Travel & Tourism: What to do next?

Travel & Tourism: What to do next?
Introduction

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack

Rowan: My name’s Rowan

Rich: and I’m Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: In the Premier Skills English podcast, we talk about football and help you with your English. 

Rowan: Don’t forget you can find the transcript for all our podcasts on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: This podcast is one in a series of podcasts that focuses on travel and tourism. Last week we spoke about the language we use when catching the underground in London.

Jack: In our roleplay this week, we’re on a business trip together and we have a free day. We decide to visit two places: a museum and a castle.

Rowan: In the podcast, you will learn phrases you can use to give suggestions.

Rich: You’ll learn words and phrases that you can use when things are worse than what you expected.

Jack: And you’ll learn words and phrases to talk about things that were better than expected. 

Rowan: And your task this week is to tell us about a place you visited that wasn’t as interesting as you thought it would be and a place you visited that was more interesting than you thought it would be.

Rich: If you are listening to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or any other podcast platform, you should also check out our website.

Jack: On the Premier Skills English website, you’ll find 
the transcript, examples and activities to help you understand the language, and a task for you to complete with other listeners.

Rowan: Before we do the roleplays let’s look back at last week’s football phrase.

Last week’s Football Phrase 

Rich: OK, our football phrase. If you’ve not listened to the podcast before, every week we set our listeners a language challenge. We explain a football phrase or word and you have to guess what it is.

Rowan: When you know the answer, go to the Premier   Skills English website and write the word or phrase in the comments section for this podcast. If you’re correct we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast.

Jack: Thanks for all your answers last week. The first listener with the correct answer was Abdlrhmn from Egypt. Well done Abdlrhmn I think it’s the first time you have been first with the right answer!

Rich: And congratulations to these other listeners who also got the correct answer to our football phrase: MoBeckham and HSN from Turkey, Liubomyr from Ukraine, Emmanuel from France, Marco Zapien from Mexico, and Max Alex from Vietnam.

Rowan: If you didn’t hear last week’s football phrase the answer is at the end of this podcast but we’re going to give you one more chance to guess last week’s football phrase. Are you ready?

Jack: The phrase was to get off to a flier. This phrase means to start something very, very well. If a team scores in the first few minutes you might say they have got off to a flier or if a team wins the first six matches of a season you might say they have got off to a flier - they have had a really, really good start to the season.  

Rowan: Remember that the answer and our new football phrase is at the end of this podcast.

Rich: If you remember, our last podcast was all about catching the underground or The Tube in London. 

Jack: We asked you to tell us if you had ever used the Tube in London and to use the tube map to write some directions for other listeners.
 
Rowan: Vic from Mexico told us how to get to the British Museum from Royal Park Station.

Rich: HSN from Turkey told us how to get to Camden Market from Victoria Station. I think that’s the correct answer but you’ll have to tell me if I’m right, HSN.

Jack: Thanks for all your comments about the London Underground and for completing the tasks. If you haven’t heard this podcast and want to practise your map reading skills it’s called Travel and Tourism: The Tube and you can find it on the Premier Skills English website or on Apple Podcasts.

Introduction to roleplay: 

Rowan: We have one roleplay for you this week which you will hear in three parts. The three of us are on a business trip at an undisclosed location.

Rich: We have a day off and are deciding what to do with our free time.

Jack: Before each part of the roleplay we want you to answer two questions. Here are your questions for the first part:

Rowan: Question one: Who is keenest to do something on their free day?

Rich: Question two: Why doesn’t Rowan want to go to the castle?

Roleplay 1 

Jack: So, what are we going to do tomorrow? A free day at last.

Rich: Why don’t we just hang around the hotel? Let’s stay here and have a lazy day by the pool.

Rowan: Yeah, I’m a bit frazzled after all these meetings this week. What about going down to the beach?

Jack: Come on guys! All work and no play makes Rich and Rowan really, really boring! Here look at these!

Rich: What are these?

Jack: Leaflets and flyers of all the things we could do tomorrow. I fancy this one: Listen to what it says: journey back in time to the middle ages and watch brave knights prove their honour in combat in medieval jousting. That’s at the castle at the top of the hill. Unmissable according to this.

Rowan: I’m not so sure. Brave knights? More like middle-aged men playing dress-up and posing on horses. Also, have you seen the size of that hill?

