Arriving late to class

Listen to the conversation between two students to practise and improve your listening skills.

Instructions

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Transcript

Student 1: Sorry. Sorry, excuse me. I'm just … just coming to sit over here. Phew. Hey. How's it going? So, what have I missed?

Student 2: Nothing. He just started around five minutes ago.

Student 1: Did he say anything about the mid-term?

Student 2: What?

Student 1: About the mid-term tests. Did he say anything about when he was going to hand them back?

Student 2: He's almost finished marking them, he said. We get them next Tuesday.

Student 1: I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. When do we get them?

Student 2: Tuesday. Next Tuesday.

Student 1: OK. Got it. Sorry. What page are we meant to be on?

Student 2: Page 34.

Student 1: Page … 34. Oh, wait. I don't have my textbook. Can I … share with you? Wow. This is hard stuff.

Student 2: Mmm.

Student 1: What does SEO mean?

Student 2: What?

Student 1: SEO. This is all about SEO but he hasn't said what it means.

Student 2: Search engine optimisation. How to appear on internet searches.

Student 1: Internet searches. Right. Right. OK.

Student 2: He said what it meant.

Student 1: What?

Student 2: He explained it before you got here.

Student 1: Oh. Right. OK.

Student 2: Can you be quiet? I'm trying to listen to the lecture.

Student 1: So am I. Sorry. Sorry, one more question. What does this have to do with the American Revolution?

Student 2: What?

Student 1: I don't get it. Why is he talking about search engines in a course on the American Revolution?

Student 2: What are you talking about? This is a class on software engineering.

Student 1: You mean, it's not Early American History?

Student 2: You're in the wrong class.

Student 1: Oh, wow. Now it all makes sense. I'm so sorry.

Student 2: It's fine.

Student 1: Here, I'll just … excuse me. I'm in the wrong class. Excuse me. Thanks. Sorry.

Discussion

When you don't understand something in class, what do you do?

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Language level

B1 - Intermediate

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Hello Not the first time I'm confused by how you relate words and their meanings. Let's look at the preparation task. For first example take "to give something to a teacher or person in authority" = "to hand something in". I have a question, if I give something to a someone, who's not an authority or a person in authority, or a teacher, will "to hand something in" change its definition ? And what does it have to do with "authority" ? If I delete the word "authority" (or change it on the boss) does it change the meaning of "to hand something in" ? I'm not sure..... Second example. "To hear" - "to catch (what someone said)" and "to understand something" - "to get something". I'm sure it can be changed, and that will still be right : "to hear" - "to get something" (for example to get knowledge or information) and "to understand something" - "to catch (what someone said)" (if I understand it means I catch words or phrases that someone said). All this ambiguity in your examples is misleading for English learners . Please correct if I understand something wrong :-)))))))) Best regards

Hi lean,

Thanks for your feedback, and sorry that the task seems confusing. We’ve made some changes to the preparation task to clarify the words and meanings.

Hear, catch, understand and get do have similar meanings, but there are differences. Hearing is not the same as understanding – for example, if somebody speaks in a language I don’t know, I hear it but I don't understand it. Hearing refers only to the physical process of perceiving sounds, not necessarily to understanding (though hearing and understanding of course often happen together). So, in the preparation task, to hear can’t match to get something, because get normally requires understanding as part of its meaning, but hear doesn’t. We’ve changed the wording to make this part of the task clearer.

Best wishes,

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

i will ask my teacher to repeat and simplying the thing that he was explaining to or i will ask to my close friend

When I do not understand something in my class, firstly I raise up my hand to take the attention of my teacher and request him to explain it again for me. Secondly I would discuss it with my class fellow friend. Finally I search on the internet.

when I do not understand something, I prefer to ask my teacher. But, if we have been dealing with this subject for a long time, so I will get help from my friends.

When I arrive late in a class, I ask my deskmate for some informations about what the professor has already debated, but, if I don't understand something, I prefer to look for greater explanations on the books or internet.

When I don't understand during lecture keep calm and in the home study and research but if I don't get it completely I ask teacher in the second class.

Normally i ask my teacher about it,however sometimes,when i know he will teach this something again i just wait for another class

When I do not understand something in a lecture, first, I ask my teacher to explain it again, quite often it’s enough. But if I still don’t get it, then I ask a classmate for help. And if it’s a very difficult topic to understand I try to search it on internet after classes.

It depends what it is a class. When this is a small class then (if it's possible of course) I ask the teacher or colleague, but if it's a lecture I usually do the same things what a boy from the conversation I mean I ask a person who sit over me.

Arriving late to class

Instructions

Preparation

Transcript

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Language level