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Episode 4

Jo and Adam

Adam: Hello and welcome to episode 4 of series 4 of LearnEnglish Elementary Podcasts. My name is Adam and, as usual, my colleague Jo will be joining me later to talk about some of the language in the podcast.

Last time, Tess and Ravi talked about a London tourist attraction: those big, red, double-decker Routemaster buses. Some of you have ridden on them in London and enjoyed the experience. Rodolfool from Brazil said that he once took a tourist bus like that in South Africa and Juhat said that there are double-decker buses in his city, Paris, for tourists to see the sights.

You also told us about other kinds of transport for tourists. Ghulam Yasir said that tourists in Pakistan can ride in Chingchi rickshaws and also cable cars in the mountains.

N4dia, from Italy, said in Rome tourists can take a horse carriage, called a ‘carrozzella’, a cable railway called a ‘funicolare’ in Naples, and, of course, a gondola in Venice And what do you think about buses? Well, some people like them … Safaa Mohammed Salih from Sudan likes buses because he can see all sorts of different people living their lives. And Ghulam Yasir likes them because they’re comfortable and cheap for long journeys. Juhat likes buses but doesn’t like the queues and having to wait a long time.

Enrico Sbrighi lives in the south of Italy. He used to like buses when he was a child but now he really likes driving a car. Donjeta Zejnull from Kosovo says ‘I really do hate taking the bus. It’s always late and stressful.’ Donjeta definitely prefers travelling by car.

We asked you to tell us what your favourite form of transport is and the winner was – can you guess? – the car. Shadi Alkontar says it’s the favourite form of transport in the United Arab Emirates. Kayk, from New Zealand says ‘it saves waiting time and is more flexible’. Donjeta says ‘I enjoy being on my own, listening to the music I like, without having to listen others’ conversations.’ And Constautu from Romania says ‘I spent a lot of time in my car and during this time I’ve listened to Elementary Podcasts, Series 1, 2 and 3 several times.’ Well, that’s a big advantage! But remember you can also download the podcast onto your phone and listen to it on the bus, on the train – anywhere. Also remember that you can download the Elementary Podcasts app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store and there’s also a link to the app on the LearnEnglish website.

Back to transport, Asuma Girlish says the taxi is the most popular form of transport in Morocco. Englishlover2015 from Yemen likes motorbikes, and so does Luiz Carlos from Brazil – even though they’re dangerous. And to finish up, both N4dia (Nadia?) and Rodolfool like to use … their feet. Yes, a cheap and healthy form of transport. But what about my favourite? The bicycle!

Thanks for all your comments and please keep sending them in.

Now it’s time to hear more from Carolina and her friends in Newcastle. What’s happening today?

Carolina – The pub

Jamie: Hi. Sorry I’m late.

Carolina: That’s OK. I haven’t been here very long. How was your band practice?

Jamie: Great thanks. I think we’re getting pretty good. Cameron’s got a really good voice – and he’s started writing some songs now – and they’re good.

Carolina: Something like ‘Oh Emily, with your lovely blue eyes, and your yellow hair’ – dang dang dang.

Jamie: No. But seriously, I’m really glad we’ve got him in the band. It wouldn’t be the same without him. And … we’ve got some exciting news. Let me just get a drink. What do you want?

Carolina: I’ll have an orange juice, please.

Jamie: Crisps? Peanuts?

Carolina: OK. A packet of peanuts.

Jamie: Here you go.

Carolina: Thanks. So? Exciting news?

Jamie: We’ve got a gig.

Carolina: A gig?

Jamie: A gig. A concert. A job for the band. They want us to play at the Students’ Union next month.

Carolina: A concert! That’s fantastic. I’m so proud of you.

Jamie: Cameron organised it. He’s friends with the guy who’s the manager of the Students’ Union bar.

Carolina: Well, that’s a good contact to have.

Jamie: Yeah.

Carolina: Look. Isn’t that Cameron?

Jamie: Where?

Carolina: Over there. By the window. With that blonde girl.

