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M: Hello English learners! Welcome to another great lesson with EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: So, Erica, how are you today?

E: I’m doing pretty well and I think we’ve got a good lesson today, a really helpful lesson.

M: What are we talking about today?

E: We have an elementary lesson about making an appointment.

M: Alright, making an appointment. Yeah, that’s really helpful. I guess you have to make appointments for the doctor or…

E: At work, maybe.

M: At work. Personal.

E: Or with your friends.

M: Yeah.

E: Yeah, so, this is language that you can use everyday to make appointments.

M: Great, well, so, why don’t we take a look at our “vocabulary preview”?

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: We only have one word today which you need to know to understand this dialogue and it is financial adviser.

M: Financial adviser.

E: Financial adviser.

M: So, what is a financial adviser?

E: A financial adviser is a person who gives suggestions or recommendations about investing money, someone who wants you to put money in the stock market.

M: Okay, great. I guess we’re ready now to listen to our dialogue for the first time and as always it’s gonna be at a normal speed, but you don’t have to worry about it, because…

E: We’ll come back and teach you all the important words.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

E: Well, I guess Ms. McNealy does not want to speak to any financial adviser.

M: Hehe. Yeah, I guess she doesn’t really wanna invest in the stock market, ha?

E: Or maybe she just gets too many phone calls from them.

M: Yeah, yeah.

E: Yeah.

M: If you have money, I guess you’ll get phone calls from people like that.

E: I guess we don’t have that problem, hey?

M: Hehe. No, we don’t. Okay, let’s start with our “language takeaway” for today.

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: So, four words today. The first one is available.

M: Available.

E: Available.

M: Available.

E: Meaning…

M: That you’re not busy.

E: That you’re free.

M: You’re free, you’re not busy. [NOTE: available can also mean that you’re not married or you’re not in a relationship, i.e. available for darting; for example, I’m gonna go out with that girl, she is available]

E: Exactly! Let’s move to our next word – double check.

M: Double check.

E: Double check.

M: Double check.

E: I think we’ve got some examples of this phrase.

Voice: Example one.

A: Do you have the tickets?

B: I think so, but let me just double check.

Voice: Example two.

C: I thought I sent that e-mail already, but let me double check.

M: Okay, so, double check basically means to check something twice.

E: Exactly, to check it again.

M: Check it again, okay. Our third word for language takeaway today is scheduled.

E: Scheduled.

M: Scheduled.

E: Scheduled.

M: S-C-H-E-D-U-L-E-D.

E: Scheduled.

M: Scheduled. So, when you have something scheduled, it means that you have something…

E: Planned.

M: Planned, right?

E: Yeah, or booked at that time.

M: Booked at that time.

E: Yeah, we’ve got a lunch scheduled this afternoon, don’t we?

M: Yes, we do!

E: Alright.

M: A great lunch, looking forward to it. And our last word for today is booked solid.

E: Booked solid.

M: Booked solid.

E: B-O-O-K-E-D, booked solid.

M: So, we have some great examples on how you can use this great phrase booked solid and you can understand what it means.

Voice: Example one.

A: I can’t get a hotel room; they’re booked solid until after the New Year. [NOTE: you can also say “they are fully booked”]

Voice: Example two.

B: I’m sorry, there are no seats available on this flight; we’re booked solid over the Christmas holidays.

Voice: Example three.

C: Sorry, I can’t meet with you today, I’m booked solid.

M: Okay, great, so, booked solid basically is…

E: You have no free time, no available time.

M: Right.

E: So, you’ve got appointments scheduled all day.

M: All day, great.

E: Uhu.

M: So, with this in mind, now we can listen to our dialogue a second time. This time it’s gonna be slow, so, we can…

E: Understand a little bit better.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Okay, so, now it’s a little bit more clear and with this we can start with “putting it together”.

Voice: Putting it together.

E: There’re some great examples in this dialogue of phrases you can use when you need to schedule an appointment and we’re gonna look at those today. In the dialogue we hard Julianne asked about making an appointment and she said this.

Phrase 1: I’m calling to arrange an appointment with Ms. McNealy; I’m calling to arrange an appointment with Ms. McNealy.

M: So, this is a great way to schedule an appointment…

E: Uhu.

M: To ask for some time from somebody else.

E: Yeah, and we have some more examples of this phase.

Voice: Example one.

A: Please book an appointment for next week.

Voice: Example two.

B: Please schedule an appointment for next week.

M: Great, so, after that, when you’re scheduling an appointment, you need to suggest a day when maybe that person has time.

