British Council-02

 
 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 wannna 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! 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 learnenglishpodcastAT
britishcouncilDOT 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.