This is an entry in the series on role models and mentors. It will be a week of talking about the people we respect and admire! This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

We’re talking this week about the people who inspire us. And, a little bit, we’re talking about reaching our goals. These are both things that we can say using the verb ‘to look.’

That’s right, today we’re going to talk about two phrasal verbs starting with ‘look.’

Before You Listen to the Recording
Are there any role models in your life? What about people who you really respect? Even if it’s a person you don’t know, think of some people who inspire you: from Michael Jordan to Lance Armstrong, from your parents to your English teacher. . . it can be anyone you want. Remember the names that you think of.

Now, think of some goals in your life: anything you’re waiting for. For me, it’s becoming a father. For you it might be speaking perfect English, or getting a better job. Remember this, too.

Now start the recording.

After You’ve Listened to the Recording
How will you use these phrasal verbs? Who are the people you look up to? What are the events that you’re looking forward to?

I’m interested to hear about it!

Vocabulary

Look up to: Children, normally, are smaller than their parents. And so, when they look at their parents, they’re looking up. We use the same idea of ‘looking up’ to describe someone who we really respect, like children respect their parents. I look up to Lance Armstrong for all the things he’s had to overcome. A person you look up to is a person who inspires you, a person you’d like to emulate.

Look forward to: Imagine a child a day or two before Christmas. All he can think about—or talk about—is Christmas. It’s like every cell in his body is waiting for Christmas to finally come! He is looking forward to Christmas. To ‘look forward to’ something means to be waiting for it. . . but in a very positive way. It’s almost like saying “I can’t wait for. . .”

This is an entry in the “Automotive English” series. You can find more there. You might want to also visit the first lesson on car vocabulary here. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

I promise you that next week we will not talk about the verb get. This week—today—though, we’re still talking about get. We’re talking about one more meaning that the verb can have. . . and it’s a very different meaning from the ones we’ve covered so far. We’re talking about when other people do work for you! That’s always good, right?

Before You Listen to the Recording
Think of all the maintenance you have to do for your car. How many of the things do you do yourself? Are there any things that a mechanic does for you? Do you have the vocabulary in English to describe all of these things? (If not, post a comment and I’ll be glad to help you.)

When you’ve thought about it, start the recording.

After You Listen to the Recording
How much of your car maintenance do you do yourself? And how much do you get done? Can you change the oil yourself, or do you get your oil changed? (Changing the oil is the one thing I wanted to learn to do in the U.S., and I never did. In Germany, you have to get a mechanic to change your oil.)

What other things can you think of that you get done?

This is an entry in the “Insurance English” series. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

Insurance is all about preparing for the worst: you have insurance in case something happens that you can’t deal with on your own. Or, in other words, you buy insurance to get ready for the worst-case scenario. (That’s from part one of the guide to get verbs. It never hurts to review, does it?) But, there are even more things that you can say with ‘get,’ and some of them are important when we talk about insurance.

Before You Listen to the Recording
Can you remember the different ways we’ve used the verb ‘get’ so far? Today we’re going to add two more get-phrases with the same meaning: we’re going to call our insurance companies! After all, when you need to use your insurance—when you need it to pay for something for you—the first thing you have to do is call your insurance company. Can you think of a way to say this with the verb ‘get’?

Start the recording now.

After You Listen to the Recording
Alright! ‘Get in touch’ and ‘get in contact with. . .’ are phrases you can use in a lot of different contexts. How would you use these phrases? Who did you get in touch with last? Who got in contact with you last? Is there someone you need to get back to?

Vocabulary

Get in touch: To ‘get in touch‘ means to contact some way. It can be a phone call, an email, or a visit. The phrase ‘get in touch’ is more casual than the phrase ‘get in contact,’ but they mean the same thing.

Get in contact: To ‘get in contact’ is a more formal phrase meaning the same thing as to get in touch. The important thing to remember is that any form of contact counts: it can be any kind of contact: email, telephone. It can even be smoke signals, if you think they will work for you!

