Episode 02

Episode 02

Carolina and Emily are also back for Series 4! Along with Jo and Adam, they talk about the time of year when bargains can be had – the January sales!

Transcript

Jo and Adam

Adam: Hello! And welcome to Episode 2 of Series 4 of LearnEnglish Elementary Podcasts. My name's Adam and my colleague Jo will be joining us later on to talk about some of the language in the podcast.

It was great to start reading all your comments again. A lot of comments were from old friends of the podcast from Series 3, 2 or even Series 1. Zara from Venezuela sent her greetings, and both Shnider from Egypt and Saulo from Brazil said 'welcome back'. Predkambrij from Slovenia and Dilshadcan from Iraq told us how the podcasts helped with their English. If you want to get the most out of the podcasts, remember to do the exercises as well as listening to the audio.

And thank you to everyone, like Andeo from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who welcomed Jo to the podcast team. We’re both really looking forward to working with you over the rest of the podcasts, whether you listen to them on the website or via our mobile app. You can find the LearnEnglish Elementary Podcasts app by searching the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store and there’s also a link on the LearnEnglish website.

I'm sure you remember the last episode was about the British and pets – and we asked you to tell us about your pets and the most popular pets in your country. And what a variety of pets you told us about!

Andeo talked about his dog Žućo, whose name means 'yellow’. Fabimuc from Colombia has a dog called Tango, who's only three months old. Aww! Jamir is also from Colombia and he used to fight with his siblings because they all wanted their cats in their beds at night!

Lam Tran from Vietnam said that, although dogs and cats are the most popular pets in his country, rabbits and hamsters have become more popular recently.

You told us about keeping cats, turtles, birds – like canaries or pigeons – sheep and even a frog! But you aren't all pet lovers! Lisa-chriki's husband had three rabbits as pets but Lisa didn't like the smell so he couldn't keep them. It’s important to think carefully before you get a pet because it can be a lot harder to give a pet away than to get one.

A lot of people made the point that keeping a pet, or not, depends on the culture of your country and the standard of living. Chocolar said that, in his part of West Africa, only a few people have money to look after pets – it's more important to look after people. In some places it's unusual to keep pets like dogs or cats, but people take good care of their cows, sheep and goats.

Thank you to everyone who left a comment – we really enjoy reading them and hearing what you think. It’s really interesting to read different answers to our questions from users all over the world.

Now it's time to hear from another old friend – Carolina. Carolina is from Venezuela, but she's living and studying in Newcastle in the north-east of England at the moment. She has a best friend called Emily and a boyfriend called Jamie. Let's see what she's doing today.

 

 

Carolina – At the shopping centre

Carolina: Oh. What a lot of people!

Emily: Well, yes. It's the first day of the sales. People go crazy. Let's go in here. I like their jeans.

Carolina: So do I. Oh, it's very crowded.

Emily: Come on. The jeans are over here.

Carolina: Excuse me … Um … Excuse me, please … excuse me.

Emily: What are you doing?

Carolina: Trying to get past the people.

Emily: You can't just say ‘Excuse me, excuse me’. You have to push. Like this. Look. Excuse me! Follow me!

Emily: These jackets are nice.

Carolina: Yes.

Woman: Excuse me. Excuse me.

Carolina: Aaargh!

Emily: Are you OK?

Carolina: That woman pushed me into the jackets. I nearly fell over. I thought the British were polite!

Emily: Not in the sales. Come on. The jeans are over there.

 

Emily: Well, I've got my jeans. What's next? What do you want to get?

Carolina: Well, you know. I'm being careful with my money.

Emily: I know – that's why we're here – at the sales. You can buy something. Oh, let's go in here. They've got really, really cheap T-shirts. Like two pounds each.

Carolina: No, I don't think so.

Emily: Why not? Look. Special sales offer. Two T-shirts for the price of one. Come on.

Carolina: Jamie told me about this shop.

Emily: Told you what?

Carolina: It isn't ethical. We shouldn't buy things there.

Emily: Oh, lord! What do you mean, it isn't ethical?

Carolina: The T-shirts are very cheap because they don't pay the workers enough money. They make them work long hours in terrible conditions.

Emily: Oh.

Carolina: Let's go for a coffee. I'll pay.

Emily: OK. You know you could buy four T-shirts for the price of two coffees, don't you? I mean, I understand what you mean, but …

 

Waitress: Here you are. Two coffees.

Carolina and Emily: Thanks.

Carolina: I don't think I like the first day of the sales.

Emily: We've only been in one shop!

Carolina: I know. Anyway, how are things going in your exciting new love life? With Cameron.

Emily: ‘Exciting new love life’? It's going quite well.

Carolina: Only ‘quite’ well?

Emily: Oh, OK. It's going very well. I really like him. I don't see him very often – he's busy working in the bookshop, and practising with the band – but it's good. I'm happy.

Carolina: I'm sooo glad, Emily.

Emily: He says he's going to write a song for me.

Carolina: No!

Emily: Can you imagine?

Carolina: Not really. ‘Oh Emily, with your lovely blue eyes, and your yellow hair’ – dang dang dang.

Emily: Blonde hair, please, Carolina. Not yellow.

Carolina: I can't wait to hear the song.

 

Jo and Adam

Adam: Phew! I don’t like crowds, but I love finding a bargain, something cheaper than usual. Jo is here with us again today – do you like the sales, Jo?

Jo: I do. But the January sales are a really big thing in Britain, aren't they?

Adam: That's right. Some people queue outside the big shops all night. They sleep in the streets waiting for the shops to open in the morning.

Jo: Oh, I’ve never done that. That’s crazy! Sleeping on the streets just to get a bargain?

Adam: Absolutely. But now let's talk about some of the language from the podcast. Jo?

