British Council-02-10

Section 1 – Gordon has come back
Tess: Hello and welcome once again to the
Learn English Elementary podcast. This is
podcast number ten in series two. We’re your
presenters – I’m Tess ..
Ravi: And I’m Ravi. I’m sorry to say that this is
the last podcast in this series ..
Tess: Awww
Ravi: But the good news is that it’s a very
special podcast today and we’ve got a special
guest with us in the studio today. If you’ve been
listening to our podcasts for a long time you’ll
remember Gordon. Gordon was our producer
for Series One of the podcast.
Tess: Producer and joke teller, Ravi.
Ravi: Yeah, Gordon told us some great jokes,
that’s true. Anyway, at the start of this series of
the podcast, we told you that Gordon had a new
job. Well, today, he’s back here in the studio
with us. Say hello, Gordon.
Gordon: Hi Ravi, hi Tess.
Tess: Hi Gordon. It’s lovely to see you again.
How are you?
Gordon: I’m very well, thank you, very well. How
are you both? OK?
Tess & Ravi: Yeah, I’m fine, thanks. I’m good,
thanks.
Ravi: So, what have you been doing since we
last saw you, Gordon?
Gordon: Well, after we did the last series of the
podcast, I got a job working on a TV
documentary programme about whales.
Ravi: The country?
Gordon: No, Ravi – whales in the sea.
Tess: Brilliant. What were you doing?
Gordon: I was working on the sound for the
programme – we filmed a lot of it on a boat.
Ravi: So did you see a lot of whales?
Gordon: Hundreds. It was absolutely fantastic –
but, listen, I’m going to tell you more about it a
little bit later so I won’t tell you now. How are
you two? Have you managed to do the podcast
without me?
Tess: Well, it’s not the same Gordon, you know,
but, yeah, we’ve had lots of interesting people
on – it’s been really good.
Gordon: Any jokes?
Ravi: Oh yes. Gordon used to tell a joke in
every podcast. At first we didn’t have a joke in
this series but so many people said they really
liked your jokes – it’s difficult to believe it, I
know – so we decided to have more jokes.
Gordon: Well, I’ve got a great one for you.
Tess: A joke and your whale stories – it’s the
Gordon show today. But that’s OK – it’s lovely
to see you again.
Gordon: It’s lovely to be here.
Section 2 – I’d like to talk about
Ravi: OK. Well, I’m dying to hear about these
whales so let’s move on. If you listen to our
podcasts regularly, you’ll know that we usually
start with ‘I’d Like to Talk About’ – when
someone comes into the studio and tells us
about something that’s important to them – a
place, a thing, a person – whatever. Well, as
we’ve got Gordon with us today, we thought it
would be nice to hear a little bit about what he’s
been doing since we last saw him. Now,
Gordon, I know we’re going to listen to part of
your documentary. Can you tell us what it is
before we hear it?
Gordon: Well, this is from the first programme in
the series. We were on a boat near
Provincetown, in Massachusetts in the USA,
looking for humpback whales. We’d just started
filming and none of us had ever seen a
humpback whale and … well, listen and you’ll
hear what happened.

Narrator: We’re just coming out past the
lighthouses now into the open waters of the
Atlantic Ocean. One hundred and fifty years
ago, thousands of ships made this same
journey into the Atlantic because Cape Cod,
back there, was the centre of the American
whaling industry. Ships leaving this port killed
thousands of whales all over the world. Now,
ironically, Cape Cod is one of the best places in
the world to see whales – and that’s why we’re
here.
The seabirds we can see circling over there are
a good sign. The birds often circle like that in
places where whales are feeding. We’ll head in
that direction.
There! That cloud of water in the air there tells
us that there are humpback whales over
there …… Another! Any minute now we should
see … WOW! Woohoo! Amazing!
Tess: That sounds incredible.
Gordon: It was amazing. I know we can only
hear it here, we can’t see it, but when that
humpback whale came up then it was so close I
could smell its breath – it was absolutely
incredible.
Ravi: What did its breath smell like?
Gordon: Pretty bad – quite fishy
Ravi: Yeah? I know someone like that.
Gordon: You know, that was the first time I’d
ever seen a whale – and it was so close. It’s
always special when you see whales but that
first time was extra special.
Tess: Why is it always special?
Gordon: Well, I think it’s because whales are so
special. We think we know something about
them but they live in huge oceans and, really,
we hardly know anything about them. We
probably know more about the moon than we
do about the oceans. And, you know, people
spent hundreds of years hunting and killing
whales – we’re lucky that there are any whales
left at all. And – and this is the main reason it
feels special to see whales – they’re such
amazing creatures.