Get back to: Often, my students have difficulty with this one. To ‘get back to‘ someone is a phrase meaning ‘to return contact’ or ‘to contact back.’ A good example is voice-mail. If you call someone and have to leave a message on their voice-mail, you might want to tell them to get back to you. It’s similar to ‘call me back,’ except that, like the other phrases, it include possibilities like email, and a meeting in your office.

This is an entry in the “Schedule English” series. There will be more about schedules all week! This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

Last week, we started talking about the things you can say with the verb ‘get.’ A lot of English learners are surprised at how many different uses the word has. My guess is that it’s the second most useful verb after ‘do.’

Today, we’re not going to be able to cover the rest of the uses of get. But we are going to be able to talk about two more meanings.

Before You Listen to the Recording
If you have a meeting with a customer who lives an hour away, can you schedule a meeting in your office for nine in the morning? I don’t know about you, but I can’t. If you have five emails to write on your to-do list, how long will you need before you start working on item number five?

They might seem like crazy questions, but if they sound like something you might need to talk about, then it’s time for you to learn to use ‘get’ with ‘to.’ (Yes, I could have called this ‘part to’ of the get verbs.)

Start the recording now.

After You’ve Listened to the Recording
Okay. Look back at the questions in the first paragraph under ‘Before You Listen. . .’ How would you ask those questions using ‘get to?’ How do you get to work? How often do you get to practicing your English each week? How did you get to school when you went?

How many questions—and answers—can you think of for your life using these two meanings of ‘get to?’

This is an entry in our “Economy” series. We’ll be talking economics all week! This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

The odds are, you know how to use modal verbs to describe what’s possible and what’s a good idea. (I hope you can—we talked about it just last week!) And that is how we use modal verbs most often. But there’s another way we use modal verbs: to talk about the future.

This week is a good time to talk about the future meaning of modal verbs, because talking about the economy often turns into talking about the future. Today, I’m going to help you describe what’s possible in the future, as well as what’s probable and what’s expected.

Before You Listen to the Recording
You might want to review the last grammar lesson we had on the modal verbs before we start. Can you use ‘can,’ ‘may,’ ’should,’ ‘ought to,’ or ‘must’ in a sentence? Those are the words we’re going to be learning, but we’ll be learning second meanings for all of them, so make sure you know the first meaning, already!

Something else you’ll want is to know the meanings of the words ‘possible,’ ‘probable,’ and ‘expected.’ If you know them, you’re ready to go. If you don’t, here are some fast definitions:

‘Possible’ means that a thing can happen. Not that it will, and not that it’s a good idea, it just means it can happen. It’s possible for me to give you all my money. But it won’t happen.

‘Probable’ means that the chance of a thing happening is more than 50%. If I roll two dice, it’s probably that they won’t both be sixes.

And the last word, expected, means that I think something will happen. If I turn the light switch, it’s expected that the lights will come on. It’s possible that I have no electricity, or the lights are broken, so ‘expected’ doesn’t mean something will happen. Only what I think will happen.

Start the recording now.

After You’ve Listened to the Recording
Okay. I hope I explained everything well. Is it all clear?

Do you think often about the future? Are you worried about what can happen? What do you think may happen? What do you think should happen?

Do you think about the economy much? What do you think the governments of the world should do? What ought to happen if the governments do what they should? (That’s a pretty tricky question!) How would you use these words in a sentence?

This is an entry in the “Hometown English” series. There will be more information on cities and describing cities all week. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

Today we’re going to talk about a bit of grammar that will be useful when you tell people about the possibilities in your hometown. But, the modal verbs—today’s grammar—are something you can use when you talk about any topic.

Before You Listen to the Recording
It’s possible that you think you know the modal verbs—and it’s possible that you do know them—but many of my students have trouble with ‘have to’ and ‘must.’ They’re surprised when I tell them that the way they use them—the way they’re used in German—isn’t the way we use them in English. So, when you listen to the recording, it’s important to pay attention to what an English speaker understands when he hears one of these words. Don’t just think about how the word is normally translated into your own language.