E: Yes, let’s listen to what they said in the dialogue.

Phrase 2: How’s Thursday? Does she have any time available then? How’s Thursday? Does she have any time available then?

M: You say, well, “how’s Thursday” or “how’s Tuesday?”

E: Uhu.

M: And maybe that person doesn’t have time that day, so, they’ll say something like this.

Phrase 3: Can she do Tuesday? Can she do Tuesday?

M: Okay, Erica, so, if I wanna have a meeting with you, I would say “how’s Monday sound?” or “how’s Monday?”

E: M-m-monday is no good.

M: Oh, how’s…

E: I’m busy all day.

M: How’s Tuesday?

E: Sorry, Tuesday is no good either.

M: Hehe. What about Wednesday?

E: Okay, Wednesday works.

M: Alright, great.

E: Wednesday’s perfect.

M: Okay, s… great, so, we have a meeting on Wednesday.

E: Okay, they are… those are some great phrases, hey, for scheduling an appointment?

M: Yeah, they’re really good. Okay, so, now we can listen to our dialogue a third time and we’re ready to understand everything that we’ve just talked about.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

E: The language in this dialogue is really useful, isn’t it, Marco?

M: Yeah, it’s from an everyday situation. You always have to make appointments at some point.

E: Yes! And like we said earlier, it’s language you can use when you need to talk about work, with your boss, maybe.

M: Right.

E: Or, uh, when you need to do daily things like go to the doctor.

M: Uhu.

E: Or even when you’re planning something with your friends.

M: Right.

E: Yep, you can use this in all those situations.

M: In all situations.

E: Aha.

M: Great, well, we’re out of time now, but I hope you enjoyed our lesson and found it useful. And if you have any questions or comments, please go to our website at englishpod.com, where we’ll be there to answer everything.

E: Yes, we will. So, thanks for listening guys and until next time…

M: Bye!

E: Good bye!

M: Hello everyone! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And today we’re bringing you the second part of Christmas Chronicles.

E: Another Christmas lesson to get you in the Christmas spirit.

M: Hehe. Christmas and useful language for all our listeners today.

E: That’s right, in today’s lesson we’ll be learning some great Christmas vocabulary.

M: And police related vocabulary as well.

E: Now, Christmas-police vocabulary, how exactly does that fit together?

M: Hehe. Well, they don’t.

E: Hehe.

M: But here at EnglishPod we can make anything happen, so, that’s why we have done this.

E: To be creative.

M: To be creative. So, let’s take a look at our “vocabulary preview” for this lesson.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: In today’s vocabulary preview we’ve got two words from our dialogue that you will need to know to understand this dialogue.

M: Uhu, the first one is elves.

E: Elves.

M: Elves.

E: Elves, and this is the plural of the word elf.

M: Elf, right.

E: So, elves are…

M: Little people. Hehe.

E: Little people with pointy hats.

M: With pointy hats; Santa’s helpers.

E: Okay, so, elves.

M: Elves.

E: Our next word is candy cane.

M: Candy cane.

E: Candy cane.

M: Candy cane.

E: So, a candy cane is a traditional Christmas candy, right?

M: Yes, it’s red and white.

E: And it’s kind of shaped like a… like a ‘J’.

M: Like a ‘J’, yeah.

E: Okay, so, it…

M: It’s very traditional.

E: Yeah, you… you hang them on a tree and you eat them at Christmas time.

M: Yes.

E: Taste like peppermint.

M: Okay, well, I guess we’re ready to listen to our dialogue for the first time, uh, and it’s gonna be kind of fast, but…

E: Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything, because we’ll come back and talk about some of the language later.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: Okay, so, Santa has escaped from the police car, hey?

E: Thank God!

M: It’s like a war over there. They were really firing everything.

E: I know, I mean those elves are…

M: Aggressive.

E: Very aggressive.

M: Hehe. Okay, well, we can take a look at some great vocabulary from this dialogue. Why don’t we start with our “language takeaway” for today?

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: In today’s language takeaway we have five really important words that we hope you will take away from the lesson.

M: Exactly, and the first word that we have today is booked.

E: Booked.

M: Booked.

E: Booked.

M: Booked is another way of saying…

E: Arrested.

M: Arrested.

E: Yeah, it’s a slang word, hey?

M: It’s kind of slangy, yeah.

E: Yeah.

M: Yeah, it’s a slang word – booked.

E: Okay, next word – speeding.

M: Speeding.

E: Speeding.

