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M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to another great lesson atEnglishPod! My name

is Marco.

E: And my name’s Erica.

M: And today we’re gonna be building something.

E: That’s right, uh, we’ve got a lesson about, um, construction.

M: Cool, so, we’re gonna be working at a construction site today and we’re gonna learn a lot

of cool vocabulary with different types oftools.

E: And we’ll also learn some phrases that you can use to talk about work. So even if you’re

not really interested in building and making stuff… with your hands, um, you will learn some

language to talk about work in general.

M: Alright, so, before we get started with this, uh, construction dialogue, let’s take a look at

“vocabulary preview”.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: Well, Marco, we’re gonna look at two words now. And like you said we’re building

something in this lesson, right?

M: Right, we’re gonna be building a deck.

E: A deck.

M: A deck.

E: Alright, so, a deck. What is that?

M: Basically, it’s an elevated wooden platform that houses will have like in their backyards

maybe.

E: So, it’s a… a platform that’s a little bit higher of the ground.

M: Uhu.

E: Behind your house.

M: Uhu, so, it’s very popular for houses to have decks and people will put out a table and

chairs and maybe have lunch out there or something.

E: Or barbeque or something.

M: Exactly.

E: Yeah. Okay, so, a deck. Now, they’re building this deck and they… they need to follow

some plans.

M: Plans.

E: Plans.

M: The plans that we’re taking about are construction plans.

E: Yeah, it’s kind of like the map for the deck.

M: Uhu.

E: How you’re gonna build it.

M: Exactly, so, we can have floor plans, for example.

E: Mm, so, that… that shows you how the… the building looks like…

M: Uhu.

E: Where the different rooms are.

M: At like a house, right?

E: Yeah.

M: So, it’s basically the map for a construction.

E: Okay, great! So, two interesting words. We’re gonna both of these in the dialogue. Now,

why don’t we get started and… and find out what’s gonna happen as they’re building this

deck?

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: Alright, so, there’re a lot of people building the deck. They have to build it fast. They’ve

only got one day, so it’s a really big challenge, huh?

E: Yeah, and I think this is a good lesson in, uh, maybe not rushing through important

projects, right?

M: Exactly. So, we saw some really interesting tools that they were using, so why don’t we

look at that first in “language takeaway”?

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: Alright, so, we’ve got some of the language all about tools. So, why don’t we just get

started? So, they mentioned a nail gun.

M: Nail gun.

E: A nail gun.

M: So, we all know about hammers and nails, right?

E: Right, so, the… so, the nails are what you put in the wood.

M: Exactly. Now, this is an advanced tool, so you don’t have to use a hammer. It’s kind of

hard to explain, so why don’t we listen to the sound this tool makes.

The sound of a nail gun.

E: Well, I guess like its name suggests it’s a gun for putting nails in wood.

M: Yeah, it… it actually uses compressed air to push nails really fast into the wood.

E: Alright. Alright so, they’re nailing some… some… some pieces of wood together, but they

also needed to cut the wood and they said, um, help me cut the two-by-four.

M: Yeah, she said “Help me cut this two-by-four”.

E: So, a two-by-four.

M: This is a very popular type of wood that you use in construction. A two-by-four is

basically two inches by four inches.

E: So, two inches high and four inches wide.

M: Uhu. So, it’s the most popular and common type of wood that you would use for

construction – a two-by-four. You’ll hear it all the time.

E: So, they’re gonna cut the two-by-four and C said “Pass me thecircular saw”.

M: A circular saw.

E: A circular saw.

M: So, a saw, we understand, is something you use to cut wood.

E: Uhu.

M: But you have many types of saws. You have a band saw, you have a circular saw and

this one makes this sound.

The sound of a circular saw.

E: So, I guess it’s called a circular saw, because the blade or the cutting part is shaped in

a circle.

M: Yeah, a circular saw.

E: So, after they cut the piece of wood, one of the guys said “I think you should sand the

edges”.

M: To sand something.

E: To sand something.

M: Alright, so, if you wanna sand usually a piece of wood, you want to use paper covered

in sand to make it very smooth.

E: Yeah, exactly. And so, um, they also mentioned a sander, right?

M: Uh, a sander is basically a machine that has this sandpaper on it and will do the hard

work for you.

E: Alright, so, to sand something and a sander.

M: Now, our next word is very related to sanding something, because if you don’t sand a

piece of wood, it might have splinters.

E: Splinters.

M: Splinter.

E: Splinters.

