Elementary podcasts -> Podcast 03 Home -> Our person in ...
This page has the online practice materials for:
LearnEnglish Elementary Podcast Magazine No. 03
Section 4 -Our Person in...
You can listen online or download the podcast at Podcast 03 Home
You can also get print versions of the practice materials below in our Download Podcast 03 Support Pack (pdf file - 454 KB)
Need help?
This section begins when the counter on your audio player is on (approximately) 09.00
Section 4 is based on 'Our Person in...'. It helps you to listen to other people speaking for a little longer than they speak in a conversation, like a radio or television news report. When people prepare written reports, they are often a little more formal, and use more complex words and structures.
Suggestion: The notes here are to help you to think of things to say, and the best order to say them. Make notes and then join these together to make a paragraph. Why not send it to us?*
You listened to Bob talking about the vuvuzuela – a strange musical instrument that people play at football matches in South Africa.
Think about a sport or sports event in your country – any kind of sport. Is there anything that you think makes it different from sports or sports events in other countries?
Think about:
What kind of sport is it?
Does it happen in a stadium? a sports hall? in the street?
How often does it happen?
Do people sing songs or do anything unusual?
What do people eat and drink?
Do you take part?
Now put your ideas together to write a paragraph about sports event and what makes it unusual. Go to the bottom of the page to do this.
Transcript
Tess: The next part of the podcast is called ‘Our person in’. Every week we listen to people in interesting places all over the world tell us something about life in the country they’re in. Today it’s Bob Harrison’s turn. Bob lives in South Africa and he’s going to tell us about a very unusual musical instrument. Bob is ‘Our Man in South Africa’.
Bob: If you’re a football fan you’ll know that the World Cup in 2010 will take place here in South Africa. When the famous names and the big stars walk out into the stadiums in 2010 they will hear a sound they’ve never heard before – the ‘vuvuzela’.
The ‘vuvuzela’ is almost a musical instrument – but not quite – and you hear it at every football match in South Africa. It’s about a metre long and it sounds a bit like an angry elephant. When you hear a stadium full of fans blowing their ‘vuvuzelas’ the sound is something you’ll never forget.
Football is very popular in South Africa. The stadiums fill up early with fans – especially when the South African national team – called the ‘Bafana Bafana’ by their fans – are playing. The smell of food is everywhere – barbecued chicken or beef are very popular choices for football matches. And everywhere the sound of ‘vuvuzelas’.
Not everyone loves this strange music. Some fans say they’ve stopped going to matches because the noise is so awful and so, well, noisy. But as for me, well, I like it. I think it makes football matches in South Africa different from anywhere else in the world. The only thing is – I can’t play the ‘vuvuzela’! When I blow it doesn’t sound like an angry elephant so much as a bored bee. I need to practise before 2010!
Next:
Continue to: Practice materials: Section 5: Your turn
Return to: Elementary Podcast 03 Home Page
top
| 
