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.

Preparation

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 1

Task 2

Discussion

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

Submitted by rdati1984 on Sat, 08/09/2018 - 18:19

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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.
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Submitted by Mohamaddin on Sun, 05/08/2018 - 03:26

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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.

Submitted by Nguyễn Văn An on Mon, 23/07/2018 - 06:11

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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

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Submitted by Oscar75 on Thu, 07/06/2018 - 06:53

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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.
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Submitted by btriton on Sun, 27/05/2018 - 15:02

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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.

Submitted by pooran on Wed, 16/05/2018 - 10:31

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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.
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Submitted by Rose Santos on Sat, 05/05/2018 - 04:27

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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.
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Submitted by natou12 on Sat, 28/04/2018 - 17:21

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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.

Submitted by Yasmeinhibrahim on Thu, 05/04/2018 - 00:17

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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!.