Georgie Hello, I’m Georgie.
Neil And I’m Neil. Welcome to Real Easy English from BBC Learning English.
Georgie Every week, we have a real conversation in easy English to help you learn.
Neil You can find the vocabulary from this episode and a text version to read along on our website: bbclearningenglish.com
Georgie How are you, Neil?
Neil I’m well, thank you, Georgie. How are you?
Georgie I am pretty good, too, thank you. I’m very excited for the weekend.
Neil Oh, really? Well, today we’re talking all about the weekend. We’re going to talk about what we plan to do at the weekend.
Georgie Great! Let’s start.
Neil So, Georgie, do you have any weekend plans?
Georgie Yes, I do have plans. I’m going to visit my parents at the weekend. So I’m gonna get the train to my home town. What about you?
Neil I don’t really have any special plans, but I might spend lots of time doing sport with my kids.
Georgie Nice, which sports?
Neil Cricket in the summer and football as well.
Georgie Nice. So that’s what you usually do?
Neil That’s what I usually do. I usually spend most of the weekend taking my kids to sport.
Georgie Do you like it?
Neil Actually, I really do. I really do like it. It’s fun to watch them trying their hardest.
Georgie Ah nice! Is there anything else you’d like to do this weekend?
Neil Well, I might meet up with a friend and we might go for some food or maybe just a drink or we might go for a walk or something.
Georgie Ooh, nice!
Neil And how about you, Georgie? What do you plan to do when you get home?
Georgie Well, we have a lunch on Saturday. And we live in the countryside, so we’ll probably go for a walk with the dogs and we’re likely to go to the pub as well.
Neil Is this a typical weekend for you?
Georgie It’s not because I don’t usually go home to see my parents. Most weekends I stay in London. I meet some friends.
Yeah. So this is not a typical weekend, but it’s nice to visit my parents.
Neil What are you looking forward to?
Georgie This weekend?
Neil Yeah.
Georgie I’m really looking forward to spending time in the countryside. When I’m in London, I really miss the peace and quiet. And I miss my dog. So I’m looking forward to seeing my dog.
Neil And it’s good to get some fresh air.
Georgie Yes, exactly, exactly.
Neil So, Georgie, you said you are looking forward to being in the countryside.
Georgie I did.
Neil And looking forward to means that you’re excited about something you’re going to do in the future.
Georgie Exactly, yes. Like I’m looking forward to seeing my dog.
Neil Is your dog looking forward to seeing you?
Georgie Yes, I’m sure he is.
So, Neil, I have quite clear plans. I know what I’m going to do this weekend. And to talk about plans like that we usually use be going to or the present continuous so I said, I’m going to visit my parents at the weekend. And sometimes we shorten going to to gonna when we’re speaking quickly.
Neil Yeah, now your plans are certain. Mine are not so certain. So I used might and may. I said I might meet my friend. I may go for a meal or I may go for a drink. It means I’m not completely sure.
Georgie Well, Neil, I’m sure whatever you do this weekend, you’ll have a nice time.
OK, let’s look at the vocabulary we learned during the conversation.
Neil We learned might, which we use to talk about possible plans. I might meet my friend.
Georgie** Going to** which we used to talk about future plans that are a little bit more certain. So I’m going to visit my parents this weekend.
Neil And looking forward to which means to be pleased or excited that something is going to happen.
Georgie That’s it for this episode off Real Easy English, but I’m looking forward to the next episode when we’ll talk about saving the planet.
Neil If you can’t wait, you can find lots of courses, programmes and activities on our website: bbclearningenglish.com
Georgie Bye for now.
Neil Goodbye.