If you like to take notes while you listen, here are the Number modal verbs we’re going to be talking about today:

• Can

• May

• Should

• Have to

• Must

After You’ve Heard the Recording
First, did everything you heard about the modal verbs match what you thought you knew? Were you surprised? Many of my students are surprised that we almost never say ‘must’ in American English. The German equivalent—that is, the word that is translated from ‘must’ in German—is used much more often.

Can you use each of these words in talking about your hometown? What is it possible to do there? What is possible that I might want to do there? What do you think are good ideas? Or bad ideas? Is there anything in your hometown that a tourist ‘has to’ visit?

Let us know! I’m ready to hear about it!

This is an entry in the “Public Transportation” series. You can find more information at the series’ main page. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercise. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

I like public transportation because it’s more passive than driving the car. I can read a book while I ride into work, and I can relax after a long day’s work as I come home. But riding the tram isn’t completely passive, there are many things I do connected to using public transportation, and today we’re going to focus on learning the English verbs associated with these actions.

Before You Start The Recording
You’re going to hear me describe several verbs that we use in conjunction with public transportation. Think for a moment about what you think they might be. If you can’t think of English verbs, think in your own language about the verbs you use in public transportation. Start the recording now. The following is a list of the verbs I will be talking about.

• Drive

• Ride

• Get on

• Get off

• Change

• Show

After the Recording
How clear is the difference between ‘ride’ and ‘drive’ now? Where do you get on your public transportation? Where do you get off? How often do you have to change before you get to work?

Vocabulary

Drive: To ‘drive‘ a car, bus or tram means to ‘controll’ the car, bus, or tram. That means that, if you can’t make the bus go faster or slower, you aren’t driving it. When you talk about public transportation, you’ll want to use the verbs ‘ride’ and ‘take.’

Ride: To ‘ride‘ a car, bus, or tram means to be a passenger on the car, bus, or tram. If you can’t control how fast the tram is going—or where it stops—then you’re riding the tram. This is the verb we use the most with public transportation.

Get on: I’m lucky to have a tram that stops in front of my apartment. The tram can’t take me to work, though, unless I’m inside of it. When I go from the outside of the tram to the inside, I get on the tram.

Get off: Once, when I was coming home from work, I read my book and the tram and forgot that I had to leave the tram! The tram went past my house and I was still reading. I forgot to get off the tram, because my book was so good! That meant I had to get on another tram and ride it back to my apartment. I felt a little stupid telling the story to my wife.

Change: Two different trams stop near my apartment. But those two trams can’t go everywhere in the city. If I want to go to Ikea, for example, I have to take one tram into the city, get off that tram and get on another. I change trams in order to get into a tram that goes to Ikea.

Show: When the controller on the tram wants to see my ticket, I have to hold it so that he can see it. I show him the ticket. You can also show your friends photos, or papers, or even your apartment. If you help someone to see something, you ’show’ it to them.

This is an entry in the A Good Fit series. You can find more information at the series’ main page. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

I think that every English teacher has a few mistakes that they really hate to hear. We call them ‘pet peeves‘ in English—it’s a word meaning the things we seem to love hating—and today we’re going to talk about one of my pet peeves: the words for, since, and ago.

I should say that I teach in Germany. And the word for ’since’ and ‘ago’ is the same in German, so my students confuse the English words often. So, this is one of the topics that I’m really crazy about in English lessons!

Before Listening to the Recording
Think about your best friend. When did you meet him or her? How long have your been friends? Now think about the time you were in school. How many years were you in school? Are you in school now? When was this?

When you have the answers to these questions—at least in your native language—start the recording.

After the Recording
Okay. Let’s review the questions we had before the recording. Are you ready to say in English when you met your best friend? How long have you been friends? When were you in school? How many years were you in school?

How many other examples can you think of to use ‘for,’ ’since,’ and ‘ago?’

This is an entry in the A Good Fit series. You can find more information at the series’ main page. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

When you learn English as an American—I mean, when you grow up speaking English—you learn complicated English just as fast as you learn complicated thinking. But, when you learn English as an adult, you have many complicated thoughts that are difficult to express in English.

