Curso Oficial de Inglés

Speaker: In this podcast you will hear about two major world cities and what it is like to live in them. You will also listen to some of the aspects people consider, when choosing to live in a place.
So, if you could live in any city or country in the world, where would you choose? Where would you feel the safest, do you think? Or the most relaxed? On the other hand, where would you not like to live, because you would feel most uncomfortable or even unsafe? Where would you feel the most alive? It’s not easy to think of a perfect place, is it?
If you had to move to another city or country, you would probably take into account all of the following aspects. But which ones are more important to you?
- Not having to travel too far to your place of work or study
- Being close to parks or green spaces
- Having a lively cultural life and plenty of entertainment
- Feeling safe because of a low crime rate
Perhaps good public services, such as education, leisure and sports facilities would be key aspects for you, or more simply, just a nice affordable home. There really is a lot to consider.
Now think about what you know about New York and Los Angeles. Where do you think you would rather live?
You are going to hear New Yorker Angie Pasadena who recently made a temporary move to Los Angeles.
Listen out for the following:
What was Angie’s first impression of LA?
And how about the public transport in both cities?
What does she put a lot of New York’s problems down to?
And finally, what does she appreciate most about LA?
Let’s listen.
Angie: My first reaction to LA was ‘Where does it start and where does it end?’ While New York is compact and intense, LA, by contrast, is a vast, never-ending place. Originally a series of separate villages now grown together, it seems to lack a single definite centre. After New York, it feels less like a city and more like a huge suburb.
And, just like in the suburbs, the only way to get round is by car. Saying that public transport is better in New York is incorrect: in LA, public transport simply doesn’t exist! New Yorkers take the subway everywhere – or walk (did I mention this is why, generally speaking, we are slimmer and fitter than our LA counterparts?), but in LA distances are usually too great for walking. Cycling is beginning to become popular, but there aren’t nearly as many cycle lanes as in New York. As a consequence, the whole city sits in a slow-moving traffic jam for hours every morning just to get to work.
The result of LA traffic jams is the famous LA smog: air pollution from exhaust fumes. We may not have as much sunshine, but the air in New York is far cleaner and there are more parks and green spaces (and, incidentally, a slightly lower crime rate). However, although public services have improved – you won’t see much litter in the subway these days unless it’s just after a big football game – our crowded city’s infrastructure is still pushed to the limit. Sadly, it is a statistical fact that wherever you are in New York, you’re never more than a few metres away from a rat!
The astronomical cost of housing is another example of the infrastructure problem. While Angelinos complain about the traffic, New Yorkers complain about how small their apartments are. When developers build new housing, they have to make 20% of it ‘affordable housing’ that's cheap enough for everybody, but this still isn’t enough to meet demand. Rents in LA aren’t cheap, but they are certainly less expensive than at home. And I haven’t seen any tiny studio apartment ‘walk-ups’ on the 5th floor with the shower in the kitchen like the one I lived in in my 20s. ‘Walk up’ is New-York speak for ‘the building is so old there is no elevator’.
Speaker: So, according to Angie, which city wins? Let’s hear what she says.
Angie: The ideal situation would be if I could transport my LA apartment to New York, but I know that’s cheating. In the end, if I had to choose, despite the California sunshine and my big apartment, I would still choose New York. I’m learning to love LA, but it’s just too big – and too lonely. You’re always alone here, shut up in your car driving somewhere, so most of the day, you just don’t talk to anybody. In New York, people get angry with each other but at least we connect. As the journalist friend of mine puts it, ‘New Yorkers cry and shout at each other in public, all the time, everywhere, on the subway, just walking down the street, but Angelinos cry alone in their cars’.
Speaker: Did you get the answers to the questions? Let’s go through them now.
Angie: My first impression of LA was that the city was without much shape or character, it is vast and never-ending without a definite centre.
I said that public transport simply doesn’t exist in LA and that in New York everyone goes by subway.
I attribute many of New York’s problems to the fact that the city is overcrowded.
And finally, what I appreciate most about LA is that I have more living space.
Speaker: Going back to the part of the text where Angie was talking about property size in New York. Did you hear the words for these definitions? The answers are given after the questions.
Angie: What do you call someone who buys land or buildings in order to build new buildings to make money?
What name do I use for buildings for people to live in?
What is the money you pay to live in a house or apartment called?

