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E: Hello English learners!

And welcome to EnglishPod!

My name’s Erica and I’m here with, Marco?

Marco, hurry up!

M: I’m coming!

E: Hurry up, Marco, we’ve got a lesson!

M: Oh, okay, I’m here, I’m here, what did I miss?

E: Uh, the lesson.

M: Hehe.

All right, sorry about that.

Um, we have a great lesson for you today.

We have an elementary lesson.

E: That’s right, an elementary lesson about being in a rush and about giving directions when you’re in a car.

M: Exactly.

E: We’re going to listen to two friends who are getting in a car and they’re getting ready to go somewhere and they’re in a big hurry.

So, let’s hurry up and listen to the dialogue.

A: Hurry up, get in!

B: I’m in, let’s go!

A: OK, make a left here, no wait,

I meant make a right.

Come on speed up!

B: Jeez!

What’s the rush?

A: Don’t worry about it, just drive.

Oh, no, the light is about to change, step on it!

B: Are you nuts?

I’m not going to run a red light!

A: Whatever.

Just turn right here.

The freeway will be packed at this hour.

Let’s take a side street.

Go on!

Get out of our way!

Move, move!

B: What’s your problem?

Jeez.

Having a fit is not going to help!

A: Here, I know a short cut, just go down here and we’ll cut through Ashburn Heights.

Let’s go, let’s go!

Watch out for that lady!

B: I’m going as fast as I can!

A: Yes!

We made it.

5:58, just before the library closes.

B: You’re such a geek!

M: So, they were in a hurry and it was all just to get to the library.

E: Well, maybe he was late returning a book or something.

M: Hehe. That’s a bit dramatic just for returning a book.

E: Yeah.

M: Alright, why don’t we look at our “language takeaway” for today?

Voice: Language takeaway.

M: Okay, on today’s language takeaway we have five words for you today, five really important and useful words that we found in our dialogue.

So, let’s take a look at the first one – step on it.

E: Step on it.

M: Step on it.

E: Step on it.

M: So, what does it mean when I tell you to step on it?

E: Drive faster.

M: Drive faster, right?

E: Uhu.

M: Step on it.

E: Exactly, you might also say “speed up”.

M: Speed up, yes.

E: Speed up.

M: That’s exactly it!

Our second word – speed up.

E: Also means “go faster”.

M: Go faster.

And what about the opposite?

E: You might say “slow down”.

M: Slow down.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay, so, speed up and slow down.

E: So, our third word for today is having a fit.

M: Having a fit.

E: Having a fit.

M: Having a fit.

E: Well, this a funny phrase and I think listening to a few examples of this phrase might help us understand its meaning a little bit better.

Voice: Example one.

A: Jeez!

You don’t need to have a fit.

Nothing is going to happen if we’re five minutes late.

Voice: Example two.

B: My boss is going to have a fit if I don’t finish this on time.

Voice: Example three.

C: Oh, I almost had a fit when my boss told me I had to work this weekend.

M: Okay, great examples.

So, Erica, why don’t you tell me what does it mean when you have a fit?

E: It means you get really angry and you can’t control your emotions. So, maybe you start screaming and maybe some steam comes out of your ears.

M: Hehe. Okay, that’s having a fit.

E: Exactly.

M: Excellent.

Okay, let’s take a look at our next word now – cut through.

E: Cut through.

M: Cut through.

E: Cut through.

M: When you cut through something, it means you just…

E: Go through.

M: Go through.

E: Yeah, quite simple.

It, it gives you the idea that you go through something quickly.

M: Quickly, so, I can say “let’s cut through the park”.

E: Yep, or “let’s cut through the backyard”.

M: Okay, go through.

E: Uhu.

M: And this takes us to our last word for today – shortcut.

E: Shortcut.

M: Shortcut.

E: Shortcut.

M: This is a really common word and not many people know about it.

E: Yeah, you’re right, it’s two simple words that when you fit them together, the meaning changes.

It’s, it’s a great example of this real English we talk about.

M: And it means to take a shorter way somewhere.

E: Exactly, so, if I take a shortcut, I go the short way.

M: Okay, so, going back just a little bit to cut through. If I cut through the park, that’s basically a shortcut.

E: Exactly!

M: Alright.

E: Okay.

M: Now it’s clear.

E: Okay.

M: Now it’s time to listen to our dialogue again, but this time it’s gonna be slower, so then we can understand all these words that we just talked about.

A: Hurry up, get in!

B: I’m in , let’s go!

A: OK, make a left here, no wait,

I meant make a right.

Come on speed up!

B: Jeez!

What’s the rush?

A: Don’t worry about it, just drive.

Oh, no, the light is about to change, step on it!

B: Are you nuts?

I’m not going to run a red light!