Jack: I’m sure there’s a bus. It says that it’s a must. We have to go. When we go home everyone will say did you go to the castle. I can’t say no - the hill was too big and we couldn’t be bothered.

Rich: OK, what else have you got here. Sight-seeing tours on the bus - that says it’s a must as well. Sit on a bus with 100 other people as it stands in a traffic jam for three hours. 

Rowan: What about this one? It says we should go to a ceramic workshop and learn how to make our own bowl - we even get to paint it - wow.

Rich: Couldn’t we just stay here?

Jack: No, we can’t. There’s also this one I suppose.

Rowan: Give it here. National football museum? The world’s biggest and best football museum! An absolute must-see for all football fans - see the world’s finest collection of football silverware, get your photo taken with football greats and test your football skills in our penalty shoot-out challenge.

Rich: Why didn’t you tell us about this? We just have to go.

Jack: All right, all right, We’ll go there on one condition - we go to the castle after.

Language focus 1: Making suggestions

Rowan: Before the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: Who is keenest to do something on their free day?

Jack: There is no doubt that the correct answer is me. I really wanted to do something - to get and about. Rich and Rowan just wanted to lay around all day either at the side of the pool or at the beach.

Rowan: But we did cheer up when we heard there was a football museum to visit.

Rich: Our second question was:  Why doesn’t Rowan want to go to the castle?

Jack: Well, first of all, she didn’t want to walk to the top of the hill and she also thought the people dressed up as knights at the castle wouldn’t be very convincing.

Rowan: Yes, I thought they would be middle aged men on horses rather than mean fighting machines. 

Rich: OK, let’s look at some language. In the part of the roleplay you just heard the three of us were deciding what to do the next day. We all made some suggestions.

Rowan: Listen to this part of the roleplay again. Can you hear any phrases that are often used to make suggestions? 

Jack: So, what are we going to do tomorrow? A free day at last.

Rich: Why don’t we just hang around the hotel? Let’s stay here and have a lazy day by the pool.

Rowan: Yeah, I’m a bit frazzled after all these meetings this week. What about going down to the beach?

Jack: Many phrases which we use for suggestions are questions - we’ll look at a few of these in a minute but probably the most common phrase for making suggestions is used as a statement rather than a question. The phrase I’m thinking of is ‘let’s.

Rich: In the clip you just heard, I said ‘Let’s stay here and have a lazy day by the pool’. 

Rowan: The full form of let’s is ‘let us’ but I hardly ever hear anyone using it. Let’s is always followed by the infinitive without to. Let’s hear some examples, Jack.

Jack: ‘Let’s’. ‘It’s late. Let’s go home’, ‘Let’s go to the beach tomorrow’, ‘Let’s not do anything tomorrow’.

Rich: Many suggestions are usually in the form of questions. In the clip you heard a minute ago you might have heard: Why don’t we just hang around the hotel? And What about going to the beach?

Jack: Why don’t we is a common phrase to make a suggestion. It is always followed by the infinitive without to: Why don’t we go to the beach tomorrow? or It’s late. Why don’t we go home?

Rowan: You use ‘shall we’ in a similar way. ‘Shall we go to the beach tomorrow?’ 

Jack: Rich also uses couldn’t later in the roleplay. He says ‘Couldn’t we just stay here?’. 

Rich: This is a bit more complicated. Here I’m expecting the answer to be no and I’m asking why I can’t.

Rowan: You may also have heard ‘What about’. I said ‘What about going down to the beach?’

Jack: What about and how about are phrases which are used to make suggestions but the grammar is a little different. When we use these phrases they are followed by the -ing form. Listen:

Rich: What about going to the beach? How about going to the shops?

…

Jack: Let’s move on and look at something different.

Rowan: In the roleplay, we were looking at lots of leaflets about the different things we could do. Have a listen to this section again and think about how Jack reports what is said in the leaflet.

Jack: Leaflets and flyers of all the things we could do tomorrow. I fancy this one: Listen to what it says: journey back in time to the middle ages and watch brave knights prove their honour in combat in medieval jousting. That’s at the castle at the top of the hill. Unmissable according to this. 

Rich: When we want to talk about what is in a text like a newspaper, online article or leaflet the most common verb to use is say.

