British Council-02-04

Section 1: " A pretty quiet weekend really "

Ravi: Hello again everyone and welcome back
to the Learn English Elementary Podcast. I’m
Ravi, one of your presenters.
Tess: … and I’m Tess, the other one. This is
Podcast number 4 in this series.
Ravi: Blimey, Tess. Are you OK? You sound a
bit miserable.
Tess: Yeah, I am a bit, actually.
Ravi: Oh dear. What’s up?
Tess: You remember Oscar?
Ravi: Your cat?
Tess: Yeah. He’s gone missing.
Ravi: Eh?
Tess: I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen
him for 3 days now. I’m really worried that
something’s happened to him.
Ravi: Hmm. Oh dear, Tess, I’m sorry. You never
know though. Cats do that sometimes, don’t
they? They go away for a bit.
Tess: He’s never done it before.
Ravi: I’m sure he’ll be fine. I bet he’s out looking
for mice or something. Or maybe he’s found a
girlfriend.
Tess: Hmm. Maybe. When I was a kid we had a
cat that used to have dinner at our house then
go to another house down the street and have
dinner again. Maybe I should ask my
neighbours if they’ve seen Oscar.
Ravi: Yeah, you should. You could make some
posters as well, like, ‘Have you seen this cat?’
Have you got a picture of Oscar?
Tess: I’ve got hundreds. I might do that. I’ll ask
my neighbours first though.
Ravi: Good plan.
Tess: Anyway, sorry about that. I’m not really
miserable, you know, just a bit worried. What
about you? What have you been up to?
Ravi: Not much actually. I went to a football
match on Saturday and I played football on
Sunday. A pretty quiet weekend really.
Tess: Did you win?
Ravi: No. Oh, and I’ll tell you what else I did. I
went to see the new James Bond film. Have you
seen it?
Tess: No, not yet.
Ravi: Go and see it, it’s excellent.
Tess: Is it very violent? I don’t like really violent
films?
Ravi: No, not really. There’s a great car chase
but it’s not really violent.
Tess: Hmm. I’ll see. It doesn’t sound like my
kind of thing.

Section 2: I’d like to talk about…

Tess: You know what though? Today’s I’d Like
to Talk About really is my kind of thing. Shall we
get started?
Ravi: OK then. Ready listeners? We’ve got the
usual mix for you today – our quiz, Carolina,
‘your turn’, Tom the teacher - and I might even
tell you another joke. But, as usual, we’ll start
with I’d Like to Talk About. Tess?
Tess: Yes. I’d like to Talk About is the part of
the podcast for you, our listeners to tell
everyone about something that you’re
interested in.
Ravi: Anything that you’d like to talk about.
Tess: Today we’ve got Stacey with us in the
studio. Hi Stacey.
Stacey: Hi Tess. Hi Ravi.
Ravi: Hi there. Tell us a bit about yourself
Stacey.
Stacey: Well, I’m twenty-two, I work in a bank,
um, I’ve got a little boy, Ben, he’s two, and we

