Name: Beginner ESL Lesson #21 Learning Languages by Elllo in listen
Duration: 4 min 35 s
Description: Sarah and Todd talk about what languages they speak.

Sarah: So tell me, what languages do you speak?

Todd: Well, I speak two languages. I speak Thai and I speak Japanese. But my Japanese is not so good and my Thai is just okay.

Now, I live in Japan so I study Japanese and I use Japanese everyday. I can speak Japanese at the supermarket. I can use Japanese at a hotel or with a taxi driver, but I cannot have a long conversation.

Yeah. And you, what languages do you speak?

Sarah: Well, I speak English, of course. And I speak Spanish and Japanese.

Todd: Wow. Spanish.

Sarah: Yeah. I lived in Ecuador, and so I spoke Spanish everyday, a lot. I used to think I was fluent. Maybe I forgot some Spanish now.

Todd: Oh, so you can read, speak, write everything?

Sarah: Yeah. In Ecuador, I did everything. I signed my cellphone contract. I could read that in Spanish. I was – all of my friends I spoke Spanish with, and I spoke Spanish all the time. But my Japanese is like yours. I can speak only enough to go to the grocery or ask when the bus leaves or buy a train ticket.

Todd: Yeah. It's difficult. It's hard to have a good conversation in Japanese. But I can read Japanese. I studied Kanji.

Sarah: Oh really?

Todd: So my reading is okay, but my speaking is just really bad. I have bad pronunciation. So because my Japanese pronunciation is not very good, Japanese people don't like to speak Japanese with me, I think.

Sarah: My Spanish pronunciation is really bad because I always spoke with other foreigners who are also studying Spanish. So there would be a Korean person, me, a Norwegian person, and we were all speaking Spanish together. So we all had bad pronunciation.

Todd: Yeah.

Sarah: What about Thai?

Todd: Yeah. I can speak Thai. My Thai is different. My Thai pronunciation is okay. So I can have conversations in Thai. I lived in Thailand when I was young, so – or I was 22 to 26. So I studied it and I like Thai. But reading in Thai is difficult for me.

So I can read Japanese better than I can read Thai but I can speak Thai better, and my Thai listening is better also.

Sarah: Ah. Do you have any Thai friends?

Todd: I do have some Thai friends. And now, I study Thai on Facebook. So everyday, I check my friends' messages on Facebook. And then I use Google translate to learn new words. So it's very good. Yeah.

Sarah: Do you think you'll live in Thailand again, someday?

Todd: Maybe. I will visit Thailand again. I don't think I will live in Thailand again. But I like to go to Thailand because Thai is fun to speak and Thailand has great food and great weather, good beaches. So it's nice.

Sarah: Oh great.

Todd: What about you? Do you want to live in Ecuador, again?

Sarah: Not Ecuador. I love Ecuador but I want to live in another Spanish-speaking country. I'd like to live in Argentina, maybe or Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is part of America but they speak Spanish there.

Todd: Yeah. I hear Puerto Rico is really nice.

Sarah: Yeah. I went there for one week and it was just amazing. It has beaches and mountains, and the people are really fun. And it's a really exciting place to visit

listen

Sarah and John talk about their mornings and when they get up and what they eat. This ESL listening activity is good for students learning the simple present tense.

Grammar #1 Tell me about your day!

Meg and Todd talk about the clothes they wear.

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Sarah and Todd talk about what languages they speak.

Beginner ESL  Lesson #21 Learning Languages

John and Sarah have to try to guess the movie Todd is describing.

Beginner ESL Lesson #20  Guess the Movie

John and Sarah guess the city Todd is describing.

Beginner ESL Lesson #19  Guess the City

Todd gives Meg tips about going to Osaka. This lesson focuses on the present simple tense in the third person singular for travel information.

Beginner ESL Lesson #18  Off to Osaka

Meg talks with Todd about all she has done (and not done) for her wedding.

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Daniel and Hana discuss what people are doing at her house.

Beginner ESL Lesson #12  Where is everyone?

Daniel and Hana talk about eating habits.

Beginner ESL Lesson #4 Do you eat take-away?

John and Sarah talk about their morning routine.

Beginner ESL Lesson #1 Morning Routine

John and Sarah talk about what they do every day.

Beginner ESL Lesson #2 Evening Routine

Daniel and Hana talk about cooking and eating out.

Beginner ESL Lesson #3 Do you cook much?

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Beginner ESL Lesson #21 Learning Languages

Elllo

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