History Scene 1

Ashlie and Stephen take Tristan and his friend Jay Marie on a bus tour of London. Who is the better tour guide?

Watch the video. Then go to Task and do the activities. If you need help, you can read the Transcript at any time.

Preparation

Think about the following questions:

What things do you like to see when you visit a city for the first time?
Is it difficult to understand different accents, such as British and American accents, in English?

Watch Ashlie, Stephen and their friend Tristan take a visitor sightseeing in London.

Transcript

Ashlie: What’s the time? She should be here by now.

Stephen: It’s five past nine. She’ll be here in a minute.

Ashlie: We’re at Paddington Station with our friend Tristan.

Tristan: Hi.

Ashlie: And we’re waiting for Tristan’s friend Jay Marie to arrive from the airport. She’s just flown in from the States.

Tristan: Here she is! Hi, Jay Marie!

Jay Marie: Hi!

Tristan: Stephen, Ashlie, this is Jay Marie.

Stephen: Hello.

Jay Marie: Hi! I’ve heard so much about you guys. It’s great to meet you. It’s so awesome to be in London.

Ashlie: Ah, great. So are you guys ready for some sightseeing?

Jay Marie: Sure. Sounds cool.

Stephen: OK – let’s drop off your bags, and we’re ready to go.

Jay Marie: Cool!

Ashlie: OK, guys. So we’re going to take a double-decker tour around the city.

Jay Marie: A what?

Ashlie: A double-decker. You know, a bus with two floors. It should be here any minute now.

Stephen: Ah!

Jay Marie: Oh! Oh no, Stephen! I’m so sorry. All over your pants.

Stephen: My pants? No, no, no. It just went on my trousers. I’m fine.

Ashlie: Oh, look. I think that must be our bus coming.

Jay Marie: The one without a roof?

Ashlie: Yeah, so we can see more.

Jay Marie: Oh, great!

Stephen: Come on, let’s jump on.

Tour Guide: All aboard!

Tour Guide: Ladies and gentlemen, to your left is St Paul’s Cathedral...

Jay Marie: I didn’t catch any of that. What did he say?

Tristan: I think he’s talking about that building over there.

Tour Guide: It was on this site that the original St Paul’s was destroyed...

Jay Marie: No. I didn’t get a single word of that.

Stephen: Look, tell you what. I’ve got my guide book here. Why don’t I take over as your personal guide?

Jay Marie: Well, OK!

Stephen: OK, let’s see. Piccadilly Circus. Did you know that Piccadilly Circus was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street and the major shopping street of Piccadilly? The fountain with its famous statue of the Greek god Eros was added in 1893. Piccadilly Circus...

Ashlie: Oh Stephen, that is so boring! Listen, I’ve just looked it up on my phone and here is an interesting fact for you. Did you know that British people say, ‘It’s like Piccadilly Circus’ to mean that somewhere is busy and crowded and full of people?

Jay Marie: Really?

Stephen: Err, Ashlie. I’ve got the guide book. A book for guides!

Ashlie: Whatever, Stephen.

Stephen: Did you know that Tower Bridge was built between 1886 and...

Ashlie: And you know that song ‘London Bridge is falling down, falling down’? Well, most people think it’s about this bridge, but actually it’s about another bridge.

Stephen: And it was painted blue to match the colour of the Queen’s eyes.

Trafalgar Square. Did you know the column is 51.5 metres tall from the ground to the tip of the Admiral's hat? It was built between 1840…

Ashlie: Did you know that one of the statues in the Square changes once a year to a new piece of art? At the moment, it’s that big blue one over there.

Stephen: All right. That’s it! Give me that phone.

Ashlie: Give me that book!

Stephen: Jay Marie! Jay Marie! Who do you want to be your guide? Me with my expert guide book or Ashlie with her stupid internet facts?

Jay Marie: Huh? Well I was just listening to the audio tour. Sorry guys!

Stephen: What? Jay Marie!

Task 1

exercise

Task 2

exercise

Task 3

We can use the infinitive with 'to':

after some verbs, e.g. 'Are you waiting to see me?'
after some adjectives, e.g. 'His accent is really difficult to understand.'
to give reasons for actions, e.g. 'We went to the shops to buy some dinner.'

exercise

Télécharger

Download Transcript (491KB)

Download Support Pack (593KB)

Language level

Intermediate: B1

Comments

Peter M's picture Peter M replied on 30 July, 2015 - 05:51 Poland

Hello aaaaaaa,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble accessing some of the content of the site. We are aware of problems users have in some locations and you can find some advice on this on our Help page. Look for the section titled 'What should I do if I cannot see some of the content, or if some exercises or videos do not work for me?'

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Natalia Rodrigues Gomes's picture Natalia Rodrigu... replied on 29 July, 2015 - 19:40 Brazil

Dear,
In the website is there a legend in english? Or only transcript apart.

Peter M's picture Peter M replied on 29 July, 2015 - 20:18 Poland

Hello Natalia,

I'm afraid subtitles are not available for the texts on LearnEnglish. We do have transcripts for most of our audio and video material, however.

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

mahbubur.siddique's picture mahbubur.siddique replied on 27 July, 2015 - 11:32 Bangladesh

Thank a lot

Dr-Shrouk's picture Dr-Shrouk replied on 15 July, 2015 - 23:32 Egypt

Great video

zainab hafeez's picture zainab hafeez replied on 15 July, 2015 - 05:09 Pakistan

Difficulty in british pronounciation

Kirk's picture Kirk replied on 15 July, 2015 - 05:52 Spain

Hello zainab,

I'd suggest you read the advice on our Help page – it could help you both understand and speak with more confidence.

Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

linmingyu67's picture linmingyu67 replied on 26 June, 2015 - 11:26 Bangladesh

so great website

Zalaand's picture Zalaand replied on 26 May, 2015 - 12:22 Afghanistan

Nice conversation, as I am learning English language in american Slang "Pronunciation" so its miner difficult for me to understand British slang anyhow I like to learn and understand English in British system.

Thanks

Kingmichael89's picture Kingmichael89 replied on 23 May, 2015 - 11:04 Italy

The video work well. Thx u british council.

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