M: So, like I said if you cut a piece of wood there’re little pieces of wood that stick out and

you can get hurt. They can get under your skin.

E: Yeah, so, tiny, tiny parts of wood.

M: Uhu, that’s called a splinter.

E: Uhu, a splinter. Okay, so, why don’t we go on to our next tool? They were talking about

a level.

M: A level.

E: The level.

M: Right, so, this is a tool that all carpenters have and it’s basically a tool that has a little bit

of water in it, right?

E: Yeah, and it helps you make sure that everything is straight and flat.

M: Exactly, so, that’s a level. Every carpenter has it. And also ameasuring tape.

E: A measuring tape.

M: Measuring tape.

E: Now, I’m sure if this was a video podcast, we could show… show you what a measuring

tape was and you would really understand it, but we’ll do our best to describe it for you.

So, a measuring tape is like a ruler that rolls up.

M: Uhu. Yeah, it’s a very convenient ruler, because you can… it can roll up and you can

measure something that is maybe six feet or, uh… three meters long.

E: Uhu.

M: And you can extend it and when you done measuring, you can put it back and just put in

your pocket.

E: Yeah, every, every carpenter has one.

M: A measuring tape.

E: Alright, so, that’s our last tool that we’re gonna talk about, so why don’t we move on

now to “fluency builder”, whe… where we’ve got some, uh, phrases f… that you can use to

talk about work?

Voice: Fluency builder.

M: So, when the contractor started giving them instructions, he said “I need everyone to

give one hundred and ten percent (110%)today”.

E: To give a hundred and ten percent.

M: So, when you give a hundred and ten percent, you are basically trying very hard.

E: Yeah, you… you give everything you have to your job.

M: Right, so, it’s not only a hundred percent, it’s a hundred and ten. More than what’s

needed.

E: So, no lunch break.

M: Exactly. So, as they were talking about the instructions, one of the guys said “The

carpenter’s rule of thumb”.

E: A rule of thumb.

M: So, this is an interesting phrase – rule of thumb.

E: Uhu.

M: What does that mean exactly?

E: Okay, well, you know what, I think we can understand the meaning pretty clearly if we

listen to some examples.

Voice: Example one.

A: The rule of thumb in making a sale is confidence. Without confidence you don’t make a

sale.

Voice: Example two.

B: The tailor’s rule of thumb is twice the circumference of the wristis the circumference of

the neck.

Voice: Example three.

C: You don’t have to take everything I say about marketing as a rule of thumb.

E: Um, one of the guys noticed a few problems, you know, the splinters, um, and he said

“You’ve got to take pride in your work”.

M: Okay, so, to take pride in your work.

E: To take pride in your work.

M: Why did he say that to her? Wha… What is he trying to tell her?

E: Well, because she made a… some mistakes, she didn’t do such a good job, he’s wanting

her to work harder, work better… work more carefully.

M: Okay, and so, she can be proud of her work and say “This is a job well done”.

E: So, when you take pride in your work, you work so well and do such a good job that you

feel really happy about it.

M: Alright, good. So, why don’t we listen to this dialogue again for the last time and, uh,

then we’ll come back and talk about construction.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME

M: So, an interesting aspect of North American culture is, uh, projects like this, right?

Building a deck or maybe adding a room to your house.

E: Yeah, that’s right and we call this, um, DIY.

M: Right, DIY – do it yourself.

E: Uhu.

M: So, it’s a very popular summer project, right?

E: Right, so, if you live, um, in a… in a neighborhood in North America, you might see like,

you know, the dad of a family outside building something and all his friends come over and

they, you know, drink beer and build this big thing together.

M: Right, so, it could be a tree house, it could be a deck, it could even maybe be adding

another room to the house.

E: Yeah, and you know, it’s actually… it’s so popular that there’re tons of TV shows about

how to build stuff for your house and there are a lot of really big stores where you can go

and find like all of this equipment for building stuff for your house.

M: Right, so, basically, there’re these big stores where you can get anything from paint to

wood to tools, huge amount of, uh, materials, so you can do it yourself.

E: Uhu, you can DIY.

M: Alright, so, that’s all the time we have for today, but let us know what you think and tell

us if you are into doing handy work like this, like maybe building a tree house or building a

deck.

E: That’s right, you can come to our website at englishpod.com and tell us about it. As

well you can also leave your questions there.

M: Alright, so, we’ll see you guys there and until next time…

E: Thanks for listening and… Good bye!

M: Bye!

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