live in Crawley.
Tess: Ah Crawley, near Gatwick airport.
Stacey: Yeah, that’s right. Not far from London.
Tess: And I think Stacey’s going to talk about
something that a lot of people like – is that right
Stacey?
Stacey: Yes. I’m going to talk about chocolate.
Ravi: Oh, I love chocolate.
Stacey: Most people do.
Tess: It’s funny isn’t it – why do you think it’s so
popular?
Stacey: Well I don’t know really. It just tastes
good I suppose. I eat it all the time. I’m a bit of a
chocoholic.
Ravi: Chocoholic. I love that word.
Stacey: Well, it’s true – I eat chocolate every
day, usually more than once.
Ravi: Now I think I know a bit about this.
Chocolate came from Mexico didn’t it?
Stacey: That’s right - from the Ancient Aztecs, a
few thousand years ago. The word ‘chocolate’
comes from an Aztec word. But they didn’t eat it
– it was a drink, made with water. They didn’t
put milk or sugar in it.
Ravi: Yeuk.
Stacey: And they used it as a medicine. It was
very important to them - they used it in their
religious ceremonies too.
Tess: So when did chocolate come to the rest of
the world?
Stacey: Well it was after the Spanish went to
South America, and conquered the Aztecs, so
that was what, the sixteenth century?
Tess: Yeah, fifteen hundred and something I
think.
Stacey: So the Spanish brought it back to
Europe and then to the rest of the world. And
everybody loved it. But I think people still drank
it. They had ‘chocolate houses’ in London
where you could only drink chocolate, you
know, like ‘tea houses’ where you only drink
tea.
Ravi: What’s your favourite kind of chocolate
Stacey?
Stacey: Absolutely anything. If it’s chocolate I
like it. But I suppose my favourite is the really
dark chocolate – you know, without milk. It’s got
lots of good things in it. It’s the sugar in
chocolate that makes you fat - if it hasn’t got too
much sugar, it’s good for you.
Ravi: That’s good to know. Well, thanks Stacey.
I’m feeling hungry now.
Stacey: Me too.
Ravi: Well you can go and get some chocolate
now. There’s a great shop just down the road
from the studio. They’ve got all sorts.
Stacey: Really? OK. I’ll go and have a look.
Ravi: OK. Bye Stacey, and thanks again.
Stacey: Bye
Tess: Bye. Do you know chocolate is poisonous
for dogs and cats?
Ravi: No, is it?
Tess: Yes. If they eat too much they can get
really ill, sometimes die.
Ravi: But dogs love chocolate.
Tess: I know, but you shouldn’t give it to them.
It’s really bad for them.
Ravi: Are you sure?
Tess: Yep. Look it up on the internet if you don’t
believe me.
Ravi: I didn’t say I didn’t believe you – I’m just
surprised that’s all. Well, we live and learn.
Tess: Yup. You learn something new every day.
Ravi: Yeah. And if any of you, listeners, are
chocoholics like Stacey, why not write and tell
us how you feel about chocolate? You can
write something or record something and send it
to us at learn English podcast at British Council
dot org, that’s learnenglishpodcast - all one
word – at - britishcouncil – all one word DOT
org, that’s o-r-g. If we like it, we’ll put it on the
site.

Tess: Or you tell us what you’d like to talk
about. Remember it can be anything – a
person, a place, a thing, a hobby – anything.

Section 3 – Quiz

Ravi: Right, then. Next up, it’s time for our quiz.
Today’s guest is Scott. Hello Scott!
Scott: Hello Ravi. Hi Tess.
Tess: Hi Scott. Where are you calling from?
Scott: Erm . Little Witley. In Worcestershire.
Ravi: Little … ?
Scott: Witley. It’s quite small. It’s a village.
Ravi: Ah, OK. And what do you do in Little
Witley, Scott?
Scott: I work with horses. At a stables.
Tess: Ah, great. Do you enjoy it?
Scott: I love it.
Tess: Excellent. And are you ready for our
game today?
Scott: I suppose so.
Tess: Right. Well, Ravi did it last time so it’s my
turn this time. Have you got the cards Ravi?
Ravi: Yep.
Tess: OK, Scott, Ravi will give the cards to me
and I’ll try to explain the words to you. When
you know the word, you say it. OK?
Scott: OK
Tess: And we try to get as many as we can in a
minute .
Ravi: And all the words are on the same topic.
Ready?
Tess & Scott: Yes / OK
Ravi: And the topic is… dum dum dum ‘Places
in the city’. All the answers are places you find
in a city. Take the cards Tess. Ready? One
minute starting from NOW.
Tess: Right. OK. Where you go to send a letter,
buy stamps erm …
Scott: Post office.
Tess: Yes. You get money out or put money in.
Big buildings. With cashpoints ….
Scott: Bank.
Tess: Yes. Where you go to catch a train.
Scott: Station.
Tess: What kind of station?
Scott: Railway station.
Tess: Yes. Where you go to learn things.
Children go there. Erm .. teachers …
Scott: School
Tess: Right. Um, a big place. Lots of… can I
say that word Ravi?
Ravi: No.
Tess: Agh. OK. You go there to buy things.
Scott: Supermarket.
Tess: No. All kinds of different things – clothes,
erm, books, CDs, shoes, erm … agh! Ravi – it’s
not fair!
Scott: Shopping mall?
Ravi: Shopping centre. Yes, you can have that
one.
Tess: Eh? This isn’t in every city. Right then.
Across a river. You go across it.
Scott: Bridge.
Tess: Yes. You get books from it. You don’t buy
them. You borrow books.
Scott: Library.
Tess: Yes. Not a school but you learn there –
adults ………
{buzzer sounds}
Tess: Agghhh. It was university. How many did
we get?
Ravi: Post office, bank, railway station, school,
shopping centre, bridge, library. Seven. Pretty
good.
Tess: Yes! Well done Scott! That’s better than
you did last time Ravi.
Ravi: Yeah, but I had a really difficult one – I
had places in an airport. This was a bit easier,
wasn’t it?

