Adam
Hello. Welcome to episode 16 of the Learn English Elementary Podcast. I’m Adam.
Rob is on a business trip at the moment, but it’s nice to be back. First of all, I’d like to say sorry that there hasn’t been a podcast for a while. Rob and I both had to travel for work this month and we haven’t been around. But one of us is back now with another great podcast for you.
Later on, we’ll be catching up with Carolina and I’m afraid she isn’t very happy this week.
But first, let’s have a look at some of your comments on the last podcast, when we asked you for your thoughts on London.
Tess and Ravi talked about Big Ben and Buckingham Palace but you, listeners, mentioned loads of other things in London: Tower Bridge, Madame Tussauds, the British Museum, Hyde Park, Camden Market, the changing of the guards, Trafalgar Square… even those of you who haven’t been to London seem to know a lot about it.
And it wasn’t just London. You also mentioned Oxford University and Stonehenge and the city of Bath - other places you’d like to visit in England. A few of you are fans of English football – like Mohammed in Jordan who really wants to visit Wembley Stadium.
Sora from Korea is lucky; she’s going to study in London in September. Write and tell us how you find it, Sora.
And there’s good news too for Tanya in Russia and Angelo in Italy. Tanya mentioned Sherlock Holmes and Angelo talked about seeing the famous double-decker buses in London. Well, both of those things will be in a future podcast – so keep listening out!
So many great comments, as usual – too many to read out all the good ones – but I do want to look at just one more. It’s from Raviha in Pakistan and it says ‘Rob, I love your Word on the Street series’.
Now, if you don’t know, Word on the Street is a TV programme made by the BBC and the British Council and you can find it on the LearnEnglish website. Go to: www.britishcouncil.org/wordonthestreet
And that’s almost the same address to send your comments to. We love hearing from you, so keep the comments coming to www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish
Right, time now to catch up with Carolina again. Carolina is from Venezuela and is studying at Newcastle University. We’ve been following her life. Last time there was good news for Carolina’s friend Emily, but this time things aren’t going too well for Carolina…
Carolina
At the shop
Carolina: That's four pounds please. Thank you. Would you like a bag? OK. Who's next?
Man: I am.
Carolina: Oh, yes. OK, that's two pounds nineteen please.
Man: How much?
Carolina: Two pounds nineteen.
Man: Ninety or nineteen? I can't understand you.
Carolina: Nineteen. Two pounds nineteen pence.
Man: "Two pounds nineteen pence". Why don't you learn to speak English?
Carolina: I… I do… I… I'm sorry…
At University
Mrs Greenwood: So that's it for today. I'll see you next week. If anyone wants to talk about their essay, I'll be in my office from two to five tomorrow afternoon. And don't forget, the deadline for the essay is Monday morning. And that's the absolute final deadline. I will not accept any essays after that time. Is that understood?
Students: Yes, Mrs Greenwood.
Mrs Greenwood: I'm looking forward to reading them. Right, OK. Have a good week.
Students: Thank you, Mrs Greenwood / Bye Mrs Greenwood
Carolina: Oh no!
Student: What's up?
Carolina: The deadline. Monday morning. Is she really serious? She really won't accept any essays after Monday?
Student: Oh yes, she's serious. I did a course with her last year. Two people failed because they didn't do their essays on time.
Carolina: Oh, God!
At the Post Office
Voice through microphone: Cashier number five, please.
Carolina: Good morning.
Clerk: Good morning.
Carolina: I want to collect a parcel. It's from Venezuela, for Carolina del Barco. Here's the card.
Clerk: Can I see some identification?
Carolina: I'm sorry?
Clerk: You need to show me some identification.
Carolina: I need to...?
Clerk: I'm sorry, but I can't give you the parcel if you don't show me some identification.
Carolina: I'm very sorry but I don't understand. Can you speak more slowly?
Clerk: I-den-ti-fi-ca-tion. Pass-port.
Carolina: Oh… yes… identification, passport... yes, of course. I'm sorry. Here you are.
