, probably not. You probably drink lager – that’s the pale beer, you know the light coloured one. We call it lager. Would you like one?

Carolina: No, I don’t think so. I’ll have a fruit juice – what have they got?

Jake: Well, pineapple – that’s what Helen’s drinking, but besides that, I’m not sure. Come up to the bar with me and we’ll ask. You can give me a hand with the drinks. OK, so that’s two bottles of Newcastle Brown, a pint of lager, a half of lager, a Diet Coke, a pineapple juice – and whatever Carolina wants.

At the bar

Jake: So, are you enjoying Newcastle?

Carolina: Yes I am. I haven’t seen much of it yet. I’ve just started classes and I had a really bad cold for a few days. But I like what I’ve seen.

Barman: Y’ being served?

Jake: No. Um, two bottles of Newcastle Brown, a pint and a half of lager, a Diet Coke and a pineapple juice please. And what other fruit juices have you got?

Barman: Pineapple, cranberry, mango, apple, and orange.

Carolina: Um, mango please.

Jake: And a packet of crisps please – cheese and onion.

Barman: Right you are.

Jake: And how long have you known Jamie?

Carolina: We met on the train coming up from London.

Jake: Well he seems to like you.

Carolina: Oh, does he?, Well I ….

Barman: That’s eleven pounds fifty please.

Jake: Here you are.

Barman: And that’s eight fifty change.

Jake: Thanks. OK, let’s get these back to the table. I’ll take the lagers – if you can bring the if you can bring the juices and the crisps over, yeah?

Tess: Oooh. Jamie seems to like Carolina. Well, well.

Ravi: I knew you’d say that. Do you buy rounds if you go to the pub, Tess?

Tess: I don’t usually. It can be really expensive, can’t it? Anyway, at least Carolina knows what a round is now. I don’t really go to the pub much anyway. I prefer to be outdoors.

Ravi: Gordon. I bet you’re often in the pub. Surrounded by people laughing at your jokes.

Gordon: That’s right Ravi.

Section 7 – The Joke

Ravi: Is it time for your joke now? Come on then. I hope it’s a good one.

Gordon: They’re all good, Ravi. Ready for it?

Ravi: Go on.

Gordon: OK then. There were these two married couples, OK? And one couple invited the other for dinner one night. So, they have a lovely meal and after dinner the two men were in the kitchen doing the washing up and chatting and the two women were in the living room, having a chat.

One of the men says to the other, “We went to a great restaurant last week – had a fantastic meal. The best Indian food I’ve had in ages. Excellent. And really cheap too”.

And the other man says “Sounds great. I love Indian food. What was the restaurant called?”

And the first man says, “Oh gosh. My memory’s terrible. Now, let me think for a minute. You know that flower? It’s red – smells nice. Romantic – you give it to people you love on Valentine’s Day. What do you call it?”

“A rose” says the other man.

“Yes! That’s it!” and he shouts into the living room, “Rose! What was the name of the Indian restaurant we went to last Saturday?”

Tess: My dad’s like that. His memory’s awful.

Ravi: Yeah, mine too. Actually I forget things as well. Thanks for the joke …erm … what’s his name again?

Tess: Very funny Ravi. Thanks Gordon. And that’s all from us for today but don’t go away because our English teacher, Tom, will be here in a little while talking about what you heard and ways to help you learn. So, it’s goodbye from me and Ravi …

Ravi: Bye

Tess: … but don’t go away and keep sending your emails to learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. Bye! 

Tom the teacher

Tom: Hi, my name’s Tom. At the end of every podcast, I talk about some of the language that you heard, and some ways to help you learn English.

Today I want to talk about prepositions – words like ‘on’, ‘at’ and ‘in’. It’s very difficult for learners to use these words correctly in English. We use prepositions all the time – in lots of different ways. But today I’m only going to talk about one situation – using prepositions in time phrases – with words like ‘Saturday’, ‘Christmas’ or ‘December’.

Listen to Ravi. Which preposition does he use before ‘Saturday’?

Ravi

Well, I wanted to ask you about that. What are you doing on Saturday?

Tom: That’s right – he uses ‘on’. We say ‘on Saturday’ – or ‘on’ any other day of the week. ‘On Sunday’, ‘on Monday’, ‘on Tuesday’ – all of the days. Now listen to part of Gordon’s joke. The man in the joke is trying to explain what a ‘rose’ is. Listen to the preposition with ‘Valentine’s Day’.

Gordon: Romantic – you give it to people you love on Valentine’s Day.

Tom: He said ‘on Valentine’s Day’. Valentine’s Day isn’t a day of the week, but it is a day – a single day. So we use ‘on’ again. Now listen to one more. This is Bill in Prague talking about the fish that they eat. Listen for the time phrase.

Bill: Spending a few days in clean bath water cleans the carp and makes it taste better when it is eaten on Christmas Eve.

Tom: Yes, it was ‘on’ again. He said "on Christmas Eve". Can you guess why? Christmas Eve is what we call the day before Christmas day – the 24th of December. So, Christmas Eve is a single day. So we use ‘on’. So – when we’re talking about a single day, we use ‘on’. We can say "on my birthday" or "on the first of December" or "on the day I met you".

And we use it for dates too – because they’re single days – 'on the first of January’, ‘on the twenty-fifth of April’, ‘on the tenth of July’. There’s just one more thing I need to tell you about using (or not using!) ‘on’ in time phrases. Listen to this line from Gordon’s joke.

Gordon: What was the name of the Indian restaurant we went to last Saturday?

Tom: Hmm. He said "last Saturday" – he didn’t use ‘on’. The reason is simple. We don’t use a preposition when we use ‘last’. We just say ‘last Saturday’. No ‘on’. And it’s the same with ‘next’ and ‘this. We just say "What are you doing next Saturday?" or "Let’s have dinner this Saturday". No ‘on’. So now you know how to use ‘on’ in time phrases!

In other time phrases we might use ‘at’ or ‘in’ – for example we say "at the weekend" or "at Christmas", and we say "in December" or "in the afternoon". It’s quite difficult to remember them all. But if you can remember that we use ‘on’ for single days, it will make life a lot easier for you!

People often make mistakes with prepositions because they aren’t thinking in English. They think in their own language and then translate the words into English. And that’s when they make mistakes – and not only with prepositions – with lots of different things.