A: Whatever.

Just turn right here.

The freeway will be packed at this hour.

Let’s take a side street.

Go on!

Get out of our way!

Move, move!

B: What’s your problem?

Jeez.

Having a fit is not going to help!

A: Here, I know a short cut, just go down here and we’ll cut through Ashburn Heights.

Let’s go, let’s go!

Watch out for that lady!

B: I’m going as fast as I can!

A: Yes!

We made it.

5:58, just before the library closes.

B: You’re such a geek!

E: Okay, well, I think that was a lot more clear this time.

You know, there’s some great language in that dialogue and I would like to look at how we can “put it together”.

Voice: Putting it together.

M: Okay, so, today on putting it together we have three phrases for you.

E: And we’re gonna show you how you can use these phrases like a native speaker.

M: Okay, so, all of these phrases we heard in the dialogue.

Why don’t we start with the first one?

Make a…

E: Make a…

M: So, in the dialogue they say “make a left here”.

E: Yeah, and we can extend this phrase to say make a right.

M: Uhu. That would be the equivalent of saying “turn left”.

E: Or “turn right”.

M: Turn right.

And there’s one more – make a U-turn.

E: Exactly, that means turn the car a hundred and eighty degrees, all the way around.

M: Make a U-turn.

E: So, make a left, make a right, make a U-turn.

M: Uhu. If you ever are in a taxi and you’re telling the taxi driver where to go, this is the perfect way: make a left here, make a right there.

E: Okay, so, let’s move to our second phrase and it is are you nuts?

M: Are you nuts?

E: Are you nuts?

So, this is a great way of saying…

M: Are you crazy?

E: Are you insane?

M: Are you mad?

E: So, when would we use a phrase like this?

M: If somebody has a bad idea that you don’t agree with, you would say “are you crazy? or “are you nuts”

E: So, Marco, let’s stop this podcast right now!

M: Are you nuts?

E: Okay, I think that’s a good example of how we can use this phrase.

M: Yes.

E: So, are you nuts? Are you insane? Are you mad?

M: So, let’s listen to some examples of are you nuts?

Voice: Example one.

A: You wanna get married now?

Are you nuts?

You only met up three weeks ago.

Voice: Example two.

B: Are you nuts?

I’m not going to cheat on the exam.

What if I get caught?

E: So, I think that’s clear and now we can move to our third phrase which is let’s take a side street.

M: Let’s take a side street.

E: Let’s take a side street.

M: Again, so, if you’re in a taxi, this is a great way to suggest a route.

E: Or suggest a direction.

M: Right.

E: So, we can take this phrase and extend it out with a few more words.

We might say “let’s take Wilson Avenue”.

M: Right, or “let’s take the highway”.

E: So, let’s take a side street, let’s take Wilson Avenue, let’s take the freeway.

M: Okay, so now, let’s take a listen to this dialogue a third time at its normal speed and now you can understand everything that’s in this dialogue.

A: Hurry up, get in!

B: I’m in , let’s go!

A: OK, make a left here, no wait,

I meant make a right.

Come on speed up!

B: Jeez!

What’s the rush?

A: Don’t worry about it, just drive.

Oh, no, the light is about to change, step on it!

B: Are you nuts?

I’m not going to run a red light!

A: Whatever.

Just turn right here.

The freeway will be packed at this hour.

Let’s take a side street.

Go on!

Get out of our way!

Move, move!

B: What’s your problem?

Jeez.

Having a fit is not going to help!

A: Here, I know a short cut, just go down here and we’ll cut through Ashburn Heights.

Let’s go, let’s go!

Watch out for that lady!

B: I’m going as fast as I can!

A: Yes!

We made it.

5:58, just before the library closes.

B: You’re such a geek!

E: Well, this dialogue is all about driving, right?

M: Yes.

E: And in North America where both of us are from…

M: Uhu.

E: Uh, driving is everything.

M: Everybody has a car.

E: When did you get a car?

M: I, well, my car I got when I was like, maybe, nineteen.

E: Really?

M: But I learned how to drive and I was driving already by the age of sixteen.

E: Yeah, that’s the thing, in many countries you have to wait till I think you’re eighteen to drive, but, uh, in North America everyone has a driver’s license by the time they’re sixteen years old.

M: Yeah, yeah, I guess everything is so far away that you need a car.

E: Yeah, it’s a lot less likely to have, uh, subways or trains to travel by in North America.

M: Alright, so, now you have all the tools necessary to give directions the next time you’re in a car or in a taxi.

E: Well, everyone, I really hope you enjoyed this lesson.

Now, I want to remind you all to come to our EnglishPod website at englishpod.com and here you’ll find a lot of tools to help you understand our podcasts better.

So, with that, until next time, this is good bye!

M: Bye!