British Council-02-05

Section 1: "Well, that's good news"

Ravi: Hello and welcome back to the second
series of the Learn English Elementary podcast.
This is podcast number five, and I'm Ravi.
Tess: And I'm Tess. Hi.
Ravi: Well, Tess, is he back?
Tess: Hm?
Ravi: Oscar. Did he come back?
Tess: Ohh, Oscar! Yes! Sorry, I'd forgotten
about that.
Ravi: The last time we were here, listeners,
Tess was upset because Oscar was missing.
Sorry – Oscar is Tess's cat. He was missing.
Three days wasn't it Tess? When did he come
back?
Tess: Well, it was quite strange. After the last
podcast, I went home and he was there, waiting
for me. It was like he'd never been away.
Ravi: Well, that's good news! Where'd he been?
Tess: I really don't know. He just came back
and acted like everything was completely
normal.
Ravi: I told you he'd come back. How long was
he gone for?
Tess: Well, four days, really. I looked at some
internet sites and there are lots of stories about
cats disappearing for a few days or even a few
weeks and then coming home.
Ravi: Why do they do it?
Tess: Because they can. I don't know. Nobody
really knows.
Ravi: Well, I'm glad he's come back. I bet you
were really happy to see him. Is he OK and
everything?
Tess: He seems fine. I took him to the vet for a
check up but he seems absolutely fine.
Ravi: You see, that's the thing about cats. You
never know what they're thinking. Dogs are
much easier to understand. Dogs don't
disappear for a few days then come back.
Tess: That's because dogs aren't as clever as
cats. Anyway, I went to see that film you
recommended.
Ravi: The James Bond film?
Tess: Yeah.
Ravi: And?
Tess: It was OK. I quite enjoyed it but it was a
bit too violent for me.
Ravi: It's not really violent.
Tess: I know, I know but I'm … I don't know. I
can't watch anything with guns and explosions
and everything.
Ravi: Oh, Tess.
Tess: I know, I know. Right. Are we ready to
have a look at what we've got on the podcast
today. We've got Carolina – she met Jamie's
parents last time, we've got Alison doing our
quiz, we've got Your Turn about telling the truth.
Have we got a joke from you, Ravi?
Ravi: We have.

Section 2: I’d like to talk about…

Tess: And to start with, as usual, we've got I'd
Like to Talk About. This is the part of the
podcast when we ask someone to come in and
talk about something that's important for them –
a person, a place, a thing, a hobby – anything.
Ravi: And today we've got Rafael with us in the
studio. Hi Rafael.
Rafael: Hi Ravi. Hi Tess. And, um call me Raffa
– that's what my friends call me.
Tess: OK. So, where are you from Raffa?
Rafael: Well, actually I was born in Spain, in
Madrid. We lived there till I was ten, then we

came to London. My dad's Spanish and my
mum's English.
Ravi: Cool. So you're bilingual then Raffa?
Rafael: Yeah, I guess so. My English is
probably better then my Spanish though, now
anyway.
Tess: And what do you do?
Rafael: I work for my dad. He's got a small
business, selling books, mostly on the Internet.
So I work with him and I'm learning the
business.
Tess: So don't tell me - you're going to talk
about your favourite book.
Rafael: Well no actually. I'm going to talk about
Formula 1.
Ravi: Formula 1? Great stuff.
Rafael: When I was a kid, my dad used to take
me to see Formula 1 and I really, really loved it.
The noise, the smells, the people. It was so
exciting. Then when I got a bit older, I wasn't so
interested. In those years, Michael Schumacher
was always the World Champion, and I got
bored with seeing Ferrari win all the time. Then
Fernando Alonso won in 2005, and suddenly,
hey, it was interesting again.
Ravi: And is that because Fernando Alonso is
Spanish … by any chance?
Rafael: Well yeah, of course. But the races are
a lot more fun to watch as well.
It's funny, my favourite drivers are Alonso and
Lewis Hamilton – one's Spanish and the other's
British, so that's pretty good for me – I don't
mind who wins.
Ravi: I bet they do. Alonso and Hamilton don't
like each other very much do they?
Rafael: Well, no, that's true.
Tess: Do you travel for Formula 1?
Rafael: Travel?
Tess: Sorry, bad question. I mean, do you go
abroad to watch the big races?
Rafael: No, unfortunately. I usually watch them
on the telly with my dad. Now if I was rich……..
my dream is to go and see the Monaco Grand
Prix.
Tess: Ah yes, that's a famous one. I don't know
much about Formula 1, but I've heard of
Monaco.
Rafael: Yeah. It's a really cool race around the
city, round the streets, with loads of corners and
turns – it's totally different from racing around a
track. If you're really rich you can sit on your
hotel balcony and watch the race. I forget who it
was, but somebody, one of the drivers, once
said that racing in Monaco is just like riding a
bicycle around your living room. And there's a
Spanish one now - in Valencia – a street race I
mean. I'm hoping my dad will go next year.
Tess: And take you with him.
Rafael: That's the plan.
Tess: But seriously, is it safe? I don't like
watching it in case someone has a crash and
gets killed.
Rafael: Well, it's as safe as it can be I guess. It's
a big question at the moment, what the rules
should be and so on. Obviously, nobody wants
to see drivers getting killed, but at the same
time, everybody wants the races to be exciting –
that's why people watch it – and it isn't exciting
if it isn't dangerous – it can't be completely safe.
Tess: And what about the environment? It isn't a
very green sport is it?
Rafael: That's another good question. Some
people think that that will be the future of
Formula 1, that they'll start making the cars
more friendly to the environment, - remember
these people spend millions and millions of
pounds on designing new cars, so they might
find some technology that can then be used in
normal cars, so that would be good.
Ravi: Well thanks Rafael. And I hope you get to
Monaco one day.
Rafael: Thanks Ravi. Ok bye, everybody.
Tess and Ravi: Bye
Tess: And thanks again.
Ravi: Hey Tess, what does a cat say?

