English Conversation Learn English Speaking English Course English Subtitle Part 12

hello again and welcome back to english today this is DVD 12 and the fourth DVD in your lower intermediate level and in this DVD we'll begin with another two episodes of our story that's life followed by our special TV programs which include two interesting discussions one about the city of London and the other about migration then in the grammar section we will be learning more about comparative forms and we'll be studying that very important tense the present perfect about how and when to use it so have fun and there's a telegram for you Oh for me I wonder who it's from oh it's from Italy come on in tell me who it is from you know I'm dying of curiosity it's from my sister Kimberly she says she's coming to visit me but she's arriving on Thursday today is Thursday oh my god it is what Oh what now I I have to tidy up and and do the shopping and the house needs a good cleaning as well Oh slow down and calm down and we've got time so who is older you or your sister I am and I use similar or different well we're quite different she's shorter than I am and and she's got blue eyes hey what are you talking about about an sister Kimberly she's arriving this afternoon great I can't wait to meet her is she as cute as you Anna stop being silly jack you're the biggest joker I know I have to get going now remember don't leave the house in a mess is that all she thinks about when someone is coming cleaning vacuuming tidying up and dusting do you think Kimberly's worse than Anne if so we're going to have a lot of work to do that's right two sisters means twice the work hello again and welcome back for another English lesson on your live TV program now in that episode which you just saw we learned that an has a sister called Kimberly and that Anne is older than Kimberly and Kimberly is shorter than Anne and Jack asked is she as cute as Anne now those were examples of different ways of using the comparative form which is what I want to look at with you now for example look at this this is one book this is another they're not the same so we say this book is bigger than this this book is smaller than this book okay they're not the same two more examples we have two pens this costs 20 euro this costs 7 euro so when we compare them we can say this pen is more expensive than this pen and this pen is less expensive than this pen or this pen is cheaper remember adjectives with one syllable cheaper then but less expensive because it has a three syllable adjective now the next thing is what happens when objects are the same for example look at this mmm mr. elephant and look at this mmm another mr. elephant 2 elephants these are exactly the same so when we compare them we say this elephant is as big as this elephant so we say plus the adjective and then as again as big as this elephant is as heavy as this elephant so when two things are being compared and they're the same we use as as so we'll look at the screen now and we'll see that in the written form okay so we said at the beginning when something is bigger larger we say more than so London for example is more expensive than Paris and when two things are the same size like our elephants we use as as so London is as expensive as New York so these are comparatives of equality and then the other example was when one thing is smaller than the other so Paris is less than London less expensive than Paris is less expensive than London all right so three different ways of using the comparatives and you'll find that very useful when you're having conversations with your friends so remember when they're the same he is as big as he the two elephants great so enjoy your learning and I'll see you again very soon bye I am so you must be Kimberly it's a pleasure I'm Jack hello jack Anne has told me so much about you hi I'm Alice you live in Rome don't you so how is life in Bella Italy wonderful my father raised me in a man but Italy is the most fascinating country in the world as far as I'm concerned its history the art and of course the best food in the world what else could anyone ask for and of course the Italians are the most likeable people in the world you are 100% right just look at me I'm originally from Bologna which is one of the best cities in the world when it comes to eating well I know Bologna well it's a beautiful city even if I do to firown' Rome is much bigger and more exciting so how does London compare London isn't that bad apart from the weather it certainly is much colder than you need to leave and the British herb well how should I say this they're less clever than the Italians watch yourself jack watch what you're saying yes you know Kimberley and I are both British well I wore British you're right well I was talking about British men of course Kimberley this is Peter and Sharon they live in the apartment next door it's a pleasure to meet you so Kimberley and told us that you're attending art school in Rome you know I wanted to study art when I was a little girl but in the end I decided to study archaeology instead that's interesting and Peter what do you do I'm an actor and I do little singing I'm acting in a musical at the moment what a great career yes but it's certainly less stressful than Jack's line of work he works a lot harder than Peter but actually he's the hardest-working person in the house and I'm the person that has the most fun speaking of fun which shall we do this evening I would love to go out it's been so long since I last came to London well why don't we go to the cinema come on and so boring why don't we do something more exciting I don't know we could go to the pub and get something to eat and and after that why don't we go to disco wow what a surprise you two are completely different hello again and welcome back did you hear what Jack said he said the British are less clever than the Italians well I'm not sure I agree with that but anyway I want to do some revision of the comparatives and the superlatives with you now do you remember that in order to formulate the comparative and superlative you have to