M: Speeding.

E: So, Santa was speeding, because he was…

M: Going too fast.

E: Driving too fast, yeah.

M: Right…

E: Okay.

M: Going over the speed limit.

E: Exactly.

M: Uhu.

E: Third word today is…

M: Impounded.

E: Impounded.

M: Impounded…

E: Hm.

M: That’s when your car gets arrested.

E: Your car gets arrested?

M: Hehe. Yeah, they take your car to ‘car jail’.

E: Okay, so, my car is in ‘car jail’.

M: It’s…

E: I think I understand.

M: It’s impounded.

E: Okay, so, the police take my car and I have to…

M: Pay to get it out.

E: Okay.

M: Uhu.

E: Let’s move to our next word – ruined.

M: Ruined.

E: Ruined.

M: Ruined.

E: We have a few examples for us to listen to, to understand the meaning of this word.

Voice: Example one.

A: It’s been raining for five days. Our vacation is ruined.

Voice: Example two.

B: Look at this hole! You’ve ruined my favorite pair of jeans.

Voice: Example three.

C: Sam, you’ve been caught steeling from the company, your chances for a promotion are ruined.

M: Okay, great examples and basically ruined means…

E: Destroyed.

M: Destroyed.

E: Yeah, messed up.

M: Messed up, okay. Now for our last word – back up. Backup.

E: Oh, yeah…

M: So, now for our last word… Okay, so, now for our last word on language takeaway – backup.

E: Backup.

M: Backup.

E: Backup.

M: So, backup is…

E: Help.

M: Help.

E: Yeah.

M: Right?

E: So, when you call for backup, you call for help.

M: Call for help.

E: Yeah.

M: Yeah, you see it all the time in war movies, police “Call for backup!”

E: Yeah.

M: Right?

E: I think though it’s important to point out that here the pronunciation and stress of this phrase is really important, hey?

M: Uhu, yes, yes.

E: You have to say backup.

M: Backup.

E: Backup.

M: Yeah.

E: So, both words are stressed at about the same level, hey?

M: Uhu, backup.

E: Cause if you were to say back up…

M: That means to move back.

E: Exactly.

M: Yeah, it’s different, so, backup, back up.

E: Yes.

M: Uhu.

E: The stress is important.

M: The stress ???

E: Alright, well, you know what? I think with those words in mind it’s time for us to listen to the dialogue a second time.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Okay, so, without the sound effects and without any noise I think it’s much more clear now, right?

E: A little less dramatic.

M: Less dramatic, but good language.

E: Yes, speaking of good language, there’re some great phrases I wanna look at in this dialogue and, so, let’s do that in “putting it together”.

Voice: Putting it together.

E: We have two phrases in putting it together that we want to show you how you can use in many different situations. In the dialogue we heard this…

Phrase: Last week we booked this guy who claimed to be the tooth fairy. Last week we booked this guy who claimed to be the tooth fairy.

E: So, when you claim to be something, you’re saying that you are something, but it might not be true, right?

M: Right, so, for example, you can say “This woman claimed to be your wife”.

E: But she’s not.

M: Bu she’s not.

E: Okay, we have a few other examples of how you can use the phrase claim to.

Voice: Example one.

A: Daniel claimed to be the son of a Government Minister, but later we found out that he was lying.

Voice: Example two.

B: The criminals claimed to have a gun!

Voice: Example three.

C: This man here, he’s claiming to know your father.

E: That’s such a great phrase, just by putting it together with another verb means something different, but still expresses that same idea.

M: Right, claim to have… She claimed to have a baby or something.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay.

E: Okay, so, let’s move to our next phrase…

M: Under heavy.

E: Under heavy.

M: Under heavy.

E: So, in the dialogue they said “we’re under heavy attack”.

M: Right.

E: You can also use this phrase in a couple of other ways.

Voice: Example one.

A: We’re under heavy attack!

Voice: Example two.

B: We’re under heavy fire!

Voice: Example three.

C: The Prime Minister is under heavy security.

E: So, if you’re under heavy fire…

M: Means that there’s a lot of fire.

E: Like gun fire.

M: Gun fire, yeah.

E: Yean, and not like fire fire.

M: Yeah.

E: Okay, and if you’re under heavy security…

M: It means that you have a lot of security, a lot of bodyguards or a lot of…

E: Right, like a Prime Minister, a President would be under heavy security.

M: Exactly.

E: Okay.

M: Uhu.

E: Couple of great phrases.

