British Council-08

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: 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 …..

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.

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! Or write to me
about any interesting language that you noticed.
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.