Rowan: Jack refers to the leaflet by saying ‘it says’. The leaflet says this, the article says this.

Jack: Another way to refer to something you have read or what a person has said is to use the phrase ‘according to’.

Rich: Jack said that according to the article the castle was unmissable.

Rowan: According to is a very useful phrase that allows us to talk about what something or someone else says. Here are some examples:

Jack: According to my mate Bob, Lionel Messi is going to be signing for Manchester City this summer.

Rich: According to my phone it’s going to rain all day tomorrow.

Rowan: He’s missed sixteen matches already this season according to these statistics.

Jack: The leaflet said that the castle was unmissable - you mustn’t miss the opportunity to visit it.

Rich: We used a few similar words and phrases to this in the roleplay. You may have heard us say things like it’s a must, it’s an absolute must-see and we have to see it.

Rowan: We’ll look at these phrases in more detail on the website where you can check your understanding of all this language in the activities we have for you there.

...

Jack: Let’s move on to the second part of our roleplay. We’ve just been to the football museum and we’re talking about whether we liked it or not.

Rich:  Here are two questions we want you to answer as you listen.

Rowan: Question one: Did we like the football museum?

Jack: Question two: What did Rich win a prize for? 

Roleplay 2 

Jack: That didn’t take as long as I thought. In and out in under two hours.

Rowan: Yes, it was a bit disappointing - didn’t really live up to expectations, did it?

Rich: I thought we’d be in there most of the morning although the trophy room was good and I enjoyed having my photo taken with the cup.

Jack: I thought the leaflet said there’d be a replica of the World Cup so no it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be.

Rich: Yeah, it didn’t really live up to the hype of that leaflet, did it? What did it say: The world’s biggest and best football museum! It was nowhere near as good as the football museum I’ve been to in Manchester. I don’t know what all the fuss was about.

Rowan: Oh, yeah. I’ve been there - it was brilliant. I remember having my photo taken with Alex Ferguson and the FA Cup.

Jack: Alex Ferguson. Really?

Rowan: It wasn’t really him but the photo looked really realistic. 

Rich: Yeah, at this museum, the pictures with famous footballers and managers weren’t as good as the ones in Manchester.

Rowan: Look at this! Statues of Diego Maradona and Pele with me in the middle.

Jack: It doesn’t look anything like them. 

Rowan: And the penalty challenge ... that was downright pathetic. I was expecting some kind of virtual reality challenge - kicking the winning penalty past Hugo Lloris or David De Gea.

Rich: Yeah, it was just us practising our penalty kicks. At least I won!

Jack: But when that guy gave you a medal for winning; that was excruciating!

Rich: Yes, it was pretty embarrassing and the medal is utter rubbish. What do you think it’s made of?

Rowan: Cardboard probably. Ah well, you live and learn - off to the castle then? It’s a pretty low bar but I’m sure it’ll be better than here.

Jack: It’ll be awesome. Wait and see!

Language Focus 2: Not meeting expectations

Rowan: Before the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: Did we like the football museum?

Jack: The answer is no - none of us did. The football museum didn’t meet our expectations.

Rich: We’ll look at some phrases connected to meeting expectations in a minute but first let’s look at what to meet expectations means.

Rowan: To meet expectations means for something to be as good as what you had thought or hoped something would be.

Rich: I thought or I expected that the football museum would be really interesting. We then visited it and it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.

Jack: The football museum didn’t meet our expectations. It was rubbish. In the roleplay we said it didn’t live up to our expectations - this means the same thing.

Rowan: Our second question was: What did Rich win a prize for?

Rich: I won a prize for winning a penalty shootout. I’ve got nerves of steel!

Rowan: Let’s look at some more phrases we can use when something doesn’t meet or live up to our expectations. Listen to a section of the roleplay again. Listen out for three phrases that mean the same as not living up to expectations.

Jack: I thought the leaflet said there’d be a replica of the World Cup so no it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be.

Rich: Yeah, it didn’t really live up to the hype of that leaflet, did it? What did it say: The world’s biggest and best football museum! It was nowhere near as good as the football museum I’ve been to in Manchester. I don’t know what all the fuss was about.