The Original of Formal & Informal English Podcast

‘I’m very tired. I’m going to bed.’ ‘I’m excessively fatigued. I shall retire.’ These sentences mean exactly the same, but whilst the first is everyday informal English, the second – depending on the attitude of the listener – could either be considered formal, if rather old-fashioned English, or simply pretentious! The difference is the choice of vocabulary: the first speaker uses Anglo-Saxon root words while the latter uses words derived from Latin.
Although the structure of modern English is Germanic, around 45% of English words are of French or Latin origin. This is because, after the Normans conquered England in 1066, the country was ruled by French kings, whose language was French or Latin, while the conquered peasants spoke Anglo-Saxon. Because the ruling class spoke French, many modern English terms for legal, political and administrative matters – such as the word government – come from French or Latin, while words for everyday things like working, eating and drinking come from Anglo-Saxon. Thus, a letter from your lawyer will ask you to, ‘Please inform us of the date of your departure’, but a friend’s email asks, ‘Please tell us when you’re leaving’.
A further striking difference between formal and informal English is the use of phrasal verbs. As we know, phrasal verbs, which occur in other Germanic languages too, not just English, are a combination of a verb with one or sometimes two other words, either prepositions or adverbs, which, when used together, have a specific meaning different from any of the words used individually. Some two-part phrasal verbs – you need to learn which - unfortunately there are no absolute rules – are ‘separable’: the preposition or adverb can be separated from the verb and placed at the end of the sentence, for example, ‘She took her shoes off’ is just as acceptable as ‘She took off her shoes’. The historic reason for this can be found in part in the original syntax of Germanic languages. In the past, the verb used to come right at the end of the sentence, after the subject, and particles like prepositions and adverbs, after nouns. With time, as Anglo-Saxon evolved into modern English, the position of verbs and particles moved back to before the object; however, in some cases, the phrasal verb particle remained in its original position at the end. So, this is why you can still switch the light on (as well as switch on the light).
In addition to all this, in modern English both a phrasal verb and a more formal Latinate verb can be used to express the same idea. For example, ‘He quarrelled with her’ is formal whereas ‘He fell out with her’ means the same but is informal; She humiliated him is formal but ‘She put him down is informal; ‘We tolerated their behaviour’ is formal, but ‘We put up with their behaviour’ is informal. The list goes on and the challenge for a learner is to learn both verbs and also to be able to use the appropriate one according to the situation. Very generally speaking, it’s best to use phrasal verbs in speech and in informal writing and Latinate verbs in more formal writing, for example a report or an article.
Another peculiarity of modern English is that it doesn’t make a distinction between a formal and an informal you. In Shakespeare’s times, you (plural) was used to express politeness and respect, while thou (singular) was the familiar form, but the latter fell out of use in the seventeenth century. The Spanish have tú and usted , the French tu and vous but the English only have you, no matter who you are speaking to. Since English speakers can’t show politeness in formal situations with their choice of you, they must do so in a different way, by using indirect language, for example, ‘Could you possibly do this?’ instead of, ‘Can you do it?’ and ‘Would you mind if John came?’ instead of ‘Can John come?’
All this means that, although Spanish learners might have initial difficulties with indirectness in English, they easily assimilate vocabulary of Latin origin, the only danger being inappropriate usage of these words in informal situations: for example, desire, cease, comprehend and permit instead of want, stop, understand and let. However, knowledge of formal vocabulary can be an advantage, for instance, in academic or business writing, when on no account would you use contractions, such as doesn’t. Nonetheless, in spoken English, contractions always sound more natural, even in formal situations. It should also be noted that the use of the passive rather than the active, and noun phrases rather than verb phrases, are characteristic of formal English and are better avoided in spoken language – for example, ‘the consumption of alcohol is forbidden’ (consumption of alcohol is the noun phrase) rather than ‘you aren’t allowed to drink alcohol’.
There is one final point of formal etiquette to which it is essential to draw your attention. Should you ever have the opportunity to meet the King of England, we strongly recommend that, at the risk of offending him and inviting the disapproval of the court, you do not say ‘Pleased to meet you’. The mother of Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William attracted widespread criticism for this error when she met Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for the first time. Royal expert Camilla de Holland explains, ‘Naturally you would have been pleased to have met her. She was, after all, the Queen.’ The correct formal greeting, in case you are wondering, for a King or Queen is, How do you do, Your Majesty?