look closely at the adjective if the adjective is one syllable like short for example the comparative is shorter than but if the adjective is three syllables or more like beautiful or expensive we say more expensive than what happens with two syllable adjectives ending in Y like funny take off the Y in certain eye and it becomes funnier van alright so are you ready to try I will give you an adjective and you must tell me the comparative ok so cold colder than great one syllable next good good a van no no no an exception good better do you remember those exceptions very important don't forget good is an exception good better than next likable yeah likable more likable than great dirty very good dirtier than bad yes worse remember it's an exception bad worse than very good next one far it's another exception farther than okay hard harder than one syllable difficult more difficult than great now superlatives I'm going to give you an adjective and you give me the superlative so tasty it's the tastiest okay the tastiest remember we're the superlative you put the in front of it next one beautiful three syllables the yeah the most beautiful great next one good the best wonderful yes it's an exception great the best next one high the highest great noisy the noisiest bad the worst very very good and one more large the largest fantastic you see it's just practice the more you practice the more you remember the easier it is great well congratulations and I'll see you again for some more grammar in next lesson by have you finished yet Alice Naruto I haven't finished my shower could you ask Anne to come in here please she's just left a come on and pleading with you Alice I'm late okay okay I've finished calm down the bathrooms oh you're finally you've been in there for over an hour yes yes this is Jack no I haven't seen John since yesterday why the report uh yes no I haven't finished it yet but yes yes I know it's important anyway I've already started writing it yes yes I'll send it to you as soon as it's finished excuse me listen I'll call you later okay Alice if you don't open this door I'm going to knock it down actually it's Kimberly I've just come in is everything okay Jack yes no I I've been waiting to use the bathroom for over an hour that I must get to the office okay Jack it's all yours I'll use the bathroom later thanks Kimberly that's very kind of you sorry hey Jack have you seen my watch I've probably left it in there here you go have you forgotten anything else oh we're rather nervous today aren't we bye I have to get going hey Jack wait duck your mobile oh he's already gone so what are you doing today Kimberly have you ever been to Portobello market no I've never been there would you like to come along and browse around the stand oh yes it's been months since I last visited a flea market well Jack is becoming more and more Italian don't you think now in that last episode our friends were using a new tents which we haven't yet studied together and I want to look at now let me give you some examples of what they said Alice said I haven't finished my shower Jack said she's just left he also said you've been in there for more than an hour Alice asked have you seen my watch and then Alice also asked Kimberly have you ever been to Portobello market and Kimberly said no I've never been there now these are all examples of the present perfect tense very important tense in English which I want to look at with you now at the moment we want to look just at the construction of the present perfect now as from the examples you heard I was using the auxiliary have and has followed by what we call the past participle now let me just explain the past participle let's take some regular verbs live the past tense of live is lived the past participle is also lived so in the verb paradigm it's live lived lived and that's the same for all regular verbs so that's easy watch watched watched start started started so the third column is our past participle now things change in the in regular verbs let's look an example go the past tense of go is went and the past participle is gone go went gone you see it changes another example begin past tense began and then begun the past participle fly flew flown past participial now here like the past tense you have to memorize them by heart that's the only way so in the verb paradigm you need the third column in order to construct the present perfect tense let's look at some positive sentences I've paid now we contract I have into I've as we always do in English I've paid pay paid paid you've forgotten you will you have forgotten forget forgot forgotten she's left she has left be careful because you see the abbreviation is she's it's not the verb is it's has she's left leave left left okay he's arrived it's finished contraction always we've won win won one you've understood understand understood understood and they've changed negative form is easy the auxilary goes into the negative haven't or hasn't look at the examples I haven't found it and he hasn't seen neat seesaw seen past participle okay question form you invert the auxiliary the subject as always so have you eaten eat ate eaten and has she moved okay so these are the examples of how you formulate the present perfect now in the next lesson we're going to look at when we use the present perfect which is a little bit more tricky but now let's go back and see what's happening to our friends Jack arrives home and he's very tired let's go and join them bye what's the matter well you look awful I'm a wreck and I've lost my mobile no Alice told me you forgot it when you left the apartment this morning that's where it is I've looked everywhere I must admit I've been a little distracted lately I guess I need some rest you know I haven't had a holiday since they transferred me to London okay well relax a little now Kimberly is showing me some photos of a party they had at university last month I've never seen such funny photos hey this is a picture of the Faculty of economics I've been there for a seminar really when did you attend that well I was only there for four days but it was really