Episode 74

EPISODE 74
LEVEL A1.2/A2.1

 

READING COMPREHENSION

 

WATCHING TV      

„Can we switch the telly on? (= Can we turn the TV on?) Where is the remote (= a special device with which you can for example change channels on TV)?
„You are such a couch potato (= a person who spends most of their free time watching TV). There is nothing on (= they aren’t showing anything interesting now) …. Let’s go for a walk instead!”
„OK, but I’d like to watch the news on the second channel later on (= TVP 1, TVN 24, Discovery etc.)”
„But my favourite series starts at 9:00! We can’t watch the news at the same time!”
„Well, this is what we can do: Let’s watch a bit of your film until the commercial break (= time for advertisements) and then we’ll switch to (= change the channel to) the news. It sounds ok, doesn’t it?”

 

More contexts for the new words:

• I saw it on TV. (= You say it when you talk about films, programmes etc.)
• We spent the weekend in a remote village. (= far away from cities and other places to live)

 

 

EXERCISE 1

Add the missing vowels (a, e, I, o, u).

 

1. This film is boring. Let’s ……………………………… SWTCH to the news instead.
2. I always go to the kitchen and make myself a sandwich during the ……………………………… CMMRCL BRK.
3. Most of my ……………………………… CHNNLS are in Polish, but I have a few in English, for example Discovery.
4. I’ve been switching the channels for an hour and it’s all so boring! There’s ……………………………… NTHNG N.
5. Dad is a real ……………………………… CCH PTT – all he does is sit on the sofa and watch TV.
6. I hate it when I can’t find the ……………………………… RMT.
7. Let’s switch the ……………………………… TLLY on and watch something.

 

ENGLISH IN USE 

 

And again we are going to look at an example of a question tag, but this time with a different construction.

It sounds ok, doesn’t it?

As you can see this time we use „doesn’t” in our sentence. Why? Because we ask a question with „does” in the sentence: It sounds ok. For question tags we use the same words we ask questions with. And of course, we need to remember that when a sentence is negative, the question tag is positive. When a sentence is positive, the question tag is negative.

It looks easy, doesn’t it?
It doesn’t sound right, does it?

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

A/ Can I get the remote?
B/ No you can’t. You’ll be CHANNEL-HOPPING again!

 

When you’re channel–hopping, you keep changing the channels from one to another very quickly.

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

 

1. When you CLOWN ABOUT, you act like a clown.

Kids tend to clown about after watching too many cartoons.
He always clowned about in the class.

 

2. If a person, especially a child, plays up, they behave badly.

I’m exhausted! The children have been really playing up this afternoon.
Stop playing up and wash the dishes!

 

 

EXERCISE 2

Rewrite the sentences keeping the same meaning and using the word in capitals.

 

1. He always behaved badly when his friends were watching.

[UP] ……………………………………………………………………………….

2. John acted like a clown to cheer up his ill sister.

[ABOUT] ……………………………………………………………………………….

3. Please stop changing the channels.

[HOPPING] ……………………………………………………………………………….

 

 

NEWS

 

CHANNEL-HOPPING CONTEST

The first edition of an international channel-hopping contest has just started in Cracow. The contest has attracted hundreds of couch potatoes from all over the world, eager to prove their prowess with the remote. The rules are simple: you are sitting on a comfy sofa, in front of the telly, and you have to keep changing the channels longer than the competitors. The maximum pause allowed is five seconds. If you fall asleep – you’re out. If you get tired – you’re out. If you get blisters on your thumb and can no longer press the buttons on the remote – you’re out. It is expected that the winner will last for at least a few days. So stay tuned in and root for your contestant!

 

GLOSSARY

– eager – willing

– prowess – skill

– comfy – comfortable

– blisters – painful swellings

– stay tuned in – keep watching TV

– root for – support

 

 

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