Hello and welcome to this podcast brought to you by That´s English!, the Spanish Ministry of Education´s official distance learning English course. To find out more about That´s English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages.
In this podcast, you will hear two people, Debbie and John, talking about the uses of get – listen out for them!

Debbie: Hi John!
John: Hi Debbie!
Debbie: I have a challenge for you!
John: I love a challenge. What is it?
Debbie: How many different uses of get can you think of?
John: That is a challenge! Let´s get going! Get going is an expression that means start – it can be to start doing something or to start a journey.
Debbie: Excellent! Let´s get going with the challenge!
John: Well, the first use I can think of is to obtain. For example: Can you get me a glass of water, please?
Debbie: Great! Here you are!
John: Thank you. Get can also mean to receive, like to get a present or to get an email.
Debbie: Absolutely! What did you get for your last birthday?
John: I didn´t get anything but I did go to a nice restaurant.
Debbie: No presents - we´re getting old!
John: That´s another example! Get + adjective means become. Get sick, get wet, get angry, get lost, get old…
Debbie: Yes, that´s a very common one! For example, do you often get tired after lunch?
John: Yes, I do. I often get a coffee in my local café to wake me up if I can´t get some shut-eye. Get can mean buy, too. Get a coffee, get some milk from the supermarket... and get some shut-eye is an expression which means to get some sleep. Is there anything you need to get this weekend?
Debbie: Yes! I need to get some food shopping and I also need to get some new shoes for my son – his feet keep getting bigger!
John: Well, my son is a teenager so he´s stopped growing but now we worry about what time he´ll get home and we don´t get much shut-eye because sometimes he gets home past midnight!
Debbie: Oh, that is a worry! That would get on my nerves!
John: Get on someone´s nerves means to annoy someone – traffic really gets on my nerves! Get can also mean arrive – get home, get to the office, get to the airport…
Debbie: What time did you get here today?
John: I got here at 9.30 – I was actually a little late because I got the bus and it got stuck in traffic!
Debbie: I got the train and I arrived in time to get a coffee before starting work.
John: Get can also mean take or catch – get the bus, get a taxi and get the train.
Debbie: You´re doing great. So far you have thought of six different uses of get and three expressions! Obtain, receive, become, buy, arrive and catch or take for transport. Get going, to start something; get on someone´s nerves, to annoy and get some shut-eye, to get some sleep.
John: I have a few more uses I can think of too.
Debbie: Great!
John: We can also use get to mean understand. For example, I don´t get many jokes.
Debbie: Really? What about this one? What do you call a fish with no eye?
John: I don´t know. What do you call a fish with no eye?
Debbie: A fsh. Hahahaha!
John: (silence)
Debbie: Do you get it? No eye, the letter i – fsh.
John: That´s a terrible joke!
Debbie: I´ve got a better one if you want to hear it.
John: No, thank you. And there´s another use – have got - to talk about possession. For example, I have got three brothers. Have you got any siblings?
Debbie: I´ve got one sister. You´ve met her before, remember?
John: Ah yes, I met her last year when we were getting the office painted and we went for lunch because it smelt so bad. She was very nice!
Debbie: I´ll tell her you think so. We´re getting our nails done together this weekend.
John: We can use get in the causative – to get something done - when we pay someone to do something for us rather than doing it ourselves like Debbie and her sister, they are getting their nails done at the weekend and I get my house cleaned once a week.
Debbie: Do you? We always clean the house ourselves, I would love to get it done by a cleaner!
John: Yes. I don’t really have time to do it myself and it gives me more time to get on with things I enjoy doing.
Debbie: How lucky! Get on with is a phrasal verb. There are many phrasal verbs using get.
John: Yes, but we´ll talk about verbs with get in another podcast.
Debbie: You did really well at my challenge!
John: Do I get a prize?
Debbie: Hmmm. I´ll get you a coffee, does that sound good?
John: That sounds great.
We hope you found this podcast useful. Please follow us at That´s English! on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now!

