englishpod_B0039pb

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

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And we’re bringing you another great elementary lesson for all those elementary

learners.

E: In today’s lesson we’ve got some excellent language that will help you to describe

someone’s appearance.

M: It’s something that everyone has learned before in school.

E: Yeah.

M: Describing people. So, we’re gonna review that and give you some better phrases.

E: Some real English phrases.

M: Real English phrases.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay, great, so, let’s listen to our dialogue for the first time and then we’ll come back

and talk about it.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: Alright, so, interesting dialogue. Small world.

E: It is a small world. I don’t know how I would feel about dating my friend’s brother.

M: Really?

E: Uh… No, I wouldn’t feel good about it.

M: Why?

E: Well, because if you break up with the brother, then like… that means you’ll have to end

the friendship with your best friend.

M: Hehe. Maybe. I guess…

E: Dangerous.

M: Girls are more complicated with that. We… guys, we… we’re not that complicated. Yeah.

E: Well, um, you know what? Let’s look at the language before, uh, this gets too far.

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

Voice: Language takeaway.

M: On language takeaway today we’re bring you three words.

E: The first one is heard.

M: Heard.

E: Heard.

M: Heard.

E: So, you guys know this word. Past tense of hear, right?

M: Right.

E: But the way it’s used is quite interesting.

M: Uhu.

E: Let’s listen to a couple of examples of how it’s used.

Voice: Example one.

A: I heard you’re dating a new guy.

Voice: Example two.

B: Julie told me she heard that you’re pregnant.

Voice: Example three.

C: What? You got fired? I heard that you quit.

M: So, when you say, for example, “oh, I heard that you’re pregnant”.

E: Oh… this is like telling someone that you found some information about them, but you’re

not sure if it’s true…

M: Exactly.

E: Or if it’s false.

M: Okay. Our next word – fill me in.

E: Fill me in.

M: Fill me in.

E: Fill me in.

M: So, when you tell someone to fill you in…

E: You’re saying “tell me about it”.

M: Tell me the details.

E: Aha.

M: I could say “I’m sorry I was late for th… meeting, can you fill me in on what happened?”

E: Exactly. Or I could say “I missed the first five minutes of the movie, fill me in”.

M: Exactly.

E: Uhu.

M: Okay, great word. And our last phrase today – career path.

E: Career path.

M: Career path.

E: Career path.

M: So, what’s a career path?

E: I guess this is the plan for your job over several… like ten or twenty years.

M: Right, all the different jobs and things you do during your career.

E: Yeah.

M: That’s your career path.

E: So, in this case, um, David has a really good career path, because he’s going to be a

really rich and powerful investment banker.

M: Yes.

E: Uhu.

M: So, career path. Very good. So, now let’s listen to our dialogue again and pay special

attention to the language used to describe David, because when we come back, we’re

gonna talk about this.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: So, we found some really great words and phrases used to describe someone.

E: Exactly, there’s a lot of language in here, uh, talking about the way someone looks. So,

let’s listen again as Irene describes David.

Irene: He’s really good looking; he’s quite tall, around six one; he’s in his early thirties and

he’s got the most beautiful dark brown eyes. He’s really good looking; he’s quite tall,

around six one; he’s in his early thirties and he’s got the most beautiful dark brown eyes.

M: Okay, so, let’s break this down.

E: Uhu.

M: The first thing she says is “he’s really good looking”.

E: Good looking.

M: Good looking.

E: Good looking.

M: So, good looking is the equivalent of handsome.

E: Or pretty. [NOTE: pretty is an adjective in here; not an adverb like in “pretty much”]

M: Pretty.

E: Yeah.

M: Good looking.

E: But I think good looking sounds re… a lot more natural than handsome.

M: Yeah, you wouldn’t really use handsome.

E: I’d like… I wouldn’t never say that. 

M: Yeah.

E: Even though it’s correct, it’s just good looking sounds much more natural.

M: I guess for me, uh, whenever someone says handsome it sounds like… an older person’s

saying that.

E: Yeah, it sounds old-fashioned.

M: Like my grandma would say…

E: Exactly, yeah.

M: “Oh, he’s a handsome young man”.

E: Yeah, exactly.

M: Okay. Now, let’s look at the next thing she said: “he’s quite tall”.

