British Council-02-09

Section 1 – Ravi’s learning Spanish
Ravi: Hello again, welcome back to the
LearnEnglish Elementary podcast. Series two,
episode nine. Hello!
Tess: We.re your presenters. He.s Ravi and I.m
Tess.
Ravi: Si, yo soy Ravi. Vivo en Londres. Erm ..
Tess: Ahh. ¿Hablas español, Ravi? ¡Bueno!
¿Como estas?
Ravi: Erm …. erm …. I didn.t know you spoke
Spanish, Tess.
Tess: Solo un poquito…
Ravi: OK, you can stop now.
Tess: Have you been taking Spanish lessons?
Ravi: Yeah, I have. You know, going to
Barcelona and everything, I thought I.d have
some lessons to help me when I get there
but … well …
Tess: What?
Ravi: I think I might stop going to the lessons.
Tess: Oh dear. Why?
Ravi: Oh, I don.t know. I just don.t think I.m
getting any better.
Tess: How many lessons have you had?
Ravi: Three.
Tess: Oh come on, Ravi. Three isn.t many.
Ravi: I know, I know.
Tess: And of course it.s difficult at first, but don.t
give up. You really should give it longer than
three lessons.
Ravi: It.s just that... well... everyone is better
than me. I feel really stupid sometimes.
Tess: What.s your teacher like?
Ravi: She.s great.
Tess: Well why don.t you talk to her about it?
I.m sure she.ll understand.
Ravi: Well she doesn.t understand anything I
say in Spanish. But, yeah, you.re right.
Tess: And just think how good it.ll be in
Barcelona when you can do things in Spanish –
ordering meals, buying postcards, talking to
girls …
Ravi: Well, two or three more lessons won.t
hurt, will they? OK. I.ll talk to the teacher and I.ll
carry on going to lessons. OK?
Tess: Good. Now, shall we start the podcast?
What have we got today?
Ravi: We.ve got all of the usual things – Your
Turn is about time machines, Carolina and
Jamie are at a restaurant, Abbie.s going to do
the quiz but first of all we.ve got I.d Like to Talk
About and we.ve got Pete here in the studio. Hi
Pete.
Section 2 – I’d like to talk about
Pete: Hi.
Ravi: I.d Like to Talk About is the part of the
podcast when a guest tells us about something
that.s important to them. It could be anything at
all – a hobby, a person, a place, a thing –
whatever you want. We.ve had loads of
interesting topics – chocolate, fell running,
Einstein, Bath – and today, Pete is with us –
where are you from Pete?
Pete: From Birmingham.
Ravi: OK. And what do you do?
Pete: I.m a student. I.m studying Design.
Ravi: And what are you going to tell us about.
Pete: I.d like to talk about this watch.
Tess: OK, listeners, because you can.t see it, I.ll
describe the watch that Pete has here. It.s a
wristwatch; I.d say it.s quite old.
Pete: It.s nearly sixty years old.