When you’re writing you have time to think – you can look at grammar books, or your notebook, for help. But speaking is different – you often don’t have time to think. If you want to speak English well – you have to start trying to think in English. You can do this with practise. Look at things that you see around you – at home or in the street and say the words in English. You can say them out loud if you’re alone – if not just think them. Then start trying to say or think sentences – ‘I’m going to the kitchen now. I’m going to make my lunch’. Talk to yourself about what you’re doing in English – out loud or in your head. Try to do this for a short time at first – then you can increase the time. Try to do it for an hour every day – it will soon get easier. And your brain will learn to think in English. Try it. I’m sure you’ll notice the difference after a while.

And now for something different. In this podcast we heard Carolina meeting some people in a pub. She learnt a new word. Listen.

Carolina: But is a round a drink?

Jamie: No. One person buys a drink for everyone at the table – that’s called a round. Then next time someone else buys one. Henry bought the first one and now Jake’s buying the next one, so it’s his round. But you don’t have to…. not if you don’t want to….if you don’t want a drink or something.

Tom: Pubs are a big part of British culture. British people often go to the pub, and you will often be invited to go too. This doesn’t mean that you have to drink alcohol. You can drink lots of different things in a pub – and you can do a lot of different things too. You can have a meal for example. A lot of pubs serve very good food – at lunchtime or in the evening – and it’s usually cheaper than eating in a restaurant. A lot of pubs have live music, or maybe karaoke evenings. Another popular thing is a pub quiz. Teams of people try to answer questions to win a prize. That’s a good way to practise your English! So, it’s good to know some phrases in English that you need to use in a pub. In this podcast Carolina learnt what ‘to buy a round’ means. Now listen to Jake. Can you understand all of the drinks that he’s going to buy?

Jake: Come up to the bar with me and we’ll ask. You can give me a hand with the drinks. OK, so that’s two bottles of Newcastle Brown, a pint of lager, a half of lager, a Diet Coke, a pineapple juice – and whatever Carolina wants.

Tom: The word ‘pint’ is probably new for you. Jake is going to buy a pint of lager. ‘A pint’ is a British measurement – it’s a little bit more than half a litre – point five seven of a litre in fact. We use it informally to mean a pint of beer. And ‘a half’ means half a pint of beer – so that’s more or less a quarter of a litre. Now one more useful phrase. Listen.

Jake: So, same again everybody?

All: yes, yes please, yep, same again, same for me please

Tom: You’ll hear ‘same again’ a lot in the pub, especially when people are buying rounds. It means ‘another of the same drink that you had before’. If someone says “What would you like to drink?” you can say ”Same again please”.

Now, just before I go, I noticed a useful phrase that you can try and use this week. It’s a phrase that means ‘I’m sure’. Listen and see if you can hear it.

Ravi: Gordon. I bet you’re often in the pub. Surrounded by people laughing at your jokes.

Gordon: That’s right Ravi.

Tom: The phrase is ‘I bet’. We use it informally and it means ‘I’m sure’. For example, we can say "I bet it’s going to rain tomorrow" or "I bet Ana forgot her homework again". Try and use ‘I bet’ in your conversations in English.

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 09

تس و راوی در حال برنامه ریزی برای آخر هفته هستند و مهمانان آنها در مورد مت گرونینگ کاریکاتوریست و صنعت فیلم هند صحبت می کنند. شما همچنین می توانید کارولینا را دنبال کنید زیرا او شروع به لذت بردن از زندگی در نیوکاسل می کند و چند دوست جدید را برای شام دعوت می کند. به نظر شما او برای آنها چه غذا درست می کند؟

Section 1 – “A weekend away” – talking about short breaks

Ravi: Hello once again and welcome to the LearnEnglish Elementary podcast number 9 with me, Ravi, from Manchester.

Tess: And me Tess, from London. And Gordon, our producer, from … where are you from Gordon?

Gordon_ Me? I’m from Keswick, in the Lake District, you know, but I’ve lived in London for about twenty years.

Tess: Keswick? Really? I’m going there this weekend.

Gordon: Really? What for? Having a weekend away?

Ravi: Are you going cycling again?

Tess: Yeah, we are, six of us. We’re getting the train up from London on Friday morning then cycling to Keswick, spending a night there then we’re going to do a really long ride on the Saturday ..

Ravi: You’re not going to camp, are you? Isn’t it a bit cold?

Tess: No, we’re not – it is a bit cold. We’re staying in youth hostels, you know.

Ravi: Oh right, I haven’t been in a youth hostel since I was a kid. Are they still really cold and uncomfortable?

Tess: No, not at all. Some of them are fantastic. I mean, they’re not like five star hotels or anything but they’re really comfortable and you meet some really interesting people in them.

Ravi: Hmm. Sounds OK, better than I remember. It’s the cycling I don’t want to do. How far are you going to ride each day?

Tess: About fifty miles or so. It depends. It’s more difficult with all the hills and stuff. We haven’t booked the youth hostels – they won’t be really busy at this time of year. So we’ll just stay at the nearest place if we get really tired.

Ravi: Ah OK. Sounds great. When are you coming back?

Tess: We’re getting a train on Sunday afternoon so we’ll get back to London in the evening, about six o’clock, I think.

Ravi: Do you know what I’m going to do this weekend?

Tess: No? What are you up to?

Ravi: Absolutely nothing. I’m going to sit on my sofa all weekend and watch TV. I’ve got loads of DVDs I want to watch. I’ll think of you on your bicycle though.

Tess: I don’t know how you can do nothing all weekend Ravi. I’d get so bored.

Ravi: I know, I know. I’m going to start going to the gym soon, honest. I can never find the time.

Section 2 – I’d like to meet

Ravi: Anyway, it’s time now to move on. As usual we’re going to start with Would Like to Meet. In every podcast someone comes to the studio and tells us about a famous person – alive or dead - that they’d like to meet. We’ve got Sean here with us today so let’s start by finding out something about you.

Sean: Well, my name’s Sean, I’m seventeen, and I’m from Brighton.

Ravi: That’s where my mum and dad live. I go down there a lot. Great place.

Sean: Yeah, it’s good. There’s plenty to do – good shops. I’d rather live in London though.

Ravi: I bet if you lived in London, you’d want to go back to Brighton. Get some fresh air, see the sea.

Sean: Maybe – but then I could visit my mum and dad, like you do Ravi.

Ravi: Well that’s true. Yeah, live in London, have family in Brighton – perfect really.

Tess: And who are you going to talk about today Sean. Who’s the famous person you’d like to meet?

