Episode 12

Episode 12

Your comments about British food – and Carolina has a suggestion about a boy for Emily!

Transcript

Adam and Rob

Both: Hello!

Rob: I’m Rob.

Adam: And I’m Adam.

Rob: Welcome to episode 12 of Learn English Elementary Podcasts.

Adam: Carolina’s back today. She’s at the cinema and love is in the air!

Rob: But first, as usual, let’s have a look at some of your comments. In the last podcast, Tess and Ravi talked about British food. And we asked you to tell us what you think – is British food really terrible? How about food in your country?

Adam: Elena V in Russia is a big fan of British food. She says:

I've never been to Britain, but when I say "British food" or "British meals", I think of porridge, puddings, fried eggs with bacon, toast with jam, beans and, of course, saddle of lamb. And a nice cup of black tea with milk. I don't know where all of these associations come from, but they are in my head! Almost every morning I cook porridge, I sometimes fry eggs with bacon and I prepare toast with jam. So it seems to me I'm in Britain!

Rob: I think Elena is more British than me!

Adam: Yeah. It certainly seemed to be true that people think British food is bad. JSSierra in Mexico said ‘I've never tried British food, I have been told it is very bad though,’ and Wywy in Egypt said that friends had told her the food in London was terrible.

Rob: Oh dear! Braulio in Italy said ‘a simple way to evaluate whether a cuisine is good or not is to look for it abroad. You can easily find French restaurants outside France or Chinese outside China or Thai outside Thailand but I’ve never found or even heard about an English restaurant... not even in the UK!’

Adam: That’s a good point, I suppose.

Rob: Several people mentioned that they like food from Braulio’s country, Italy, and we also heard about cuisine from Mexico, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Azerbaijan.

Adam: Yes, reading all your comments left us feeling very hungry. Finally, FRG in Spain said:

I would like to say I completely disagree about the general opinion of British food. Two years ago, I had a meeting with another colleague in Lincoln in the east of England. One day we went to a restaurant and ate lamb and the food was delicious. British food isn't only fish and chips or roast beef.

Rob: So, some people really do like it.

Adam: Thanks for all your great comments – remember to send them to us at www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish or look for us on Facebook.

Rob: OK, let’s move on to Carolina. Carolina is a Venezuelan student studying at university in Newcastle in the north of England.

Adam: Last time we heard from her she had started her part-time job in a convenience store and her boyfriend Jamie had just started a band. Carolina and her friend Emily are going to the cinema with Jamie and his band-mate Cameron, who has a very… interesting laugh!

 

Carolina

Carolina: So which film are we going to see, Jamie?

Jamie: The Crazy Future.

Emily: The Crazy Future? Ha! Good name for your band.

Cashier: Next, please.

Jamie: Four tickets for The Crazy Future, please.

Cashier: Four for The Crazy Future. That's twenty-four pounds, please.

Jamie: Thanks.

Cashier: And six pounds change. Screen six. Next, please.

Jamie: Thanks. Here you are – Cameron, Emily, Carolina. Anybody want popcorn? No? OK, let's go in then. Follow me.

Carolina: Emily, you sit next to Cameron.

Emily: What? Why?

Carolina: You like him – I can see. Sit next to him.

Emily: Carolina!

Carolina: I hope the film isn't a comedy.

Emily: Why?

Carolina: You heard his laugh.

Jamie: What a great film. I'm really glad we came to see it. What did you all think?

Emily: Well, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

Jamie: In what way?

Emily: Well, I wasn't expecting a documentary. A documentary about the environment. I mean it was good. I liked it. But you said it was about the future and I thought it was science fiction – you know, not about global warming…

Cameron: Do you like science fiction?

Emily: I love it. Do you?

Cameron: I'm a total fan. I'm reading this great book at the moment, it's…

Jamie: Did you like the film, Cameron?

Cameron: Hmm, it was OK. A bit depressing. Not really my thing, Jamie.

Carolina: I really liked it. It made me cry. Those poor orang-utans!

Jamie: Yeah. That was terrible, wasn't it?  But you know, we can change things. The future doesn't have to be so bad.  We can all help.

All: Yes.

Emily: Well, time to go home, I guess.

Carolina: Yes, I've got to do some reading before my seminar tomorrow.

Cameron: We're going to have a drink on the way home. Sure you don't both want to join us?

Jamie: Yeah, just for half an hour. We're going to The Green Man.

Emily: The Green Man. That's you, Jamie. Good name for your band. Or maybe The Green Men.

Carolina: No, I really have to go home.

Emily: Me too.

Cameron: Well, that's a pity. Anyway, it was nice to meet you both.

Carolina: Yes, well, I'm sure we'll meet you again now that you're in the band with Jamie.

Emily: Yes.

Jamie: OK. I'll call you tomorrow, Carolina. See you, Emily.

Emily: See you.

Jamie: Come on, Cameron.

Cameron: Bye.

Emily and Carolina: Bye. Bye, nice to meet you. See you again. Bye Jamie.

Adam and Rob

Rob: So… Emily and Cameron seem to get along well together.

Adam: Do you think that….?

Rob: Hmm, maybe. Let’s see what happens next time.

Adam: Anyway, they seemed to have a good time. Are you a fan of documentaries, Rob? What sort of films do you like going to see?

Rob: I like documentaries, yes, but I also like science fiction films. Star Wars is one of my favourite films. I first saw it when I was a young boy and I still love it today. I also like animations and comedies. How about you?