Hello and welcome to this podcast brought to you by That's English!, the Spanish Ministry of Education's official distance learning English course.
To find out more about That's English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages.

Debbie: Hi John! You look tired!
John: Hi Debbie! Yes, I´m very tired. I was out ‘til late last night.
Debbie: Where did you go?
John: I went to a Scottish ceilidh
Debbie: A what?
John: A ceilidh! It´s a Gaelic word for gathering or party.
Debbie: I´ve never heard of that before! So, what happens at a ceilidh?
John: Well, in the past a ceilidh was an evening of entertainment. People would recite poems, tell traditional stories and legends, sing and dance. Nowadays, a ceilidh is a dance with a live band. They are held in village halls, hotels and other spacious venues.
Debbie: That sounds like fun! Did you enjoy it?
John: Yes, I really did! A friend of mine who´s Scottish organises ceilidhs in a hall once a month and she´s always asking me to go along, so I decided to go and try it out! You should come with me next time!
Debbie: But John, you know I´m a terrible dancer!
John: It doesn´t matter! You don´t need to be a good dancer. The dances are easy and it´s led by a ‘caller’ – usually a member of the band who gives basic instructions so that everyone can take part! There´s lots of spinning around involved - it´s great fun.
Debbie: Sounds like I might get dizzy. And what kind of music do you dance to?
John: It´s traditional folk music so you´ll hear bagpipes, drums, accordion and the fiddle.
Debbie: The fiddle is the violin, isn’t it?
John: Yes! In folk music the violin is often called the fiddle.
Debbie: And do you dance in pairs?
John: In some parts yes, in others, you dance in a group or in threes. The classic dances all have names such as The Gay Gordons or The Dashing White Sergeant. The Gay Gordons is traditionally the first dance of the evening and it´s over 130 years old! The Dashing White Sergeant is danced in groups of three and you change groups often so you have the chance to dance with many different people – it’s very sociable.
Debbie: And does everyone know the dances?
John: In Scotland the dances are well-known but you don´t need to be a professional to dance them. It´s quite informal and, as I said, the ‘caller’ names each dance and gives instructions so it´s not too difficult to follow.
Debbie: Do people wear a kilt to the ceilidh?
John: It´s not obligatory! But you can if you want to. Ceilidhs are popular at weddings, parties and special events so at those kinds of ceilidhs, you´re more likely to see the men in kilts.
Debbie: Were there many people at the ceilidh you went to?
John: Yes! There were about 30 of us and of different nationalities – Spanish, English, American, French and Scottish! It´s a great way to meet new people and break the ice. It´s also a good way to exercise!
Debbie: Were you good at it?
John: Well, you know I´m not the most coordinated person! Everyone was very friendly, though, and nobody minded if you got the steps wrong – it´s very informal. Most people were beginners like me. We enjoyed a few glasses of Scotch whisky afterwards too.
Debbie: No wonder you look tired today!
John: Why don´t I show you a video? I took one on my phone!
Debbie: Sure! I´d love to see it!
Debbie: That looks like fun! The band sound very good, don´t they?
John: Yes, they were very talented and great at motivating us all to dance. You can get up to dance whenever you like, which I thought was good because if you just want to watch, you can, but at the same time, everyone is encouraged to join in.
Debbie: It does sound and look interesting.
John: Why don´t you come to the next one with me?
Debbie: Well, I guess I could give it a try.
John: Great! I´ll let you know when the next one is. In the meantime, you can watch videos of some of the dances and the steps on
www.scotlandinfo.eu/scottish-ceilidh-and-dances
Debbie: Perfect! I´ll have to watch some!
We hope you found this podcast useful. Please follow us at That´s English! on Facebook, Instagram and Instagram. We look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now!