Sean: Matt Groening.

Tess: The Simpsons guy?

Ravi: The Simpsons guy? I always thought it was pronounced ‘groaning’.

Sean: Well I did too, for a long time. But no it isn’t, it rhymes with ‘raining’ – Matt Groening.

Tess: OK, That’s the name sorted out. Tell us a bit about him Sean.

Sean: Well, as you know, he’s the guy who created the Simpsons which is probably the best show on TV anywhere in the world. Ever. And a great film too.

Tess: You’re a fan then.

Sean: Ever since I can remember. And I just think that the man who created something so brilliant must be a really funny guy. To be honest, I don’t know much about him as a person – I know he’s really old – he must be fifty or something – at least.

Tess: I’m not sure fifty is really old Sean. My mother wouldn’t be very happy to hear that. 

Sean: Well you know, whatever. He’s older than my dad anyway. That’s why I’d like to meet him – he must be really funny and really smart, but he’s old. Um, what else do I know? Um - and I know he’s got kids – two kids called Abraham and Homer.

Tess: He called his son Homer! After Homer Simpson!

Sean.: Well maybe – maybe not. Homer was his dad’s name too – he got all the names from his own family. His mum and dad were Homer and Margaret – Marge for short. And his little sisters are Lisa and Maggie. Bart was going to be called Matt at first but then he changed his mind. But I read somewhere that the character of Bart Simpson was based on his older brother. I guess I’d like to meet him too.

Ravi: When did the show start?

Sean: In the 1980s – I’m not sure of the year. But it’s about twenty years old. But the characters never get any older - I like that. Oh, and another thing I’ve just remembered – “Doh!” – you know Homer Simpsons’ famous “Doh!” - is now in the Oxford English Dictionary. I think that’s pretty amazing. And I can’t remember anything else. Doh!

Ravi: Don’t worry about it – that was really interesting

Tess: Thanks Sean , another good one there. Ravi, I don’t why I haven’t asked you this before – who would you like to meet? Who would you talk about if you were our guest on the podcast?

Ravi: Oof. That’s a tough one. There’s so many. Matt Groening’s a good one – I’d love to meet him. Peter Jackson who directed the Lord of the Rings films – he’d be really interesting. Erm … J.K. Rowling who wrote the Harry Potter books. Yeah, maybe her – she seems quite an interesting character.

Tess: Yeah, I’d like to meet her too. And remember, listeners, that we’re always interested to hear about people that you’d like to meet. Or even cartoon characters!

Ravi: That’s a good one! Which cartoon character would you like to meet and why. Brilliant idea!

Tess: So send your thoughts to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org, that’s learnenglishpodcast - all one word – at britishcouncil – all one word dot org, that’s o-r-g.

Section 3 – Quiz

Ravi: Right. Shall we meet the players for our quiz today then? We have a little quiz now with two of our listeners and this time we’ve got Ethan. Hi Ethan.

Ethan: (on phone) Hi Ravi

Ravi: And Abby. Hello Abby.

Abby: (on phone) Hi Ravi.

Ravi: Let’s start with you, Abby. Where are you calling from?

Abby: From Margate.

Ravi: Ah, at the seaside. Is it sunny down there today?

Abby: It is, it’s lovely and warm today.

Ravi: And what do you do Abby?

Abby: I’ve just left school. I don’t know what I’m going to do now.

Ravi: Well, good luck with what you decide to do and good luck with today’s quiz. Now, Ethan.

Ethan: Hi Ravi.

Ravi: Where are you from, Ethan?

Ethan: South London.

Ravi: OK. Well I know that it’s sunny here in London too. What do you do Ethan?

Ethan: Nothing, at the moment Ravi. I finished school last year and I’m going to university in a couple of months time. I’ve had a gap year and done some travelling.

Ravi: Ah, fantastic. Where have you been?

Ethan: I went to South America for 4 months.

Ravi: Brilliant. Did you have a good time?

Ethan: Unbelievable. It was so cool.

Ravi: Right. Today’s quiz is another ten second quiz, OK? I’m going to give you a topic and you’ve got ten seconds to think of as many things as you can. So, let’s say, I say ‘things that you play’ you have to think of as many things as you can. You might say ‘football’, ‘the piano’, ‘volleyball’, you know. All things that you play. The winner is the person who gets the most in ten seconds, OK?

Abby/Ethan: OK

Ravi: OK then. You’ve got ten seconds to write down things that you make. I’ll give you one to start with – ‘make the bed’. Go on then, ten seconds, things that you make. Go!

[countdown, followed by bell]

Ravi: OK – time’s up. How many Abby?

Abby: Five

Ravi: OK. How about you Ethan?

Ethan: Erm .. six, Ravi.

Ravi: OK then, let’s hear your six Ethan.

Ethan: Erm .. Make a decision, make a mistake, make a mess, make friends, make progress and … make an appointment.

Ravi: Yep. That’s six. Well done. It’s not easy when the clock’s ticking. So, you win the book token Ethan, we’ll send that to you soon – and bad luck to you Abby but thank you for playing. 

Tess: And remember everyone that if you’ve got a brilliant idea for a game we can play then you can send it to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org

Section 4 – Our person in

Tess: Now though, it’s time for Our Person In – the part of the podcast when we hear from different people around the world telling us something interesting about where they live. This time round Bridget Keenan is Our Woman in India.

Bridget: India is a nation of cinema-lovers – almost 40 million people go to the cinema each month and India produces almost twice as many films each year as the USA. The Indian film industry is known as Bollywood and you never feel like you are far from its influence. In cities, giant hand-painted images of Bollywood stars look down at the passing traffic and in parts of India film stars have used their popularity to start careers as politicians. Bollywood films are quite different to Hollywood films. Although the plots can be similar, the Indian films feature a lot more singing and dancing – there are usually six songs and at least two huge dance scenes. In fact, the stories are often very predictable and always have a happy ending – but that doesn’t stop people going to see them.

And going to see films is a special experience too - much noisier and livelier than British cinemas. The crowd will cheer on the hero through all the action scenes, whistle through the songs and offer advice and support throughout the film. The audience can be as much fun as the film.

That audience seems to be almost everyone in India – from the very old to the very young. In the countryside there are touring cinemas – a lorry travelling with all the equipment to make a temporary cinema in a village for one night before moving on to the next place. It’s a love of cinema shared by the whole, huge country unlike anywhere else in the world.