Tess: It.s got a leather strap. The face of the
watch is white – well it was white, as I say, it.s
quite old – and it isn.t telling the right time. Why
is this watch special, Pete?
Pete: It was my grandfather.s watch. He came
to England more than fifty years ago and this is
the watch he was wearing when he arrived
here.
Ravi: Where did he come from?
Pete: From Hungary.
Ravi: To Birmingham?
Pete: Not at first. He was in Dover for a while.
He met my grandma in Dover and they moved
to Birmingham a couple of years later. When he
came over here he didn.t have much – just a
few pounds in his pocket, you know. But this
watch was a present to him from his grandfather
– his twenty first birthday present – so it was
really special to him and now it.s special to me.
Tess: Is it very valuable? I mean, I know you
don.t want to sell it or anything but it is it worth a
lot of money?
Pete: No, not at all. It doesn.t even tell the right
time! It.s just an ordinary watch but it.s special
to me because it really reminds me of my
granddad. I remember when I was really small I
used to sit on my granddad.s knee and play with
his watch and he used to let me wind it up.
Ravi: You have to wind it up? It hasn.t got a
battery?
Pete: Yeah, it.s clockwork, yeah. You wind it up
there, with that winder. You have to do it every
day. I don.t do it usually now because it.s so old.
In fact I don.t really wear this watch very often,
but it.s important to me as a kind of heirloom,
you know – something to give to my children,
when I have them.
Tess: Is your granddad still alive?
Pete: No, he isn.t. He died 2 years ago. He left
the watch to me in his will. He always said he
was going to leave it to me, and he did. I really
like that I have a connection to Hungary, where
my granddad came from.
Tess: Have you ever been to Hungary?
Pete: No, I haven.t. I.d like to go though. I.d
really like to see the place where my granddad
used to live and all of that. The name of the
shop where he bought this watch is on the back
too, look. I wonder if the shop is still there.
Ravi: That would be great – if you took the
watch back to the shop after sixty years and
asked them to fix it.
Pete: I think the guarantee might have run out
by now.
Tess: So you.d have to pay to have it fixed?
Yes, I think it might. OK, then Pete, we.ll take a
photo of your watch to put up on the website, if
that.s OK?
Pete: That.s fine.
Tess: And thanks for coming in to talk about it.
Pete: My pleasure.
Tess: Thanks. If you.re listening, and there.s a
special object you.d like to tell people about,
you can write about it and send a picture or
recording to us at LearnEnglishPodcast 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 up on the site.
Ravi: Have you got any old things like that from
your family, Tess?
Tess: Erm .. I.ve got a necklace that used to be
my grandma.s. That.s quite old. I don.t really
wear it very often. How about you?
Ravi: No, not really. Next time I go to visit my
grandparents I might just ask them if they.ve got
anything, you know, interesting.
Section 3 – Quiz
Tess: Ravi! You.re terrible. Right then, let.s
move onto the quiz. Who.s playing today?
Ravi: It should be Abbie. Hello, Abbie?

Abbie: Hi Ravi. HIC
Tess: Hi Abbie
Abbie: Hi Tess
Ravi: Where are you calling from, Abbie?
Abbie: From Manchester. HIC! Sorry.
Ravi: Another Mancunian, like me. Great. Have
you got hiccups, Abbie?
Abbie: Yes, sorry.
Ravi: That.s OK.
Tess: Do you want to go and …
Ravi: BOO!
Abbie: HIC!
Tess: What are you doing Ravi? Listen, Abbie,
do you want to go and get a glass of water?
We.ll wait for you.
Abbie: OK. Thanks. I.ll be back in a minute.
Tess: OK, go on. What was that about?
Ravi: Well, I thought when someone had
hiccups you gave them a big shock like that.
Tess: I think a glass of water is a bit better,
really. There are lots of ways though. Actually,
maybe that.s an idea for Your Turn – How do
you cu…
Abbie: Hello?
Ravi: Hi Abbie. Have they gone?
Abbie: Yes, I think so. Sorry about that.
Ravi: That.s OK. Where were we? Manchester.
What do you do in Manchester, Abbie?
Abbie: I work in a nursery – looking after
children.
Tess: Ahh. How old are the children?
Abbie: Well the oldest ones are four and the
youngest ones are … tiny. I work with the three
and four year olds, mostly.
Ravi: Do you like it? I can.t think of anything
worse than having lots of three year olds
running around all day.
Abbie: I love it. The kids are really lovely. It.s
great.
Ravi: That.s good then. It.s always good if you
enjoy your work. Just like me and Tess. OK,
then, Abbie, are you ready to play Hot Seat?
Abbie: OK then.
Ravi: You know what to do? I.ve got these cards
and I.m going to give them to Tess and she.ll
explain the words to you. They.re all on the
same topic and Tess has to explain them
without saying the word on the card. OK?
Abbie: OK.
Ravi: And we.ll see how many you can guess in
a minute. Are you ready?
Abbie: Think so.
Ravi: OK. Here are the cards Tess, and the
topic today is …means of transport … ah, that.s
an easy one.
Tess: No it isn.t.
Ravi: You.ve got one minute starting from …
NOW!
Tess: Right. It.s got two wheels – and an
engine.
Abbie: Motorbike.
Tess: Yes. Next one. … It flies – but it hasn.t got
wings
Abbie: Aeroplane.
Tess: No, it hasn.t got wings. It goes round and
round … the thing goes round and round like
this.
Abbie: Helicopter.
Tess: Yes. OK. A big thing. Erm. Lots of people
sit in it.
Abbie: Train?