M: Really good phrases and with this we can listen to our dialogue a third time.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

E: So, Marco, the police mentioned something about the Tooth Fairy.

M: The Tooth Fairy.

E: I don’t know, maybe some of our listeners don’t know the story about the Tooth Fairy, so, um… Can I go ahead and say it?

M: Yes, go ahead.

E: Okay, well, when you’re small and you lose a tooth.

M: Your baby teeth.

E: Yeah, you put it underneath your pillow.

M: Aha.

E: And then you go to sleep.

M: Uhu.

E: And then in the night the Tooth Fairy comes into the house… flies into the house, snicks under your pillow, takes the tooth and puts money there.

M: Uh, I see.

E: So, this is the story that parents tell their kids about what happens to their baby teeth.

M: And they get money in exchange for it.

E: Right, so, I guess it takes away the sadness of losing that tooth.

M: Yeah, yeah. But in South America, for example, we have the tooth mouse.

E: The tooth mouse.

M: Yes…

E: Okay.

M: The tooth mouse.

E: What… what is… how is it called in… in Spanish?

M: Oh, well, some… in some places it’s called Ratoncito Pérez.

E: Aha.

M: Like, it has a last name Pérez.

E: Oh, really?

M: Uh, in other places it’s just called Ratoncito, Raton, which means mouse.

E: Okay, so, it would be like Tooth Fairy Smith.

M: To… yeah, Tooth Fairy Smith. And it’s the same thing, it’s a little mouse, it comes in and steels the little tooth from you and leaves money in exchange.

E: Cool! Very cool!

M: Yeah, yeah.

E: So, we go from Santa Clause, uh, to guns and wars, to the Tooth Fairy.

M: Only at EnglishPod.

E: Exactly.

M: Hehe.

E: Alright, guys, I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson. If you have any questions or comments about the lesson, please visit our website englishpod.com. Alright, well, we’re out of time, we gotta go, we’ve got some Christmas shopping to do.

M: Yes, Christmas shopping, so, we’ll see you guys later and until then it’s…

E: Good bye!

M: Bye!

M: Hello English learners and welcome back to another great lesson with EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And today we’re bringing you a great intermediate lesson with some really useful vocabulary.

E: Some vocabulary you can use to describe your job.

M: Yes, this is a really common situation when you… someone asks you what you do and you have to tell them.

E: Exactly, so, today’s lesson is all about that.

M: So, before we jump into our dialogue, let’s start with our “vocabulary preview”.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: We have two simple phrases today that you’ll hear in our dialogue for our vocabulary preview. The first one is VP.

M: VP.

E: VP.

M: So, the VP of a company is…

E: The Vice-President.

M: The Vice-President, exactly.

E: Yeah, simple little acronym.

M: Right.

E: And the next word is Fortune 500 (five hundred) company.

M: Fortune Five 500 company.

E: Fortune Five 500 company.

M: So, a Fortune 500 company is…

E: I’ll let you explain.

M: Hehe. Well, Fortune Magazine ranks the five hundred biggest companies in the U.S.

E: So, a Fortune 500 company basically is…

M: One of the five hundred biggest companies in the U.S.

E: Okay, that’s simple.

M: Yep.

E: Alright, well, with those words it sounds like we’re going to be talking to some important people today.

M: Yes, we are gonna be talking to some important people, so, let’s listen to our dialogue for the first time. Now, it’s gonna be a little bit fast, but you don’t have to worry about it.

E: Cause we’ll come back and explain all of the important vocabulary.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: Alright, great music for our dialogue again, ha?

E: Chosen by…

M: By moi. Hehe.

E: Of course.

M: Yeah, Top Gun is one of my old time favorite movies and Top Gun pilot, what a cool profession?

E: An excellent profession, much cooler than being like a VP.

M: A VP.

E: Yeah.

M: How boring is it?

E: Yeah, anyway, this guy was a bit of a jerk, don’t you think?

M: Yeah, you can tell a little bit of, uh, the sarcastic tone he had in his voice.

E: Definitely, but he did use some interesting phrases and we can talk about those now.

M: Right, so, let’s take a look at “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: Our first word for language takeaway is implement.

M: Implement.

E: Implement.

M: Implement.

E: Let’s listen to some examples of this word to help us understand its meaning.

Voice: Example one.

A: Our company has to implement this sales strategy.

Voice: Example two.

B: Sarah will be responsible for implementing the plan.

Voice: Example three.

C: I implemented several new policies.

M: Okay, great examples, and just in case to implement means to…

E: Put into action

M: To put into action, great.