Hello and welcome to this podcast brought to you by That´s English!, the Spanish Ministry of Education´s official distance learning English course. To find out more about That´s English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages.

“What are you watching at the moment?” is a common question among friends nowadays, but they aren´t referring to regular TV broadcasting in which you have to wait a week for the next episode – the new trend in recent years is streaming series, thanks to Netflix and similar platforms, where you have thousands of series that you can watch, wherever and whenever you want, on a variety of devices. You can even make a profile for each member of your household where your preferences are saved and you can also see suggestions for shows similar to those you´ve already seen.

Netflix has more than 150 million global subscribers and has original series, such as the comedy Grace and Frankie or the teen drama Thirteen Reasons Why. You can see advertisements for series on bus stops, in the tube stations and on huge billboards, such as the controversial ad for Narcos in Plaza de la Puerta del Sol in Madrid in 2016 or the very original 15-metre high red-hooded thief placed in Piazza Affari, Milan, to advertise La Casa de Papel in 2019.

What´s great about streaming apps is that you can watch the series, films and shows that you want without having to endure adverts, schedules or waiting for the next episode. You can binge-watch a whole season of Game of Thrones in one day if you want to!

Some of the most popular series in the last few years are Breaking Bad – the drama of a high school chemistry teacher who becomes involved in the drug world due to economic problems, which won 16 Emmy awards; Peaky Blinders – a British historical drama about post-war gangsters in Birmingham, and the Spanish crime series La Casa de Papel, in which an organised group of thieves carry out a money heist on the Royal Mint of Spain, not to mention the huge success of Game of Thrones, the fantasy series it seems that everyone has seen. With series, there´s something for all tastes and the shows draw huge audiences as well as creating a lot of hype. The documentary series Tiger King – a bizarre documentary about wild cat keepers in the USA - had a whopping 64 million views and millions of comments and reviews on social media. German sci-fi drama Dark, in which a mystery surrounding children disappearing from a German village leads to the discovery of a time travel conspiracy, has recently been rated the most viewed non-English series.

These streaming platforms have many non-English series and documentaries, which means you can watch many shows in their original language with subtitles, in your native language or in English if you want to practise!

Binge-watching series seems to be a modern-day hobby, whether you prefer crime, period dramas, fantasy or realities, and it fits in with our busy lifestyles, being available on any device with a screen!

So, what are you watching at the moment? Do you and your friends recommend series to one another? Have you been watching anything in English?


We hope you have enjoyed this podcast, brought to you by That´s English! Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now!

Hello and welcome to this podcast brought to you by That´s English! The Spanish Ministry of Education´s official distance learning English course. To find out more about That´s English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages.

The next time you´re visiting the South of England, why not visit Hastings? What may seem a quiet British seaside town is a place full of history and tales and some very interesting attractions! It’s less than a 2-hour train ride from London and makes a great day out for all the family.

Hastings gives its name to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, when William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy) defeated King Harold II of England and marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon kings and the beginning of the Norman rulers. Through the Norman rulers, and their use of French in court, the modern-day English language as we know it was born. William also created the Domesday Book – the first census of England. You can visit Hastings Castle to see the remains of the Norman fortification and learn more about the castle and the famous battle through the ‘1066 Story’.

To get to Hastings Castle, you can take the West Hill Lift – a rattling funicular railway opened in 1891 which takes you up the sandstone cliffs in a Victorian carriage. The views from the top overlook the beach and old town and you have easy access to both the castle and St Clements Caves. The caves have a long and very interesting history as they were used for hundreds of years by pirates and smugglers – some say they are haunted by their ghosts! The caves were also used as an air-raid shelter during the Second World War and in the 17th century a couple are said to have lived in the caves after being discharged from the workhouse for misbehaviour. They are now a tourist attraction named Smugglers’ Adventure, which is great fun for all the family as you can learn about their rich history and even visit the haunted chapel!