Tess: A cat says miaow, Ravi.
Ravi: And what does a Formula 1 cat say?
Tess: I don't know Ravi. What does a Formula 1
cat say?
Ravi: Meeeeeeeeeowwwwwwwwwmmmmmm.
Tess: Very funny. Was that your joke for today?
Ravi: Oh no. The best is yet to come.
Tess: Hmm. OK. Remember, listeners, that if
there's something you'd like to tell us about you
can 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.
Ravi: You can write something or record
yourself, if you want.

Section 3 – Quiz

Tess: OK. Time now for our quiz. We've got
Alison waiting to talk to us. Alison?
Alison: Hi Tess.
Tess: Hi Alison.
Ravi: Hi Alison. Where are you from?
Alison: From Aberystwyth.
Ravi: In Wales?
Alison: That's right, but I live in Norwich now.
Tess: Ah, East Anglia. Beautiful part of the
country. That's where I went to university. I love
Norwich. What do you do Alison?
Alison: I work in a bank but I want to go to
university next year.
Tess: In Norwich?
Alison: Erm... I don't know yet. Probably not in
Norwich though.
Ravi: You want to get away from home?
Alison: No, it's not that. I mean, … it's nice to
see new places isn't it?
Tess: What do you want to study?
Alison: Probably Film Studies.
Tess: Great. OK. Are you ready for the quiz?
Alison: I hope so.
Tess: Well, we're going to do 'ten things' again.
I'll give you the topic and you've got one minute
to name ten things on that topic. So, for
example, if I say 'ten musical instruments' you
can say 'piano, guitar, saxophone ..'. You get
the idea?
Alison: Yes, OK.
Tess: Right. The topic this time is ….ten ball
games. Ten games you play with a ball. You've
got one minute starting from now.
Alison: Football. Basketball. Golf. Tennis.
Erm … cricket. … Ice hockey.
Ravi: That isn't a ball.
Alison: No, of course not. Oh, um. Squash. …
Rugby.
Tess: That's seven. Three more.
Alison: … Handball. … Have I said basketball?
Tess: Yes
Alison: Baseball!
Tess: One more.
Alison: Argh! Erm, hockey!
Tess: Yes! Well done Alison.
Alison: That was more difficult than I thought.
Tess: I know – you think it's going to be really
easy. Let's go over them again – football,
basketball, golf, tennis, cricket, squash, rugby,
handball, baseball and hockey. That's ten.
Ravi: Well done Alison. We'll find something to
send to you. And good luck with university.
Alison: Thanks Ravi.
Tess: Bye, Alison.
Tess: Bye Tess, bye Ravi.
Ravi: Bye. … Right, Your Turn and Carolina
coming up next after this

Section 4: Your turn

Ravi: Hello again. Now it's time for 'Your Turn'.

This is the part of the podcast when we go out
to ask some different people a question and find
out what they think. And this time the question
is 'Is it always best to tell the truth?' In other
words, is honesty always the best policy?
Tess: Good question. Is it better to tell the truth
or is it sometimes better to tell a lie? Let's see
what people have to say about it.

