Episode 0012

Hello everyone and welcome back to English Pod.

My name is Marco.

I'm Erica.

And today we have a great intermediate lesson for you.

That's right, we've got some excellent real English for you all about cleaning the house.

Cleaning the house. That's a real-life situation, so we're gonna give you real English.

Exactly.

So in today's lesson, we're gonna look at language about cleaning the house. We're also going to learn a few phrases that you can use if you want to ask someone for help. And maybe if you're a little bit lazy like me, a phrase or two to avoid doing work.

Okay, well, let's get started then with our vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview.

All right, great. We have two great words for you today. Erica, why don't you tell us the first one?

The first word is such a mess.

Such a mess.

Such a mess.

So when something is a mess,

It's dirty.

Yeah, or things are everywhere.

Disorganized.

Yeah, so, you know, you have your clothes on the floor and your shoes on

Okay, such a mess. Really, really dirty.

Okay. Now let's take a look at our second word, chores.

Chores.

Chores.

Chores.

Chores is a really common word for

Things you have to do around the house.

Like for example, laundry,

Or making the bed,

Or when you have to take out the garbage.

Those are all examples of chores.

Chores. Yeah. I guess everyone can remember when they were kids, they had chores to do.

Yeah, when I was a kid, it was my chore to chop wood.

Yeah.

All right, so let's listen to our dialogue for the first time. It's gonna be kind of fast.

But don't worry if you miss something because we'll explain all of the important language afterwards.

My boss and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be spotless.

I'm in the middle of something right now. I'll be there in a second.

All right, all right. I'm coming.

Okay. Here's a list of chores we need to get done. I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries for tonight. You can sweep and mop the floors. Oh, and the furniture needs to be dusted.

You know what? I have to pick something up in the mall. So, why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries.

Sure, that's fine. Here's the list of all the things you need to get.

Don't forget anything, and can you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home?

Great. Can you set the table?

Just a sec. I'm just gonna vacuum this rug real fast.

Oh my God, Marco, what happened there?

An explosion.

Okay.

So let's take a look at our language takeaway.

Language takeaway.

So language takeaway is the part of our lesson where we teach you what we think are some really important words that are found in the dialogue.

Exactly, and we have three really important words in our dialogue today. So, let's start with the first one.

Tidy up.

Tidy up.

Tidy up.

So, to tidy up means to

Put things in their correct spot.

Exactly, so tidy up, organize things a little bit.

Yeah, put things away.

Okay, let's take a look at our second word now, spotless.

Spotless.

Spotless.

Spotless.

So when you want something to be spotless,

You want it to be really clean.

Really clean. Not a spot of dirt on it.

All right, great word. Now, let's take a look at our last word for language takeaway, mall.

Mall.

Mall.

M A L L, mall.

Mall, yeah. It's a strange sounding word.

It is a little bit funny sounding, but it basically means a large building with many shops inside, many different stores inside.

Right. Now in British English, you would say shopping center.

Yeah, I think that's a little bit more common, but in American English we say mall.

Great, so now it's time in our show to look at putting it together.

Putting it together.

Okay, so in putting it together, we take a word from the dialogue and we show you how to use this word in real English. So we give you a couple of examples of how this particular word can be used.

Exactly. So the word that we have for today is groceries.

Groceries.

Groceries.

Groceries.

Erica, why don't you tell us what groceries are all about?

So groceries are all of the food items that you need to buy at the supermarket. So like your bread and milk and meat and

Vegetables.

Exactly, those are all groceries.

Okay, so let's listen to some examples on how we use this phrase.

Example one.

There's no milk. Can you go to the grocery store?

Example two.

Example three.

I hate grocery shopping. I can never find what I'm looking for.

Okay, great examples. We heard some really interesting combinations, right?

Yeah, we heard grocery store.

Which is where you buy your groceries.

Exactly. Grocery shopping.

And grocery list.

Um, where you have all the items that you need to buy.

A list of everything you need to buy.

Exactly.

You know, grocery store. I think this is quite a common word in Canada.

Probably North America.

Yeah. Do you say grocery store in America?

Well, if it's a small one.

Really? So.

Like a small store.

In Canada, I say grocery store for even like a supermarket.

Really?

Yeah. I guess, well, I would say supermarket for a large one and grocery store for a little corner shop.

Okay, I think it's time for us to listen to our dialogue another time. This time it'll be a little bit slower.

My boss and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be spotless.

I'm in the middle of something right now. I'll be there in a second.

All right, all right. I'm coming.

Okay, here's a list of chores we need to get done. I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries for tonight. You can sweep and mop the floors. Oh, and the furniture needs to be dusted.

You know what? I have to pick something up at the mall. So, why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries.

Sure, that's fine. Here's the list of all the things you need to get. Don't forget anything. And can you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home?

Great. Can you set the table?

Just a sec. I'm just gonna vacuum this rug real fast.

Exactly, so it's time now for Fluency Builder.

Fluency Builder.

You know, Fluency Builder is a part of our show that we use to take a common phrase or a word that you already know and show you how to express that idea more fluently and more naturally.

Exactly, so let's take a look at our first idea that we want to explain.

Let's say you're watching TV, like the woman in this dialogue, and your husband wants you to help him do the chores.

And you say, 'No, I'm busy.'

Right, or I'm doing something.

Those are two great expressions, but we heard something a little bit different in the dialogue.

I'm in the middle of something right now.

Yeah, that phrase is great. It means she's busy. She's doing something.

Yeah, I'm in the middle of something.

Yeah.

And so, Marco, you can tell us about our next phrase.

