British Council-03

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.