Ravi: Are people still hunting whales?
Gordon: They are, unfortunately, in some
places. But what we found was that whale
watching – people paying to go out to sea and
look at whales – is a really big business now
and, hopefully, some of that money can be used
to help protect whales.
Tess: How many different kinds of whale did
you see?
Gordon: Over the whole programme, I think we
saw fifteen different kinds.
Ravi: How many different kinds are there?
Gordon: Well, that’s a good question. There are
thirteen species that people usually think of as
the ‘great whales’ but, altogether, there are
about forty species of whale. The thing is,
though, that we’re not absolutely sure exactly
how many species of whale there are. The
oceans are huge and we don’t really know
much about them, as I said. There could be
species of whales that we’ve never seen. It’s
another thing I like about them – there’s still
some mystery.
Ravi: Yeah. I know whales are big – everyone
knows that – but how big are they, exactly?
Gordon: Well that depends on the species
but … Actually, Ravi, you’ll have to wait until the
quiz to find that out.
Ravi: The quiz? Are you doing that as well?
Gordon: Well, I’ve got one or two questions for
you two, yes.
Ravi: Me against Tess? Excellent.
Tess: Yeah? You’ve got no chance, Ravi. That
all sounds great though Gordon. I’m really
looking forward to seeing that when it’s on TV.
Gordon: Well, it’s being edited at the moment
but it should be ready in a couple of months.

Ravi: I’ll definitely watch it. Now. Shall we have
this quiz?
Section 3 – Quiz
Tess: Just a moment, Ravi. If you’ve listened
before, you’ll know that on each podcast we
have a quiz. Usually we ask the questions to
someone else but this time, because it’s a
special podcast, Gordon’s going to ask the
questions and Ravi and I are going to answer
them.
Gordon: OK – I’ve prepared some questions for
you. You’ve both got buzzers – let’s hear them.
Ravi [buzz] Tess [buzz]. Good. You get one
point for a correct answer. The winner is the first
one to five points. OK?
Tess & Ravi: OK. Right.
Gordon: OK then. Let’s start. Fingers on the
buzzers. Which is the deepest ocean in the
world? The Atlantic, the Pacific or the
Ravi: The Atlantic
Gordon: No. Tess?
Tess: What are the choices?
Gordon: The deepest ocean – the Atlantic, the
Pacific or the Indian ocean.
Tess: The Pacific?
Gordon: Correct. One nil to Tess. Next
question. What’s the biggest species of whale?
Is it the humpback whale, the sperm whale
Ravi: Humpback whale
Gordon: No. Tess? What’s the biggest species
of whale? The humpback whale, the sperm
whale or the blue whale?
Tess: I know this. The blue whale.
Gordon: That’s right. Two nil to Tess. Question
three. How big is the blue whale? Is it up to
twenty five metres long, up to thirty five metres
long or up to forty five metres long?
Ravi: Erm .. up to forty five metres long.
Gordon: Sorry Ravi. Tess?
Tess: Up to thirty five metres?
Gordon: That’s right. Three nil to Tess.
Ravi: This is a disaster. Right. Come on, ask us
another.
Gordon: Question four. How long do sperm
whales live? More than 70 years, more than 80
years or more than a hundred years?
Ravi: I’m not going to buzz first Tess – I’m
waiting for you to get it wrong then I’m going to
give my answer.
Tess: Erm, I’ll say ‘more than seventy years’,
Gordon.
Gordon: That’s right. Four nil to Tess.
Ravi: AAAAGGGGH.
Gordon: Question five. We said that the blue
whale is the biggest kind of whale. How much
does a blue whale’s heart weigh?
Ravi: Oh come on, no-one knows that.
Gordon: Is it five hundred kilograms, six
hundred kilograms or seven hundred
kilograms?
Tess: I’ll have a guess. The middle one. Six
hundred kilos.
Gordon: Yes! That’s right. We have a winner!
Ravi: No way! I was going to say six hundred as
well. Five nil! I can’t believe it.
Tess: Never mind, Ravi. I just know more about
whales than you, that’s all.
Ravi: OK, let’s pretend the quiz never happened
and move on. What’s next? We’ve got Your
Turn – listen to this one – what superpower
would you like to have? – great question –
we’ve got Carolina and we’ve got a joke from
Gordon. I can’t wait. That’s all after this.
