Camden Scene 1

Stephen and Ashlie realise they have quite similar ideas about what their Mum would like, but Ashlie soon gets distracted from the task in hand!

Do the Preparation task first. Then watch the video. Next go to Task and do the activity. If you need help, you can read the transcript at any time.

Before you watch

Think about the following questions:

Do you ever shop in markets in your country?
Think about markets in Britain. Do you think they will be the same as markets in your country, or different?

Watch Stephen and Ashlie go shopping in Camden Market in London.

Transcript

Stephen: Here we are in Camden Lock Market. It’s a great place to go shopping and we need to buy a birthday present for our Mum. What do you think we should get her, Ash?

Ashlie: Well our Mum loves nice clothes and costume jewellery. So - I’m sure we’ll find something here.

Stephen: It's huge here, Ash. I’ll tell you what, let’s split up, see what we can find and I’ll meet you back here in one hour.

Ashlie: OK, I’ll see you back here in an hour, then.

Stephen: Oh, Ash – can you lend me 50 quid?

Ashlie: 50 quid, eh?

Stephen: Don’t worry, you’ll get it back!

Ashlie: That should do it.

Stephen: Thank you.

Ashlie: OK, I’ll see you back here later.

Stephen: See you!

.....

Stephen: Wow, look at these! I’ve never seen one of these before. How much are these?

Shopkeeper: Five pound each.

.....

Ashlie: Excuse me. Do you have this in another colour?

.....

Stephen: Hiya – how’s it going?

Shopkeeper: Hi, very well. How are you?

Stephen: Good, thanks.

Stephen: I like these, how much are they?

Shopkeeper: Er, the leaf lights – they are £21.95.

Stephen: Hmm, I’m not sure she’ll like them. Can you help me? I’m looking for a birthday present for my mum. Any ideas?

Shopkeeper: What type of thing does she like?

Stephen: Well, she’s quite stylish – modern, I suppose.

Shopkeeper: Well, the yin yang’s really modern. What do you think of that?

Stephen: Hmm. What about that one over there?

Shopkeeper: Ah, the ball lights – lovely – it’s fifty pounds.

Stephen: Oh.

Shopkeeper: How about... forty, seeing as it’s your mother’s birthday?

Stephen: Twenty?

Shopkeeper: Twenty? That’s really cheap. How about I meet you halfway – twenty-five?

Stephen: Great, thanks mate. My Mum’s going to love this.

Shopkeeper: You’re welcome.

.....

Ashlie: Aah - I'm running out of time…

.....

Ashlie: Excuse me, how much is this?

Shopkeeper: Er, that’s fifty pounds.

.....

Stephen: So? How did you get on?

Ashlie: Pretty good, I guess. I bought this fantastic candle holder. It was a little bit expensive, but I think Mum will love it. In fact I almost bought one for myself!

Stephen: Yeah… great – and look what I found!

Ashlie: Well, that is just crazy – how did we end up buying the same candle holder in this huge market??!

Stephen: I’ll tell you what we’ll do. You take this one. You said you almost bought one for yourself - and you lent me fifty pounds, right?

Ashlie: Right.

Stephen: So you take this one, I’ll get lunch and we’ll call it quits! Come on – it’s time to get something to eat. Lunch is on me, remember. Come on!

Task 2

Exercise

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Discussion

Do you ever shop in markets in your country?
Think about markets in Britain. Do you think they will be the same as markets in your country, or different?

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Language level

B1 English level (intermediate)

Hello team! Could you help me with these two sentences? The first one "How did you get on?" by Stephen and the other one is this " How about I meet you halfway" by shopkeeper. What do they mean? First, I know "get on" as an informal way to say (be friends) or something like this, but according to the sentence I could understand this like "how did it go"? secondly, I understand the second as a 50% discount but is it an informal way to say this? thank you so much for all your help. I really appreciate, you guys are the best I love this website

Hello Joel-0505

One of the meanings of 'get on' (see the second one) is 'to deal with a job or situation' and so Stephen is asking Ashlie how her shopping went, as you guessed.

Yes, you've understood the idea of 'meeting halfway'. The idea is that, in bargaining, the buyer lowers the price and the seller raises it. It's quite informal.

Thanks for telling us you find LearnEnglish useful! It's always good to hear that people appreciate our work.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, That should do it )what does it mean in this context

Hello fidaasiddig

In this and many contexts, 'that should do it' means 'that should do the job' -- in other words, 'that should be enough money for you' in this particular context.

It's great that you are focusing on colloquial expressions. They are very common and it's important to learn them!

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Fifty pounds for a rather simple holder candle, looks like a robbery! They could place it on a nice present box at least, instead of throwing it into this cheap grocery bag! It doesn't seem as a birthday gift at all. For Heaven's sake!

Hi everyone, I am from Turkey and in my country generally there are the markets on the street, not building also seller always scream such as tomatooo, applee :))

Hello, Jackie had her phone stolen on a train Jackie has her phone stolen on a train What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?

Hello Marwa.Mohamed,

These are two different verb forms: the past simple (had) and the present perfect (has had). It's not possibe to provide long explanations of each form in the comments sections but we have a number of pages in our grammar sections which deal with these forms:

present perfect

past simple

You might also find these pages helpful:

talking about the present

talking about the past

If you have any specific questions about the material on those pages we'll be happy to answer, of course.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi, how can I watch the videos? I can't find the link anywhere. Aren't they available anymore? Thanks

Hello josemaenglish,

Are you still unable to see the video? I've just checked and was able to watch it with no problem. If you're still unable to see it, I'd suggest trying a different browser or device. If that still doesn't work, please let us know what browser version you're using and we'll do our best to help you.

Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

I'm from Brazil and I think the markets here are quite similar to those in England, with a lot of stores and pretty things. Actually, I love to go shopping. I usually buy clothes, shoes or jewerly, and I also enjoy to go lunch or dinner at the restaurants.

hello at the end Ashlie said: in fact I almost bought one for myself. from the context it feels that she wish she could buy one for herself but she did not. is that correct? thanks.

Hello xr,

That would make sense and it could certainly be true. To be honest, though, I can't really tell if she was really considering buying one for herself or if she was saying this to emphasise how much she likes it and how much she thinks their mother will like it.

I'm sorry not to be able to give you a more definitive answer. If only we could ask her!

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Another Question: When Ashlie says: "That should do it." what does it mean?

Hello ames5,

We say 'that should do it' when we have finished something. It means 'that is enough' or 'I don't need to do any more'.

You can easily check the meanings of phrases like this in an online dictionary. Just type 'that should do it meaning' into a search engine.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

she means that( her friend should give him back the money which he takes)

Hi, In the last expression which Stephan said, " I’ll get lunch and we’ll call it quits!" Whats does he mean when he says "we’ll call it quits!" ? Thanks, Ali

Hi ames5,

In this context 'we'll call it quits' means 'we do not owe each other anything'.

For example, let's say I buy dinner for you. The next day, you might offer to pay for us both to go to the theatre and say 'we'll call it quits'.

We can use this for other things than money, such as when people help each other in some way.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

I am sorry, I can't see this video. How can I see or download it?

Hello masud,

There seems to have been some kind of technical error with our server today, as other users have also reported problems with our videos. If you're not able to see it now, please do let us know and I'll investigate it further, though please let me know what browser and browser version you're using.

I'm afraid our videos are not available for download for legal reasons.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

hello everyone, in my city Meknes there are an old and big market called Medina. in this place you can buy almost everything; traditional and modern clothes, jewelry, craft object and more things. this market is alway full of people. the buyer usually haggle with shopkeeper when they want to buy something.

I am sorry I can't play the video. or the video doesn't support in my country. Can I download it ? If yes where can I download? Thanks

Hi Deng hong,

I'm sorry you're having trouble playing the video. I'm afraid these videos are not available for download for legal reasons, but have you tried viewing it on our Chinese site? I think it should play for you there. Please let me know if that doesn't work for you.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Yes in my country there are many shopings like those shoping in Beritin.We can buy every things that we want.One of these shopping is called Refah and are very similar to London shopings.

Why don't I see the espisode "Seat on the street"? Thanks.

Hi Nguyễn Văn An,

That section has never been part of the content on LearnEnglish. Sorry!

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

There are supermarkets in my city, but they are not the like this showed in the lesson. They are instead to sell food, I mean, meat, fruit, vegetables, and groceries in general. Thera great commercial stores Walmart. I guess the are markets like Cadmen in the touristic cities of my country.

There are plenty markets in my country you could visit any, you could get a variety of things than you could imagine, You need time and money to choose and buy, but don't worry there are markets and things with affordable prices.

we have a lot of market in my country that they are huge and beautiful and old. i think its really interesting to visit them such as Vakil market in Shiraz and Tajrish market in Tehran.

I'm debuting on this site and I'm already loving it. Well my country Brazil is quite big and when I visit another state I always go to the market to know, to eat and buy things, mainly handicrafts.

The markets in my country are really big and the prices are arguable. The sellers give always huge prices and you muss be wise enough to find the real value of the product and argued the price. Mostly strangers buy without arguing.

Of course i have shopped in my country! But markets in my country aren't as beautiful as the ones in London.. i wish I could visit the city one day!.

Markets in my town aren't so huge and variety as a Camden Market in London. I'd like to visit that place in the UK.

hi there I have 3 questions what does these means sentences below 1 I meet you halfway 2 I'm running out of time 3 call it quits that's very nice of you

Hi Hamedtry,

1. In this context 'I'll meet you halfway' is a way of making an offer in negotiation. If one person offers $20 and the second offers $30 then the next step might be to say 'I'll meet you halfway' and offer $25.

2. 'I'm running out of time' means that you do not have much time left.

3. We say 'we'll call it quits' when we want to say that neither side owes the other anything. For example, in this dialogue Ashlie lent Stephen £50 and then Stephen gave her back a candleholder worth £50, so Stephen says they can 'call it quits'.

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi sir What does you’ll get it back mean? Thanks

Hi Hamedtry,

'You'll get it back' here is a promise to return the money that is borrowed. It means that same as 'I'll give it back to you'.

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi. What is the meaning of Lunch is on me?

Hello galal agad,

It means that I will pay for lunch. Stephen is telling Ashlie that he will pay for her lunch.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello galal agad,

It means that I will pay for lunch. Stephen is telling Ashlie that he will pay for her lunch.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hi,this video is very useful What is the meaning of "let’s split up"?

Hi Giangdauten,

'Let's split up' means 'let's not stay together'. Stephen says this because the place is very big and he thinks it will be more efficient to separate rather than staying in one group.

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Camden Scene 1

Preparation

Before you watch

Transcript

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Language level