Tess: Oh, I don’t know. I think Scott and I are
just a great team, don’t you Scott?
Scott: Yeah, well done Tess.
Tess: And well done to you. We’ll see what we
can find to send you. Thanks for playing – enjoy
the rest of your day.
Scott: Thanks. You too.
Ravi: See you, Scott. … Right. We’ve still got
Your Turn and Carolina to come – after this…

Section 4: Your turn

Tess: OK. And now for ‘Your turn’ when we go
out of the studio to talk to different people and
ask their opinions about a question.
Ravi: And the question this time is “If you've got
some work to do, but don't want to do it, what
do you do to put off working?” So, what things
do you do to waste time?
Tess: You mean like playing solitaire on the
computer?
Ravi: Yeah.
Tess: Or checking your Facebook account
every five minutes?
Ravi: Oh that’s me. But let’s hear what some
other people said.
Voice 1: If I’ve got work to do and I don’t want to
do it I spend a lot of time on my computer,
looking at different websites and looking at
funny pictures on the Internet and funny videos
and things like this, I also ... after that I probably
will clean my flat before doing my work, ... um ...
so if I have a lot of work to do I have a very
clean flat and I know a lot about what’s
happening on the Internet.
Voice 2: So, normally ... um ... if I was at work I
would probably spent more time looking at my
e-mails and writing emails, and then probably
taking the work home to do at home in the
evening … and if I was at home and I didn’t
want to do the work, well it depends what kind
of work it is, but I would probably telephone
somebody, telephone home, or watch a film.
Voice 3: If I want to put off working I make
coffee, constantly, every 15 minutes and I check
my Facebook.
Voice 4: Well if it’s work at home, like
housework and things, I would try to do
something like look after the children, play with
the children, or I’d go and listen to music or get
distracted watching something on television. If
I’m in work in the office I would likely do the
emailing and do the easier tasks and put off the
main work that I was supposed to be doing.
Voice 5: So, if I’ve go some work to do but don’t
want to do it there’s a variety of things that I
do ... um ... one of them is go and make a cup
of tea ... um ... so often in a day I can drink four
or five cups of tea ... um ... another thing I do is
switch on the TV and just channel surf and see
if I can find something interesting to watch. The
other thing I do is go onto the internet and surf
around, check my email, check my Facebook,
things like that.
Tess: It’s funny isn’t it? Everybody has
something – I mean something that they do
when they don’t want to work.
Ravi: Yeah. I thought I was the only one. What
about our listeners? Why don’t you write and tell
us what you do to waste time when you should
be working.

Section 5: Carolina

Tess: And now it’s time now to catch up again
with Carolina. Carolina’s from Venezuela and
she’s come to the UK to study at Newcastle
University.
Ravi: In the last podcast, Carolina and her
boyfriend, Jamie, were at Jamie's family home
visiting his parents – Mary and Doug. And
they’re still there this time. Let's see how they're
getting on…
…
Carolina: Good morning.