Okay, well, now suppose that you want to say you'll be there soon.

You might say I'll be there soon or

I'm coming.

Exactly. But in our dialogue, we heard something a little bit different. Let's listen.

I'll be there in a second.

So this is a more natural way of saying I'll be there very soon.

Yeah, you know what, I think I use this phrase almost every day, 'I'll be there in a second.'

Yeah, yeah. It's really common.

Yeah, it means I'll be there really fast.

Yes.

Okay, so our final item today in Fluency Builder. Um, is a great phrase that helps you say the idea, could you or would you?

Right, or can you?

Yeah, so, can you sweep the floor? Could you sweep the floor?

But in the dialogue, we heard something that's a little bit different.

Why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket.

Great, so this is more natural and it's giving a suggestion.

Yeah, it's sort of a polite way of asking someone to clean the floors.

Right. It's a really good and polite way of saying it. Yeah, I would agree on that.

This was Fluency Builder. Now we are ready to listen to our dialogue again at its normal speed.

My boss and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be spotless.

I'm in the middle of something right now. I'll be there in a second.

All right, all right. I'm coming.

Okay, here's a list of chores we need to get done. I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries for tonight. You can sweep and mop the floors. Oh, and the furniture needs to be dusted.

You know what? I have to pick something up in the mall. So, why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries.

Sure, that's fine. Here's the list of all the things you need to get. Don't forget anything, and can you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home?

Great. Can you set the table?

Just a sec. I'm just gonna vacuum this rug real fast.

Well, not a big explosion like this one.

Not so dramatically.

Yeah, not so dramatically. But I've had this happen to me before, yeah, and dust everywhere and it's just, it's a mess, you don't want to happen.

You know, this word vacuum, um, is really a very American word.

Yeah, vacuum, vacuum the rug, vacuum the carpet.

Yeah, vacuum cleaner. In the UK, what do they say?

Hoover.

Hoover.

Yeah, Hoover.

Hoover the rug.

Hoover the rug. Which is interesting because it's actually a brand.

Yeah.

So, I guess it's kind of like American English, you say, 'Pass me a Kleenex.'

Oh, that's true.

That would be like a tissue.

Yeah.

So, I guess they say Hoover the rug or Hoover the house. Yeah.

Yeah, it's it's fun. Okay. Well, another interesting thing about this is that the man was doing the housework.

I know.

He's a house husband.

Yeah, so he's the one doing all the chores in the house.

Yeah, that's, well, that's the new trend now. Now it's more popular for men to stay home and take care of the babies and clean the house.

Yeah, like when I was growing up, my dad would take out the garbage and that was it.

My mom had to do everything else. But now I think it's becoming a lot more common in especially in North America for the household chores to be divided between the man and the wife equally.

Yeah, I think it's fair.

All right. Well, we're out of time, folks. Be sure to log on to our community website and you can leave all your comments. And maybe other house husbands out there can give us their feedback on what they think about this.

Yeah, so check us out at EnglishPod.com. And thanks for listening today, everyone. Until next time, this is Marco and Erica saying, goodbye.

Bye.

The English Pod Audio Review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Very dirty, disordered.

Such a mess.

Put things in place, organize.

Tidy up.

Perfectly clean.

Spotless.

Busy doing something at the moment.

In the middle of something.

Common house tasks.

Chores.

Food that you buy at a store.

Groceries.

Careful, thorough house cleaning usually done in the spring.

Perfectly clean, having no dirt at all.

Immaculate.

Wash the dirty clothes.

Do the laundry.

Soap used to wash plates, knives, forks, bowls, etcetera.

Dish detergent.

Garbage, American English.

Trash.

Garbage, British English.

Rubbish.

Let's try that faster.

Perfectly clean.

Spotless.

Careful, thorough house cleaning usually done in the spring.

Put things in place, organize.

Tidy up.

Garbage, British English.

Rubbish.

Common house tasks.

Chores.

Soap used to wash plates, knives, forks, bowls, etcetera.

Dish detergent.

Perfectly clean, having no dirt at all.

Immaculate.

Garbage, American English.

Trash.

Wash the dirty clothes.

Do the laundry.

Very dirty, disordered.

Such a mess.

Food that you buy at a store.

Groceries.

Busy doing something at the moment.

In the middle of something.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Such a mess.

Your room is such a mess. You need to clean it.

Such a mess.

The garage is such a mess. I can't find anything in here.

Such a mess.

When you cook, you always make such a mess.

Tidy up.

I want to tidy up my closet today because my clothes are all over the floor.

Tidy up.

Since I cooked dinner tonight, you can tidy up the kitchen.

Tidy up.

If you want to go outside and play, you need to tidy up your room.

Tidy up.

Every morning, I tidy up my room before leaving for work.

Spotless.

I spent all morning cleaning my car, so now it's spotless.

Spotless.

You did a great job cleaning the kitchen. It's spotless.

Spotless.

We need to make sure that the house is spotless before the guests arrive.

In the middle of something.

I'm in the middle of something right now, so I'll call you back in 10 minutes.

In the middle of something.

I can't go to lunch now. I'm in the middle of something really important.

In the middle of something.

I hate it when people interrupt me when I'm in the middle of something.

Chores.

When I was younger, I used to help my mother with the daily chores.

Chores.

I wish I could go with you guys, but I have to finish my chores.

Chores.

I hate doing chores, especially washing the dishes.

Groceries.

We need to go buy some groceries for this week.

Groceries.

I forgot the grocery list at home, but don't worry. I remember everything that was on it.

Groceries.

Don't forget to buy some milk from the grocery store on your way home.