E: Exactly.

M: Our second word for language takeaway – policies.

E: Policies.

M: Policies.

E: Policies.

M: So, policies are basically rules and regulations.

E: Exactly, formal rules.

M: For a company or an organization.

E: Exactly.

M: Policies, great.

E: Third word…

M: Oversee.

E: Oversee.

M: Oversee.

E: Oversee.

M: So, when you oversee operations, it means…

E: Like you watch it to make sure it’s okay.

M: You supervise it.

E: This is an excellent word to use when you wanna talk about your job responsibilities.

M: Right.

E: Oversee.

M: Uhu, great. And our last word for language takeaway. It’s kind of tricky, so, let’s listen to how it was used in our dialogue.

Example: That alone means I have fifteen hundred employees under me. Hehe. That alone means I have fifteen hundred employees under me. Hehe.

E: So, this guy has fifteen hundred (1500) employees under him meaning he supervises fifteen hundred employees.

M: Right, he manages fifteen hundred employees.

E: He must be a busy man.

M: Yes! For fifteen hundred employees… How many employees do you have under you, Erica?

E: Uh, two.

M: Yeah, not quite as much as fifteen hundred.

E: Yeah, because I’m not a VP ???… for yet, hey?

M: Hehe. Not yet, but you will.

E: Okay.

M: Alright, so, with this in mind, we are ready to listen to our dialogue for a second time and this time it’s gonna be slower.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Okay, great stuff! With this, now we can start with our “fluency builder” for today.

Voice: Fluency builder.

E: We heard some excellent phrases in this dialogue, some phrases that sound really natural, hey?

M: Yes! Especially the first one that we have today is… Whenever someone talks and talks and talks and just… and continuously talks without stopping, you would say…

Phrase 1: She’s always going on about him at the office. She’s always going on about him at the office.

E: This is a really natural way of saying “keeps talking about”.

M: Right, keeps talking about him.

E: Yep, so, we have a few examples of how this phrase works. Let’s listen.

Voice: Example one.

A: My boss is always going on about how we need to save money; it’s all he talks about.

Voice: Example two.

B: Gary is always going on about his kids; he’s always talking about how smart they are.

Voice: Example three.

C: My mom is always going on about how I should get married.

M: Okay, excellent! It’s clear now.

E: Yes.

M: Okay, so, let’s move on to our second phrase for today and this is a great one to use whenever you meet someone for the first time.

E: Or when you start to talk to someone for the first time.

M: Great.

Phrase 2: Hey, how’s it going? Hello. Hey, how’s it going? Hello.

E: So, this is a really relaxed and natural way of saying “How are you”.

M: How are you?

E: Yeah.

M: So, yeah, you can just say “Hey, how’s it going?”

E: Yep!

M: Great.

E: Really natural sounding.

M: Now, our third phrase is the most important one of our dialogue.

E: Yes!

M: And it’s a really common situation.

E: When someone asks you about your job, they might say this.

Phrase 3: Arthur, what do you do for a living? Arthur, what do you do for a living?

M: So, this is a really great way of asking “What work do you do?” or “What is your job?”

E: Yes, and now… I know a lot of students sometimes say “What is your job?”

M: Yeah, and that is… well, it’s kind of correct, but not really.

E: It doesn’t sound very natural.

M: Right.

E: So, you wanna use “What do you do?” or…

M: “What do you do for a living?”

E: Sounds great.

M: That’s the way you ask someone what is their job.

E: And that’s how you sound supper natural.

M: Hehe. Okay, so, we’re ready now to listen to our dialogue a last time and now you are ready to understand everything.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: Okay, so, I have a little challenge for our listeners today. I have…

E: What is it?

M: Two challenges, actually.

E: Okay.

M: The first one – who performs the song that you heard and what is the song called?

E: Okay, I don’t know the answer, so, I’m looking forward to seeing what users do.

M: And the second one is what is the number one company in the Fortune 500?

E: Oh, I also don’t know this answer.

M: Hehe. Two great questions, so, I expect to see your answers on the comments page, but also we want to know about your profession.

E: Yes! Tell us about your job, tell us what you do and use some of the great phrases you learned today to describe your answer.

M: Great! So, we hope to see you there, but we’re out of time now. So, we’ll see everyone at englishpod.com, leave all your questions and, of course, all the comments.

E: And Marco and I are always around to answer your questions.

M: Well, until then it’s…

E: Good bye!

M: Bye!

E: Well, hello everyone! And welcome to EnglishPod! My name’s Erica.

