Terms explanation. · to be on your way means that you are travelling towards, you are moving in a direction

· to be on your way means that you are travelling towards, you are moving in a direction.

I am on my way to the store.

means

I am going, perhaps in my car, to the store.

· there was a lot of traffic on the road meaning a lot of cars in the street or on the freeway.

· to get somewhere in the nick of time means that you get there just before it’s too late. You get there right at or just before the time you are supposed to be there. So, if your appointment is at 9 o’clock and you arrive at 8:57, you got there in the nick if time.

· the lobby is when you are first walking to a building, before you get to the offices there is usually an area like a welcoming area which we would call the lobby.

· directory for the building is the list of the offices, who is in what office, in what floor they are run or which company is on which floor if it’s a tall building.

· the penthouse is the top floor of the building, usually a tall building. The penthouse floor is often, for example, if you were in apartment building or a condominium building – a building of different living units when the top floor is often the best floor and it is the most luxurious. But here just means the top of the building, the very top floor.

· the door is just closing meaning it’s just starting to close.

· to hold the elevator means to keep the door open, to stop the door from closing. We use that expression … “Could you hold the door?” means “Could you open the door, could you… make sure the door stays open”.

· “thanks a lot” (informal expression) means “thank you very much”.

· “No problem!” here means “You’re welcome”. But you find it very common in many situations that native speaker of English will respond to someone thanking them by saying “No problem!” instead of “You’re welcome”, but they are the same. “No problem” is a little… a bit more informal.

· “What floor?” meaning “What floor do you want to get off on.”

· the top floor is the same as penthouse floor.

· so am I meaning I am also. An informal way of saying would be “me too” even though it’s grammatically incorrect, it’s very common to hear people say “me too” instead of “so am I”.

· to tell you the truth or to tell the truth before… as a beginning of a sentence, before something else, usually as you are going to say something to a person that you might not tell them in a different situation. That you are going to be very honest and often… it’s often something that’s negative, that you are going to tell that person.

· three-headed monster which would be a monster, of course as a fictional … animal, that is mean, and Frankenstein, for example as a monster. And a three-headed monster would be a monster with three heads which, of course, is ridiculous but that’s the dream that the man has.

· to bite your head off here literally means that the monster puts his head in his mouth and bites it off. But we also use that expression in another situation to mean when you yell at someone, when you are angry with someone, and you say very mean or very strong… with a very strong emotion. You may say “Don’t bite y head off” means “Don’t get very angry with me.” But here it actually means the monster biting his head off.

· palms are sweaty. Your palm is inside of your hand. It’s the central part, not the fingers or the thumb, but the rest of the inside of your hand is your palm. And if your palms are sweaty meaning they are wet. That’s often a sign you are nervous.

· to chatter here means to bite down, up and down very quickly. If your teeth are chattering, you are either very cold or you’re very nervous about something. And here the man is clearly nervous.

· in one piece meaning I hope survive this interview without any problems, without any damage. The expression “I want to get through this in one piece” means without any injury, without any problems taking place.

· to pour your heart out means to tell something to someone else that’s very personal, that’s very often emotional and it’s usually a sad thing, a negative thing.

· a perfect stranger is the same as a complete stranger and the words perfect and complete here are just giving the idea of being a stranger, someone you don’t know, more emphasize. You could just say a “stranger” and when you say a perfect stranger you’re just giving a fact more emphasize. It doesn’t really change the meaning of the word.

· to chill out means to relax, to be calm. It’s an informal expression, probably more common among younger people. Someone tell you to chill out that telling you to relax, to cal down. Don’t get excited. Sometimes we use the verb just “to chill”. “What are you doing?” “I am chilling” meaning I am relaxing, I am taking it easy, I am not working. Again, that’s a very informal use of the word. To chill also means to make cold but here it’s nothing to do with that.

· reception desk or the desk in the front of the office where people first come. Usually there is someone behind the desk that we would call the receptionist. She or he is the person working at the desk.

Ask students to listen to the audio file once more and check their notes.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

I. Ask students to read aloud explanations of words and word combinations which they have written listening to the audio text.

II. General understanding. Ask students to answer the questions to text.

– Where is the main character going to?

– Who did he meet in the elevator?

– What floor number was he headed on?

– What did he tell to a perfect stranger about?

– How do you think what the end of this story is?

The real end of this story is shown in the following script. You can tell it to your students.

I was just in time for my interview and I was very nervous. I walked up to the receptionist. She was talking into a headset and typing on her keyboard.

David: Good morning. I'm David Laso. I have an appointment with Dale Mendoza at 10 o’clock. Could you please let her know that I'm here?

Receptionist: Please have a seat and I'll tell her.

About three minutes later, a man came out of the office and approached me. He introduced himself as Ben, Ms. Mendoza's administrative assistant. He told me he would show me to her office.

I followed him and we stopped in front of an office door with a placard on the door with the name "Dale Mendoza" and her title "Vice President" written on it. Ben knocked on the door and opened it. By this time, I was feeling more confident and was actually looking forward to the interview.

Then, I saw Dale Mendoza. She was the same woman who was in the elevator on my way up. I had been so nervous that I just couldn't stop talking. I had told her how nervous I was about this interview. I had even told her about my nightmare with a three- headed monster interviewing me for a job. And now, here she was, my potential new boss.

Dale: Hello, you must be David. It's nice to meet you.

There was a frog in my throat. My heart was beating a mile a minute.

David: It's nice to meet you, too.

Dale: Have a seat and make yourself comfortable. You see? I only have one head and I don't even bite.

Needless to say, that was not my best interview. But, you live and learn. I'll know next time to keep my mouth shut!

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

ESL Podcast http://www.eslpod.com

III. Offer your students, working in pairs, to create a dialogue continuing the story they’ve just listened to.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23