Coming back down from the West Hill Lift, we find ourselves in Hastings old town, which is full of Georgian buildings, antique shops and unique boutiques. And across from the high street are the wooden fishermen´s huts from whom, if we arrive early enough, we can buy fresh fish and seafood.
Past the huts you´ll find the East Cliff Railway – the steepest funicular railway in the UK and at the top you can find Hastings Country Park which is filled with animals, such as cows and wild ponies. Plus, you have breath-taking views of the sea.
Coming back down to the seafront you must visit Maggie’s fish and chips shop – known as the best fish and chips in Hastings and with the largest portions! Nearby is the aquarium and the miniature train which takes us along the beach front, and of course you must visit the shingle beach – did you know that Hastings holds the Guinness world record for the most people dressed as pirates on its beach with 14,231 pirates in 2012?! The pirate festival takes place every year in mid-July.

Along the beach front, why not play a game of mini-golf in Pelham Place? There are three different courses – adventure golf, crazy golf and pirate golf – it´s popular with both children and adults. In the same place, there are also traditional sweet shops and ice cream stands. A relaxing stroll to the other end of the beach, towards the modern town centre, leads us to Hastings pier. It was originally a Victorian pier but it was burnt down in 2010 and was then rebuilt in 2013 - it won the Stirling architecture award in 2017. The pier has beautiful views of the beach and sea and is lined with colourful beach huts, which are used as shops selling souvenirs and locally made products. There are also amusements, food stalls, deck chairs and people fishing. It´s well worth a visit for some traditional seaside treats and a ride on the carousel.
If you´re not already exhausted, spend the evening in one of Hastings’ many pubs, such as Blackmarket VIP, found in the old town and which specialises in live music, or you could go to the White Rock Theatre to see a tribute band or a comedy act.
Whatever you fancy, Hastings has something for everyone. If you´d like to find out more you can go to visit1066country.com. We hope you have enjoyed this little tour around Hastings and we hope you´ll visit one day!

We hope you have enjoyed this podcast, brought to you by That's English! Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now!

www.smugglersadventure.co.uk
www.visit1066country.com

Hello and welcome to this podcast brought to you by That's English! The Spanish Ministry of Education's official distance learning English course. To find out more about That's English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages.

In this podcast, you will hear a conversation between Debbie and John in which they use a lot of expressions with GET – listen out for them and try to work out the meaning from the context.

Debbie: Hello John!
John: Hello there, Debbie!
Debbie: You won't believe what happened to me this morning!
John: What happened?
Debbie: Well, as I was getting on the train, I heard someone shout my name. It was my friend Jane from school. I hadn’t seen her in years!
John: What a coincidence! Does she live near you?
Debbie: Well, she's just moved to the area. She got on the train with me and we got off at the same stop so we had a good chat. She told me that she's living near me now with her daughter. Apparently, she's getting over a terrible divorce. She and her husband decided to get divorced over a year ago but had continued living together until she decided that she just needed to get away, so a friend rented her a small apartment.
John: That sounds stressful! I can't imagine living with someone I was divorcing!
Debbie: Yes! She said that, at first, they got on well because they didn't want to upset their daughter. However, after a while, they started to get on each other's nerves and argue a lot until a friend offered her an apartment and she got in a taxi and left!
John: And how is she now?
Debbie: She says that they're getting by and she's sure that things will get better now that they have their own space.

John: Well, I hope she gets through this tough time.
Debbie: Thank you. I told her that if she needs anything, she can get in touch and I can help her.
John: That was kind!

