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Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod. My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we’ve got an intermediate level lesson, all about going to the beach.

That’s right. You know, it’s a very popular thing to do, especially during the summer. It’s hot. You want to go maybe to the beach, to lay on the sand and maybe get some color.

Yeah and also swim in the ocean.

yeah

yes, a nice way to cool off when it’s really hot in the summer.

That’s right. So, we’re going to talk about the beach and a lot of vocab that we find related to this activity. But before we get into the dialogue, we have a word for you on vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview

So, the keyword today here is jellyfish

jellyfish

so jellyfish is actually an animal, right?

That’s right. It’s a very dangerous animal. It’s a small little animal.

So, these things live in the water and they often live in shallow areas and they can sting you.

That’s right. They look like little plastic bags with little strings attached to it. And they just float around and if you happen to touch one, it hurts a lot.

Yeah, it can be very painful. So, jellyfish is our word today. Let’s take a listen to today’s dialogue and we’ll be back in a minute to talk more about what’s going on.

A: Oh, George, what a beautiful day it is! The sun is hot and there are just a few clouds scattered here and there! What a perfect day to be at the beach! The kids are going to have so much fun! And we’ll be able to relax in the sun while they’re playing.

B: It does seem like the perfect day! I’m glad we chose to get out of the city and enjoy the nice weather! This looks like the perfect spot! Ok kids, put on your sunscreen while your mom and I set up camp. Here, Mary, help me lay down these beach towels.

A: There we go. Can you help me with the umbrella?

Perfect.

B: Ok kids, here’s a beach ball and a Frisbee, a pail and a shovel. I want to see an impressive sandcastle by the time we leave. Don’t stray too far.

Wait! Leave your sandals here or put on your wet shoes.

A: And stay in the shallow area. I don’t want to see you go any farther than that sandbar! It’s too deep out there and we didn’t bring your floaties.

B: You’re back already? The water was too cold, huh? I’ll tell you a secret. Do you see that small pool of water over there? It’ll be warmer in there.

Go see if you can find some seashells or catch some minnows.

A: What is that? A jellyfish? Jeremy, put that down right now! It could sting you!

B: Ah! Not on me! Ow!

All right, great, we’re back. So now, why don’t we take a look at four keywords that we have prepared for you today on language take away.

Language take away

First stop, we have a very important thing to bring to the beach, especially if you’re like me and you burn easily. So, this thing is called sunscreen.

Okay, sunscreen. Now this is a liquid

yeah

and you put it on your skin, right? And this protects you from the sun.

So basically, you put this cream all over your body to prevent sunburns, to prevent burning under the sun. It’s very important.

So, it’s called sunscreen or also sometimes called sunblock.

That’s right.

Okay, very good. Now we have our sunscreen and we arrived to the beach and one of the parents say, all right we’re going to set up camp.

Okay, to set up camp. Well, this might be confusing because as many of you know, camp, camping, this is an activity but we’re not actually camping here. We’re just going to be at the beach for one day. So, to set up camp means to organize or arrange ourselves in a place.

So, it’s a colloquial way of saying we are going to organize the area where we’re going to spend the day.

We’re gonna make ourselves comfortable.

So, you set up camp. So, not necessarily that you’re going to camp there but that you’re going to prepare the area. So, this could be used in many other different areas, right?

That’s right. So, sometimes you know, when tickets for really popular concerts go on sale, people line up for days before they can buy the tickets. Well, if you’re in line you maybe want to set up camp. That means make yourself comfortable. Sit down, bring a book, open some food packages.

Right, exactly. So, to set up camp. And well, when we go to the beach, we want to sit down or lay down on the sand and in order to do this, we usually bring along beach towels.

That’s right Marco. So, towels can be any kind of towel.

Right

You have the towel in your bathroom or in your kitchen. It’s basically a piece of cloth that used to dry yourself. But the special kind of towel, we bring to the beach is called, of course, a beach towel.

Right

These are usually much bigger than normal towels.

Yeah, they’re very very big. And this is usually because you want to lay down on the sand on top of his towel, right?

That’s right.

Okay. And the last word that we have for language take away is a beach umbrella or just an umbrella.

That’s right. So, maybe you’re lying down on this big comfortable soft beach towel and you’re afraid of being under the sun too much. So, an umbrella is a way to protect yourself from the sun. It provides shade.

That’s right. So, it’s called an umbrella or usually if you want to distinguish between the umbrella you use for the rain, you can call it a beach umbrella.

That’s right.

Okay. And these are usually a lot bigger and you don’t actually carry them around in your hand. You have to put them into the sand.

That’s right. So, it stands alone.

Okay. So, four key phrases there for you on language take away. Why don’t we go back, listen to the dialogue again and we’ll be back shortly.

A: Oh, George, what a beautiful day it is! The sun is hot and there are just a few clouds scattered here and there! What a perfect day to be at the beach! The kids are going to have so much fun! And we’ll be able to relax in the sun while they’re playing.

B: It does seem like the perfect day! I’m glad we chose to get out of the city and enjoy the nice weather! This looks like the perfect spot! Ok kids, put on your sunscreen while your mom and I set up camp. Here, Mary, help me lay down these beach towels.

A: There we go. Can you help me with the umbrella?

Perfect.

B: Ok kids, here’s a beach ball and a Frisbee, a pail and a shovel. I want to see an impressive sandcastle by the time we leave. Don’t stray too far.

Wait! Leave your sandals here or put on your wet shoes.

A: And stay in the shallow area. I don’t want to see you go any farther than that sandbar! It’s too deep out there and we didn’t bring your floaties.

B: You’re back already? The water was too cold, huh? I’ll tell you a secret. Do you see that small pool of water over there? It’ll be warmer in there.