interesting hey guys I've just got off the phone to Peter and he wants to know if they can come over in a bit he wants us to convince Sharon to move to Japan with him she hasn't decided yet wants to go to Japan it's a great country have you ever been there no to tell you the truth I'm not really interested in going why do you say that Jack you're right Kimberly Japan is a fascinating country I haven't been since 1995 who knows what has changed since then do you mind if I go to my room today was awful I'm dead tired and I haven't had anything to eat please tell Sharon and Peter please give Shannon Peter my regards I'm really not going to check this evening jack I haven't had anything to eat yet that's just an excuse but it's interesting for us because he used the present perfect with yet I haven't had anything to eat yet and in this lesson I want to help you understand when we use the present perfect okay now remember when we studied the past tense I gave you an acronym this oil way on in last when ago yesterday because we use the simple past with definite time in the past well I have another acronym for you to help you with the present perfect and here it is Jeannie now these represent time words which are indefinite they describe indefinite time so can you guess what they are jay-j is just I have just seen him means like two seconds ago just now recently just this one here England used in questions it's ever okay so have you ever been to England ever means some time in your life alright so ever next one a I've already seen it already means something that you have done it's something that is finished in the past I've already seen it okay this one here is the opposite of this ever never good I have never been to England just ever already never and this one that's what Jack said I haven't eaten yet yet means an action which hasn't been completed so yet I want to look at these on the screen with you now and see where we put them in the sentence cuz that's important just ever already never yet there they are you see them written just ever already never yet so they are indefinite time words look at them in the sentence I've just come do you notice where it is it's before the past participle after the auxilary before the past participle I've just come second example have you ever been there ever is before the past participle great he's already gone it's before the past participle and I've never seen them before the past participle seen so just ever already never are before the past to subpool look at the last one I haven't finished yet notice that yet is the exception and it comes after the past participle so you need to remember that yet is the exception alright so try and learn this just ever already never yet when you're in the bath just repeat it just ever already never yet present perfect all right it will really help you when you're in conversation and don't worry we haven't finished with the present perfect we will be saying other things about it in the future so happy memorizing and I'll see you again soon bye hello and welcome to this week's edition of let's talk the discussion program with our commentators Tom and Marie good evening everyone good evening Oh Tom you went to London last week didn't you you told me you had a meeting with an important businessman yes I did I interviewed the chief executive of a major UK financial group he works in the city so you visited the heart of international high finance interesting yes it was interesting actually you know the city is very small but very important in the world of finance I mean did you know that the City of London that's its full name is just one square mile or two point six kilometers and that only 7,000 people live there really so few people yes only 7,000 people live there but more than 320,000 people a day commute into the city to work there Wow a third of a million commuters every day can we explain to our viewers just why this part of London is so important of course the city is a global financial center with hundreds of banks financial exchanges insurance companies and investment companies you know there are more than 500 companies in the city that's right and it also has several important commodity markets the city is the place to buy commodities such as oil gold and silver in the city people carry out all kinds of financial transactions they borrow money save money invest money buy and sell commodities buy and sell insurance for all kinds of things from oil tankers to skyscrapers exactly Marie together with Tokyo and New York the city is one of the world's most important financial centres is situated between the time zones of Asia and America in fact offices in the city don't have just one clock they have at least four with clock showing the time for Tokyo Zurich and New York so the city is open for business 24 hours a day well do only people from the world of finance work there oh no lots of other highly skilled people work there for example many lawyers accountants and computer experts work there they help the banks and insurance companies to work smoothly it's worth remembering too that the city is a beautiful place to visit it can be ultra-modern and medieval at the same time there are some beautiful old buildings especially the churches and some innovative new buildings such as the Lloyds insurance building and the Swiss rebuilding or the Gherkin as it's now known but remember don't visit the city at weekends there's nobody there and most of the shops and pubs are closed oh thank you for that tip well the city is the financial heart of the UK perhaps of Europe but it is also an interesting place to visit with many interesting buildings thanks to our commentators goodbye goodbye goodbye everyone and see you again soon for our next interesting appointment with let's talk so the City of London is the financial heart of the UK the heart of international high finance we say a thing or a place is the heart of something we mean it is the center well the City of London is very important 320,000 people commute every day to work there to commute means to travel regularly from work to