Rowan: If you heard the phrases ‘it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be’, ‘it didn’t really live up to the hype’ and ‘I didn’t know what all the fuss was about’ your listening and vocabulary skills are really, really good.

Jack: All three of these phrases can be used when something isn’t as good as we thought or hoped it would be. 

Rowan: Listen to some examples of the phrases being used in different situations. 

Rich: I don’t know why everyone is talking about the new iPhone. It isn’t all it’s cracked up to be - it does more or less the same things as my old phone.

Jack: That top of the table clash didn’t really live up to all the hype, did it? A goalless draw with no shots on target.

Rowan: I’ve just heard their new album and it’s nowhere near as good as their first album. I don’t know what all the fuss was about. 

Rich: When we left the football museum we complained about it a lot. Have a listen to this part of the roleplay again:

Jack: But when that guy gave you a medal for winning; that was excruciating!

Rich: Yes, it was pretty embarrassing and the medal is utter rubbish. What do you think it’s made of?

Rowan: Cardboard probably. Ah well, you live and learn - off to the castle then? It’s a pretty low bar but I’m sure it’ll be better than here.

Jack: I described the situation when Rich was given a medal for winning the penalty shootout as excruciating.

Rich: Excruciating has a number of meanings; it can mean extremely painful, extremely strong and extremely boring but in this situation, it means extremely embarrassing.

Rowan: The idea of an adult being given a little toy medal for winning a pretend penalty shootout was really embarrassing - it was excruciating.

Rich: Yes, I described the medal as utter rubbish. The word utter is used in a similar way to complete or total. The medal was complete rubbish - utter rubbish - it wasn’t worth anything.

Jack: Listen to a few other examples of utter being used:

Rowan: Saturday night, a bowl of ice-cream and my favourite TV series is utter bliss.

Rowan: There was utter chaos when the power went off in the prison.

Rowan: Why did I need to go to that meeting? It was a complete and utter waste of time.

Rich: Remember you can check your understanding of all this vocabulary on the Premier Skills English website.

…

Rowan: Let’s move on to the final part of our roleplay. We’ve just finished our visit to the castle.

Rich:  Here are two questions we want you to answer as you listen.

Jack: Question one: Did we like the castle?

Rowan: Question two: What was Jack really good at?

Roleplay 3

Rich: I have to say, Jack. That was really enjoyable. It was so much better than I thought it would be.

Rowan: I agree - it was much better than I expected. What a lovely place and well worth that walk up the hill. The views from up here just blow me away.

Jack: I did tell you it’d be good but I thought they went the extra mile today. There were loads of extra activities.

Rich: How bad was I with those bow and arrows? 

Rowan: Yeah, you were pretty awful, Rich. You couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo.

Jack: It’s all in the technique, guys. You know I auditioned for Robin Hood once.

Rowan: No, you never. Shut up! The falconry display was brilliant, too. Getting to see birds of prey close up like that is really special.

Rich: And the jousting was much better than I thought it was going to be.

Rowan: It wasn’t just middle-aged men on horses, was it? They really went for it. I thought someone was going to get hurt. Those lances they have are massive.

Rich: Yeah, but never in my wildest dreams did I think they’d call up Jack to have a go! Above and beyond the call of duty that Jack.

Rowan: It was hilarious! When they sat you on the horse - you should have seen your face!

Jack: I was petrified. It’s really high when you’re up there.

Rich: I thought they were just going to give you the lance. I bet you were relieved when he jumped on the horse with you.

Jack: Not sure I was relieved exactly. 

Rowan: And when the horse started galloping you were clinging on for dear life.

Rich: It was so good. Let’s go back tomorrow.

Jack: Yeah and you can go on the horse this time!

Language Focus 3: Exceeding Expectations

Rowan: Before the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: Did we like the castle?

Jack: The answer is yes - all of us did. We liked the views, we enjoyed the activities and Rich and Rowan especially enjoyed laughing at me on a horse.

Rich: Our second question was: What was Jack good at?

Rowan: Well, he wasn’t very good on the horse. I’m not sure if he’s ridden a horse before but he was very good with a bow and arrow - as good as Robin Hood.

Jack: Thank you very much. OK, let’s look at some language. The castle was much more interesting than the football museum. I knew it was going to be good.

Rich: But I thought it was going to be boring so it exceeded my expectations. 