Did you get the meaning of the expressions with “get” that we used?
We use get on and get off to talk about entering and leaving transport such as trains, buses, bikes and the underground, but we use get in and get out for entering and leaving cars and taxis.
Debbie: That´s right. My friend and I got on the train together and got off at the same stop but she got in a taxi to go to her new apartment. We can also use “Get out!” to tell someone to leave.
John: Debbie said that her friend was getting over her divorce. To get over something means to recover from something, we can get over the trauma of a relationship that has ended and we can also get over an illness. For example, “I found it hard to get over my ex-partner” and “I'm getting over a cold.”
Debbie: You poor thing! I also spoke about my friend needing to get away, which means to escape. We can use it to talk about escaping in general, escaping someone, a place or to another place, for example “I go to the mountains when I need to get away from the city.” Notice that we use ‘from’ to say what we are escaping.
John: Get away with sounds similar but the meaning is different! Get away with means to escape punishment. For example, when we were children, my brother and I were playing football in the garden and he broke an ornament with the ball but he got away with it - he hid the ornament and my mum never realised it was him!
Debbie: Did you and your brother get on well when you were children?
John: Yes, we did. We got on like a house on fire! Get on well means to have a good relationship and we can say don't get on to say the opposite – when people don't have a good relationship. Like my brother and his mother-in-law – they don't get on at all. To get on like a house on fire is an expression that means llevarse de maravilla – like me and my brother.
Debbie: To get by means to have just enough of something to manage or survive but not to have extra. For example, “Many people in the world get by on a low income.”
John: And I know enough Spanish to get by but I’m not fluent!
Debbie: I think you mostly get your message across. Get something across means to make someone understand you.
John: Yes, but there are some people like my neighbour that I just can’t get through to. This also means to make someone understand you.
Debbie: Get through by itself means to complete something difficult, for example I have a lot of work to get through today or to survive a difficult situation. As John said before, he hopes Jane gets through the divorce.
John: Yes. She can always get in touch with you for help, like you said. Get in touch means to contact someone.
Debbie: Do you get the meanings now? Can you think of two more verbs with get that we didn’t mention?
John: Hmmmm, Get up and... get out of.
Debbie: Well done! Get up means to leave your bed in the morning. I get up at 7 o'clock during the week.
John: And get out of means to avoid doing something. For example, I sometimes make excuses to get out of gardening or going shopping!

We hope you found this podcast interesting and useful. Please follow us at That's English! on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! Goodbye for now!

Art vandals podcast

Hello and welcome to this podcast, brought to you by That's English!, the Spanish Ministry of Education's official distance learning English course.
To find out more about That's English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages.

Drew: Hi Kate! How are you doing?

Kate: I’m fine, thanks. I was just reading about the latest Banksy stunt. Isn’t it absolutely amazing?

Drew: Oh! I haven’t heard anything about that. What is it all about?

Kate: Well, the other day, Banksy’s painting Girl with Balloon was sold for over a million pounds at Sotheby’s in London, and, just after the auctioneer had accepted the final bid and closed the sale, the painting suddenly started to self-destruct.

Drew: What do you mean “self-destruct”?

Kate: Well, it suddenly started to slide down through a shredder that was hidden in the frame.

Drew: You’re kidding me!

Kate: No I’m not. Have a look for yourself. This is the photo that Banksy posted on his Instagram account.

Drew: Wow! “Going, going, gone….” Ha, ha, ha. That is awesome! So he set up the prank himself?

Kate: Himself, or herself…or themselves. Nobody knows who Banksy really is.

Drew: Well, whoever Banksy is, it would seem that this was a hoax.

Kate: Oh, definitely! The whole thing was set up! If you google Banksy, you’ll see the video of how the shredder was fitted inside the frame.

Drew: And why do you think he did it?

Kate: Well, I reckon it’s all part of the Banksy trademark. His work is usually provocative and quite controversial, and to me, this looks like he’s having a dig at the part of the art world that he obviously despises.

Drew: You mean art dealers and people whose only interest in art is as an investment?

Kate: Exactly!

Drew: Well, I wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of the person who bought the painting. I mean to buy a painting for over a million pounds only to see it shredded immediately after.

Kate: Well, that really depends if he or she is an art lover or an investor. They say that the painting will now have increased in value.

Drew: Right…so do you think the auctioneers were in on the act too? You know, as a way to make more money.

Kate: That’s one of the hypotheses put forward in this article, but Sotheby’s deny they’ve had anything to do with it.

Drew: Well, they would, wouldn’t they? But, I can’t believe that a frame with a shredder inside could have possibly got through all the security scans that they must have…In any case, with all the media attention, the painting will certainly be worth more now.