Voice 1: I think it’s probably best to tell the truth
most of the time. Um ... I think if you ... if you ...
if you’re dishonest or if you tell a lie there’s often
a very good chance that ... um ... you’ll be found
out or it will come back ... um ... to hurt you, so I
think on the whole I think it’s better to tell the
truth although I have to say that sometimes ...
um ... just so as not to hurt other people’s
feelings or for other particular reasons it’s
probably ok to tell a small lie or to be a little bit
dishonest.

Voice 2: Um, no. I don’t think it’s always best to
tell the truth ... I think it’s sometimes a good
idea to tell the truth, for example, if you have
done something wrong … if you just tell the
truth then usually your problem is easy to solve
but if you lie about it, it can become more
difficult to solve your problem … but I think if
you are thinking about somebody’s feelings, for
example, if someone has their hair cut and it
looks terrible and they ask you about it, it might
be best to tell a small lie and tell them that it
looks ok so that you don’t hurt their feelings.

Voice 3: Yes, it is always best to tell the truth
because if you don’t tell the truth your
conscience is going to haunt you forever.

Voice 4: It depends, I think that ... err ... if you ...
um ... want to have a good relationship with
someone who you ... err ... think is a ... could be
a good partner you have to be honest … ah ...
but in general with friends or a person that you
don’t know very much it’s not that good to be
honest.

Voice 5: Yes ...err ... it’s hard thing ... it’s a hard
thing to do but ... definitely because in the end if
you start lying you have to make lies to cover
the lies and in the end it’s just easier for
everyone if you just says what’s on your mind.

Tess: That was interesting. You know, I think it's
usually best to tell the truth. Lies always cause
more problems in the end. What do you think
Ravi?
Ravi: Oh, I don't know Tess. That's a bit too
simple. I bet if you think about the last week,
you've told loads of lies. We do it all the time –
we just don't notice it.
Tess: Hmm. Does it count as a lie when I laugh
at one of your jokes?
Ravi: Well – yes. That's exactly what I mean
about lies. … Are you saying my jokes aren't
funny?
Tess: Nooo. I always tell the truth.
Ravi: I'm getting confused now.
Tess: Never mind Ravi. And listeners, please
send us your opinions about telling the truth –
we'd love to know what you think. You can write
to us or send us a recording.

Section 5: Carolina

Tess: But now it's time to find out how
Carolina's getting on. Carolina, you'll remember,
is from Venezuela but she's studying at
Newcastle University – and finding out about life
in Britain. Last time we heard from her she was
visiting Jamie's parents…
Ravi: Jamie's her boyfriend
Tess: … so let's see where she is today.
…
Emily: Are you ready Carolina?
Carolina: Sorry, Emily. I wanted to wear that

new jacket I bought, you know, the green one.
But…
Emily: What's wrong with it? It's really nice.
Carolina: Well, I wore it yesterday, and now
look. The zip's broken. Look, it won't move up or
down. I don't know what happened to it. I didn't
notice it last night.
Emily: Let me have a look. … Yep, that's broken
alright – it won't move at all.
Carolina: Oh dear. It was quite expensive. Do
you think I should take it back to the shop?
Emily: Well yes, I do. The zip shouldn't break on
a new jacket. It obviously isn't very well made.
Have you still got the receipt?
Carolina: The receipt? The piece of paper they
gave me when I bought it? Oh dear, I'll have to
look for it. It must be in my bag somewhere. Oh,
will you come with me Emily? To the shop?
Emily: What for? You can speak English.
Carolina: But it's really difficult in another
language. To complain. I don't like doing it in
Spanish but in English….!
Emily: OK, I'll come with you. But you have to
do the talking. I'll tell you what to say – you can
practice before we go.
Carolina: OK. Thanks Emily.
[In the shop]
Carolina: {practising } I bought this jacket here
last week and now the zip is broken.
Emily: Don't worry. You'll be fine.
Shop Assistant: Good morning. Can I help you?
Carolina: Um, yes, I bought this jacket here last
week and now the zip is broken. Here's the
receipt.
Shop Assistant: Hmmm. Have you worn this
jacket?
Carolina: Once. I was wearing it when the zip
broke.
Shop Assistant: If you'd like to leave the jacket
with us, we can put in a new zip. It will be ready
in a week.
Carolina: No thank you, I don't want a new zip. I
don't want to wait for a week. I'd like my money
back please.
Shop Assistant: I'm afraid I can't give you your
money back. The company doesn't give refunds
for clothes that have been worn.
Carolina: I only weared…
Emily: …wore…
Carolina: …wore the jacket once, and the zip
broke. That shouldn't happen.
Shop Assistant: Just wait for one moment and
I'll check if we have another jacket of the same
size in stock.
Carolina: I'm sorry. I don't want another jacket -
the same thing might happen again. I've already
explained that I want my money back.
Shop Assistant: Well …
Emily: {whispers} Manager.
Carolina: Yes, um, could I speak to the
manager please?
Shop Assistant: Certainly. I'll call him. Mr
Parker? Could you come over here please?
Emily: You're doing really well.
Shop Assistant: …but the lady doesn't want
another jacket. She says that she wants her
money back.
Mr. Parker: Good morning madam.
Carolina: Good morning.
Mr. Parker: Is this the jacket?
Carolina: Yes
Mr. Parker: And you bought this last week?
Carolina: Yes, that's right. And I'd like to say
that I'm very disappointed with your shop.
Mr. Parker: I think in the circumstances we can
give you a refund. The zip is obviously faulty.
Mrs Johnson, the receipt is for twenty-nine
ninety-nine I believe. Could you give her the
money please?
Shop Assistant: Certainly Mr Parker.
Carolina: Thank you very much.