Ravi: Hehe. That brings back some memories. We used to watch loads of Bollywood films when I was a kid. They’re great fun.

Tess: Did you? Do you still watch them now?

Ravi: Not really. If I’m at my mum and dad’s I might. My mum still watches them quite a lot.

Tess: I’ve never seen a Bollywood film. They sound very … different.

Ravi: I’ll lend you a DVD. I’ll give you the address again if you’d like to tell us something about going to the cinema in your country. It’s learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 5 – Your turn

Tess: And that takes us into Your Turn – the part of the show where we ask you what you think. I told you earlier that I’m going away for the weekend, cycling. That’s a perfect holiday for me and that’s what we asked people for Your Turn – What’s your perfect holiday. Let’s hear what they said.

Voice 1: Ooh what a lovely idea, I love holidays. The beach for me. Sitting in the sun, with a cold drink and doing absolutely nothing. That would be perfect. Bah, my next holiday seems ages away.

Voice 2: Hmm. I just get really bored sitting on a beach all day with all that sand getting everywhere. I’d rather be in the countryside – or just somewhere where there aren’t any crowds. The beach is always so crowded.

Voice 3: What I really like about a holiday is when I don’t have any plan, y’know? I like travelling about and if I like somewhere I stay there for a few days and if I don’t I just get on a train and go somewhere different. That’s what I really like – when I don’t have to worry about timetables and all that stuff.

Voice 4: I would really love to go on a cruise. Y’know? A holiday on a boat where you travel to different cities. My aunt and uncle went on one last year and said it was great. Everything’s planned for you so you don’t have to worry about anything at all. Lovely.

Voice 5: My perfect holiday would be a trip to China. I’ve always wanted to go there. It just seems so fascinating – so different, y’know. And there’d be so much to see. I’d love to tour the whole country – but I guess that would take years.

Tess: Ravi? Your perfect holiday?

Ravi: I really want to go to Australia. A couple of my friends went there last year and said it was brilliant.

Tess: Yeah, I really like the sound of Australia too. Let us know what your perfect holiday would be. You can send it to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 6 – Carolina 

Tess: Now let’s join Carolina again. Carolina is a student from Venezuela who’s come to Britain to live, study – and have fun. She’s really settled in in Newcastle. Last time we listened she was in the pub with her friends from the Conservation Society. This time, Carolina is preparing a special meal for her friends.

In the shared kitchen

Emily: Hi. How’s it going? Everything under control?

Carolina: Oh - I’m beginning to panic a bit. The rice and beans are done, they’re cooking now, that’s for Jamie – he’s vegetarian. I need to grill the meat - and I need to make the guasacaca - oh dear, and I wanted to have a shower – I’m so hot.

Emily: What time are they coming?

Carolina: I told them eight o’clock. I hope they’re late!

Emily: Don’t panic. You’ve got plenty of time. What can I do to help? What’s gwuh ….. whatever it was?

Carolina: Guasacaca. It’s like a salad sort of thing, with avocadoes and herbs. It goes with the meat.

Emily: Well, why don’t you tell me what to do and I’ll make it while you have a shower.

Carolina: OK thanks. You’re an angel. Um, you need an onion, some green pepper, some red pepper, some garlic, um some parsley – and you chop it all up – in quite small pieces and put everything in a bowl. It’s all here look.

Emily: OK. I’ll start chopping. How much garlic?

Carolina: Um, three of those … what do you call them? The small parts of garlic.

Emily: Cloves? You mean cloves. Three of these?

Carolina: Yes that’s right.

Emily: Then what?

Carolina: Then you put it in a bowl with olive oil, vinegar, a little sugar and some chilli powder. Oh and some salt.

Emily: And what about the avocado?

Carolina: You add that at the end. There are two avocadoes in the fridge. You mash one, you know, with a fork so it’s like a paste, and the other one you just chop, so it’s in pieces.

Emily: I think I can manage that. And then I add the avocadoes to the stuff in the bowl?

Carolina: Yes. And put it in the fridge.

Emily: Right. No problem. You go and make yourself look beautiful.

Later

Jamie: Hi. Here we are

Carolina: Oh hi. Hi Henry.

Henry: Hi. Hi Emily.

Emily: Hi. Did you find it OK?

Henry: Yeah, it was easy. We’ve brought a bottle of wine – it’s white, it probably needs to go in the fridge.

Jamie: And we brought these too, for you.

Carolina: Oh that’s very kind of you. I love chocolate. Thanks.

Jamie: Can we put our coats somewhere?

Carolina: You can put them in my room.

Emily: Here, I’ll take them.

Carolina: Well, sit down. Make yourselves at home

Henry: Thanks. It’s a nice place you’ve got here. Great kitchen. Really big.

Carolina: Thanks. Yes, we’re very lucky. Now what would you all like to drink? We’ve got….

Later

Carolina: So, here it is. Just help yourselves.

Jamie: It looks delicious.

Carolina: I hope so.

Jamie: Mmm, this is good. What’s in it?

Carolina: Rice and black beans, and um onion and pepper – and some spices

Emily: Delicious. Is this a traditional Venezuelan dinner then?

Carolina: Well, in Venezuela we usually eat a big meal for lunch, and have a smaller meal in the evening. But yes, it’s a traditional meal, nearly. We should have fried …I don’t know the word – they’re like bananas – big, hard bananas.

Henry: Plantains? They look like bananas.

Carolina: Yes, maybe, plantains. Anyway, I couldn’t find any, but everything else is traditional.

Emily: Hey, we forgot the music! Henry, do you want to come and choose something? I’ll show you where the CDs are.

Henry: Sure.

Emily: My rooms just through here on the……

Jamie: Well. Here we are then. Just the two of us.

Tess: Awww.

Ravi: What?

Tess: Oh nothing Ravi. I really want to know what’s going to happen next.

Ravi: To Carolina?

Tess: And Jamie. Never mind.

Section 7 – The Joke

Tess: Right. It’s time for Gordon. Are you ready there Gordon?

Gordon: Ready. Tess: For new listeners, Gordon tells us a joke every week. If you like bad jokes, you’ll love Gordon. 

Gordon: Thanks Tess. Right – I’ve got a parrot for you this week.

Tess: Another parrot?

Gordon: Yes – a parrot and a magician. A magician who worked on a cruise ship – you know, the big ships that people have holidays on – had a parrot.

