Where are you from? What is your country like? Listen to two people talking about where they are from in this free Oxford Online English listening lesson. This lesson is suitable for beginners.
Listen to the dialogue at normal speed here:
or listen to a slower version here:
Note that there are five grammatical mistakes in the recording, shown here in red. See exercise 2.
Man: Hello!
Woman: Hi!
Man: Um, your name … your name’s Mary, aren’t it?
Woman: Yes, that’s right.
Man: And, where … where are you from, Mary?
Woman: I’m from Ireland.
Man: Ireland? But where’s this?
Woman: It’s in western Europe, next to Britain.
Man: Really? No, I didn’t meet anyone from Ireland before.
Woman: Well, it’s a small country!
Man: Oh, small? So, what’s it like? Do it have beautiful beaches?
Woman: Yes, it does. It has a lovely coast.
Man: And how about the food?
Woman: The food’s good. It’s a bit like British food – lots of meat and potatoes – but it has its own style.
Man: Very interesting! I like to go there some day.
Woman: You should! If I’m there, I’ll take you to the best places.
Man: That sounds nice!
Where Are You From? – exercise 1
Vocabulary: adjectives to describe places
Can you identify five words for describing places?
Listen to sentences from the dialogue and write one word in each gap.
Where Are You From? – exercise 2
Grammar: correct the mistakes
Listen to five sentences from the conversation. There is a grammatical mistake in each one.
Write one word in each gap so that the sentence is grammatically correct. You should not write the words that the man says!
Where Are You From? – exercise 3
Listening comprehension: true or false
Now that you have studied some of the language in the dialogue, listen again and decide if the statements are true or false.
Write T for true or F for false.
Where Are You From? – exercise 4
Pronunciation: understanding elision
When we put words together in sentences, the sounds at the beginning and ends of words can change. One common example is called elision. This happens when a word ends with a /t/ sound and the next word starts with a consonant. In this situation, it’s very common for the /t/ to disappear – and it also happens when we add ‘s’ to a word that ends with /t/.
Listen again to some sentences from the dialogue and identify the word that the woman says.