Mary: Good morning Carolina. Did you sleep
well?
Carolina: Yes, very well thank you. The bed was
really comfortable.
Mary: Now, what would you like for breakfast
love? I’m doing bacon and eggs for Doug.
Carolina: Um…
Mary: Or we’ve got cereal … or I can make you
some toast... or would you like a boiled egg?
Carolina: Oh no, I’ll just have some cereal
please.
Mary: Right you are.
Doug: Good morning! Something smells good!
Carolina: Good morning Mr.. erm, Doug.
Doug: Did you sleep well Carolina? Bed
comfortable?
Carolina: Oh yes thank you. Very.
Doug: Now what are the plans for this morning?
Carolina: Um, I’m not really sure. I don’t think
we have any.
Mary: Well, I’m cooking the dinner – I’m doing a
nice Sunday roast. Have you ever had an
English roast dinner Carolina?
Carolina: No, no I haven’t.
Doug: Best food in the world. You can’t beat a
good English roast.
Jamie: Good morning all. Sleep well?
Doug: Morning, son.
Mary: Hi Jamie
Carolina: Hi Jamie. Yes thanks. Very well.
Jamie: So what are we all doing this morning?
Doug: Well, your mother’s cooking the roast
dinner, I’m taking Ernie for a long walk along the
river, and I’ll probably call in to the Hat and
Feathers for a pint on the way back. You two
can join me if you like.
Jamie: Carolina? It’s a pretty walk along the
river and the Hat and Feathers is a nice old pub.
Carolina: Well perhaps I can stay here and help
your mother?
Mary: Don’t be silly. You go out and enjoy
yourself.
Carolina: Well yes, OK then. That sounds nice.
I’d like a walk.
Doug: That’s that, then.
…
Doug: I hope that dinner’s on the table. I could
eat a horse.
Carolina: Dinner? But it’s only one o’clock.
Doug: Do you eat later in Venezuela?
Carolina: Yes… well no… I mean … I thought
dinner was in the evening.
Jamie: Ahh, yes. I didn’t think …. I suppose it is
a bit strange for you. Some people say ‘dinner’
and not ‘lunch’. It’s always Sunday dinner in this
house.
Carolina: So what do you have in the evening?
Lunch?
Doug: No, we’ll have tea tonight.
Carolina: A cup of tea?
Jamie: No, ‘Tea’. A salad, or a sandwich, or
toast or something. Don’t worry about it. Come
on.
…
Mary: Oh good, you’re back. It’ll be ready in
about ten minutes. It’s roast lamb and I’ve got
some veggieburgers for you Jamie. (to
Carolina) He’s a vegetarian you know.
Carolina: Yes, I know. But I’m not. The lamb
smells delicious!
 Mary: Well I hope you’re all hungry.
Jamie: Starving!
Carolina: Is there anything I can do to help?
Mary: No, I don’t think so. Erm… you can lay
the table if you like. Jamie, help Carolina lay the
table – show her where the knives and forks
are. And use the best glasses – we’ve got a
nice bottle of wine today. It’s a special occasion
after all.
…

Doug: So what do you think of the lamb?
Carolina: It’s really good.
Doug: Try a bit of mint sauce with it. You can’t
have roast lamb without mint sauce.
Jamie: It’s nice. It’s made with mint and vinegar.
Carolina: Vinegar! … OK, I’ll try some, but just a
tiny bit.
Mary: More potatoes anyone. Jamie? Carolina?
Come on, finish them up.
Carolina: Oh no thank you.
Doug: Go on, have another potato, and a bit
more lamb.
Carolina: No, no, no. No thank you. It’s all
delicious but I couldn’t possibly eat any more.
Jamie: Yeah, leave some room for pudding.
Mum’s made apple crumble. It’s her specialty.
Carolina: Pudding!
…
Doug: Well that was delicious Mary.
Carolina: Yes, it was lovely.
Jamie: Fantastic mum.
Carolina: Can I help with the washing up?
Mary: Certainly not. You’re a guest. You stay
there.
Carolina: No really, I’d like to help. Please let
me do something.
Doug: I’ll do the washing up. Jamie and
Carolina can dry.
Mary: Well all right then. I’ll put the kettle on for
a nice cup of tea.
Carolina: Hmm. A nice cup of tea.
…
Tess: It’s difficult, isn’t it, meeting your
boyfriend’s parents?
Ravi: Especially in another language, I guess.
They seem OK though. I’ll tell you what, I could
just eat a Sunday dinner now. Mmmmm.