But the parrot had seen the magician’s act hundreds of times and knew all the tricks. So whenever the magician did his act the parrot just sat there looking really bored because he’d worked out how the magician made things disappear.

Anyway, one night, during the magician’s show, the ship hit an iceberg and sank. The only survivors were the magician and the parrot. The magician managed to climb into a lifeboat and immediately fell into a deep deep sleep. A little bit after that the parrot came and sat on the edge of the lifeboat and stared at the magician.

The magician slept for three days and the parrot didn’t take his eyes off him. It just stared and stared and stared. Finally, the magician opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the parrot – watching him like a … well, like a parrot.

Another hour went past and the parrot didn’t take his eyes off the magician. Then the parrot opened its beak and squawked “Alright. I give up. What did you do with the ship?”

Ravi: No, that’s terrible Gordon. I still prefer the jokes about dogs. Actually, maybe some of our listeners could send you some new jokes. The address for jokes or anything else you want to send to us is learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Tess: We have to go now but in a moment you can listen to Tom, our English teacher, who’ll be talking about some of the language you heard in this podcast and things to help you learn. So, stick around to listen to Tom but we’ll say goodbye for now.

Tess & Ravi: Bye!

Tom the teacher

Tom: Hello again. My name’s Tom. And at the end of every podcast, I talk about some of the language that you heard, and some ways to help you learn English.

Today I want to talk about the verbs ‘make’ and ‘do’. This is a big problem for learners of English. A lot of languages only have one word for ‘make’ and ‘do’. For example, in Portuguese, the verb ‘fazer’ is sometimes ‘make’ in English, and sometimes it’s ‘do’. So it can be very difficult for Portuguese learners to know when to use ‘make’ and when to use ‘do’.

So what’s the difference between them? Well, it isn’t an easy question to answer. Most of the time there isn’t really any difference in meaning at all. It’s just that in some phrases we use ‘make’ and in other phrases we use ‘do’.

Some grammar books tell you that we use ‘make’ when we are creating something – something that we can touch. This is sometimes true. Listen to Carolina talking about the guasacaca. Which verb does she use?

Carolina: I need to grill the meat - and I need to make the guasacaca - oh dear, and I wanted to have a shower – I’m so hot.

Tom: She says ‘I need to make the guasacaca’. We often use ‘make’ when we’re talking about food – dishes that we’ve created from other things. We don’t ‘make’ meat – that comes from an animal already made! – we just cook it. Now listen to Emily offering to help with the guasacaca.

Emily: Well, why don’t you tell me what to do and I’ll make it while you have a shower.

Tom: Emily uses ‘make’ too. She’s going to make the guasacaca for Carolina. So try to remember this use of ‘make’ with food. You can say to your friend “Mmm, this soup is delicious! You must tell me how to make it”. Or “This cake is very good. Did you make it yourself?”.

But there are lots of other phrases with ‘make’. The quiz in this podcast was about things that you can ‘make’. Listen to the last part.

Ravi: OK then, let’s hear your six Ethan.

Ethan: Erm .. Make a decision, make a mistake, make a mess, make friends, make progress and … make an appointment.

Tom: Ethan gives six examples of phrases with ‘make’.

• You make the bed when you get up in the morning,

• you can make an important decision,

• you can make a mistake – not ‘do’ – we don’t say ‘do a mistake’.

• You can make a mess – if you drop things all over the floor for example,

• you can make friends, just like Carolina has in Newcastle, and

• you can make an appointment to see the doctor or the dentist.

We always use ‘make’ in these phrases. There’s no reason for using ‘make’ – it isn’t because of the meaning of the phrases. It’s just what we say.

It’s a good idea to keep a page in your notebook for phrases with ‘make’ and ‘do’ – and try to learn them. Start with the ones from this podcast and then add to them when you find more.

Here are two phrases with ‘do’ that you can add too. We say ‘do your homework’ – ‘do’ not ‘make’. Say “I’m sorry I didn’t do the homework” to your teacher. And we also say ‘do an exam’ or ‘do a test’. Never ‘make’.

OK. Now for something different. I noticed a phrase in this podcast that might be useful for you to understand. Listen to Ravi talking to Ethan in the quiz. What did Ethan do after he left school?

Ravi: What do you do Ethan?

Ethan: Nothing, at the moment Ravi. I finished school last year and I’m going to university in a couple of months time. I’ve had a gap year and done some travelling.

Tom: Ethan had a gap-year after he finished school. It means that he didn’t start university immediately after he finished school. He waited for a year. Lots of British students have gap-years. Sometimes they work for a few months to get some money and then they go travelling – to see the world. Sometimes they go and do voluntary work for a year. The universities are usually very happy about this. They think it gives the students experience of the real world before they start studying hard again. So now you know what a ‘gap-year’ is if you hear anyone say it.

Now I want you to listen to Carolina again. Carolina speaks very good English – but sometimes there are words that she doesn’t know. Listen to what she says when she doesn’t know the word.

Emily: OK. I’ll start chopping. How much garlic?

Carolina: Um, three of those … what do you call them? The small parts of garlic.

Emily: Cloves? You mean cloves. Three of these?

Carolina: Yes that’s right.

Tom: OK – she asks Emily “what do you call them?” – she asks Emily. But she also tries to describe the thing that she doesn’t know. She says “the small parts of garlic”. This is very important when you don’t know a word. Don’t just stop! Try to describe what you want to say. Listen to Carolina again.

Carolina: But yes, it’s a traditional meal, nearly. We should have fried …. I don’t know the word – they’re like bananas – big, hard bananas.

Henry: Plantains? They look like bananas.

Carolina: Yes, maybe, plantains.

Tom: She doesn’t know the word ‘plantains’ so she says “They’re like bananas – big hard bananas”. And Henry understands what she wants to say. Try to do the same thing when you don’t know a word. Don’t stop – keep talking. Use different words to describe what you want to say. people will understand and give you the word that you need.

Before I go, as usual, I want to give you a useful phrase from the podcast – a phrase for you to use. Listen to what Carolina says to Jamie and Henry.

Carolina: Well, sit down. Make yourselves at home.

Tom: Yes, it’s another phrase with ‘make’. She says “Make yourselves at home”. She wants them to be relaxed and comfortable – as if they were in their own homes. ‘Yourselves’ is plural – Carolina is speaking to two people. If you’re talking to one person then you say “Make yourself at home”. So try to use the phrase when someone comes to visit you in your house. Say “Make yourself at home”.