Tess: No. On the road. With a driver. Four
wheels. Double-decker!
Abbie: Bus.
Tess: OK. This one.s got two wheels but no
engine... you pedal.
Abbie: Bike. Bicycle.
Tess: Yes. Erm … this one flies and it has got
wings.
Abbie: Plane.
Tess: Yes. Right. It.s a car and you pay the
driver to take you where you want to go.
Abbie: Taxi.
Tess: Yes. This one.s a ship. Erm .. cars can go
on it, sometimes. It goes backwards and
forwards between two places.
Abbie: A ferry.
Tess: That.s right. OK – the one we said before
– big thing, lots of people. It runs on rails.
Abbie: Train?
Tess: Yes. This one.s like a train but in the city.
It.s electric and it runs on rails in the city centre.
A bit like a bus but on rails
Abbie: Tram?
Tess: Yes
Ravi: OK. I.ll let you have that one. Well done,
you two that was pretty good. How many was
that? Motorbike, helicopter – I liked the way you
tried to show Abbie what a helicopter does with
your hands Tess.
Tess: Well, it.s difficult to describe.
Ravi: I know, I know – but on the phone? Just
teasing you. Motorbike, helicopter, bus, bicycle,
aeroplane, taxi, ferry, train, tram. {quickly} One
two three four five six seven eight nine. Nine.
Well done. That.s a record, I think.
Tess: Well done, Abbie. We.ll send you
something for playing.
Abbie: Thanks Tess. Well done to you, too.
Ravi: Yeah, well done, Abbie. See you.
Abbie: Bye!
Ravi: I told you it was an easy one.
Tess: No. We were just very good at it. Have
you ever had nine right answers?
Ravi: Moving on, we.ve got Your Turn, Carolina
and my joke – after this.
Ravi: I.ve had a great idea for a joke to tell,
Tess.
Section 4 – Your Turn
Tess: I can.t wait. Before we enjoy Ravi.s joke
though, we.ve got Your Turn. This is the part of
the podcast when we hear what people think
about a question we ask them. A different topic
each time and we always get some interesting
answers. This time the question we asked was:
If you had a time machine, what „time. would
you visit? Why? Let.s hear what people said.
Voice 1: For fun I.d go back to the 80s because
I.m totally addict to that kind of fashion and, ah,
of course I.d like to meet, ah, ah, Vivienne
Westwood at the beginning of her career, with
Sex Pistols and other people like that.
Voice 2: Um, I think I.d like to go back to the
olden days, like the sixteenth or seventeenth
century, but I.d have to be a rich person, living
in a castle with lots of people to make the fires
and cook my food and wash and dress me and
things like that.
Voice 3: If I had a time machine I would like to
visit, um, err, my childhood when I was, ah,
three years old because my father passed away
when I was four, and I don.t really remember
how my father looks like, and, ah, I have only,
like, five pieces of memory of him, so I would
really like to go back in time and to get to know
him better, and, you, ah, have a fatherly love
from him.
Voice 4: I think I would like to go back to the
time of Tang dynasty in China because I read
so much about this era, the richness of their