Section 6: The Joke

Tess: Well we’ve nearly finished the podcast.
You can go and get something to eat. Unless
you’ve got another one of your ‘jokes’ for us?
Ravi: I have, I have. Ready?
Tess: Go on.
Ravi: Do you know what a Trappist monk is?
Tess: Is that the joke?
Ravi: No – it’s a question. Trappist monks are in
a religious order. They live together in a
monastery or somewhere and they don’t speak.
Tess: Why not?
Ravi: I don’t know. They spend their time
praying and meditating, I guess. Anyway, this
Trappist monk joins a monastery where the
monks are not allowed to speak. Once a year
they can go to speak to the head of the
monastery – but they are only allowed to say
three words. So, at the end of the first year, the
new monk has his chance to speak. He goes to
see the head monk and says “Food...
not…good”. At the end of the second year he
goes to see the head monk again and says
“Bed…not…comfortable”. At the end of the third
year he goes to see the head monk again and
says “Room…too…cold”. And at the end of the
next year he goes to see the head monk again,
but this time he says “I…want…leave”. And the
head monk says “Well I’m not surprised. For
four years now, all you’ve done is complain,
complain, complain.”
Tess: But that’s more than three words.
Ravi: Yeah, but he’s the head monk Tess.
Never mind. Right everyone, that’s all we’ve got
time for today. Remember you can write to us
here at the podcast. The address is
learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. We’d
love to hear from you. Tom the teacher will be
here in a minute to talk about some of the
language in the podcast, but that’s all from us
until next time. Bye!
Tess: Bye!
----------------------------------------------------------------


Tom the teacher

Tom: Hi, I’m Tom. You’ll hear from me at the
end of every podcast. I always talk about some
of the language you heard in the programmes
and ways to help you learn English. Today I
want to talk about a verb form. Listen to Mary -
Jamie’s mother, and Carolina. What is Mary
doing at the moment? What does she say?

Mary: Good morning Carolina. Did you sleep
well?
Carolina: Yes, very well thank you. The bed was
really comfortable.
Mary: Now, what would you like for breakfast
love? I’m doing bacon and eggs for Doug.

Tom: Mary is cooking the breakfast. She says
“I’m doing bacon and eggs for Doug”. I’m sure
you know this verb form – it’s called the ‘present
progressive’ – or the ‘present continuous’. You’ll
see both names in grammar books. The present
progressive is made with the verb to be - “I am”
and the ‘ing’ form of the verb - “doing”. Mary
says “I’m doing bacon and eggs for Doug”. We
can use this verb form to talk about what we’re
doing now. And at the moment, Mary is cooking
breakfast for her husband, Doug.
Now listen to the next part of the same
conversation. Remember, Mary is cooking the
breakfast at the moment. What does she say
about her plans for later in the day?

Doug: Now what are the plans for this morning?

Carolina: Um, I’m not really sure. I don’t think
we have any.
Mary: Well, I’m cooking the dinner – I’m doing a
nice Sunday roast.

Tom: Yes. Mary says “I’m cooking the dinner”.
But she isn’t cooking the dinner at the moment.
She uses the present progressive to talk about
her future plans. Maybe this seems strange to
you! But it’s very common in English. We often
use the present progressive when we have
definite plans for the future, when we already
know what we’re going to do. Listen to another
example – again from the same conversation.
Jamie gets up and asks everyone about their
plans. Listen for the present progressive verb
forms.

Jamie: So what are we all doing this morning?
Doug: Well, your mother’s cooking the roast
dinner, I’m taking Ernie for a long walk along the
river, and I’ll probably call in to the Hat and
Feathers for a pint on the way back.

Tom: Did you hear them? Jamie says “What are
we all doing this morning?”. He uses the
present progressive to ask a question about
future plans. And Doug says “Your mother’s
cooking the dinner” and “I’m taking Ernie for a
walk”. Both of these things are already decided.
But listen again. What does Doug say about the
pub – the Hat and Feathers?

Jamie: So what are we all doing this morning?
Doug: Well, your mother’s cooking the roast
dinner, I’m taking Ernie for a long walk along the
river, and I’ll probably call in to the Hat and
Feathers for a pint on the way back.

Tom: Yes, Doug says “I’ll probably call in to the
Hat and Feathers”. He might go for a drink in
the pub, but he isn’t sure. He hasn’t really
decided yet. So he doesn’t use the present
progressive – he uses ‘will’. He says “I’ll
probably”. We use lots different forms in English
to talk about the future. It can be quite difficult
for learners. The best thing you can do is listen
to, or read, lots of English and notice what
people say.