Section 4 – Your Turn
Tess: Time now for Your Turn. This is when we
ask some people a question and listen to their
answers. The topics are sometimes serious,
sometimes not so serious but the answers are

always interesting. Here’s the question this
time: “Superman can fly. The Hulk is very
strong. The Invisible Man is invisible. What
superpower would you like to have?” I like it.
Let’s hear what people said.
Voice 1: I would like to have a super power to
heal a broken heart because, ah, there’s no
remedy for a broken heart – it’s not like, ah, if
you have a cold or flu then you have the
appropriate medicine for that, but if you have a
broken heart then there is really no medicine,
ah, people will say that, um, time heals a broken
heart, but if I have this super power then I can
speed up the process and to heal every, um,
weeping soul.
Voice 2: I think I’d like to be invisible, too, so I
can listen in and see what people are doing
when they don’t know I’m there.
Voice 3: If I could choose any super power I
would choose the ability to fly, um, because I
sometimes have dreams where I’m flying and
it’s a very free feeling, it’s a very good feeling to
be able to go anywhere you want very quickly,
and, um, enjoy the view of the Earth from
above.
Voice 4: If I had a super power I’d like to be like
the genie in the bottle and be able to grant other
people wishes, because it would be so much
fun every day to walk around giving people
exactly what they want and making their lives
better.
Voice 5: I would like to have a, ah, super power
that can read and tell the minds, what’s in the
mind and the heart of people.
Tess: Ravi? I know you’ll be dying to say
something on this.
Ravi: Hmm. I can’t decide. Flying’s a good one.
Invisibility would be great too. Hmm. I don’t
know. What about you?
Tess: Would knowing a lot about whales be a
superpower? Oh, I’ve got that one already.
Ravi: Very good.
Tess: Actually, I don’t know. It’s nice to say
something like ‘mending a broken heart’ or
‘making people’s lives better’, but, really, I think
flying is what I’d like. I’d love to be able to fly.
Ravi: Me too. Remember, listeners, you can tell
us what you think about Your Turn by writing to
us or recording yourself and sending it to us at
LearnEnglishPodcast @ BritishCouncil dot org.
What superpower would you like to have?
Tess: OK. Now it’s time for Carolina. Remember
Carolina, Gordon?
Gordon: Oh yes.
Section 5 – Carolina
Tess: Carolina is from Venezuela but she’s
come to study at Newcastle University in the
north east of England. In every podcast we hear
something about what Carolina’s been doing.
Last time, she went to a restaurant with her
boyfriend, Jamie – although I don’t think they
had a good time, really. This time, it’s the end of
term and Carolina’s getting ready to go back to
Venezuela for the summer.
Carolina: OK Emily. I think I’m ready.
Emily: Sure you’ve got everything?
Carolina: Oh I don’t know. I’ve probably
forgotten something. I hate travelling – it makes
me really stressed.
Emily: Money, passport, tickets. That’s all you
really need.
Carolina: Yes …I’ve got money ... my
passport ... and my tickets. Oh dear. Well – I
guess I’m ready to go.
Emily: Why don’t you phone him?
Carolina: Phone who?
Emily: Jamie of course. You’ve been checking
your phone for messages every five minutes for
the last two days. Just phone him.
Carolina: I can’t. He knows I’m leaving today –
he promised to phone. He hasn’t called since

we had that horrible dinner together. He
obviously doesn’t want to speak to me.
Emily: But you obviously want to speak to him.
You can’t go away feeling miserable.
Carolina: I’m not going to phone him Emily.
Emily: OK, it’s your decision. I think you’re mad,
but it’s up to you. So are you going to phone a
taxi? The number’s on the table by the door.
Carolina: OK. Hello. Blueline taxis? Um, I’d like
to order a taxi please. I’m at Bowsden Hall. Yes,
that’s right; the university residences. It’s
number 36A. Yes that’s right. I want to go to
the station – Newcastle train station. Yes, that’s
right – Central Station. Ten minutes? OK . Cab
number 647? OK, I’ll go downstairs and wait.
My mobile number is 033 474 61037. Thank
you very much.
Emily: You don’t need to go downstairs – we
can see him coming from the window.
Carolina: No, I’d rather go down. I’m a bit
nervous. I can’t relax. I think I’ll go down now
and wait.
Emily: OK. I’ll help you with your bag.
Carolina: No it’s OK. I can manage. So,
goodbye then Emily.
Emily: Bye bye. Have a lovely time – and see
you when you get back.
Carolina: Yes OK. Have a good holiday too
Emily.
Emily: You’ve forgotten your handbag.
Carolina: Oh! Thanks.