Go see if you can find some seashells or catch some minnows.

A: What is that? A jellyfish? Jeremy, put that down right now! It could sting you!

B: Ah! Not on me! Ow!

All right, we’re back. So now, we have five more words that we’re gonna take a look at in language take away part two.

Language take away

Okay. So, there are lots of fun things to do at the beach. And today we’re not going to be talking about all of them because they’re too many things. But one fun activity is playing Frisbee.

That’s right, frisbee. So, this is a thing, it’s an object, a frisbee or you also play frisbee.

That’s right. So, a frisbee itself is usually made of plastic and it’s like a plate. And it’s very light and you throw it to your friends and it sails through the air.

Right. It kind of flies along the air and then somebody else has to catch it.

That’s right. So, you can play frisbee or throw the frisbee.

It’s very popular with, people playing Frisbee with their dogs, right? You through the frisbee and the dog chases it.

Dogs love frisbee.

All right. Another great activity that usually we do when we go to the beach is we build sand castles.

Okay. So, I’m a master Sandcastle builder. I’m a really big fan of this activity.

Really?

Basically, you use water and sand to create castles

right

and obviously, you have to use tools like shovels and buckets. Otherwise, it might look kind of funny.

And that, this is actually such a popular activity that there even competitions at times. People will not only build castles or houses or structures, but maybe a statue of some sort or an animal or different things.

That’s right, or people.

People, yeah

Yeah, so Sandcastle.

Okay. And well, whenever we go to the beach, the ocean can be a little bit dangerous. And that’s why in the dialogue, one of the parents told their kids to stay in the shallow area of the water.

That’s right. So, shallow is, it describes the depth. So, how deep something is. Something is shallow, it’s not very deep, okay? So, there’s very little water

okay

but if there’s a lot of water, maybe if you swim and you can’t touch your feet on the ground, we call that deep. So, shallow is very low water and deep is lots and lots of water.

Okay, very good. So, you’ll usually find this in the ocean. If you go further further further in, it’ll get deeper and deeper and deeper

and more and more dangerous

right. And this is why the mom also told the kid to not pass that sandbar that was ahead.

Okay, sandbar. This is a piece of sand that basically rises very high in the water. So usually when you’re on the beach and you’re going to the water and it gets deeper and deeper and then all of a sudden, it gets high again and there’s more sand

right

and so that part that you can stand on, that sand out in the water, that’s called a sand bar. It’s almost like a little island.

Yeah, exactly. And as you said, usually it gets deeper deeper, then you have the sandbar so it gets higher. But usually, if you pass the sandbar, it’s gonna get really deep all of a sudden.

That’s right. So, that’s why the mother doesn’t want her child to go past the sandbar.

Right. And well, if you ever swimming in a swimming pool, in the ocean, it’s always a good idea if you don’t know how to swim well or if you have children to take along a little floaties.

Okay, floaties. I like this word. Floaties are plastic rings that you put around your arms or maybe around your stomach, and their filled with air.

right

so when you go in the water, they help you float.

Exactly. So, this is very very common thing to put on children because they don’t know how to swim well. You put them little floaties on their arms or around their stomachs and then they can just float, they won’t drown.

That’s right, floaties.

Very good. So, a lot of keywords there, all related to the fun of going to the beach. Why don’t we go back, listen to the dialogue for the very last.

A: Oh, George, what a beautiful day it is! The sun is hot and there are just a few clouds scattered here and there! What a perfect day to be at the beach! The kids are going to have so much fun! And we’ll be able to relax in the sun while they’re playing.

B: It does seem like the perfect day! I’m glad we chose to get out of the city and enjoy the nice weather! This looks like the perfect spot! Ok kids, put on your sunscreen while your mom and I set up camp. Here, Mary, help me lay down these beach towels.

A: There we go. Can you help me with the umbrella?

Perfect.

B: Ok kids, here’s a beach ball and a Frisbee, a pail and a shovel. I want to see an impressive sandcastle by the time we leave. Don’t stray too far.

Wait! Leave your sandals here or put on your wet shoes.

A: And stay in the shallow area. I don’t want to see you go any farther than that sandbar! It’s too deep out there and we didn’t bring your floaties.

B: You’re back already? The water was too cold, huh? I’ll tell you a secret. Do you see that small pool of water over there? It’ll be warmer in there.

Go see if you can find some seashells or catch some minnows.

A: What is that? A jellyfish? Jeremy, put that down right now! It could sting you!

B: Ah! Not on me! Ow!

All right, so beach activities. You said you’re a master Sandcastle builder.

I love building Sandcastle. I won’t say that I’m very good at it, maybe not a professional but I do a pretty good sandcastle.

Do you like getting buried in the sand?

I love it.

Really?

Although it also scares me. Have you ever had someone maybe cover you in sand and then you can’t move?

yeah

yeah. So, it’s a little bit scary. Obviously, I’m not very comfortable with having my head covered. But some people even do that. They cover their entire body, head to toe

How do they breath?

And they have a straw, out of their mouth to breathe.

I actually love going to the beach and it’s relaxing, it’s really fun but I don’t really enjoy it going when there are a lot of people. Because I like to relax on the beach but when they’re too many people you know, they’re running around, their kids running around. It’s not very relaxing.

I hear you.

So, but swimming in the ocean is also very dangerous, right?

It can be. It can be. So, we recommend you go to some– so we recommend you go places where there are lifeguards on duty or that you go with an expert swimmer.

Lifeguards, very good.

Yeah. That’s all we’ve got though, for today. We hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson and we hope you’re excited about the upcoming summer months. If you have any questions or comments, please do visit our website Englishpod.com.

All right, we’ll see you guys there. Bye.