Jo: Well, I want to talk about two common verbs – 'can' and 'should'. 'Can' and 'should' are both modal verbs. And modal verbs are different from verbs like 'go' or 'like'. Listen to Emily. What form of the verb follows 'can'?

Carolina: Well, you know. I'm being careful with my money.

Emily: I know – that's why we're here – at the sales. You can buy something.

Adam: 'You can buy something.’

Jo: That's right. 'Can buy', not 'can to buy'. We use the infinitive form of the verb but without 'to'. Now listen to Carolina.

Carolina: I can't wait to hear the song.

Jo: The negative of 'can' is 'can't'. 'I can't wait'.

Adam: Or 'I can't decide what to have for dinner tonight'.

Jo: And 'should' is the same. After 'should' we use a verb without 'to'.

Adam: And the negative is 'shouldn't'.

Jo: Listen to Carolina.

Carolina: It isn't ethical. We shouldn't buy things there.

Jo: Notice the pronunciation of 'should' and 'shouldn't'. It's spelt with an L – 'S-H-O-U-L-D', but the L is silent – we don't say it.

Adam: One more thing about modal verbs – we make a question by changing the word order – we don't use 'do' or 'did' to make a question. For example, 'Can you help me?'

Jo: Or 'What make of computer should I buy?'

Adam: Why don't you write and tell us what you think about sales? Do you love them or hate them? When's the most popular time for sales in your country? The address is www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish.

Jo: And there are exercises on the website to help you with the language from the podcast – including 'can' and 'should'.

Adam: So, see you next time. Bye!

Jo: Bye!

Discussion

Topics

Average: 5 (2 votes)
Do you need to improve your English?
Join thousands of learners from around the world who are making great progress with their English level with our online courses.

Submitted by D-Trix on Thu, 04/04/2019 - 20:36

Permalink
I think i'm not really interested in sales, during this period shopes are very crowded and people go crazy. They jostle in the aisles, fighting each other for clothes, computers and almost for evey things, they even spend sleepless nights in front of the shopping centres and for what purpse? to buy something maybe they don't really need it. What kind of a crazy world are we living in?

Submitted by User_User on Sat, 16/02/2019 - 19:50

Permalink
Hello I don't buy at the sales because I would have to travel to the nearest town by public transport. If I bought something in town and I would want to give something back I would need to travel back to this town again, which always costs money and a lot of time. I mainly buy by mail order shopping. I've got two weeks to decide whether I keep the goods. If I wanted to give them back I could do that at a shop in the same village where I live. I don't buy t-shirts for less than 20 euro because I'm expecting bad quality then. I hope that the material is at least 99 per cent cotton. The conditions under which the workers work are of no importance for me. Bye

Submitted by ali aiad ali shanan on Mon, 28/01/2019 - 16:47

Permalink
I really like sales in all time .I'm enjoy .

Submitted by cuneyt on Mon, 26/11/2018 - 20:39

Permalink
Hi Everyone, I agree with Carolina What she say is true everything But there are the system all over the world. System name is capitalism. No longer we live with it. I am sorry say that is our life sytle. we did it. we have been depletive comminty while we had been producing comminty. we are eating the world. we will not find to produce anything. We will eat everything. The capitalism is like a snowball effect. İt is getting big day by day. We have a lots things. cars, TV, high tecnology mobile phone, foods etc. in Future We will not find to even for eat a bread. We must stop. in future is very dark. good night. sweat dreams if There are asleep people.

Submitted by Babak010 on Sun, 08/07/2018 - 09:58

Permalink
hello guys i don't like sales because crowd and noisy, i think it's useless (my opinion), i think if you want, like or need the things you can buy it even if it's not in seals but sometimes some shops have good seals that i want see them especially if they be BRANDS.

Submitted by Emily on Tue, 05/06/2018 - 18:52

Permalink
Hi! I'm Emily (yes, like Emily from the poadcast :-) ) and I'm from Italy. I don't like so much the sale's period, because I hate the crowd in the shops. Plus, it happens that i don't find the things that I need, especially about my size. I prefer to buy throughout other part of the year, not in january.

Submitted by Shiiya on Mon, 21/05/2018 - 12:17

Permalink
Hi , I really like sales but I don´t like crowd , unfortunately in my country sales like "Black Friday" is a false discount they first rise the price and then on Black Friday they announce it on 50% off , sometimes them only have 10% off , but people in country become crazy in this time of the year , they buy a brand new mobile that they don´t need , they buy a such beautiful new shoes that they don´t need and so on , I can´t believe that .

Submitted by YUEHJUNGCHEN on Fri, 13/04/2018 - 15:35

Permalink
Hi My name is Yueh-Jung. I am from Taiwan. I like go shopping but often just look. I like discount and sales to buy what I need. It's depend on my purpose to decide to like or unlike the crowd. The things looks like cheaper, but I still spend more of my budget. In fact ,It's more expensive on sale for me :( .
Profile picture for user Frenando Trenes

Submitted by Frenando Trenes on Thu, 05/04/2018 - 12:24

Permalink
Certainly I don't like sales at all, because of the big amount of people inside the shops. I hate crowds! But, unlike me, my wife loves sales. She's very fond of them. When I need something, I go to one or other shop to get it, no matter if we're in sales time or not. Greetings from Madrid (Spain).

Submitted by Mary Mullane on Mon, 05/03/2018 - 16:23

Permalink
We like the sales because the prices are reduced. Sometimes they have special offers. You can buy one and get one free. The best sales in the Ukarainne are in January and also on Mother's day. The discounts are between 5% and 25%. In Bangladesh we never have sales of discounts. The best time for sales in South Africa is from January to mid February. Usually the discount is around 25% Posted by Mary's English Class