Adam
Hello. Welcome to episode 16 of the Learn English Elementary Podcast. I’m Adam.
Rob is on a business trip at the moment, but it’s nice to be back. First of all, I’d like to say sorry that there hasn’t been a podcast for a while. Rob and I both had to travel for work this month and we haven’t been around. But one of us is back now with another great podcast for you.
Later on, we’ll be catching up with Carolina and I’m afraid she isn’t very happy this week.
But first, let’s have a look at some of your comments on the last podcast, when we asked you for your thoughts on London.
Tess and Ravi talked about Big Ben and Buckingham Palace but you, listeners, mentioned loads of other things in London: Tower Bridge, Madame Tussauds, the British Museum, Hyde Park, Camden Market, the changing of the guards, Trafalgar Square… even those of you who haven’t been to London seem to know a lot about it.
And it wasn’t just London. You also mentioned Oxford University and Stonehenge and the city of Bath - other places you’d like to visit in England. A few of you are fans of English football – like Mohammed in Jordan who really wants to visit Wembley Stadium.
Sora from Korea is lucky; she’s going to study in London in September. Write and tell us how you find it, Sora.
And there’s good news too for Tanya in Russia and Angelo in Italy. Tanya mentioned Sherlock Holmes and Angelo talked about seeing the famous double-decker buses in London. Well, both of those things will be in a future podcast – so keep listening out!
So many great comments, as usual – too many to read out all the good ones – but I do want to look at just one more. It’s from Raviha in Pakistan and it says ‘Rob, I love your Word on the Street series’.
Now, if you don’t know, Word on the Street is a TV programme made by the BBC and the British Council and you can find it on the LearnEnglish website. Go to: www.britishcouncil.org/wordonthestreet
And that’s almost the same address to send your comments to. We love hearing from you, so keep the comments coming to www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish
Right, time now to catch up with Carolina again. Carolina is from Venezuela and is studying at Newcastle University. We’ve been following her life. Last time there was good news for Carolina’s friend Emily, but this time things aren’t going too well for Carolina…
Carolina
At the shop
Carolina: That's four pounds please. Thank you. Would you like a bag? OK. Who's next?
Man: I am.
Carolina: Oh, yes. OK, that's two pounds nineteen please.
Man: How much?
Carolina: Two pounds nineteen.
Man: Ninety or nineteen? I can't understand you.
Carolina: Nineteen. Two pounds nineteen pence.
Man: "Two pounds nineteen pence". Why don't you learn to speak English?
Carolina: I… I do… I… I'm sorry…
At University
Mrs Greenwood: So that's it for today. I'll see you next week. If anyone wants to talk about their essay, I'll be in my office from two to five tomorrow afternoon. And don't forget, the deadline for the essay is Monday morning. And that's the absolute final deadline. I will not accept any essays after that time. Is that understood?
Students: Yes, Mrs Greenwood.
Mrs Greenwood: I'm looking forward to reading them. Right, OK. Have a good week.
Students: Thank you, Mrs Greenwood / Bye Mrs Greenwood
Carolina: Oh no!
Student: What's up?
Carolina: The deadline. Monday morning. Is she really serious? She really won't accept any essays after Monday?
Student: Oh yes, she's serious. I did a course with her last year. Two people failed because they didn't do their essays on time.
Carolina: Oh, God!
At the Post Office
Voice through microphone: Cashier number five, please.
Carolina: Good morning.
Clerk: Good morning.
Carolina: I want to collect a parcel. It's from Venezuela, for Carolina del Barco. Here's the card.
Clerk: Can I see some identification?
Carolina: I'm sorry?
Clerk: You need to show me some identification.
Carolina: I need to...?
Clerk: I'm sorry, but I can't give you the parcel if you don't show me some identification.
Carolina: I'm very sorry but I don't understand. Can you speak more slowly?
Clerk: I-den-ti-fi-ca-tion. Pass-port.
Carolina: Oh… yes… identification, passport... yes, of course. I'm sorry. Here you are.
At home
Carolina: It's me, Emily. I'm tired. I'm going to go straight to bed.
Emily: OK. Night. See you tomorrow.
Carolina: Goodnight. Hola mamí. I… oh…
Adam
Oh dear! Carolina sounds really miserable, really homesick.
It happens sometimes when you’re a long way from home. It just takes a few small things to go wrong, and it can make you feel really unhappy. I remember the first time I went to church camp. My parents weren't there, and I was 10, but I was OK until I put ten pence in the payphone and heard my parents' voices. Then I ran away to cry where the other boys couldn't see me.