Jamie: Yeah … I think so. Yeah, it is.

Carolina: So who’s the blonde girl?

Jamie: I don’t know. It could be anybody. A friend. His sister.

Carolina: He’s sitting very close to her.

Jamie: Stop it. Don’t be so suspicious.

Carolina: Look! You don’t do that to your sister.

Jamie: What?

Carolina: He’s kissing her! Look! A really long kiss. That’s not a sister or a friend.

Jamie: Oh god. Whoa … wait … Carolina … What are you doing?

Carolina: I’m going over there.

Jamie: Oh, no you’re not. Sit down.

Carolina: But he’s supposed to be Emily’s boyfriend. She really likes him. She’s so happy.

Jamie: Just wait. We don’t want to upset Cameron …

Carolina: Upset Cameron! What about Emily?

Jamie: Just wait. We need to think about this. We need to decide what to do. Look, I don’t want Cameron to see us. I don’t want him to know that I saw him.

Carolina: Oh Jamie.

Jamie: Come on. Let’s take our drinks outside. There are some tables in the garden.

Carolina: OK. But you know we have to tell Emily about the blonde girl.

Jamie: Do we?

Carolina: Yes, we do.

Jamie: But if she doesn’t know then …

Carolina: Then what?

Jamie: Then … oh I don’t know. Come on. I want to get out of here. Let’s talk about it in the garden.

Jo and Adam

Adam: Welcome back, Jo.

Jo: Hello again. Oh dear! What a shock! Cameron with another woman!

Adam: Yes. Poor Emily! Do you think that Carolina will tell Emily about it?

Jo: I don’t know, but I hope so. It’s only fair.

Adam: Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing when you know it will cause lots of trouble and unhappiness. And do you think Jamie should say something to Cameron?

Jo: I don’t know, and I don’t care, to be honest. It’s Emily who needs to know.

Adam: Well, I think Carolina might not want Jamie to be friends with someone who behaves like that.

Jo: Maybe, but the important thing is to tell Emily.

Adam: I wonder if the other girl knows about Emily. Maybe somebody should talk to her.

Jo: I don’t know. That seems too much to me.

Adam: Why don’t you write and tell us what you think? Should Carolina talk to Emily? Should Jamie talk to Cameron? Should someone talk to the other girl?

Jo: And what would you do in that situation? Send us your comments.

Adam: The address is www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish.

Jo: And now let’s look at some of the language from the podcast. Listen to Carolina. Who is she talking about?

Carolina: But he’s supposed to be Emily’s boyfriend. She really likes him. She’s so happy.

Jo: She’s talking about Emily and Cameron. Carolina says ‘she really likes him’. ‘She’ is Emily and ‘him’ is Cameron.

Adam: ‘She’ and ‘him’ are both pronouns.

Jo: ‘She’ is what we call a subject pronoun. ‘She’ is the subject of the sentence ‘she really likes him’. ‘She’ is the one who is doing something – ‘she likes’. ‘Him’ is an object pronoun. Who does Emily like? She likes Cameron. She likes him.

Adam: Listen to another example. Who is Carolina talking about this time?

Carolina: He’s kissing her! Look! A really long kiss.

Adam: She’s talking about Cameron and the girl he is with.

Jo: And he’s kissing her. ‘He’ is the subject of the sentence – Cameron – and ‘her’ is the object – the girl. This time we use ‘her’ because she’s a girl.

Adam: Listen to one more example. Listen to Jamie and notice the pronouns.

Jamie: We need to decide what to do. Look, I don’t want Cameron to see us. I don’t want him to know that I saw him.

Jo: Did you hear ‘us’? Jamie said ‘I don’t want Cameron to see us’. ‘Us’ is another example of an object pronoun. ‘We’ for the subject and ‘us’ for the object.

Adam: It sounds complicated, but it’s really simple! There are some exercises on the website to help you with pronouns, and other language from the podcast. And I think that’s all for this time.

Jo: Don’t forget to send us your comments. See you next time.

Jo/Adam: Bye!