E: Quite tall.

M: Quite tall.

E: Quite tall.

M: So, we know quite means v… very.

E: Yeah. And tall we know.

M: Right. So, you can describe a person in different ways.

E: Yeah.

M: He’s quite tall.

E: He’s kind of tall.

M: He’s sort of tall.

E: He’s a bit short.

M: He’s, uh… he’s not that short.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay.

E: So, these are great words we can use to describe someone’s height.

M: Okay, then she talked about his exact height. 

E: Yes. Sh…

M: Right?

E: She said he was six one (6’1”).

M: Six one.

E: Uhu.

M: Oh, whoa… around six one.

E: Yeah.

M: This is interesting, because in the United States and Canada you give a person’s height

using feet and inches.

E: That’s right.

M: Right, so…

E: So, we don’t… we don’t talk about meters and centimeters.

M: Right, so, six one would be six feet one inch.

E: Exactly.

M: But in other countries you would talk about centimeters or meters. So, six one is like…

six one is about one eighty?

E: Yeah, about that.

M: So, this is an interesting difference between…

E: Like English speaking countries and European countries.

M: Right. Okay, so, the next time you give your, uh… your height to someone, make sure

you do it in feet more or less.

E: It sounds a lot more natural and… and actually if you say to somebody in Canada, for

example, “I’m a hundred and seventy five…

M: Right.

E: Centimeters”, they wouldn’t… they wouldn’t know really how tall that is.

M: How… how tall that is, yeah.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay. Now, the next part is really, really useful. She said “he’s in his early thirties”.

E: In his early thirties.

M: His early thirties.

E: Early thirties.

M: So, this is a way of describing someone’s age without actually giving the exact number.

E: Exactly.

M: So, for example, early thirties…

E: So, like thirty two, thirty three…

M: Mid thirties…

E: Like thirty four, thirty five… thirty six?

M: Oh, thirty six.

E: Yeah.

M: And then late thirties would be…

E: Thirty eight, thirty nine.

M: And you could do the same thing for…

E: Like forties.

M: Forties, fifties, sixties.

E: Twenties, yeah.

M: Twenties, right?

E: Yeah.

M: Starting at twenties. You wouldn’t do that… you wouldn’t do this before your twenties.

E: I don’t think it’s really common to talk about your teens…

M: Right.

E: This way.

M: You wouldn’t say like…

E: Yeah.

M: His mid teens or…

E: Yeah.

M: Early teens.

E: Yeah, sounds a bit weird.

M: Uhu. Okay, great language used to describe people.

E: But one more word.

M: Right.

E: He’s hot.

M: He’s hot or he sounds hot.

E: Yeah.

M: He’s hot, yeah.

E: So… this is another sort of informal way of describing someone, who’s really good

looking.

M: Good looking.

E: Really sexy.

M: Right, it could be a girl or a boy.

E: Uhu.

M: She’s hot.

E: Yeah, but…

M: He’s hot.

E: But it is informal.

M: It is really informal. Maybe even a little bit offensive. You wouldn’t go up to a girl and

say “Wow! You’re hot!”

E: No, it’s a little bit in… too impolite.

M: Right.

E: Yeah.

M: You would say “Wow! You’re really pretty…

E: Yeah-yeah-yeah.

M: Or you’re gorgeous”.

E: Yeah. 

M: But you wouldn’t say “Wow! You’re hot!”

E: No, you would never say that to somebody.

M: Right.

E: Yeah.

M: That’s something you would comment with your friends.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay, so, we’ve looked at some really good language for describing people. Now, we

could listen to our dialogue a third time and I’m sure you will understand everything.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: Okay, so, we looked at really useful language for describing people.

E: Yep.

M: And we want you to describe your girlfriend, boyfriend…

E: Or even yourself.

M: Or even yourself. What do you look like? How tall are you? How…

E: How old are you?

M: How old are you?

E: Yeah. And try and use the language from today’s lesson.

M: Right, so, come to englishpod.com and leave your questions and comments on our

website.

E: And your descriptions.

M: And your descriptions.

E: Yeah.

M: And, uh, we’ll definitely be there to answer any doubts as well.

E: Yes. Well, guys thanks for listening today and until next time… Good bye!

M: Bye!