How about you, listeners? A lot of you don’t live at home or you lived away from home in the past. Do you ever feel homesick? If you do, what do you do to make yourself feel better? Even if you’ve never felt homesick, what advice would you give to Carolina to make herself feel better? Write and tell us what you think at: www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish
Now, one thing that went wrong for poor Carolina was making a mistake with her English – listen to this bit again: Carolina: Oh, yes. OK, that's two pounds nineteen please. Man: How much? Carolina: Two pounds nineteen. Man: Ninety or nineteen? I can't understand you. Carolina: Nineteen. Two pounds nineteen pence. Man: "Two pounds nineteen pence". Why don't you learn to speak English? Carolina: I... I do… I… I'm sorry…
Carolina got confused about the stress of nineteen and ninety – it’s an easy mistake to make. In ‘nineteen’ we stress the second syllable – ‘teen’ and in ‘ninety’ we stress the first syllable – ‘nine’. It makes a big difference.
However, if we are giving a date, like nineteen eighty-nine, we stress the first syllable of nineteen. English can be really difficult sometimes!
If you want help with syllables and stress we’ve put some exercises on the website for you. They’ll help you recognise how many syllables you hear and which syllables are stressed.
You’ll find lots of other exercises there too so do go and look at the website, and send us your comments – it’s always great to hear from you.
We’ll be back next time with more from Tess and Ravi, talking about a famous British family… who could that be?
That’s all for now. See you next time – bye!
Comments
Hi Krik are there any rules to learn about syllables ?
can i read the transcript online??? without the need to download it ...... if not available , could you use another watermark in the pdf because i cant read from it.
Hi Dear Kirk,
Before all thanks for your effort and your good program.I am from Iran and I was graduated in teaching field.I like to teach English Language in adults level.I will be appreciated if you help me in this matter.How can i choose a true way and true resource(eg. A Book or...)?What is your suggestion?may i work with them with this program or not?If it is not so please introduce me a resource for teaching.
B.Regards,
S.Mazarei
Hello Ahoooora,
I'm afraid that I can't recommend a specific textbook, but I wanted to mention our sister site, TeachingEnglish, which could be very useful for you. You could also use some of the content on LearnEnglish - for example, Big City Small World and the Elementary Podcasts have downloadable podcasts and support packs in pdf form (look under Instructions & downloads).
Good luck!
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Oh Poor Carolina !! . It's really terrible to be far away from home and family. To be alone on your own. It's difficult at first and then you get used to it but when you face a little problem you feel that terrible feeling homesick. I hope she is getting better . Actually the man is too rude to her and that's again shows that the concept of politeness shouldn't describe the whole country . Politeness is behavior and ethics you grow upon from childhood even though I love the way British people speak to each other when asking for anything excuse me , sorry and so.... but the man is really rude and embarrassed her .he was totally impolite his advice of learning English my have a negative effect on her by his rude way. You can advice someone in a nice way that he can do whatever you want but he criticizes her and it 's not her first language.Anyway I hope she is getting better soon. My advices for her is to drink a fresh juice and try to calm herself and remember her goals of travelling and to focus on her goal regardless of the obstacles she will face and to speak to her friend Emily after a while she will be alright.For me i felt homesick when my mum and dad traveled to Saudi Arabia to work there . I felt terrible even if i have my brothers and sisters with me. But it's really terrible to be away from my mum . I tried to engage myself in many things to distract myself from thinking of my mum and dad .Then After a while i get used to it.I kept talking to them on Skype and so everything went well and I was much better.
I can not find where is to do the test after finishing listening.
Hello clara97,
Do you mean the exercises? There is an exercise based on the podcast in tab 1 - click on the number 1 just to the right of While you listen and you'll see it. There are other exercises you can find by clcking on the other numbers.
By the way, after completing the exercise, you must click on the Finish button to see the correct answers.
Finally, I'll mention that you can also get the exercises in pdf form in the Support Pack, which you can download by clicking on Instructions & downloads (just below the audio).
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
hello sir would you be able to tell hope you wouldn't mind the sentence is
[Sweets are the uses of adversity] can you tell me in this which part of this sentence is subject and predicate
Hi aritoshpatel,
The subject is what a sentence about and the predicate is what is said about the subject. Therefore, in this sentence is "sweets" and the predicate is the rest of it.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Poor Carolina. She's so helpless here. This customer & employee of Post Office were really terrible. They should be more patient to her. I hate men who are so rude to women.
We should always be able to protect ourselves - idiots are everywere. I know this, because I have to work with a lot of different customers every day.
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