Episode 04

Episode 04

Carolina is having some problems with money. What can she do to solve them? Adam and Rob talk about all the different types of weather you have in your countries.

Transcript

Adam and Rob

Both: Hello!

Adam: Welcome back, listeners – and welcome back, Rob! How was your holiday?

Rob: It was really nice, Adam, thanks. I went to Slovenia and the weather was fantastic.

Adam: Sounds great. And the comments you sent about the weather in your countries were great too! Many of you have very hot weather. Abuhekmat in Oman told us about weather that reaches 49 degrees! I can’t imagine being that hot. Fazliddin12 in Uzbekistan sees temperatures of 45 degrees and Saandari in Mongolia told us about weather that was hot, but not quite as hot as Oman, 35 degrees. The big difference in Mongolia is that in winter it reaches -35 degrees! That’s a huge difference between summer and winter.

Rob: That’s very cold. Many of you also wrote to us about cold weather in your countries. Kosovac in Serbia says it can be -20 degrees. ValiantSpirit in Pakistan says it can be -15 degrees. But what is cold? In other countries, maybe it’s a bit different. In El Salvador, Daxrosales says 15 degrees is a cold day, while in Malaysia, Shokmin says 24 degrees is a cold day. You also told us about other weather conditions in your countries. For example, in China Diqiudashi told us about the typhoons that come to the mainland and bring heavy storms.

Adam: Tkazerooni in Iran told us about weather called ‘Wolf & Ewe’. (A ewe is a female sheep.) ‘Wolf & Ewe’ weather is when dark clouds and white clouds are in the sky at the same time. The ‘wolf’ (the dark clouds) chases the ‘ewe’ (the white clouds) and Iranians say that this is very changeable weather, with a very high chance of rain. Remember, you can write to us at www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish or via Facebook – look for ‘Elementary Podcasts’.

Rob: Now, do you remember what happened last time with Carolina, the student from Venezuela at Newcastle University? She returned from her summer holiday and talked with Emily about her new clothes, about missing English and, of course, about her boyfriend Jamie. Let’s see what’s happening this time!

Carolina

Carolina: Let me see. Oh dear. No, that's not right. Emily, what's seventy times twelve?

Emily: What?

Carolina: What's seventy times twelve?

Emily: Err, ten times seventy is seven hundred and two times seventy is a hundred and forty, so that makes erm, eight hundred and forty.

Carolina: What's seventy divided by fifty-two?

Emily: I don't know! I'm trying to read my book! Haven't you got a calculator on your phone?

Carolina: Oh, yes. Oooh. Oh dear!

Emily: What's the matter, Carolina?

Carolina: Nothing.

Emily: It doesn't sound like nothing. I can't read my book with your {big sigh} and {big sigh}. What's the problem?

Carolina: Well, I'm trying to work out my money. My money for the year.

Emily: Your money for the year. Mmm…

Carolina: And it's not very good.

Emily: It's not very good?

Carolina: Well, I haven't got enough.

Emily: You haven't got enough?

Carolina: Stop repeating everything I say!

Emily: Sorry.

Carolina: I don't know what I'm going to do.

Emily: Well, you did spend a lot of money in the summer, didn't you? You bought a lot of clothes and things.

Carolina: Yes. I did. And presents for my family and friends in Venezuela.

Emily: Oh dear. So, how bad is it?

Carolina: A disaster. After I've paid my rent for this room and the electricity and water, and my phone, and my travel card, well - there isn't very much left.

Emily: How much?

Carolina: About 20 pounds a week.

Emily: Twenty pounds a week!

Carolina: You're doing it again.

Emily: Sorry. But twenty pounds a week - you can't live on that. You have to buy food and books…

Carolina: And go out sometimes.

Emily: Can you ask your parents for some money?

Carolina: Oh, no. They've already given me a lot. I can't do that.

Emily: What about…

{doorbell}

Carolina: I'll go. It's probably Jamie.

Carolina: It’s so good to see you.

Jamie: It’s good to see you too. You been OK? Oh, hi Emily!

Emily: Hi Jamie. How's it going?

Jamie: Good, thanks. And you?

Emily: Yep.

Carolina: I'm going to get a job.

Emily and Jamie: Get a job?

Carolina: Now you're both doing it. I have to do something, Jamie. I can't live on the money that I've got for this year.

Jamie: Are you allowed to work here? Don't you need a special visa?

Carolina: No, I can work on my student visa - part-time. I'll check but I think I can work up to 20 hours a week.

Jamie: I'm not sure about this. You need time to study. And to go out and enjoy yourself - with me.

Carolina: I can't go out and enjoy myself if I haven't got any money, can I?

Jamie: I’ve got some money, I can pay.

Carolina: That's it. I've decided. Tomorrow morning I'm going to start looking for a job.