Emily: Money, passport, tickets
Carolina: Money, passport, tickets
Taxi driver: Right. To the station isn’t it love?
Carolina: Yes please. How long do you think it’ll
take?
Taxi driver: Not long at this time of day. What
time’s your train?
Carolina: Ten forty-five.
Taxi driver: No problem.
Taxi driver: Off home for the holidays then?
Carolina: Yes, that’s right.
Taxi driver: Somewhere nice?
Carolina: Venezuela. Caracas.
Taxi driver: Venezuela! That’s a long way to go.
Been here in Newcastle long then?
Carolina: Since September.
Taxi driver: Is this your first trip home then?
Carolina: Yes, that’s right.
Taxi driver: You must be looking forward to
seeing your family.
Carolina: Oh just a minute – excuse me. Oh
hello Henry. Yes, yes, I’m in the taxi. Yes I will.
And you have a good holiday too. Yes I will. OK.
Thanks for calling. Bye.
Taxi driver: Boyfriend saying goodbye?
Carolina: No.
Taxi driver: What do you think of good old
Newcastle then? Bet the weather’s a bit cold for
you ...
Taxi driver: Here we are then. Twenty past ten.
Plenty of time.
Carolina: Yes, thank you.
Taxi driver: That’ll be eight pounds ten please.
Carolina: Here you are. And um, keep the
change.
Taxi driver: Thank you very much. Enjoy your
holiday.
Carolina: Oh I will. Thank you very much. Bye.
Taxi driver: Don’t forget your handbag.
Carolina: Oh! Thank you.
Carolina: Hello Jamie. Yes, I’m at the station.
I’ve just got out of the taxi ……..
Tess: Awwwww. I’m so glad Jamie called. I
knew he would.

Ravi: Oh Tess. Well, listeners, that’s all from
Carolina for now. I’m sure that, like me, you’ve
all been waiting to hear from Gordon again.
Ready Gordon?
Section 6 – Gordon’s Joke
Gordon: Ready.
Ravi: So, Gordon’s joke.
Gordon: Right. This is a story about a man
whose wife has a cat – and this man, he hates
the cat. He can’t stand it.
Tess: How can anyone hate cats? Cats are
lovely.
Gordon: Not this cat – it’s horrible – and this
man hates the cat so much that he makes a
plan to get rid of the cat. One day, when his wife
isn’t at home, he takes the cat, puts it in the car
and drives ten miles away from home. He
throws the cat out of the car and drives away.
When he gets home, who do you think is sitting
on the doorstep waiting for him?
Tess: The cat.
Gordon: Exactly. ‘Right’, thinks the man. The
next day – his wife isn’t there again – he takes
the cat, puts it in the car and drives twenty
miles. He throws the cat out of the car and
drives away. When he gets home again, what
do you think, the cat is sitting on the doorstep
again. Well, by now he’s really annoyed about
this. The next day, he takes the cat, covers its
eyes, puts it in the car and drives fifty miles. He
goes over hills, through tunnels – he turns left,
turns right, he makes it impossible for the cat to
know where they are and he throws it out of the
car and drives away. Well, two hours later, the
man calls his wife. ‘Hello?’, she says. ‘Is the cat
there?’, says the man. ‘Yes’, she says. ‘Well
can you put him on the phone, please? I need
to ask him for directions’
Ravi: You’ve still got that old magic, Gordon.
Tess: Yeah, it’s been great to have you back on
the podcast, Gordon. But that’s about all we’ve
got time for this time. Don’t go away, listeners,
because Tom the Teacher will be here in a
minute but that’s all from us and that’s the end
of series 2.
Ravi: We hope you enjoyed the series. Thanks
for all your emails and things.
Tess: And Ravi – just one thing before we go – I
have to make a confession.
Ravi: Go on.
Tess: You know the quiz today? Well, I have to
admit, Gordon gave me a little bit of help with
the answers.
Ravi: I knew it! I knew you must have cheated.
Tess: You looked so funny though when I got
everything right. I wish we’d taken a picture –
we could put it on the website.
Ravi: Right. I think that makes me the real
winner of the quiz. And that sounds like a good
place to finish. Bye everyone. Thanks for
coming in today, Gordon. We’ll see you all
soon.
Tess: Yes, thanks Gordon. Bye everyone.
Gordon: Thanks for having me. 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. This is the last
podcast in Series 2 so I want to start today by
looking at something absolutely fantastic. Listen
to Gordon talking about his job on the whale
documentary.
Tess: Brilliant. What were you doing?
