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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Profile picture for user Joel-0505

Submitted by Joel-0505 on Fri, 08/11/2019 - 15:43

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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

Submitted by fidaasiddig on Fri, 11/10/2019 - 08:31

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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

Submitted by nikoslado on Sun, 08/09/2019 - 16:21

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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!
Profile picture for user Yunus Emre

Submitted by Yunus Emre on Fri, 22/02/2019 - 16:29

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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 :))

Submitted by Marwa.Mohamed on Tue, 29/01/2019 - 23:43

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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?
Profile picture for user Peter M.

Submitted by Peter M. on Wed, 30/01/2019 - 06:14

In reply to by Marwa.Mohamed

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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

Submitted by josemaenglish on Fri, 28/12/2018 - 12:32

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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