poetry and their art and their way of life, so I
would really like to go back to that era to talk to
the people in those times, talk to the famous
poets such as Li Bei, and even meet the
founder of that great dynasty, ah, there.s so
much to learn about this culture, um, yeah, that
is really the time I would like to go back to.
Voice 5: If I had a time machine I would like to
go forward in the future, maybe to the year
3000, see what life was like, how we.d
advanced, what our technology, um, how we
traveled, what kind of strange transportation
we.d have found, um, and how healthy we were
and what the world looked like at that time.
Ravi: Interesting. What do you think Tess?
Tess: The 1960s, probably. Great music, great
clothes – and I could see what my parents were
doing. It.d be like that film … what do you call it?
Ravi: Back to the Future? Yeah. I.d go to the
future, actually. See if it.s like it is in the films.
Anyway, listeners – if you want to write or
record where you’d like to go in a time machine
you can send it to us at the usual email
address.
Section 5 – Carolina
Tess: Now it.s time to see what.s happening
with Carolina. If you.ve listened before you.ll
know that Carolina is a student who.s come
from Venezuela to study at Newcastle
University. In every podcast we hear a little
about what she, her boyfriend Jamie and their
friends have been doing. Last time, they were
all doing some conservation work at a nature
reserve to the north of Newcastle. This time,
Carolina and Jamie are in a restaurant.
Jamie: So, what are you going to have?
Carolina: Hmm. I.m not sure.
Jamie: Have the fish and chips. It.s traditional.
Carolina: Fish and chips! I don.t think so.
 Jamie: What.s the problem?
Carolina: I like fish and I like chips, but not like
that. It.s so …. heavy.
Jamie: Well I don.t see why …
Carolina: British food is so strange sometimes.
Jamie: British food is very good actually – if you
try it. You liked my mum.s cooking didn.t you?
Um, let me see, I think I.ll have the vegetarian
pasta.
Carolina: How long have you been a
vegetarian?
Jamie: About five years now.
Carolina: Don.t you miss eating meat?
Jamie: Not at all. I don.t really like it any more.
Waiter: Are you ready to order?
Jamie: Well I am. Carolina?
Carolina: Oh um, yes. I.ll have the steak please.
Waiter: How would you like it done?
Carolina: Oh um, I like it pink, you know, still
with some blood. ….
Jamie: Uggghhh.
Carolina: ...not cooked too much. How do you
say that?
Waiter: Rare. So that.s one steak, rare. And for
you sir?
Jamie: The vegetarian pasta for me please.
Carolina: Um, what does the steak come with?
Waiter: Chips and a mixed salad.
Carolina: Oh, OK, that.s fine.
Waiter: And to drink?
Jamie: D.you want wine?
Carolina: Yes OK, – do you?
Jamie: Yeah, OK. Can we see the wine list
please? The wine.s expensive. It.s always the
same in this country. The wine is the most
expensive part of a meal. Let.s just have the
house wine. Red or white?