  • 13 آبان 1402

Episode 10

این قسمت پایانی سری اول است و برای جشن گرفتن بهترین قسمت‌های سری 1 را گردآوری کرده‌ایم. چقدر از قسمت‌های قبلی به یاد دارید؟

Ravi: Hello. I’m Ravi - and I want to say welcome to a special Learn English elementary podcast number ten. This is the last podcast in the first series {pause} so today we’re going to do something a bit different. We’ve had lots of emails from you, the listeners, and lots of great comments on the site, saying how much you’ve enjoyed all of the podcasts in this series. So Gordon, our producer, has put together some of your favourite parts from the first nine podcasts for you to hear again – or maybe for you to hear for the first time. Any way, listen again, or for the first time, and we hope you enjoy it! Especially for any new listeners out there, our first section is from podcast one – and it’s the part when you get to meet me, Tess and Gordon.

Section 1 – Conversations in English: “Susan, this is Paul” – introducing your friends

Ravi: Hello, and welcome to LearnEnglish elementary podcast number one. My name’s Ravi …

Tess: … and I’m Tess. We’re your presenters and we’ve got lots of things for you to listen to today, but before we start, I think we should introduce ourselves. Ravi?

Ravi: OK … erm … I’m Ravi

Tess: (interrupting) or, I tell you what, I’ll introduce you and you can introduce me. How about that?

Ravi: Well, OK then. Erm, this is Tess. She’s from London. She’s (pause) how old are you?

Tess: (joking) None of your business, Ravi!

Rav: i(laughs) and she loves dancing and riding her mountain bike. OK?

Tess: OK. And this is Ravi. He comes from Manchester. He’s 23. Oh, aren’t you? (checking)

Ravi: Oh yes.

Tess: He likes football – and (pause) he’s a great cook.

Ravi: Thanks! And there’s one more person for you to meet. I’d like to introduce our producer, Gordon. (raised voice) Say hello to everyone Gordon!

Gordon: (distant voice) Hello! Pleased to meet you!

Ravi & Tess (together): Hi Gordon

Tess: And how are you today?

Gordon: (distant) Very well thank you Tess.

Tess: Good! We’ll speak to Gordon again later in the show but now it’s time to get on with our programme.

Section 2 – I’d like to meet

Ravi: Right, so that’s us. The next section is ‘I’d like to meet’, when we talk to people about a famous person that they’d like to meet. A lot of you thought that this one was very interesting. It’s from podcast number seven – and it’s Muhammed from Manchester, talking about a very important man.

Tess: So let’s say hello to this week’s guest, Muhammed from Manchester. Hi Muhammed. Welcome to ‘I’d like to meet’.

Muhammed: Hi Tess and Ravi

Ravi: Hi Muhammed. So you’re a Manchester boy like me. Good football team eh.

Muhammed: Which one? 

Ravi: Which one!? No – don’t tell me you’re a Manchester City supporter! Noooo!

Muhammed: I’m afraid so. Sorry Ravi.

Tess: Ravi can’t speak – so I’ll continue. What do you do Muhammed?

Muhammed: I’m at college at the moment - but when I finish I want to join the police.

Tess: You want to be a policeman. What made you decide to do that?

Muhammed: My uncle’s a policeman. I don’t know really – it’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.

Tess: OK. Now, who are you going to talk about today Muhammed – who’s the person that you’d like to meet – if you had the chance?

Muhammed: I want to talk about Muhammed Yunus.

Tess: OK. Off you go.

Muhammed: Well, he’s from Bangladesh – from Chittagong actually – that’s where my dad’s family came from – we’ve still got relations living there. And I think everyone knows his name now – since he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 – well he won it with his bank.

Ravi: A bank won the Nobel peace prize?

Muhammed: Yes. The Grameen Bank? Microcredit?

Ravi: Well, yeah, it sounds familiar.

Muhammed: It’s a bank for poor people.

Tess: Perhaps you’d better explain how it works Muhammed.

Muhammed: Well, it all started when he - Dr Yunus – he’s a professor of economics - he visited a village outside Chittagong, and he talked to a very poor woman – and he realised that she only needed a small amount of money – just a couple of dollars – and then she could buy materials to make things and sell them and earn money. She couldn’t borrow money from the bank because they didn’t believe that she would pay it back. He found more people in the same situation - think it was forty-two people in the village – and all of them together only needed twenty-seven dollars -- that’s all they needed to be able to start making money for themselves. So he lent them the money - and they all paid it back to him later. Then he went to other villages and did the same thing. So he started his own bank – the Grameen Bank – to lend small amounts of money to poor people, mostly women actually. That’s what microcredit means.

Tess: What kinds of things do they use the money for?

Muhammed: Well, a woman can buy a cow, and then she can sell the milk and pay to send her children to school. Or she could buy a mobile phone – the villages don’t have telephones – and then people can pay to use her phone. They aren’t expensive things – it just means that poor people can start to earn money. And now the Grameen Bank lends millions and millions of dollars to people.

Ravi: And they all pay it back?

Muhammed: Most of them yes – something like 99 per cent. And now countries like the United States and Britain are using the idea too, it’s all over the world - so – well, I think he’s brilliant – a real hero. That’s what I’d like to say to him.

Tess: Well thank you Muhammed. That was really interesting.

Muhammed: Thanks.

Ravi: There’s an old joke isn’t there – something about ‘a bank will only lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it’.

Tess: Well yes – it’s true isn’t it! I’d never really thought about it before.

Ravi: No, nor me.

Section 3 – Quiz

Ravi: So that was Muhammed talking about Muhammed Yunus. I learnt some interesting things that day. {pause} And now the quiz. We’ve played lots of different games in the quiz section – words beginning with letters of the alphabet, things that are different colours, - but this game is one of your favourites. Hot Seat. And this one’s from podcast number four.

Ravi: Every week we have a little quiz to make you think. This week we’re going to play Hot Seat again. Here to play are Hannah and Max. Hi Hannah.

Hannah: Hello

Ravi: Hi Max

Max: Hello.

Ravi: You’re both from Sheffield, is that right?

Max: Yeah

Ravi: And how old are you?

Max: I’m seventeen

Hannah: And I’m sixteen. We go to the same school. St Joseph’s.

Ravi: Are you in the same class?

Hannah: We are, yeah.

Ravi: OK. And who’s doing what? Who’s going to explain the words and who’s going to be in the Hot Seat?