Adam and Rob

Adam: Oh dear. I hope Carolina manages to find a job or some other way to get more money.

Rob: It will be a lot easier for her if she has some experience, if she has done a job before. What was your first job, Adam?

Adam: I worked as a paperboy. That means I delivered newspapers to people’s houses early in the morning. It was quite interesting, although I didn’t have time to read anything more than the headlines. The real problem came when it was raining. What about you?

Rob: I worked as a waiter in a restaurant. It was quite hard work, but I didn’t earn a lot of money, unfortunately. Tell us about your first job. What did you do? Remember, you can write to us at www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish or via Facebook – look for ‘Elementary Podcasts’.

Adam: Now, do you notice anything about these sentences? Have a listen:

Emily: How much?

Carolina: About twenty pounds a week.

Emily: Twenty pounds a week!

Carolina: You’re doing it again!

Jamie: Are you allowed to work here? Don't you need a special visa?

Carolina: No, I can work on my student visa - part-time. I'll check but I think I can work up to 20 hours a week.

Rob: Carolina says she has about twenty pounds a week. She also says she thinks she can work up to twenty hours a week. ‘A week’ means ‘every week’. We use ‘a’ and ‘an’ with other words, too. For example, ‘hour’. I earned three pounds an hour when I was a waiter.

Adam: And I see my family three or four times a year. There will be some exercises about this and other language areas on LearnEnglish. That’s all we’ve got time for today – remember to write to us and tell us about your first job at LearnEnglish or on Facebook.

Rob: We’ll be back next time with Tess & Ravi. So, until then…

Adam and Rob: Bye!

Discussion

Language level

Topics

Average: 5 (4 votes)

Submitted by Em jouri on Thu, 30/04/2020 - 11:45

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Difference between in the building and at the university First in the building ( you are existing inside building) but Incase you are existing around in building says at) As at the park when you say at the park means not inside but around it. I think that’s.

Submitted by noran on Fri, 24/04/2020 - 04:11

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I’m student so i don’t have a job

Submitted by Bruno2020 on Tue, 21/04/2020 - 15:25

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Tell us about your first job. What did you do? How much did you earn and what did you spend your pay on? Was it difficult or enjoyable? How did you get it? My first job was as a sofa fitter here in my hometown. I dind't earn a lot of money but I kind of liked it.I used my payments paying bills and helping my mom out with the house's bills. First it was dificult to learn how to do this or that but was worth the effort. I got that job by delivering my resume in their store.

Submitted by Fares1980 on Sun, 22/03/2020 - 14:31

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My first job was a waiter in a small coffee when I was 15 years old, really it was a very hard job because I was forced to wake up very early in the morning at 5 o'clock, but fortunately I continued my stay and now I'm a doctor and I'm working now at the university as an associated professor, now I'm trying to learn english because I love it very well, but unfortunately I have a lot difficult to learn it especially in the speaking skill, I hope to have some advices to improve my speaking skill. Thank you very much for your all efforts

Hello Fares1980

Thanks for your comment. I just thought I'd give you a few ideas to work on improving your speaking. One thing you can do as you listen as these podcasts (or any audio or video) is to make a note of phrases that you think might be useful ones for your speaking.

Choose phrases that are useful in lots of situations and which you don't currently use. Listen to them a few times and then repeat them yourself. Do this as many times as it takes for you to feel more comfortable saying them. Then, write these down somewhere so you can refer back to them. Also, as you go about your day at work and at home, say them to yourself (silently is OK, but even better if you say them aloud), especially when they are relevant to the situation you are in.

If you keep at this, slowly, your vocabulary and speaking fluency should improve. Your listening comprehension should also improve. It will take time, but imagine if you could just learn one new phrase every day, after a couple of months you would know a lot more!

Have you seen our Speaking videos? Those might be useful for you as well. I should also mention that we are working on some new Speaking videos. It will still be some time before they are ready, but please check the speaking section again from time to time.

Best wishes

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Muhammad Erad on Wed, 15/01/2020 - 14:31

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I don't get what the difference between "in" and "at" is, that many specific things strictly get just one of them (such as "at the university", "in the building", "in / at the morning".). Is there a clear rule where to use this one (at) and where to use the second one (in)? Please explain the usage?

Hello Muhammad Erad

It can indeed be confusing! I would recommend you have a look at this dictionary page, which gives a nice summary of how 'at', 'on' and 'in' are used to speak about places. I think the explanation there should answer many of your questions, but if you have any other after reading it, please don't hesitate to ask us here.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Tagreeaad on Fri, 10/01/2020 - 20:57

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I work for few month as a receptionist in the restaurant it was quite spectacular , i saw more people and i enjoyed with a team.

Submitted by michael.lenz on Sun, 15/12/2019 - 15:23

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My first job was to help my father in the fields, in banana plantations, corn, among others.