Review the present progressive and the simple past tense while talking about your trip to America
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sadia: Hi everyone. Thanks for tuning in. This is Sadia. |
| Keith: And I’m Keith. “Master Speaking on the Phone with your American Friends” |
| Sadia: In our last lesson, Lesson 28, you learned about sightseeing in New York. |
| Keith: And you also learned how to express potential using the verbs "can" and "to be able." |
| Sadia: You also learned tag questions! |
| Keith: In this lesson you will learn how to leave a message and navigate voicemail. |
| Sadia: This conversation takes place on the telephone. |
| Keith: And this is not really a conversation I guess, but Zo, is hearing the voicemail bot, and |
| the voice of Zo's coworker, Tom. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Voice mailbox girl: I'm sorry. The person you are trying to reach is out of the service area. |
| (phone hangs up) (sound of phone dialing) |
| Voice mailbox girl: Connecting to the voice mailbox of Colleague #1's Voicemail Tom. |
| (music plays) |
| Voice mailbox girl: Please leave a message after the beep. |
| Zo: Hi, Tom! This is Zo. Thank you again for everything! |
| Thanks to you, the trip was great. It was great to meet you! I'll send mail from Cape Town. Goodbye. Don't forget to email me! |
| (beep) |
| Voice mailbox girl: Press pound to send this message. Press 1 to re-record. |
| (sound of button pressed) |
| Voice mailbox girl: Thank you. Your message was sent. |
| (sound of phone dialing) |
| Keith: One more time, slowly. |
| Voice mailbox girl: I'm sorry. The person you are trying to reach is out of the service area. |
| (phone hangs up) (sound of phone dialing) |
| Voice mailbox girl: Connecting to the voice mailbox of Colleague #1's Voicemail Tom. |
| (music plays) |
| Voice mailbox girl: Please leave a message after the beep. |
| Zo: Hi, Tom! This is Zo. Thank you again for everything! |
| Thanks to you, the trip was great. It was great to meet you! I'll send mail from Cape Town. Goodbye. Don't forget to email me! |
| (beep) |
| Voice mailbox girl: Press pound to send this message. Press 1 to re-record. |
| (sound of button pressed) |
| Voice mailbox girl: Thank you. Your message was sent. |
| (sound of phone dialing) |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sadia: So, it sounds like Zo is leaving a voicemail! |
| Keith: He is! And it's for his colleague-- and now, I guess his friend-- Tom. |
| Sadia: Zo is pretty good with the voicemail prompts, right? The instructions? |
| Keith: Yeah, he is! But they're pretty clear, I think. |
| Sadia: That's true. But I think maybe voicemail instructions are pretty similar all over the world. So we'll take a look at the instructions Zo follows in a little bit. |
| Keith: But first... Let's take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Sadia: to connect [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to become joined |
| Sadia: to connect [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to connect [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: voicemail [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a virtual mailbox for telephone voice messages; a |
| message left in said box |
| Sadia: voicemail [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: voicemail [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: message [natural native speed] |
| Keith: communication in writing or speech |
| Sadia: message [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: message [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: beep [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a short, high-pitched sound |
| Sadia: beep [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: beep [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: to send [natural native speed] |
| Keith: cause a message to go or to be delivered |
| Sadia: to send [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to send [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: mail [natural native speed] |
| Keith: material sent by air, land, or sea using the postal system |
| Sadia: mail [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: mail [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: US [natural native speed] |
| Keith: United States |
| Sadia: US [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: US [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: to press [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to apply pressure, usually using the fingers |
| Sadia: to press [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to press [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: pound [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a unit of weight measurement; the hash (#) symbol |
| Sadia: pound [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: pound [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: to rerecord [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to record again |
| Sadia: to rerecord [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to rerecord [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: to reach [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to stretch for; to connect to |
| Sadia: to reach [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to reach [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: phone [natural native speed] |
| Keith: telephone |
| Sadia: phone [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: phone [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: outside [natural native speed] |
| Keith: not inside; beyond a certain boundary or line |
| Sadia: outside [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: outside [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: range [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a limited area; the space included; scope |
| Sadia: range [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: range [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: turned [natural native speed] |
| Keith: switched |