Emily: Phew. Well done.
…
Tess: Well done Carolina. The shop assistant
wasn't very helpful, was she?
Ravi: No, I know. It depends on the shop
though. They all have different policies.
Tess: The voice of experience?
Ravi: Well yes, you know I do a lot of shopping.
And let me tell you, it's always a good idea to
speak to the manager.
Tess
Yes, I think Carolina did really well. …

Section 6: The Joke

Tess: That's almost the end of this podcast.
Ravi?
Ravi: Yes! This is a good one. A man goes into
a library. Lots of people are sitting at tables,
reading and studying. He walks up to the desk
and says to the woman {in a loud voice} "I'd like
a train ticket to Manchester please". The woman
behind the desk looks shocked and says "I'm
sorry sir. This is a library!" The man looks a bit
confused for a few seconds and then says "Oh,
I'm terribly sorry. … {whispering} "I'd like a train
ticket to Manchester please".
Tess: Very good. OK – that really is the end for
this podcast. Remember, the address for
anything that you want to send us is
learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. Don't
go away because Tom the teacher will be here
in a moment to talk about some of the language
that you heard in the podcast. But now it's
goodbye from Ravi and me. See you next time!
Bye!
Ravi: Bye!

----------------------------------------------------------------

Tom the teacher
Tom: Hi, I’m Tom. I’m here at the end of every
podcast to talk about some of the language you
heard in the programme, and to talk about ways
to help you learn English. Today I want to talk
about the words ‘everybody’ and ‘nobody’. I’m
sure you know what they mean. Listen to Rafael
saying goodbye at the end of ‘I’d like to talk
about.

Ravi: Well thanks Rafael. And I hope you get to
Monaco one day.
Rafael: Thanks Ravi. Ok bye, everybody.

Tom: He says “Bye everybody”. He’s saying
goodbye to all the people that can hear him –
not just Tess and Ravi. He could also say “Bye
everyone”. ‘Everybody’ and ‘everyone’ mean
exactly the same in English. There’s no
difference. Now listen to ‘nobody’. Tess and
Ravi are talking about cats that disappear for a
few days and then come home again.

Tess: I looked at some internet sites and there
are lots of stories about cats disappearing for a
few days or even a few weeks and then coming
home.
Ravi: Why do they do it?
Tess: Because they can. I don’t know. Nobody
really knows.

Tom: Tess says “Nobody really knows”. There
isn’t a person who knows the answer. She could
also say “No-one really knows”. ‘Nobody’ and
‘no-one’ are the same. There’s no difference
between them.

So far, so good. But what about the verb? Is
‘nobody’ singular or plural? Do we use a
singular verb or a plural verb? Listen again.
Listen for ‘nobody’ and the form of the verb.

Tess: I looked at some internet sites and there
are lots of stories about cats disappearing for a

few days or even a few weeks and then coming
home.
Ravi: Why do they do it?
Tess: Because they can. I don’t know. Nobody
really knows.

Tom: That’s right. “Nobody knows.” Tess uses
the third person singular form of the verb – the
form that has an ‘s’ in the present simple, the
form that we use with ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘it’. Here’s
another example. Raffa is talking about Formula
One. Listen for ‘nobody’ and the verb.