At home
Carolina: It's me, Emily. I'm tired. I'm going to go straight to bed.
Emily: OK. Night. See you tomorrow.
Carolina: Goodnight. Hola mamí. I… oh…
Adam
Oh dear! Carolina sounds really miserable, really homesick.
It happens sometimes when you’re a long way from home. It just takes a few small things to go wrong, and it can make you feel really unhappy. I remember the first time I went to church camp. My parents weren't there, and I was 10, but I was OK until I put ten pence in the payphone and heard my parents' voices. Then I ran away to cry where the other boys couldn't see me.
How about you, listeners? A lot of you don’t live at home or you lived away from home in the past. Do you ever feel homesick? If you do, what do you do to make yourself feel better? Even if you’ve never felt homesick, what advice would you give to Carolina to make herself feel better? Write and tell us what you think at: www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish
Now, one thing that went wrong for poor Carolina was making a mistake with her English – listen to this bit again: Carolina: Oh, yes. OK, that's two pounds nineteen please. Man: How much? Carolina: Two pounds nineteen. Man: Ninety or nineteen? I can't understand you. Carolina: Nineteen. Two pounds nineteen pence. Man: "Two pounds nineteen pence". Why don't you learn to speak English? Carolina: I... I do… I… I'm sorry…
Carolina got confused about the stress of nineteen and ninety – it’s an easy mistake to make. In ‘nineteen’ we stress the second syllable – ‘teen’ and in ‘ninety’ we stress the first syllable – ‘nine’. It makes a big difference.
However, if we are giving a date, like nineteen eighty-nine, we stress the first syllable of nineteen. English can be really difficult sometimes!
If you want help with syllables and stress we’ve put some exercises on the website for you. They’ll help you recognise how many syllables you hear and which syllables are stressed.
You’ll find lots of other exercises there too so do go and look at the website, and send us your comments – it’s always great to hear from you.
We’ll be back next time with more from Tess and Ravi, talking about a famous British family… who could that be?
That’s all for now. See you next time – bye!
Comments
Hello znette2005,
Welcome to LearnEnglish! These two structures - a relative clause and a participle clause - are very similar, and in the examples you provide there is no difference in meaning. There are some limitations to when we can use (present) participle clauses: they must have an active meaning, not passive; the time reference is always the same as the main verb (whereas a relative clause can refer to a different time to the main clause); and they must have a continuous meaning.
For more information on participle clauses take a look at this page.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi peter. Im aaron again. If you say very very very bad day or very very very pretty it is not nice to hear, right? So what can you substitute for the word very? Thank you!!
Hello Peter. How can i use the word catch up? Please give me some examples! Thank you!!
Hello Aaron,
I'd suggest that you use a dictionary to look up "catch up". I've just searched for it using the Cambridge Dictionaries Online search box (on the right side of this page) and saw that there are several entries there. Not only do they provide definitions, but also examples.
Regarding your other question, you're right that it is a bit unusual to repeat the word "very", though occasionally people will do so for emphasis. I'd suggest that you look at our intensifiers page, where you'll find some other words with a similar meaning and use.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
I have visited India for 40 days. Although it was short period of time, I felt homesick. When I feel a bit down I start crying a lot, but I try to be patient and strong . There are many things we can do when we have frustrated sense. First pray and read Qur’an or whatever your holy book. Second, eat or drink sweet foods like chocolate or fruits which makes you feel better. Third ,do any practice such as walking, swimming, and dancing. This will change your mood. Fourth, talk to your friends about your feelings or to any one ready to listen to you.