Adam: I don’t seem to go to the cinema as much as I used to. Maybe I’m just too busy. But I do like foreign films. I used to watch action films a lot, but I think I’ve seen all the explosions I need to!

Rob: How about you, listeners? Do you enjoy going to the cinema? What sort of films do you like watching? How about films from your country? Are there any you’d recommend to other podcast listeners? Write and tell us at www.britishcouncil.org.learnenglish

Adam: Now, listen to this again.

Jamie: Yeah, just for half an hour. We're going to The Green Man.

Emily: The Green Man. That's you, Jamie. Good name for your band. Or maybe The Green Men.

Rob: The name of the pub was The Green Man – then Emily suggested that they call their band The Green Men. Man – men. It’s an irregular plural – one man, two men. Can you think of any other irregular plurals like that?

Adam: Well, women, of course – one woman, two women. And child – one child, but two children. And teeth! One tooth, but the plural is teeth.

Rob: Yeah, there are quite a few irregular plurals that you have to learn.

Adam: Mouse – mice!

Rob: OK, so we’ve put a couple of exercises on the website for you. There are also exercises about saying hello and goodbye to people and about the cinema and different types of film. Why not give them a go?

Adam: That’s all we’ve got time for today. Thanks again for all your lovely comments and stories.

Rob: I won’t be here next time. I’m going to London to make the next series of Word on the Street. If you don’t know Word on the Street, have a look in the Listen & Watch section on the LearnEnglish website. It’s a video series to help you improve your English.

Adam: So, I’ll be back next time with Tess and Ravi again to talk about something else you think is very British. And I’ll talk to you then.

Adam and Rob: Bye!

Discussion

Language level

Average: 4.6 (7 votes)
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Submitted by Mohammedalbassami on Tue, 07/09/2021 - 05:39

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Good morning everyone Despite there are a lot of cinema in Oman but I am not fond to watch there. I prefer to watch in my house. It's more comfortable and I can concentrate on film. However I like to see science fiction, comedy, nominations, documentary, action and military. I hate film which has sexual motivation and also criminal action. Absolutely I see film to improve my English language and some time for interesting.

Submitted by May Thida Su on Sun, 21/02/2021 - 05:05

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I think the films in my country is good quite now. I like them. Like Emily and Cameron, I like science fiction and super natural movie and I write drama fictions in Wattpad app. BYE!!!!

Submitted by Veena Kumari on Sat, 06/02/2021 - 08:19

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Hi, This is a great site to learn English. Although I am not very fond of movies, but I enjoy going to Cinema. I have gone a couple of times with my husband. I like comedy and science fiction movies. My country's film industry is called Lollywood, which makes very few good films. Most people in my country prefer watching Hollywood and Bollywood movies. After the start of Covid 19 pandemic, Cinema industry has been affected very badly.

Submitted by jmajo on Fri, 08/01/2021 - 18:39

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Despite I don't enjoy going to the cinema, I like to see a good movie once a while, I like genres Science-fiction, Historical-Epic and Biographical movies. I think you can find more variety of movies on the internet than in the local cinemas nowadays so I prefer watching movies by subscription services because I can find loads of different kinds of movies from all over the world, rather than the cinemas where you only would be able to see what the local business want you to see and the movies they think it could make them more money whit the ticket sells. The cinema industry is quite small in my country but I could recommend the next good movies from Uruguay: "25 Watts" - Indie "El viaje hacia el mar" - Road movie "La casa muda" - Horror Thanks for the episode. Great site!

Submitted by Sajja on Tue, 05/01/2021 - 05:23

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Yes, I love watching movies in cinema but in this state with Covid-19 we must be more careful and take all of necessary precautions to save ourselves. I am interested in animations ,horror and science fiction types of movies . Although I like cinema very much but I have gone to it almost 3 or 4 times in my live because the country where l live has no cinema. The most brilliant movie I recommend to anther students is "The blue elephant". It's a Egyptian movie was a novel and was written by Ahmad Morad . Then , it was turned into a movie. It is around psychiatrist stoped working for 5 years cause his wife and daughter died in accident and he decided to return to his job and treat a strange man . This movie one of the most interesting and scaring movies that I have watched . I think you will liked it very much.
Profile picture for user Czar Aaron

Submitted by Czar Aaron on Wed, 14/10/2020 - 12:58

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Hi Cinema fans! I love watching movies. I very like to go to the cinema. My last movie at the cinema was "Tent
Of course, I will try one more time. My mistakes! I like a lot going to the cinema. My last movie at the cinema was "Tenet" by Christopher Nolan. It is about time travels and it mixes different genres of movies - action-thriller and science fiction. I like different films - drama, comedy (also Monty Python or Little Britain), science fiction and special movies like the ones by Lars von Trier which I watched at the cinema. I was interested history of cinema, the firsts movies from twenties and thirties XX century. I had 10 meetings with the old movies at the cinema.

Submitted by Mazoon AL.Ghssani on Wed, 07/10/2020 - 14:44

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I like watching films at cinema but the most when I see it at home because I wanna be more Concentrated.I would rather like science fiction and action films than comedy or anything else.

Submitted by Ahmed 99 on Wed, 09/09/2020 - 23:38

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I like watching films at home withe the family I prefer watching Action, comedy, since faction, adventure and crime films

Submitted by Leonardo Lisboa on Wed, 24/06/2020 - 22:23

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I like to go to the cinema just in a couple times, to see Marvel’s movies for example. I like to watch all sort of movie, since drama until musical. My country has a variable catalogue of movies, but I’d like to indicate “o filme da minha vida” by Selton Melo. Is available on Netflix.