Carolina: I.d prefer red.
Jamie: OK. Excuse me. Can we have a bottle of
the house red please?
Waiter: Certainly.
Carolina: Is Layla a vegetarian?
Jamie: No. She eats fish. Why?
Carolina: I just wondered.
Jamie: You just wondered.
Carolina: Yes. I just wondered. You spend a lot
of time with her Jamie.
Jamie: Do I? Well I like her. She.s a good
friend. That isn.t a problem is it?
Carolina: Oh no. No problem at all.
Jamie: So how.s the steak?
Carolina: It.s good. And how.s your pasta?
Jamie: Delicious.
Carolina: Oh Jamie. Let.s not be angry with
each other. I don.t see you very often
nowadays. You.re always busy.
Jamie: We were together all last weekend at the
nature reserve.
Carolina: Well yes, I suppose so. With Henry
and Ivan and Layla. But you know, I.m going
home to Venezuela for the holidays soon…..
Jamie: Yeah. Holidays!
Carolina: ….. so I won.t see you for a while….
so I thought we could have dinner, and you
know, talk a bit.
Jamie: Yeah. It was a good idea. It.s nice. We.re
talking.
Carolina: Yes, but I meant... talk about…..
Jamie: What? Talk about what?
Carolina: Oh never mind. Forget it. Eat your
vegetarian pasta.
Jamie: So, do you want another coffee?
Carolina: No thanks
Jamie: I.ll get the bill then. Can we have the bill
please?
Waiter: Your bill.
Carolina: Give it to me. I.m going to pay for this.
Jamie: Don.t be daft - I don.t want you to pay for
my dinner.
Carolina: I invited you, so let me pay. Please - I
want to.
Jamie: OK then – well, thank you very much.
Carolina: How much should I leave? You know,
for the waiter?
Jamie: For the tip?
Carolina: Yes, the tip.
Jamie: About ten per cent is usual I think. Let
me put in the tip if you.re paying.
Carolina: Ten per cent….. No, it.s OK. I.ve got it.
Jamie: So when are you leaving?
Carolina: Friday morning.
Jamie: Oh. Friday. Well, I.ll call you before you
go. Perhaps we can have a drink or something.
Carolina: OK. That would be nice. Call me.
Tess: Oh dear. That didn.t sound very happy,
did it?
Ravi: I.m sure it.ll be fine you know. Jamie
should go to Venezuela to visit Carolina. That.s
what I would do.
Section 6 – Joke
Tess: I.m sure you would. Have you got a joke
for us?
Ravi: I have. I was going to tell you a different
one but Abbie reminded me of this one.
Tess: Come on then, let.s hear it.
Ravi: Right, well. A man goes into a chemist.s
shop and says to the pharmacist "Excuse me,
but have you got anything for hiccups?” The
pharmacist looks at him for a couple of
seconds, and then suddenly reaches across the

counter and "thwack" - slaps the man.s face
really hard. 'Ow!', says the man. "What did you
do that for?. “Well," says the chemist, "you
haven.t got hiccups now have you?” “No, I
haven.t” says the man –“but my wife out there in
the car has still got them.”
Tess: Very good. I like that. But, listeners, that.s
all from me and Ravi for this podcast. Don.t go
away because Tom the Teacher will be here in
a moment
Ravi: And be sure to listen next time when
we.ve got a very special guest with us. You can
write to us at LearnEnglishPodcast @
BritishCouncil dot org, see you next time, bye!
Tess: 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. I.d like to start today
by listening to some questions we heard in the
podcast. Listen to Tess ask Ravi a question
here – and listen to Ravi.s answer:
Ravi: Erm …. erm …. I didn.t know you
spoke Spanish, Tess.
Tess: Solo un poquito…
Ravi: OK, you can stop now.
Tess: Have you been taking Spanish
lessons?
Ravi: Yeah, I have.
Tom: Tess asked Ravi, „Have you been taking
Spanish lessons?. and Ravi answered, „Yes, I
have.. Now, Tess.s question was a „yes. or „no.
question. Ravi.s answer could be simply „yes. or
„no.. But he said „Yes, I have.. We often answer
„yes – no. questions this way. Listen to another
example.
Tess: Is your granddad still alive?
Pete: No, he isn.t. He died 2 years ago.