Now let’s talk about something different. Last
time I talked about something you can do to
improve your vocabulary – try to name all the
things that you can see when you’re in different
places. Another thing you can do is look for the
English that you see around you. In most
countries, you can see a lot of English. For
example, in advertisements, or even just names
of British or American products – drinks,
chocolates, clothes. Notice it. And try to
understand what it means. You can make a
note of all the English you see for example, on
your way to work or to school.

Now, I want to talk about something else. Listen
to Ravi and Stacey talking about chocolate.
Stacey uses an unusual word – What is it?

Stacey: Well I don’t know really. It just tastes
good I suppose. I eat it all the time. I’m a bit of a
chocoholic.
Ravi: Chocoholic. I love that word.
Stacey: Well, it’s true – I eat chocolate every
day, usually more than once.

Tom: She says ‘chocoholic’. You probably know
what an ‘alcoholic’ is – someone who is
addicted to alcohol – who has to drink it every
day. And Stacey means that she’s like an
alcoholic – but with chocolate. ‘Chocoholic’ is an
invented word – it’s the first part of ‘chocolate’ –
‘choc’ and the last part of ‘alcoholic’ – ‘oholic’.
We also talk about ‘shopaholics’ – people who
can’t stop shopping, and ‘workaholics’ – people
who are always working – they can’t stop. We
do this a lot in English – we put parts of two
words together to make a new one. Another
example is ‘brunch’. ‘Brunch’ is a meal that you
eat in the middle of the morning, maybe
because you get up very late. It comes from
‘breakfast’ – the ‘br’, and ‘lunch’ – the ‘unch’. So
you get a new word - ‘brunch’ - that means a
meal that is breakfast and lunch together. It’s
fun to create new words! I noticed another
example recently. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
are a very famous couple. And people have
started calling them ‘Brangelina’. ‘Bra’ from
Brad and ‘gelina’ from Angelina. It’s a joke of
course – we don’t usually do that with people’s
names – but it’s another example of how we
invent new words all the time. Do you do the
same thing in your language? Do you put parts
of words together to make new ones? I’d be
interested to hear if you do. Write and let me
know.

Tom: OK. Let’s move on. Do you remember that
Carolina got confused about ‘lunch’ and ‘dinner’
when she was at Jamie’s parents house?
Listen.

Doug: I hope that dinner’s on the table. I could
eat a horse.
Carolina: Dinner? But it’s only one o’clock.
Doug: Do you eat later in Venezuela?
Carolina: Yes… well no… I mean … I thought
dinner was in the evening.
Jamie: Ahh, yes. I didn’t think …. I suppose it is
a bit strange for you. Some people say ‘dinner’
and not ‘lunch’. It’s always Sunday dinner in this
house.

Tom: This can be very difficult when you visit
Britain. You learn that ‘lunch’ is in the middle of
the day and ‘dinner’ is in the evening. Then you
go to Britain and you find that different people
say different things! And it’s very complicated
to explain. Most people say ‘lunch’ for the meal
in the middle of the day. But, if it’s a big, cooked
meal in the middle of the day, then some people
say ‘dinner’ – like Jamie’s parents. It isn’t easy,
and sometimes even native speakers get
confused! If someone invites me for dinner on
Sunday, then I sometimes have to ask if they
mean at one o’clock or in the evening. So the
best thing is to always ask if you’re not sure.

People will understand that names of meals can
be very confusing.

Now for a phrase that you can use this week.
Listen to Tess and Ravi at the beginning of the
podcast. Tess isn’t very happy. What does Ravi
ask her?

Ravi: You sound a bit miserable.
Tess: Yeah, I am a bit, actually.
Ravi: Oh dear. What’s up?

Tom: Yes, he asks “What’s up?” "What’s up?"
means "What’s the problem?", "What’s the
matter?". See if you can use it this week. If
someone isn’t very happy, ask them "What’s
up?"

Tom: OK. That’s enough from me for this time.
I’ll talk to you all again next time. Remember
you can write to me about any language that
you noticed in this podcast. The address is
learnenglishpodcastATbritishcouncilDOT org. In
a moment you’ll hear the address for the
website where you can read everything you’ve
heard in this podcast. You can also find some
practice exercises to do online and a support
pack that you can print. Right. That’s all for this
time. Bye for now! See you next time.