Talking About the Beach
BBC Real Easy English • Hot Weather & The Beach
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. We're back with another conversation in easy English to help you learn. I'm Neil.
And I'm Becca. And you can find a video version of this podcast on our website that comes with subtitles to help your learning. That's at bbclearningenglish.com.
Hi Becca. How are you?
I'm really well, thank you, Neil. How about yourself?
I'm very well. You look very relaxed, though. So, what have you been doing?
Well, I've recently been to the beach. I went to my... to visit my parents, and they live quite close to the beach, so that's probably why I look and feel very relaxed.
The beach. Fantastic! Well, we are talking about the beach today. OK. Becca, when you have a beach day, do you like to
I do love to
I prefer to do something active at the beach. Swimming. I like to play beach football, beach cricket...
Ooh!
Whatever! And if I am lying or
Yeah.
...it's a bit uncomfortable.
It can be. It can be uncomfortable. Yeah. Also, you mentioned that you like playing some sports on the beach. I imagine it can be quite difficult to play sports on a pebbly beach. Pebbles are small stones, and very different to sandy beaches. Sand is quite soft and, I guess, easier for beach football and beach cricket.
Yeah, lots of the beaches in the UK are pebble beaches with stones on them rather than sand. And yes, it can be more difficult. It can really hurt your feet.
Sometimes it is quite funny on a pebbly beach to see people coming out of the sea from their swim and then, kind of, you know, finding it quite difficult to walk along the beach. It sometimes is quite funny.
How about food? So, do you take a
Yeah, sometimes. Another reason, actually... We talked about pebbly beaches. But I really love a pebble beach because it's easier to have a
Exactly. You end up with a kind of crunchy sandwich.
Yeah. Sandy sandwiches.
Sandy, sandy sandwiches!
Not tasty! So, I do love a
Yes, especially in the UK.
Mmm. Yeah.
Because they're quite windy.
Very windy in the UK.
But the world is full of beautiful beaches. Have you got a memory of a favourite beach you've been to somewhere?
Yes, I have beautiful memories. Probably the most recent and the most beautiful was when I was in Thailand last February. Very cold and rainy in the UK, so I decided to go to Thailand, and I just remember seeing the sunset at the beach, and I'd never seen the Sun so red before. It was incredible. So, when the Sun is setting and it's, kind of... it looks like it's going below sea level, at night time. Just beautiful. Stunning.
Time now to recap the vocabulary we've heard in this podcast, starting with
Yes, and if you
We talked about two different kinds of beaches – pebble beaches and sandy beaches. Pebble beaches are covered in small, smooth stones. They can be difficult to walk on. A sandy beach is covered in sand, and sand is that fine grain and it's much more comfortable to walk on.
And lastly, we mentioned
That's it for this episode of Real Easy English, but don't forget to go to our website to download a free worksheet. That's at bbclearningenglish.com.
And we'll be back next week with another episode of Real Easy English. Bye for now.
Goodbye.
Vocabulary Recap
Key words and expressions explained in this conversation:
- sunbathe: to sit or lie outdoors in the sunshine to relax and let your skin get tanned (tomar sol, bronzear-se; ex: do you like to sunbathe or do you prefer to do something active?).
- cool down: to lower your body temperature when you are feeling uncomfortably hot (refrescar-se; ex: I will cook under the Sun and then go for a swim to cool down).
- go for a swim: to enter the water and swim, or float and relax to refresh yourself (ir dar um mergulho / ir nadar; ex: I go for a swim to cool off in the sea).
- pebble / pebbly beaches: beaches covered with small, smooth rounded stones instead of fine sand (praias de pedras/cascalho; ex: pebbles can really hurt your feet when you walk).
- sandy beaches: beaches covered with soft, fine grains of sand (praias de areia; ex: sandy beaches are much more comfortable to walk on).
- picnic: an informal meal packed in a basket or bag and eaten outside in nature or on the beach (piquenique; ex: every time I have a picnic on a sandy beach, I get crunchy sandwiches).