M: And I’m Marco.

E: So, Marco, how’re you doing today?

M: I’m doing great and I’m really looking forward to our lesson, because we’re going to the eye doctor today.

E: Okay, so, we’ve got an elementary lesson about going to the eye doctor.

M: Yes!

E: Well, let’s get started then with our “vocabulary preview”.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: We have three words today in our vocabulary preview. All three words come from our dialogue. Our first word is struggle.

M: Struggle.

E: Struggle.

M: Struggle.

E: So, Marco, when I struggle to do something, what does that mean?

M: It means it’s difficult, it means that you have a hard time, so you can’t really do it very quickly.

E: So, what you have to try really hard.

M: You have to try really hard.

E: Yeah, to do something that’s difficult.

M: Yes.

E: Okay, our next word is…

M: Blurry.

E: Blurry.

M: Blurry.

E: Blurry. B-L-U-R-R-Y.

M: Blurry. Whenever something is blurry, you can’t really see it well.

E: It’s not clear.

M: Right.

E: That’s right, everything will be blurry.

M: Uhu.

E: Okay. And our final word is…

M: Prescription.

E: Prescription.

M: Prescription.

E: Often when you go to the doctor and you need some medicine, he writes out a prescription.

M: Right, a little paper that says all the medicine that you need and then you can go to the drug store and buy it.

E: Exactly.

M: Uhu.

E: Okay, so, those three words you’ll hear in today’s dialogue and I think it’s time we listen to the dialogue.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

E: Well, this guy really has poor vision, hey?

M: Hehe.

E: Well, actually, you know what, I’ve walked in to the bathroom, the men’s bathroom, actually, instead of the women’s bathroom. And that’s not ‘cause I wasn’t wearing my glasses.

M: It’s because you weren’t paying attention.

E: That’s true.

M: Hehe. Okay, let’s take a look today at out “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

M: The first word on our language takeaway for today is twenty/twenty (20/20) vision.

E: 20/20 vision.

M: 20/20 vision.

E: If I have 20/20 vision…

M: It means that you have perfect vision.

E: Which I do not have.

M: Hehe. No, me neither, so, I… I usually wear glasses as well.

E: Yeah.

M: But, yeah, people that have 20/20 vision don’t need glasses, they can see clearly with…

E: And perfectly.

M: And perfectly.

E: Yeah. Next word is far-sighted.

M: Far-sighted.

E: Far-sighted.

M: Far-sighted.

E: So, if I’m far-sighted, I can’t see very well, right?

M: So, if you’re far-sighted, you can’t see things that are near.

E: So, you can see things that are faraway.

M: Right.

E: But thing that are close are blurry. Okay.

M: And the opposite would be…

E: Near-sighted.

M: And which is…

E: You can see things that are close well…

M: But not far.

E: Yeah.

M: Hehe.

E: Okay.

M: Far-sighted and near-sighted.

E: Okay, so, our next word is make out.

M: Make out.

E: Make out.

M: Make out.

E: Make out, that’s kind of a funny little phrase. And let’s listen to a few examples of this phrase, so we can understand how it’s used.

Voice: Example one.

A: I can’t make out what this says. The writing is too small.

Voice: Example two.

B: If you look carefully, you can almost make out a few of the stars in the sky.

Voice: Example three.

C: Can you see what’s written on the sign there?

D: No, I can’t quite make it out.

M: Okay, so, basically, make out is to see clearly.

E: Exactly.

M: Uhu, make out.

E: To see.

M: Okay. And our last word for language takeaway today is blind as a bat.

E: Blind as a bet.

M: Blind as a bet.

E: So, this is a really funny sounding expression, one of these weird English idioms.

M: Yeah, it’s a really common expression that just means that you can’t see.

E: Exactly, so, it’s not like you actually are blind, right?

M: But you just really can’t see very well.

E: Okay. Alright, we saw four great words today in our language takeaway, now I think we can listen to our dialogue another time.

M: But this time it’s gonna be slower, so we can pick up all these great words that we just talked about.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Alright, great stuff on our dialogue and with this we can start now with “Putting it together”.

Voice: Putting it together.

E: So, we saw a couple of useful phrases in this dialogue and I think we can show you how to use these phrases in a few different ways.

M: Right, um, the first one that we have today is what seems to be.

E: So, we heard in the dialogue the doctor said…

M: “What seems to be the problem?”

E: We can use this same expression in a number of different ways. Let’s listen.

Voice: Example one.

A: What seems to be the problem?

