Four conversations

Four conversations

Listen to four conversations to practise and improve your listening skills.

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

Preparation

Transcript

A

Man: How did it go?

Woman: Umm, I think it went quite well. I did a lot of research and prepared a lot. I was in there for ... I don't know ... half an hour?

Man: And? What did they say?

Woman: Nothing much. At the end I asked them, 'What happens now?', and the woman said, 'We'll call you back with news in three or four days.'

Man: Really?

Woman: Yeah, I think I've got the job. There weren't a lot of other people there. I was the only interview that day, you know?

Man: Well, good luck with it.


B

Man: Anyway, you were saying ...

Woman: Oh, yeah, um ... let's see. Yes, so I was in the museum and there were, I don't know, a hundred people waiting to get into the room. Finally, I got in, and I tried to see the Mona Lisa but I couldn't look at it.

Man: Why not?

Woman: Because the room was filled with people taking photographs of it!

Man: Oh, right.

Woman: Yes! And selfies.

Man: Wait a minute. You can take photos while you're in there?

Woman: Yes, but you can't use flash. I don't know ... Why do we take photos of everything we see when we travel?

Man: I know. And we never look at the photos after.

Woman: Exactly! I'm tired of always taking photos. I don't feel I'm enjoying things.


C

Man: Who took this?

Woman: I can't remember. Hmmm ...

Man: What am I doing?

Woman: You're sitting on the sofa, watching TV and eating chocolates. Nothing changes!

Man: Ha! Very funny. You look very young, though.

Woman: I know. Look at my hair – it was so long!

Man: Mine too, look at me! Hey … I think I know who took this photo.

Woman: Umm … who? Was it Dad?

Man: No, it wasn’t Dad or Mum. Do you remember Barry?

Woman: No.

Man: Yes, YES! You do remember. Barry, your boyfriend at high school. You were seventeen and he was sixteen and he was so very polite: 'Hello, I'm Barry. It's very nice to meet you ...'

Woman: Stop it! He was nice.

Man: Yeah, well, he took the photo.


D

Woman: Let's see. OK. I'm glad we could talk about this. It's not easy to say.

Man: What?

Woman: Well, you're not in our group – for the class project.

Man: What do you mean? You know I'm always in a group with you.

Woman: I know. It's just that this time … this time we made the group differently and because you were late ...

Man: I see. You don't want me in the group?

Woman: No, no. It isn't that. It's that we've already made the group, see? There's four of us already.

Man: So? We can't be a group of five?

Woman: Well, the teacher said four people per group.

Man: Oh.

Woman: It's not about you or your work or anything like that. It's ... errrr ... well, we already have the group.

Man: So I have to find another group.

Woman: I'm sorry.

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Download
Worksheet95.65 KB

Language level

Average: 4 (65 votes)

Submitted by Marina7777 on Mon, 05/12/2022 - 21:49

Permalink

I can't speack english very well yet so I'm shame to speack with other people.
So I never had similar conversations.
I learned a lot of new phrases in these conversations.

Submitted by Eman Samir on Wed, 16/11/2022 - 11:46

Permalink

Yes. I had similar conversations before . They were about a work interview and old photo.
The new phrases I learned in these conversations were a lot such as ' We'll call you back with news in three or four days " '' Nothing changes " '' It's just that this time " '' We've already made the group " .

Profile picture for user doctormustafa42

Submitted by doctormustafa42 on Sat, 12/11/2022 - 12:08

Permalink

No I have never had a similar conversation like that, because I am afraid of speaking English in frond of person who speaks English. But I will break this afraid so I am practising my English speaking and listening skills and therefore I blieve that I will speak English perfectly in end of this year.

Submitted by Nandar Su Hlaing on Thu, 25/08/2022 - 12:04

Permalink

No, I haven't had conservation using English Language. I don't have English speaking partner and I only practice speaking by myself. I learnt many new phrase using this website. I believe my four skills are also improved after learning in this page. Thank you for all of this page developers.

Submitted by Noval on Wed, 10/08/2022 - 16:26

Permalink

Yeah, I had similar conversations in my work, when I try to explain my mistakes to other people.

Submitted by Kamelbenslimane on Wed, 01/06/2022 - 08:05

Permalink

Yeah, I have similar conversation in my work when i try to explain my ideas for other people

Submitted by Bmorales on Thu, 26/05/2022 - 13:26

Permalink

Yes, I had similar conversations and I learned new phrases

Submitted by nadyanightingale on Fri, 08/04/2022 - 10:19

Permalink

I definitely had similar conversations! Especially the one in the university when I was on my exchange in Germany. Unfortunately I didn't go to any English classes, but there were a lot of international students you could talk to only in English during a group work.

Submitted by Ehsan on Tue, 01/03/2022 - 09:53

Permalink

Yes, I have had conversations like these in Turkish and Persian languages. But not in English language. well, I know that I can use some words or phrases to interrupt my speech so that I can continue talking, or I can use some words or phrases to show that I listen to the other person's talk.

Submitted by jmajo on Fri, 11/02/2022 - 15:44

Permalink

Let's see..., no I hadn't. I have had similar conversations with friends but not in English, so I've learnt some new expressions like when we are thinking to give a response to a question and we said:"Ummm..., Let's see.., I mean..." and also I didn't know all those expressions used to confirm we are listening to someone: "Right..., No way!..., I know..., Really?..".

Thanks for the episode.
Great site!