Tom: Did you notice the difference? Tess
asked, „Is your granddad still alive?. so Pete
used the same verb in his short answer – „No,
he isn’t.. In the first example we heard, Tess
asked „Have you been taking Spanish lessons?.
so Ravi answered, „Yes, I have. – You use the
same verb as the question to make the short
answer. So if the question is „Do you like
football?. your short answer can be „Yes, I do.,
or „No, I don.t.. Question tags, work in a similar
way to these short answers. Listen to this.
Tess: And just think how good it.ll be in
Barcelona when you can do things in
Spanish – ordering meals, buying
postcards, talking to girls …
Ravi: Well, two or three more lessons
won.t hurt, will they? OK. I.ll talk to the
teacher and I.ll carry on going to
lessons. OK?
Tom: Ravi asked a tag question. A tag question
is a little question at the end of a sentence.
They can be „real. questions – where you don.t
know the answer – but in this example it wasn.t
a „real. question. Ravi knows that two or three
more lessons won.t hurt. Listen to another tag
question from Tess.
Tess: Oh dear. That didn.t sound very
happy, did it?
Tom: Like with the short answers to yes-no
questions, the verb in the tag question depends
on the verb in the first part of the sentence. If
the verb is negative – like „that didn’t sound very
happy. – then the tag question is positive – „did
it?.. Ravi.s tag question was the same, „two or
three more lessons won’t hurt. – negative – „will
they?. – positive. There was one more example,
in the joke.
Ravi: 'Ow!', says the man. "What did you
do that for?. “Well," says the chemist,

"you haven.t got hiccups now have
you?” “No, I haven.t” says the man.

Tom: There.s a tag question and a short answer
in that one, did you spot them? Now, let.s move
on. Carolina and Jamie were in a restaurant this
time. Listen to a little bit of the conversation in
the restaurant.
Waiter: Are you ready to order?
Jamie: Well I am. Carolina?
Carolina: Oh um, yes. I.ll have the steak
please.
Waiter: How would you like it done?
Carolina: Oh um, I like it pink, you know,
still with some blood. ….
Jamie: Uggghhh.
Carolina:..not cooked too much. How do
you say that?
Waiter: Rare. So that.s one steak, rare.
And for you sir?
Jamie: The vegetarian pasta for me
please.
Carolina: Um, what does the steak come
with?
Waiter: Chips and a mixed salad.
Carolina: Oh, OK, that.s fine.
Tom: There are some expressions that you
almost always hear in restaurants. The waiter
says „Are you ready to order?. When Carolina
orders steak, the waiter asks „How would you
like it done?. and he asks Jamie „And for you,
sir?. You probably won.t hear these expressions
anywhere else. There are expressions for other
places too. For example, in a clothes shop, you
might say, „Have you got this in a size twelve?.
or „Can I try it on?. It.s a good idea to learn
some of these useful expressions for different
situations. Do you remember, in another
podcast, the way Carolina practised what she
wanted to say before she went into a shop? If
you keep these special expressions for different
places together in your vocabulary notebook
you can practise them when you need them.
Now, listen to Ravi talking to Abbie, who did the
quiz.
Ravi: Where are you calling from,
Abbie?
Abbie: From Manchester. HIC! Sorry.
Ravi: Another Mancunian, like me.
Great. Have you got hiccups, Abbie?
Abbie: Yes, sorry.
Ravi: That.s OK.
Tess: Do you want to go and …
Ravi: BOO!
Abbie: HIC!
Tom: Ravi shouted „Boo!. at Abbie because she
had hiccups. Some people think that you can
make hiccups go away by giving the person a
shock. „Boo!. is what we shout when we want to
give people a surprise or a shock. Or if you.re
playing with a baby you might hide your face
and say „Boo!. What do you say in your
language?
Finally for today, I want to look at Ravi talking to
Abbie again, a little bit after he shouted „boo. at
her.
Ravi: Hi Abbie. Have they gone?
Abbie: Yes, I think so. Sorry about that.
Ravi: That.s OK. Where were we?
Manchester. What do you do in
Manchester, Abbie?
Tom: Ravi said to Abbie, „where were we?..
They were talking, then they were interrupted by
Abbie.s hiccups, then they started their
conversation again. When Ravi said „where
were we?. he meant – what were we talking
about before our conversation was interrupted?
See if you can use „where were we?. this week.


OK. That.s all we.ve got time for. 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 LearnEnglishPodcast
@ BritishCouncil DOT 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.