Voice: Example two.

B: What seems to be the matter?

Voice: Example three.

C: What seems to be the trouble?

M: Okay, so, with these examples we can see how we can use the phrase what seems to be in many different ways.

E: Yeah, it’s a great way of asking “What’s the problem?”

M: So, now let’s take a look at another phrase.

E: We heard in the dialogue the doctor said “Head on over to the other room”.

M: Right, and with this phrase head on we can combine it with other prepositions to indicate another place.

E: Exactly, let’s hear three examples.

Voice: Example one.

A: Head on in.

Voice: Example two.

B: Head on out.

Voice: Example three.

C: Head on up.

M: Okay, so, for example, we can say “Head on into the house, it’s gonna rain soon”.

E: Or we can say “Hey guys, let’s head on out to the park”.

M: Uhu, or I can also say “Head on up to my room, I’ll be there in a second”.

E: Great! Those are some cool phrases.

M: Right, and they’re really useful.

E: So, why don’t we listen to our dialogue and maybe we’ll hear them again.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: Okay, so, talking about going to the eye doctor today, I have a question for our listeners.

E: A challenge for our listeners.

M: A challenge. What’s it called when you can’t distinguish colors?

E: So, like when you can’t tell the difference between read and blue and green.

M: Right, so, what is that condition called? So…

E: There’s like a technical term, we want the technical term.

M: Hehe. We want the technical term. So, we’ll be looking for it on our comments’ page and be sure to… if you know the answer, post it.

E: At englishpod.com, also if you have questions about today’s lesson or any other lesson, please come and visit our website and, uh, ask us.

M: Yeah, we hope to see you there, but until then it’s…

E: Good bye!

M: Bye!

M: Hello English learners and welcome to another lesson with EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And today we’re bringing you a great Christmas lesson.

E: That’s right, we’ve got a lot of Christmas vocabulary in today’s lesson for you.

M: Yeah, it’s almost Christmas time, so, everyone is getting into this spirit, especially here at EnglishPod, so, we’re gonna teach you a little bit more about this.

E: Speaking of the spirit, I think it’s time for us to look at our “vocabulary preview”.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: So, in this part of our show we’ll look at some key language in the dialogue that you’ll need to know to understand the dialogue and, actually, today we only have one word.

M: Eggnog.

E: Eggnog.

M: Eggnog.

E: E-G-G-N-O-G, eggnog.

M: So, eggnog is a really popular Christmas drink.

E: It’s a traditional Christmas drink.

M: Right, what does it made of?

E: Um, eggs, um, cream, sugar and usually rum.

M: Rum! Oh, so, it has alcohol.

E: Yep, normally, it has alcohol.

M: Okay, alright, that’s interesting. There’s actually a drink very similar to this in, um, Chili.

E: Really?

M: Yep, they call it Monkey Tail.

E: So, in Spanish that would be…

M: Cola de Mono.

E: Very nice. Hehe.

M: Hehe. Yeah, so, it’s actually really, really good. And it’s really similar to Eggnog.

E: Okay, well, with that in mind, uh, let’s take a listen to our dialogue for the first time.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

E: Well, I did not see that one coming.

M: Yeah, that was interesting. Santa Clause is being taken to jail.

E: What’s gonna happen next, Marco?

M: I don’t know, let’s talk about that in a little while. Let’s take a look at some language from this dialogue.

Voice: Language takeaway.

M: So, the first word that we have on our language takeaway today is vehicle.

E: Vehicle.

M: Vehicle.

E: Vehicle. So, this is a vehicle.

Sound 1.

E: And this is a vehicle.

Sound 2.

E: And this is a vehicle.

Sound 3.

M: So, all of those are vehicles. Now, I thought that a vehicle was a car, specifically.

E: No, any machine that carries people from one place to another is a vehicle.

M: Great, alright. Let’s take a look now at our second word – attorney.

E: Attorney.

M: Attorney.

E: So, what is an attorney?

M: A lawyer.

E: Well, that’s simple enough?

M: Yeah, a lawyer.

E: Let’s move to our third word, which is…

M: Appoint.

E: Appoint.

M: Appoint.

E: Appoint.

M: So, appoint means choose.

E: Okay, so, the President of a country might appoint his Chief of staff.

M: Right, or I can appoint my attorney.

E: True, so, can you appoint a thing? Can I appoint my coffee cup?

M: No… Hehe. No, no, you only use it for people. You choose someone.

E: Okay, appoint…

M: You can’t choose something.