| Sadia: turned [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: turned [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: off [natural native speed] |
| Keith: not on; not ready for use |
| Sadia: off [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: off [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Keith: Let’s take a deeper look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Sadia: The first phrase we’ll take a look at is, “Connecting to the voice mailbox of Tom.” |
| Keith: Sadia, you sound like the voice message. Well, sometimes when you phone someone, when you call someone, the call is automatically picked up and sent to the voice mailbox of the person you are trying to reach. |
| Sadia: And this happens to Zo when he tries to call Tom. The phone is automatically |
| picked up and an automated, or computerized voice says, "Connecting to the voice mailbox of Tom." |
| Keith: The automated voice is letting Zo know that he is being connected to the voice mailbox of Tom. |
| Sadia: Okay. What's next? |
| Keith: Next is, “Please leave a message after the beep.” The voice mailbox voice instructs Zo to "leave a message after the beep." |
| Sadia: The beep is the short, high-pitched sound you often hear on an answering machine. The BEEP! Or on a microwave or some other electronic appliance. Next is, Thanks to you... Can you explain this one, Keith? |
| Keith: "Thanks to you" is an expression of gratitude said when the speaker believes that something would not have happened without the kindness or help of the person he is speaking to. |
| Sadia: So Zo says to Tom, "Thanks to you, the trip was great," which also means, "Without you, the trip would not have been so great." Or, "I owe my great trip to you." |
| Keith: OK, Sadia, what's next? |
| Sadia: Next is, “I'll send mail from Cape Town.” Zo tells Tom that he'll send mail from Cape Town. |
| Keith: What Zo means is that he'll send Tom a letter once he gets back to Cape Town. |
| Sadia: He might also mean that he'll email Tom once he gets back to Cape Town. |
| Keith: Oh-- that’s true too, and probably a lot cheaper. |
| Sadia: Definitely. And faster. And speaking of mail, Zo also says, “Don't forget to mail me!” |
| Keith: That's right He does say that. Zo uses an imperative to remind Tom to send him a letter or an email. |
| Sadia: Next is, “Press pound to send this message. Press 1 to re-record.” He's leaving a voicemail, Zo is, right? |
| Keith: U-huh. The voice prompt tells Zo to "press pound to send this message." The "pound" key is the hash - # key, which is also known in American English as the number symbol. |
| Sadia: So if he wants to send his message, Zo should press the hash key. |
| Keith: Yep. And the prompt also says, "Press 1 to re-record." |
| Sadia: Which means that if Zo would like to record a new message to send instead of the one he's already left, he should press the number 1 on the telephone keypad. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sadia: The focus points of this lesson are review of the present progressive tense |
| Keith: And review of the simple past tense. |
| Sadia: Let's start with the PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE. |
| Keith: Okay. I'm sure our listeners remember the present progressive. |
| Sadia: It's formed by combining the verb "to be" with the present participle, or the -ing form of a verb |
| Keith: For example, He IS + laughing, or He is laughing. |
| Sadia: They ARE + running, or They are running. The present progressive tense is used in three cases. First, to describe what is happening now. For example, “Right now I'm reading a book.” |
| Keith: And the present progressive tense is also used to describe actions occurring over a period of time which includes the present, now. For example, “I'm working at a clothing store these days.” |
| Sadia: Finally, the present progressive is also used to describe what will happen in the future. For example, “Tomorrow I'll be speaking at a university.” |
| Keith: So in the dialogue the voice mailbox voice says, "The person you are trying to reach is out of the service area." |
| Sadia: Yes. At the time of the phone call, Zo IS TRYING to reach Tom. |
| Keith: And right now we are MOVING ON to the simple past tense [laughs]. |
| Sadia: [laughs] We are moving on. Simple past tense. In the dialogue, |
| Zo leaves a message for Tom saying, "The trip was great." |
| Keith: That's right. Zo has reached the end of his American journey, so the trip is now completed-- it’s in the past. The simple past.[laughs] |
| Sadia: So the simple past tense is also used in three cases- first, to describe an action that happened at a specific time in the past. For example, Zo TRAVELED to New York last month. |
| Keith: The simple past tense is also used to describe a completed action. For example, Zo MET with Michelle again. |
| Sadia: Finally, the simple past tense is also used to describe a past status. For example, Zo WAS happy during his time in New York. |
| Keith: And, Was, that reminds me-- we should review the SIMPLE PAST TENSE of the irregular verb, "to be." |
| Sadia: Good idea. Singular. I was, You were, He/she/it was. |
| Keith: And the plural-- We were, You were, They were. |
| Sadia: The verb, "to be" is irregular. For regular verbs, the simple past tense is formed, as you know, by adding -ed to the base forms. |
| Keith: Right. So walk becomes walked. |
| Sadia: Yes. And listen becomes listened. For irregular verbs OTHER THAN THE VERB TO BE, there are three ways that the simple past tense could be formed. Some irregular verbs don't change at all. For example, cut in the simple past tense is cut, and hit is hit. |
| Keith: Some simply change the vowel-- like sit, the past tense is sat, get, the simple past tense is got. |
| Sadia: Finally, others change completely. For example, bring becomes brought. |
| Keith: Of course, there are many irregular verbs in English-- |
| Sadia: And you'll learn them and all their forms up as you improve! |
Outro |
| Keith: Bye-bye, everyone. |
| Sadia: Thanks for listening. Bye. |
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