Gordon: I was working on the sound for
the programme – we filmed a lot of it on
a boat.
Ravi: So did you see a lot of whales?

Gordon: Hundreds. It was absolutely
fantastic – but, listen, I’m going to tell
you more about it a little bit later so I
won’t tell you now.
Tom: I’m interested in the adjectives Tess and
Gordon used. Tess said ‘brilliant’ and Gordon
said ‘fantastic’. Now, ‘brilliant’ and ‘fantastic’ are
both quite strong adjectives. They both mean
‘very good’. Listen again to what Gordon said:
Gordon: Hundreds. It was absolutely
fantastic
Tom: He said it was absolutely fantastic. We
can only use ‘absolutely’ with strong adjectives
like this. So we can say something is ‘very big’
or ‘very small’ but we can’t use ‘absolutely’
here. ‘Huge’ means ‘very big’ so we can say
something was ‘absolutely huge’ and ‘tiny’
means ‘very small’ so we can say ‘it was
absolutely tiny’. We only use ‘absolutely’ with
‘strong’ adjectives. Listen to another example.
Gordon: It was amazing. I know we can
only hear it here, we can’t see it, but
when that humpback whale came up
then it was so close I could smell its
breath – it was absolutely incredible.
Ravi: What did its breath smell like?
Gordon: Pretty bad – quite fishy
Tom: Gordon said that seeing the whale so
close was ‘absolutely incredible’ but he said that
its breath smelt ‘pretty bad’ and ‘quite fishy’.
‘Pretty’, when we use it like this means ‘quite’
and Gordon uses it with ‘bad’ because bad is
just an ordinary adjective, not a strong one. One
more thing though. Listen to another thing that
Gordon said:
Ravi: Are people still hunting whales?
Gordon: They are, unfortunately, in
some places. But what we found was
that whale watching – people paying to
go out to sea and look at whales – is a
really big business now and, hopefully,
some of that money can be used to help
protect whales.
Tom: He said that whale watching is ‘a really big
business’. ‘Really’ is a useful word because we
can use it with strong adjectives like ‘incredible’
and with ‘ordinary’ adjectives like ‘big’. So we
can say ‘It was really huge’ or ‘It was really big’.
If you want to make an adjective stronger,
‘really’ is a good word to use.
Now, I wonder if you noticed a little word when
Tess and Ravi were playing the quiz against
each other. Listen to how Gordon says what the
score is in the quiz.
Tess: I know this. The blue whale.
Gordon: That’s right. Two nil to Tess.
Question three. How big is the blue
whale? Is it up to twenty five metres
long, up to thirty five metres long or up
to forty five metres long?
Ravi: Erm .. up to forty five metres long.
Gordon: Sorry Ravi. Tess?
Tess: Up to thirty five metres?
Gordon: That’s right. Three nil to Tess.
Tom: Gordon said ‘two nil to Tess’ and ‘Three
nil to Tess’. What do you think ‘nil’ means? It
means ‘nothing’ or ‘zero’ – but we only usually
use it in some sports or things like quizzes. One
place you often hear it is in football scores – you
might say ‘My team won two nil’. But you can’t
use it in every situation. When you give
someone your telephone number for example
you say ‘zero’ or ‘nought’ or even ‘oh’. There
are different ways to say ‘zero’ and it can be
difficult to remember them but ‘nil’ is usually
used for team sports.
Now, something else. Listen to what Ravi said
when he introduced Gordon talking about
whales.
Ravi: OK. Well, I’m dying to hear about
these whales so let’s move on.

Tom: Ravi said he was ‘dying to hear’ what
Gordon had to say. A little late, when they were
talking about superpowers, Tess used ‘dying to’
as well. Listen:
Tess: Ravi? I know you’ll be dying to say
something on this.
Tom: If you are ‘dying to’ do something, you
really want to do it – you’re really looking
forward to it. It takes an infinitive, so you might
say ‘I’m dying to know what happened at the
party’ or ‘he’s dying to meet you’. See if you can
use it yourself this week.
OK, that’s all we’ve got time for today. This is
the last podcast in series two so you won’t hear
from me for a while. Remember some of the
things I’ve talked about – things you can do to
help you learn English. This series we’ve talked
about how important it is to have a good
dictionary. We talked about ‘thinking in English’
– looking at things around you and thinking how
to say it in English. And we also talked about
looking out for English – you can probably see
English every day – in the street, on TV or at
the cinema – keep your eyes open for English!
And finally, remember you can write to me
about any language that you noticed in this or
the other podcasts. 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
series. Bye for now!