Hannah: I’ll explain and Max’ll guess.

Ravi: OK. OK, Max?

Max: OK.

Ravi: Right. Remember how to play? These cards have all got words on. Hannah has to explain the words and Max has to guess them. But remember Hannah, you can’t use the words on the card. Max, you have to guess as many words as you can in one minute. OK?

Hannah and Max: OK

Ravi: Then let’s go. You’ve got one minute starting now!

Hannah: Erm .. big thing. On the sea. You sail in it.

Max: Boat? Ship.

Hannah: Ship! An animal. Small. Big ears.

Max: Elephant.

Hannah: No. It’s small. Carrots! It eats carrots.

Max: Rabbit.

Hannah: Yes, yes! Erm .. you do it at the disco.

Max: Dance.

Hannah: Yes! It’s a fruit I think. It’s very hard. It’s got milk inside. You can eat part of it but not the outside.

Max:Coconut!

Hannah: Yes! Erm, you go there when you’re sick.

Max: Hospital. Doctor’s.

Hannah: Hospital. It’s white. Comes from a cow. You drink it.

Max: Milk.

Hannah: It goes across the river. You cross it.

Max: A bridge

Hannah: You stand under it in the morning and you wash yourself.

Max: Shower!

Hannah: It’s a day. Erm …you’ll be eighteen

Max: Birthday.

Ravi: We’ll give you ‘birthday’. Fantastic. How many was that? I make it nine. Is that right? Yes, nine. Brilliant. Well done Hannah and Max!

Section 4 – Our person in

Ravi: Yes, well done Hannah and Max. {pause} And now the next thing we’ve got for you is ‘Our person in..’. when people around the world tell us something interesting about where they live. And this time it’s something that I do know about - the Indian film industry. Bridget Keenan lives in India and she’s talking about Bollywood – and it comes from podcast number nine.

Bridget: India is a nation of cinema-lovers – almost 40 million people go to the cinema each month and India produces almost twice as many films each year as the USA. The Indian film industry is known as Bollywood and you never feel like you are far from its influence. In cities, giant hand-painted images of Bollywood stars look down at the passing traffic and in parts of India film stars have used their popularity to start careers as politicians. Bollywood films are quite different to Hollywood films. Although the plots can be similar, the Indian films feature a lot more singing and dancing – there are usually six songs and at least two huge dance scenes. In fact, the stories are often very predictable and always have a happy ending – but that doesn’t stop people going to see them. And going to see films is a special experience too - much noisier and livelier than British cinemas. The crowd will cheer on the hero through all the action scenes, whistle through the songs and offer advice and support throughout the film. The audience can be as much fun as the film. That audience seems to be almost everyone in India – from the very old to the very young. In the countryside there are touring cinemas – a lorry travelling with all the equipment to make a temporary cinema in a village for one night before moving on to the next place. It’s a love of cinema shared by the whole, huge country unlike anywhere else in the world.

Ravi: Hehe. That brings back some memories. We used to watch loads of Bollywood films when I was a kid. They’re great fun.

Tess: Did you? Do you still watch them now?

Ravi: Not really. If I’m at my mum and dad’s I might. My mum still watches them quite a lot.

Tess: I’ve never seen a Bollywood film. They sound very … different.

Ravi: I’ll lend you a DVD.

Section 5 – Your turn

Ravi: And that’s reminded me - I never did lend Tess that Bollywood DVD. Something to remember next time I see her. Now, a lot of you enjoy the next section – ‘Your turn’. And a lot of you wrote to us to tell us what you think about all the questions that we talked about in this series. But now, let’s listen to ‘Your turn’ from podcast number six.

Tess: Now it’s time for Your Turn. Your Turn is when we go out in the street to find out what people think. This time the question was ….. "How green are you?"

Ravi: Nice one. “How green are you?” – what do you do to help save the planet? Like use public transport.

Tess: OK. Let’s hear what people said.

Voice 1: What do I do to help save the planet? Not enough. I hate to say it, but it’s true, I mean, I always try to remember not to use plastic bags or recycle or whatever but I always forget. I really have to try to do more.

Voice 2: Well, we recycle pretty much everything we can, you know, bottles, cans, newspapers and all that but to be honest we don’t do much else.

Voice 3: I do as much as I can. You have to, you know? We all have to. I don’t take short-haul flights anymore – I used to fly down to London quite a lot – and of course I recycle and everything else I can.

Voice 4: I know I’m not going to make myself popular saying this but I don’t really do very much. Look – there are factories all over the world putting out loads and loads of pollution every single day and I don’t see how saving your old newspapers is going to help apart from making people feel good about themselves.

Voice 5: I’ll tell you the greenest thing I do – I grow almost all my own vegetables. I’ve really started thinking about where my food comes from and the food miles and that – you know, like I won’t buy food that’s been flown here from Australia or something.

Tess: They make me feel a bit guilty. Some people do so much. I feel like the first woman who said she didn’t do enough. I don’t think I do enough. I do recycle things though.

Ravi: Me too. It’s difficult though, isn’t it? Anyway, remember, listeners, that we’d love to know what you think. How green are you? What do you do to help save the planet? You can write and tell us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org.

Section 6 – Carolina

Ravi: An interesting question. And don’t forget, it isn’t too late for you to send us your opinion about this, or any of the other ‘Your turn’ questions in series one. We always enjoy hearing from you. {pause} Now for my favourite part of the podcast – the adventures of Carolina. A lot of you said that you liked this one the best. Carolina makes a mistake with her English – and it’s from podcast number seven.

Tess: OK. Time now to find out how Carolina’s getting on in Newcastle. Carolina, you might remember, is a student from Venezuela who’s come to Britain to live, study and have fun. Last time we listened, Carolina joined some societies at the university but this time she’s not feeling too well.

In the shared residence kitchen

Carolina: Hi Emily.

Emily: Hi. What are you doing here? I thought you had a seminar at 10 o’clock.

Carolina: I did, but I’m not feeling very well. (she sneezes)

Emily: Bless you! You sound terrible. You’d better go to bed. Did you tell your tutor that you were ill?

Carolina: No, I was early, he wasn’t there, but I left a note on the door. I said I was sorry, but I was very constipated.

Emily: Constipated? Why did you tell him you were constipated?

Carolina: Well, because I am. (she sneezes) See, I can’t stop sneezing.