My advice is to practice explaining complicated ideas in short sentences. This is an important skill in any language, but if you speak to someone who speaks only a little English, you will still want to communicate. Even as your own English improves, you’ll want to be able to speak to people who only speak a little.

And, of course, you’ll want to learn how to join or combine simple ideas into more complicated ideas. Today we’re going to talk about some words you can use to show the contrast between two ideas. We’ll discuss the words ‘although‘ and ‘considering.’

Before Your Listen To the Recording
Think about the things in your life that don’t match. (You should know the word ‘match,’ that was yesterday’s vocabulary.) Maybe you don’t like English, but you’re learning it. (For work, I guess.) Or, a big contrast in my life is that I hate the cold, but I live in Germany, where there are very cold winters! You don’t have to write your list of contrasts down, but don’t forget them.

Listen to the recording now.

After You’ve Listened To the Recording
Okay. You know how to use the word ‘and,’ right? You knew that already. And the word ‘but’ should have been review, too. But had you heard the words ‘although’ and ‘considering’ before?

Now that you know the words ‘although’ and ‘considering,’ can you use them to express the ideas from before you listened? My examples could be “Although I don’t like English, I have to learn it.” And “Considering I don’t like the cold, it’s a little bit strange that I live in Germany where the winter is so cold.”

If you post your examples as comments here at Bite Sized English, I’ll be happy to correct them for you.

Vocabulary

Contrast: One thing I really hate on the Internet is when people make web pages with bad colors. If they make the letters on their page yellow, and the background white, I can’t read anything! The colors aren’t different enough for me to read. Or, there isn’t enough contrast. Contrast is a word meaning ‘difference you can see easily.’ There’s a lot of contrast between me and my sister—I’m a man and she’s a woman—but there isn’t much contrast between my brother and I: some people can’t tell us apart. (I say I’m the good-looking one!)

Although: We use the word ‘although’ to show contrast. I can say ‘Although I’m not very talented, I like to play the piano.’ That means: I think there’s a contrast between having no talent and liking to play. Normally, we use the word although in front of a general statement, and have a more specific example of a contrast. “Although the weather in Dresden can be bad, tourists love it here.” The general statement is that the weather can be bad, and the specific contrast is that tourists love the city.

Considering: When you think about it the fact that my father is a math teacher, it’s hard to believe I’m can’t do any math. It’s true, but it’s also a very long sentence. We can skip the first part by using the word ‘considering.‘ I can say “Considering my father is a math teacher, it’s hard to believe that I can’t do any math.” The meaning is the same. The word ‘considering‘ doesn’t have to be used for contrast. It can be used to show any connection: “Considering there was a piano in my parents’ house when I was a boy, it’s no surprise that I like piano music.”

This is the first entry in the Vocabulary for Job Interviews series. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

I think that what you learn in school—and from your English teacher—is valuable. But it’s not the most important thing. When you’ve already had a job—or more than one job—what you’ve learned at your earlier jobs is more useful than anything you learned in a classroom! And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

The word is ‘experience.’ In a job interview, it normally means the things that you’ve done in other jobs: I used to work in a coffee shop, so I have ‘experience’ in what we call the ’service industry’ in English. But it also can refer to the other things you’ve done in your life, if you learned something from them. In a job interview, I can say “living in Germany was a valuable experience that taught me how to. . .”

Because experience is just an important part of a job interview, we’re going to spend all of today talking about the word and how you can use it. In this recording you will hear:

• An exact description of what experience is.

• How we measure experience.

• How we use the word ‘experience’ when talking about verbs and nouns.

• A few ’sample’ sentences with the word.

Listen to the recording now.

After Listening
When you’ve finished listening to the recording, it’s time to ask yourself: how much of what you heard was new? How can you use what you heard in the recording to talk about your own experience?

To practice using the word, think about how you heard it used in the recording. Now think how you can use it to talk about your experience. Write a short paragraph about your experience and ask your teacher to correct it, or post it here at Bite Sized English to have it corrected.