Hello, sir Kirk thanks a lot yes all of your suggastion tha's enough really useful,
But I try to tell here my experience about using Google translate just for practicing writing English I do it by as I tell below :
I try to play some audio lesson by my audio player then when I hear one of the sentence I stop the player and I type that sentence on the Google translate , I use Google's smart because when I write it , If I have had any mistake Google suggest, the correct word if I have a mistake , so I try to explain it but maybe I couldn't describe it complete so If you fond up how I do practice it my writing and if there is any suggestion , I'll be happy to use it, thanks for any idea ,
Hello , Sir peter , I saw that your kindly suggestions really it was very helpful and I do try to practice all the time of my free time to learn , I find out some English cource on the internet and ofcourse I use all of this site record too , I have it site record in my cell-phone too and I'll try to use it , I know all of record will be helpful for all user they need it , and I have an experience about typing English too , my means that about dictation I have found some audio course and I write it on the Google translate , that's very useful when I write a sentence Google know is this all my word correct or no, and I'll try to change it my mistake and I'll correct my error , and this Google translate is very helpful , anyway to improve my speaking skill I 'll try to use this site record and other corse that I have download it on the internet , I think you find out my experience about practising and is there is any suggestion .thanks a lot
Hi Rastgar,
What Peter recommends is extremely effective for most people, so I'd suggest you try it. Your own methods also sound good, though I'd be careful with Google translate, as it is frequently not accurate. It's better than nothing if you don't understand a sentence, but I wouldn't recommend that you use it as a way of verifying what you produce in English is correct.
As you try what Peter recommends, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask us, or if after following his method for several weeks you don't feel you're improving, please write to us again and explain what's happening - we'll be happy to try to help you. But I really think you'll learn a lot this way - another user just told us that he's learned enough to be able to watch videos that he couldn't understand at all just eight months ago!
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello, everyone all friendly person working here , I'm a new user and I want to improve my English here by using your helping I don't know how should I write or talk Just I would to improve my English skill to talking and writing , I verey willing to learn English perfectly, so by thanking a lot I need your help If I have wrote unusual sorry about , that is my poor English not my manner .
Hello Rastgar,
Welcome to LearnEnglish! We are often asked about improving speaking, and my answer is always the same: that it's very hard to give advice without really knowing about your ability in English, your interests, your needs and your strengths and weaknesses. However, there are some general suggestions that I can make which will help you to improve over time.
The most important thing you can do is to speak English as often as possible. To do this a partner is very helpful, so think about the people you know and consider if any of them could be a practice partner for you. It may be that you know someone else who is also learning English and who would like to practise with you, or perhaps you know some people who do not speak your language but do speak English. However, if you do not have a practice partner it does not mean that you cannot practise because tt is possible to practise alone. Just speaking English to yourself while you are at home, going about your normal daily activities, can help a great deal with your fluency and can help you to feel more confident, which will help you to cut down your hesitating.
You can also use the audio and video materials here on LearnEnglish to improve your fluency. After doing the exercises, try listening with the transcript (listening and reading). Then try saying the text yourself, and finally try saying it with (and at the same speed as) the recording. This will help you to develop speed in your speech, which is a key component of fluency. You'll also pick up a lot of language as chunks - words which are often used together in set phrases - which you can use to communicate with less hesitation.
In terms of writing effectively, as I wrote to another user last week, how to write depends upon what kind of writing you want to do, for what purpose you are writing and who the recipient is. Different kinds of writing require different different language and different ways of organising the text, so take a look at as many different texts as you can. In general, to improve your writing it's important to read and write as much as you can, so keep an eye out for good examples of letters, articles and so on. Using the internet to read magazines and newspapers, and other text-types from online media, is a good idea.
If possible, you should get feedback from a teacher or knowledgeable friend on your writing. Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to give users individualised feedback on their writing, but you can still use LearnEnglish to do some work on your own. You can respond to other users in the comment sections to carry on a written conversation, just as I am responding to you now. Good writers learn from reading other writers' texts, so you could learn a lot about writing from reading the content on the site. You can use the transcripts from our listening materials as good examples too.
Whatever you do, try to spend at least 15 minutes several days per week reading and/or writing. When you have doubts, ask a friend or teacher, or you're also welcome to ask us periodically here by using the comments sections on each page, and we'll be happy to try to answer your questions.
I hope those suggestions are helpful.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
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