Rowan: Yes, mine too. In this section, we’re looking at some phrases that are used to describe things that exceed expectations.

Jack: Listen to this part of the roleplay again. Can you hear any phrases that are used to say things exceeded or surpassed expectations?

Rich: I have to say, Jack. That was really enjoyable. It was so much better than I thought it would be.

Rowan: I agree - it was much better than I expected. What a lovely place and well worth that walk up the hill. The views from up here just blow me away.

Jack: I did tell you it’d be good but I thought they went the extra mile today. There were loads of extra activities.

Rich: The first thing to notice is that we don’t use the words expectation or exceed at all in the roleplay. This would be far too formal for a conversation between friends.

Rowan: Rich said the castle was much better than he thought it would be.

Jack: Rowan did use the verb ‘expect’. She said it was much better than I expected. 

Rich: You may also have heard two idioms that can be used to describe something that is much better than expected or something that is amazing.

Rowan: I said the views at the top of the hill blew me away. To blow someone away is used when something or someone impresses or amazes you. The views were amazing - they impressed me - they blew me away - they took my breath away.

Jack: I said the staff at the castle went the extra mile. To go the extra mile is another expression which can be used for someone that does more than expected.

Rich: It’s usually used to describe people who do things for someone else. It’s nice when people go the extra mile to help you and get you what you want.

Jack: Let’s listen to one last section from the roleplay. Can you hear any other expressions that are used to talk about exceeding expectations or doing more than you hoped?

Rowan: It wasn’t just middle-aged men on horses, was it? They really went for it. I thought someone was going to get hurt. Those lances they have are massive.

Rich: Yeah, but never in my wildest dreams did I think they’d call up Jack to have a go! Above and beyond the call of duty that Jack.

Rowan: It was hilarious! When they sat you on the horse - you should have seen your face!

Jack: We’re going to look at two more idioms connected to exceeding expectations. Rich said never in his wildest dreams did he think they would ask me to get on a horse.

Rich: The idiom here is never in my wildest dreams. It’s used to describe a situation that is far better than hoped for or imagined. It often describes something you never thought possible.

Rowan: Rich never thought Jack would be asked to get on the horse. He enjoyed it a lot - basically, he was laughing at Jack.

Jack: The other idiom was above and beyond the call of duty. This phrase is usually rather formal but again is used to describe someone doing more than expected.

Rich: OK, we’ve looked at lots of difficult phrases today and you can study them all in more detail on the Premier Skills English website where we have activities for you to have a go at and the transcript to listen to.

TASK

Rich: In this week’s task, we want you to tell us about two different places you’ve been to.

Rowan: First, we want you to tell us about a place you visited that wasn’t as interesting as you thought it would be.

Jack: In the roleplay, we thought the football museum was going to be fantastic but it was disappointing - it didn’t live up to our expectations.

Rich: We want you to tell us about a place that didn’t live up to your hopes or expectations.

Rowan: We then want you to tell us about a place you visited that was more interesting than you thought it would be.

Jack: In the roleplay, Rich and Rowan thought the castle would be boring but it was much better than they thought it would be and they had a great time. The castle exceeded their expectations.

Rich:  We want you to tell us about a place that exceeded your expectations - a place that was much more interesting than you thought it would be.

Rowan: Try to use some of the language we have introduced in this week’s podcast when you write your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website

Football Phrase

Rich: It’s time for this week’s football phrase. Have you got one Rowan?

Rowan: I have. This week’s football phrase is ******** *****. The phrase this week is a person whose job is to watch football matches and report back to their club. There are two types of ******** *****: one watches opponents and reports back on their tactics and so on and the other type watches individual players that the club might be interested in buying.

Jack: I used to be a ***** when I was a kid. We’d go camping and learn lots of practical skills. I think I might still have my uniform somewhere.

Rich: Let’s see if anyone gets it right and who is first this week. If you are still wondering what the answer was to last week’s football phrase it was to get off to a flier

Rowan: Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below. If you get it right, we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast. 

Jack: If you have a question for us about football or English you can email us at premierskills@britishcouncil.org

Rich: or you can leave your questions and comments on the website in the comments section or on our Facebook page.

Rowan: or you could give us a rating and a fantastic review on Apple Podcasts.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football!