Kate: Maybe Banksy wanted to demonstrate that a work of art always belongs to the artist, however much money it is sold for, or maybe it was a simple act of vandalism…

Drew: Yeah, who knows? We’ll probably never get to the bottom of it. But you’ve just reminded me of something I once read about a guy who vandalized Picasso’s painting Guernika when it was in the MOMA back in the seventies.

Kate: Really? Why did he do that?

Drew: Let me try to find the article on Google…Here it is! Well, apparently a guy called Tony Shafrazi, who, incidentally, later became a well-known art dealer, went into the Museum of Modern Art in New York and sprayed the words KILL LIES ALL in red paint all over the Guernika.

Kate: Why on earth did he do that?

Drew: At the time, it was understood to be a protest against the release of a U.S. army lieutenant who had taken part in a massacre of civilians in the Vietnam War. However, several years later, Shafrazi claimed in an interview that what he had really intended was to “retrieve the painting from art history and bring it back to life.”

Kate: But what’s all that got to do with Banksy?

Drew: Well, because in the article they say that Picasso himself would probably have approved of this idea of bringing the painting back to life. In fact, apparently, he once said that everything he created was “made for the present, with the hope that it would remain in the present.” So it seems to me that Banksy might have acted with a similar idea in mind. In the same way that Shafrazi argued that he had intended to retrieve the Guernika painting from art history, maybe Banksy didn’t want his painting to become part of the history of art either.

Kate: I have to say it sounds a little far-fetched to me…

Drew: Really? The more I think about it, the more convinced I am. After all, Banksy is the most famous exponent of street art in the UK and street art is, by definition, created for public spaces and not for private art collections.

Kate: You might be right but I think here we’ll have to agree to differ.
I am more inclined to think that this whole thing has been done for much less academic reasons. I think it was just a publicity stunt to jack up the price.

Drew: Well, they’ve certainly done that. It is not the first time that an act of vandalism against a work of art has increased its value, precisely because of the interest created.

Kate: Such as?

Drew: Look at the Rokeby Venus*. It must be one of the most popular exhibits in the National Gallery in London. Apart from the fact that it is a beautiful painting and Velazquez’s only surviving female nude, part of its appeal for visitors is knowing that a woman once attacked the canvas with a meat chopper.

Kate: Oh yes, I’ve heard of that…She was protesting against the arrest of Mrs. Pankhurst, who was the leader of the Suffragette Movement, the women who fought to win the right to vote at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Drew: See what I mean? The act of vandalism created interest in the painting and gave it even greater value.

Kate: You’re right. When I visited the National Gallery, I remember trying to see where the painting had been slashed.

Drew: You see? It makes the work all the more fascinating. I’m sure that when people go to the Vatican to see Michelangelo’s La Pietá, quite a few will try to see where the sculpture was damaged in the 70s by a guy who attacked it with a hammer, while shouting “I am Christ!” to onlookers.

Kate: You’re kidding!

Drew: Oh no, I’m not! I can´t remember his name, but before attacking Michelangelo’s masterpiece, he had written to the Pope to demand that the Catholic Church recognize him as the Messiah.

Kate: No way! And what happened to him?

Drew: He was judged to be unbalanced and committed to a mental hospital.

Kate: Oh, that’s sad!

Drew: Yes it is….

Kate: It’s incredible that a work of art can have such a profound effect on people.

Drew: Yeah. For most of us, a masterpiece produces positive emotions, but for some people, the same works of art seem to trigger negative feelings that lead them to act violently.

Kate: I suppose it takes all sorts to make a world.

Drew: It does indeed. Well, to change the subject, let’s go and get something to eat. I’m starving!

Kate: Me too!



We hope you have enjoyed this podcast, brought to you by That's English! Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now!
*The Rokeby Venus (aka The Toilet of Venus) is the Venus del Espejo painted
by Diego Velázquez circa1651.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/13/shredded-banksy-was-sothebys-in-on-the-act
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/most-infamous-acts-of-art-vandalism