home to work usually the distance is quite far a person who does this is called a commuter the city is important because it's full of financial institutions for example insurance companies these are companies that insure people or property this means they guarantee against loss or damage now most people have car insurance you pay your car insurance every year and if you have an accident your insurance company pays for the damages hopefully going back to the city there are investment companies companies that buy shares of other companies to make a profit and there are several commodity markets several is more than two but not many a commodity is a product that you can buy and sell in large quantities coffee oil gold are all commodities the place where you buy and sell commodities is called a commodity market and of course there are lots of banks in the city a bank is an institution that carries out financial transactions to carry out means to do financial transactions are the things you do with money some examples are you can borrow money to borrow means to take and then to give back later you can save money to save means to keep secure the bank keeps the money for you you can invest money to invest means to buy something or put your money into a company to have a financial return people invest money to make more money see you again soon good evening to all viewers and welcome to this week's edition of let's talk our discussion program with our expert commentators Tom and Marie good evening Garrick good evening well according to the data from the latest European conference on migration the number of migrants arriving in Europe has increased enormously over the last five years EU politicians are divided on this issue some of them believe that migration is a bad thing and causes lots of problems on the other hand other politicians maintain that migrants contribute to the developing of the economy could I ask what you think about these issues well in my opinion my grits don't help our economy on the contrary they take jobs from local people and push down pay rates for both unskilled and skilled workers in fact migrants are often paid less than the legal minimum wage I'm afraid I don't agree with you Murray many employers use immigration to plug labour shortages for example in agriculture farmers employ thousands of Eastern European workers to pick their crops as they can't find local workers to do the work oh that's true in addition there are low birth rates in most European countries particularly in Spain and Italy the economies of these countries need more workers especially for difficult jobs that local people don't want to do exactly and it's important to remember that migrant workers contribute to the economy because they pay taxes well this only happens if migrant works legally unfortunately many migrants come into Europe illegally you're right Eric they come in illegally and they often form an underclass that doesn't have access to health care and education that's why they sometimes get involved in criminal activities I think some immigration is okay especially if the immigrants are asylum seekers or refugees who can't return to their home countries apart from this I think European governments should put a stop to immigration how do you suggest they do this well the EU should do more to help develop the economies of north and west africa this would help economic migrants migrants who come to Europe to work to stay at home find a job and develop their local economies come on Marie today the world is a global village people have always moved around the world don't forget for example the millions of Europeans who migrated to North America at the beginning of the last century they experienced the same problems that the Africans are experiencing today that's right Tom migration is as old as the human race people have always moved to where it is possible to make a living maybe we should get used to the ideas that our society is becoming more and more multiracial ok this discussion has been very interesting but unfortunately it is time to say goodbye to Tom and Marie goodbye Eric goodbye goodbye goodbye and see you again soon for our next installment of let's talk first of all got the difference between migration and immigration migration is the movement of people from one country to another a migrant is a traveller who moves from one country to another there are two kinds of migrants economic migrants who come from poor countries and look for work in Europe and asylum seekers and refugees people who must leave their home country because their lives are in danger their immigration is the migration of people into a country to live there so an immigrant is a person who goes to a foreign country to live there data shows that the number of migrants coming to Europe is increasing data is another word for information usually numbers well there are divided opinions in the EU the EU stands for the European Union some EU politicians think it's a good thing because migrants contribute to the development of European economies this means they help the economy to grow how do they contribute they pay taxes tax is the money we pay from our salaries to the government and employers these are the people who give jobs to other people use migrants to plug labour shortages this means they give jobs to the migrants because there are no local people to do the work other EU politicians think immigration is a bad thing because migrants push down pay rates this means they reduce the amount of money that people are paid how do they push down pay rates they are often paid less than the legal minimum wage this is the lowest legal salary a person can receive some migrants work illegally illegally means against the law migrants who pay taxes work legally legally means following the I'm afraid I have to say goodbye now I'll see you next time for another discussion on let's talk

Channel: Learn English Conversation

Views: 352,508

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Id: BdFt6vt7lwo

Length: 40min 23sec (2423 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 12 2014