Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.
Roy And I’m Roy! My legs are really aching. I’ve been standing all day!
Feifei Well, there’s an easy fix for that, Roy. Sit down!
Roy No, sorry – I can’t. I want to be at the front of the queue when we go to watch Rob’s Biscuit Band tonight.
Feifei Firstly, I’m not going with you. Secondly, I think you’ve mixed up front of the queue with ‘frontliner’ – which is the word we’re talking about in this programme.
Roy Ahhh – right. A frontliner is a person who works in an advanced position. It’s been mentioned quite a lot recently due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Feifei Yes. Doctors and nurses who have direct contact with patients are sometimes referred to as frontliners.
Roy Yes, because they work on the frontline. Right, now I’m going to sit down - seeing as we’re not queuing to be at the front of the line.
Feifei Yes, you should. Let’s listen to these examples.
Examples Ahmed is a frontliner and works in the hospital as a doctor helping patients recover from diseases.
Wellington’s mother is a frontliner and attends many accidents as a first responder.
Roberta always wanted to be a teacher growing up, and now she works in a school as a frontliner
Feifei This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re talking about the word ‘frontliner’. This is a term that refers to people who work in an advanced position during a pandemic, such as doctors and nurses.
Roy They do amazing jobs. Sometimes they get referred to as a ‘frontline doctors and nurses’ or ‘frontline workers’. Many people see them as heroes.
Feifei Yes, these frontliners have been risking their lives to save people from the virus recently.
Roy In the UK, a lot of people took part every week in something called ‘Clap for Carers’. It’s now become an annual event where people go outside and clap to celebrate the difficult and brave work of frontliners.
Feifei And to all the people who listen to The English We Speak who are frontliners – a round of applause.
Feifei Bye!
Roy Bye!