Rafael: Well, it’s as safe as it can be I guess.
It’s a big question at the moment, what the rules
should be and so on. Obviously, nobody wants
to see drivers getting killed.

Tom: Yes, he says ‘nobody wants’. So try to
remember to use the third person singular verb
form with ‘nobody’ or ‘no-one’. Now listen to
Raffa again, but this time, listen for ‘everybody’.
What form of the verb does he use?

Rafael: Well, it’s as safe as it can be I guess.
It’s a big question at the moment, what the rules
should be and so on. Obviously, nobody wants
to see drivers getting killed, but at the same
time, everybody wants the races to be exciting –
that’s why people watch it.

Tom: Yes, he says ‘everybody wants’. He uses
the third person singular form of the verb – with
an ‘s’. This probably seems strange to you.
‘Everybody’ means ‘all of the people’ but we use
the singular verb form. Well yes, it is strange.
But the word ‘everybody’ is singular
grammatically, so we use the singular verb
form. Try to remember – with ‘everybody’ and
‘everyone’ we use the singular verb form.

Now for something different. If you visit Britain,
or another English-speaking country, you might
have to speak English in difficult situations – like
Carolina when she had to take her jacket back
to the shop and complain about the broken zip.
Listen to Carolina and Emily. What does Emily
tell Carolina to do?

Carolina: Oh, will you come with me Emily? To
the shop?
Emily: What for? You can speak English.
Carolina: But it’s really difficult in another
language. To complain. I don’t like doing it in
Spanish but in English….!
Emily: OK, I’ll come with you. But you have to
do the talking. I’ll tell you what to say – you can
practice before we go.

Tom: Yes. She says “You can practice before
we go”. That really is very good advice. If you
know that you have to speak English in a
difficult situation, then take some time and plan
what you are going to say. Then you can use a
dictionary to find the words that you need to
use. Write it down on a piece of paper if you
want - and learn it. Or practice the dialogue with
a friend. You’ll feel much more confident about
what you’re going to say. Just like Carolina. She
did really well in the shop – the manager gave
her her money back!

Now I want to look at another word – the word
‘actually’. Listen to Tess and Raffa. What does
Raffa mean when he uses ‘actually’?

Rafael: I work for my dad. He’s got a small
business, selling books, mostly on the Internet.
So I work with him and I’m learning the
business.
Tess: So don’t tell me - you’re going to talk
about your favourite book.
Rafael: Well no actually. I’m going to talk about
Formula 1.

Tom: Did you hear it? Raffa sells books so Tess
thinks he’s going to talk about a book – and
Raffa says “Well no actually. I’m going to talk
about Formula One.” He says ‘actually’
because he’s saying something different from
what Tess expected. Listen to another example
– from Tess and Raffa again.

Tess: OK. So, where are you from Raffa?
Rafael: Well, actually I was born in Spain, in
Madrid. We lived there till I was ten, then we
came to London.

Tom: Raffa says “Well, actually I was born in
Spain. He says that because he knows that
Tess thinks he’s probably British – that he
comes from somewhere in Britain. He knows
that she’ll be surprised that he was born in
Spain. In some languages - Portuguese,
Spanish and French for example, ‘actually’ is a
false friend. That means that the word in
English has a different meaning to the word in
Portuguese. ‘Actually’ in English means ‘in
reality’ – it means that you’re giving the true
information about something. It doesn’t mean ‘at
the moment’ or ‘nowadays’.

I talked about false friends in series one, in
podcast number seven – and there’s an
exercise in the support materials too. If
someone says “You’re Spanish aren’t you?”,
you can say “Well actually, I’m Mexican”. Try to
notice ‘actually’ in the English that you read and
hear this week.

Now for a phrase that you can use this week in
English. Listen to Ravi talking to Alison at the
end of the quiz.

Ravi: Well done Alison. We’ll find something to
send to you. And good luck with university.
Alison: Thanks Ravi.

Tom: Ravi says “Good luck with university”. He
hopes that everything goes well for Alison when
she goes to university. So if someone has an
exam the next day, or is going to start a new
job, you can say “Good luck with the exam”, or
“Good luck with the new job”. Say “Good luck”
to someone this week.

OK. I’m going to stop there. I’ll talk to you all
again next time. Remember you can write to
me about any language that you noticed in this
podcast. I’ll be happy to answer your questions!
The address is learnenglishpodcastAT
britishcouncilDOT 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.