Emily: You don’t sneeze when you’re constipated. Constipated means that you can’t go to the toilet, you know, you’re blocked ….. , you know, you try and try but you can’t …. well you know.

Carolina: Oh no! I was thinking in Spanish! In Spanish we say I’m constipada! (she sneezes)

Emily: Well in English it’s a cold. You say I’ve got a cold – a bad cold.

Carolina: I knew that! I’ve got a cold! What a stupid mistake! It’s because I’m ill – my head feels like it’s full of, I don’t know, ….. cake.

Emily: Cake?!

Carolina: And I left a note on the door. Everyone’s going to laugh at me.

Emily: No they won’t. Don’t be silly. Everyone knows English isn’t your first language – you made a mistake that’s all.

Carolina: But they won’t know it’s a mistake. (she sneezes) They’ll think I wanted to tell everyone that I was constipated, that I couldn’t go to the toilet. Oh, I want to go home to Venezuela.

Emily: Look, it’s not ten o’clock yet. I’ll go the room and take the note off the door and explain to…. who?

Carolina: Professor Grogan. Room 102. It’ll be too late.

Emily: And you can go to the chemist’s and get yourself something to take. Then come back here and go to bed. You look awful. Have some hot lemon and honey – that’s what my mother always gives me.

Carolina: (she sneezes) OK, thanks a lot Emily.

At the chemist’s

Chemist: Good morning. Can I help you?

Carolina: (she sneezes) Yes please. I can’t stop sneezing. (she sneezes) Have you got anything I can take?

Chemist: Is it a cold or an allergy?

Carolina: It’s a cold. I don’t have any allergies, at least I don’t think so.

Chemist: Have you got any other symptoms? (Carolina sneezes) A sore throat? A headache? A cough?

Carolina: Yes, my throat hurts – it hurts when I eat or drink, and my head hurts too.

Chemist: Have you got a temperature?

Carolina: A temperature? (she sneezes) What’s that? I’m sorry, my English is terrible today.

Chemist: You know, have you got a high temperature, do you feel hot? Is your face hot?

Carolina: You mean a fever? Yes, yes, I think so, my face is hot but my body feels cold.

Chemist: OK. It sounds like a bad cold. Let’s see … ... this should help. Are you allergic to any medicines?

Carolina: No, no I’m not. How often do I have to take it?

Chemist: Two spoonfuls, four times a day. The instructions are on the bottle. Don’t take it if you’re driving, it might make you sleepy.

Carolina: That’s OK. I just want to go to bed. Should I take anything else?

Chemist: Vitamin C will help. Here you are. Take one of these three times a day. And drink plenty of water. Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?

Carolina: Venezuela. I’ve only been here a few weeks.

Chemist: Ah. Venezuela. I expect our English weather is a bit too cold for you then. Spend the rest of the day in bed and keep warm. You’ll feel a lot better tomorrow.

Carolina: I hope so.

Chemist: If you still feel terrible in two or three days then you should go and see a doctor.

Carolina: Thank you very much. And how much is that for the medicines?

Tess: Poor Carolina. It’s terrible when you feel ill in a foreign country.

Ravi: "I am constipated."

Tess: Oh, stop it Ravi.

Ravi: Yeah, you’re right. It is quite funny though. And she got some medicine so I’m sure she’s OK.

Section 7 – The Joke (1)

Ravi: Ah, ‘I’m constipated’. I thought that was really funny when I first heard it. And it still makes me laugh now. Poor Carolina – her English is usually so good. And talking about funny – at the end of every podcast, Gordon, our producer, tells a joke. Sometimes good, sometimes – well, terrible. But a lot of you wrote to tell us that you really liked Gordon’s jokes. And there were two favourites. So let’s listen to them both. This one comes from podcast number one.

Tess: Come on Gordon! Are you ready?

Gordon: I’m ready.

Ravi: I hope this is good Gordon.

Gordon: How long have I got?

Ravi: One minute – at the most.

Gordon: OK then. Right. A chicken walks into a library (is interrupted)

Ravi: (laughing) A chicken?

Gordon: Yeah. A chicken walks into a library, walks up to the counter and says to the librarian “Book, book” (like a chicken). The librarian gives the chicken 2 books – she puts the books on the chicken’s head – and the chicken walks out of the library. One hour later, the chicken walks back into the library. It walks up to the counter and says to the librarian “Book, book” (like a chicken). The librarian gives the chicken 2 books and the chicken walks out of the library. An hour later, this happens again. “Book, book”, and the chicken walks out of the library with 2 books on its head. But this time the librarian thinks, “Hmm, this is strange” so she decides to follow the chicken. She goes out of the library and follows the chicken. The chicken crosses the road, walks along the street, turns the corner, until it comes to the lake. Sitting by the lake is a big, fat frog. The chicken gives the books to the frog and the frog looks at them and says “Read it, Read it”. (like a frog - past tense of ‘read’)

Tess: (laughing) Oh Gordon, that’s terrible.

Section 7 – The Joke (2)

Ravi: Don’t worry about Tess – she always says Gordon’s jokes are terrible. And here’s your other favourite. It’s from podcast number two.

Ravi: OK then Gordon, let’s hear your joke for today.

Gordon: OK. It’s a camping joke. Tess, you’ll love it.

Ravi: (sceptical) Come on then.

Gordon: Well, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are on a camping trip in the countryside. Late at night, Holmes and Watson are lying on their backs looking up at all the stars in the sky. Sherlock Holmes says, “Doctor Watson, look at the stars and tell me what important question we have to ask.” Doctor Watson says, “Well, OK. There are millions and millions of stars in the sky. No-one knows exactly how many. There are planets out there that no-one has seen with a telescope. Maybe there is a planet somewhere that is just like earth. I think the question we have to ask is, “Is there life in another part of our universe?” And Sherlock Holmes says, “Watson, you idiot! The question we have to ask is “WHERE IS OUR TENT?”

Ravi: (laughing) That’s quite good, actually Gordon. Not bad.

Ravi: I think that’s my favourite actually. And I hope you liked it too. {pause} Well, that’s all for today. Usually, Tom the teacher comes along to talk about the language that you’ve heard in the podcasts, but this podcast is a little bit different. I hope you’ve enjoyed our Learn English elementary podcast ‘greatest hits’ and I hope you’ll go back and listen to more of them again. You can go to the ‘previous podcasts’ section on the website and listen to any of them – and you can hear Tom the teacher’s comments and advice there. So that’s all from me! See you next time, in series two. Bye!

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