E: So, I appoint someone.

M: Exactly.

E: Alright, let’s move to our final word.

M: Sleigh.

E: Sleigh.

M: Sleigh.

E: Sleigh.

M: So, Erica, you’re from Canada, you can tell us about sleighs.

E: Alright, a sleigh is a vehicle that is pulled by a horse and travels over snow or ice.

M: Okay.

E: So, you know like Santa drives a sleigh.

M: He drives a sleigh. So, do you drive a sleigh or ride a sleigh?

E: Um, good question…

M: Hehe.

E: Well, the song says “you ride in a one horse open sleigh”.

M: Right, okay.

E: Well, you know what, I think it’s time for us to look at some interesting phrases that we found in this dialogue, so, let’s look at “putting it together”.

Voice: Putting it together.

M: Today on putting it together we have two great phrases for you and let’s take a look at the first one – step out.

E: Step out.

M: Step out.

E: So, step out means to go out of a place for a short period of time.

M: Right, so, in our dialogue, for example, the police officer said “Step out of the vehicle”.

E: Get out of your vehicle.

M: You can also say “Step out of the office”.

E: You can say “I just stepped out of the shower”.

M: Right, now we can also say step in.

E: It’s the opposite.

M: The opposite, right?

E: I can ask “Marco, step in to my office for a moment”

M: Oh-oh, okay. So, that’s step out and step in, great phrases! Let’s take a look at our final phrase – get a load of.

E: Get a load of.

M: Get a load of.

E: So, when I say “Get a load of something”, I mean look at, right.

M: Right, look at this guy – get a load of this guy.

E: Yeah, that’s what we herd in the dialogue. Now you can use this phrase in a number of different ways and we have some examples for you.

Voice: Example one.

A: Get a load of this! A war has started in Antarctica.

Voice: Example two.

B: Get a load of that house!  It’s so big!

Voice: Example three.

C: Get a load of him. He’s wearing a pink suit!

M: Okay, I think we’ve covered a lot of interesting words and phrases, so, we are ready to listen to our dialogue a second time. But this time it’s gonna be a little slower, so, we can pick up all these great words.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Okay, so, we noticed some really great words and phrases, and with this, now we can start with some “fluency builder”.

Voice: Fluency builder.

M: Today on fluency builder we have two great phrases that you can use to sound a little bit more natural when you speak.

E: That’s right, our first phrase you can use if you want to say “Don’t speak to me like that”.

Phrase 1: Don’t take that tone with me. Don’t take that tone with me.

E: So, you often hear this phrase, uh, coming out of the mouth of a mother or a father.

M: Yeah, when their children are maybe talking back.

E: Yeah.

M: “Don’t take that tone with me, young man!” I used to get that a lot.

E: Really?

M: Hehe. Yeah.

E: Sorry about that.

M: Hehe. Okay, our second phrase… We use it when we have a problem.

E: The phrase we heard in the dialogue was “I think we’ve got ourselves a situation here”. Let’s listen to another example.

Phrase 2: Houston, we’ve… got ourselves a situation here. Houston, we’ve… got ourselves a situation here.

E: Sometimes I use this phrase when I wanna tell my boss that I have a problem. Uh, I might say “Boss, I’ve got a bit of a situation, can you help me with it?”

M: Okay, yeah.

E: Yeah.

M: I have a little bit of a problem.

E: Yeah, useful phrases, hey?

M: Really useful phrases, great stuff, so, now we can listen to our dialogue a final time and this time we can understand everything that’s in it.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

E: So, when the police officer was arresting Santa Clause, uh, he said something a little bit strange, hey?

M: Yeah, he said “You’d better not pout, you’d better not cry”.

E: Now, are those part of the normal, uh, rights that a police officer reads?

M: Hehe. No, no, they’re not part of the normal rights, but it’s actually from a Christmas song, so, lets’ listen to how it goes in the song.

Song: You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, better not pout, I’m telling you why, Santa Clause is coming to town.

E: I’m pretty happy we had a song to play there instead of us having to sing.

M: Hehe. Yeah, but that’s great, because if the children cry or if they are not good kids, then Santa Clause will not give them presents.

E: Oh-oh.

M: So, that’s why.

E: Okay, listeners, I hope that you’re not pouting, I hope you’re not crying, um, but it’s for us to go, so…

M: Be sure to go to our website at englishpod.com and be sure to leave all your questions and comments and maybe some of your Christmas stories.

E: Alright, thanks for listening and until next time…

M: Bye!

E: Good bye!