The Environment: The Three Rs - Recycle

The Environment: The Three Rs - Reuse

Introduction

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack

Rowan: My name’s Rowan

Rich: and I’m Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: In the Premier Skills English podcast, we talk about football and help you with your English. 

Rowan: Don’t forget you can find the transcript for all our podcasts on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: We are changing our weekly podcast. From this week, you will hear our weekly podcast in three parts.

Jack: Yes. We asked you for your opinions on the ideal podcast length and the majority of our listeners say that the ideal length is a bit shorter than our normal podcasts. We are going to split the podcast into three shorter parts which will make things easier to understand. 

Rowan: Not too much will change. We will always have a roleplay for you, a language focus, a task for you to complete and a weekly football phrase for you to guess.

Rich: Please let us know if you are happy with the changes either in the comments section or on Apple Podcasts.

Jack: This week’s podcast is connected to the environment. It’s Rich’s son’s birthday and we’ll be talking about birthday parties, presents and tidying up afterwards!

Jack: This is part two of this week’s podcast which is about protecting the environment. It’s Rich’s son’s birthday and we’ll be talking about birthday parties, presents and tidying up afterwards!

Rowan: In this second part, the three of us are in the car on the way back from the supermarket and we’re talking about what Rich has bought his son for his birthday.

Rich: I’ve bought him a new bike. Well, new for him anyway.

Jack: After the roleplay, we’ll look at some words and phrases connected to reusing things. 

Rowan: Your task is to tell us about second-hand things you have bought and something that you would never buy second-hand.

Rich: If you are listening to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or any other podcast platform, you should also check out our website.

Jack: On the Premier Skills English website, you’ll find the transcript, examples and activities to help you understand the language, and a task for you to complete with other listeners.

Introduction to roleplay 3

Jack: As we said earlier, this podcast is in three parts - there will be three short podcasts in total. This is the final part.

Rich: My son’s eleventh birthday party has just finished and it’s time to tidy up.

Rowan: While you listen, we want you to answer a question:

Jack: The question is: What goes in the green bin?

Roleplay 3

Jack: Wow - it looks like you’ve had fun.

Rich: I know. I’m completely exhausted. Kids are wild. Look at the mess they have made.

Rowan: Your son’s very popular. He got lots of presents.

Rich: Yes. There’s quite a lot of wrapping paper. 

Jack: Do you want a hand clearing up? 

Rich: Thanks. I’ve got a system going. This bag is for the brown paper and that bag is for the shiny colourful paper.

Rowan: Why are you sorting the wrapping paper?

Rich: The brown paper is recyclable, but that shiny stuff has a plastic coating and can’t be recycled.

Rowan: And what about the leftover food?

Rich: That can go straight in the green bin. 

Jack: So we’re sorting the rubbish into three bins. We’re putting the brown paper into this bag to recycle and the coloured paper into this bag to throw away and leftover food goes in the green bin.

Rich: Yes. I’ll take the recyclable rubbish down to the recycling bins at the end of the road later. 

Rowan: Where I live, you get a special bag for paper and card and boxes for glass, plastics and metal and the council comes and picks it up once a fortnight. As long as I remember to put it out.

Jack: It’s my kids’ job to take out the recycling. It’s really not a lot to ask them as the council collects it from the front gate. It’s really convenient. 

Rich: I’m quite happy taking it down to the end of the road. There are big recycling bins for paper and card and plastic and then there are bottle banks for glass. 

Rowan: Don’t recycle my colored water bottles though! I’ll reuse them.

Language Focus 3

Jack: Before the roleplay, we asked you a question. The question was: What goes in the green bin?

Rich: Well, in the roleplay, my house was a total mess after the party and we had a lot of tidying up to do which always includes throwing rubbish away and recycling.

Rowan: Yes, we have to sort out all the rubbish and recycling and different materials have to go in different places. And what goes in the green bin?

Jack: Leftovers - leftover food. In the UK, the green bin is for organic waste so we put food in there. Leftovers are the excess food that has not been used or eaten at a meal - food that has been left.

Rich: So, we were talking about recycling in this roleplay. Let’s look at some language connected to this topic.

Rowan: Recycle is the third of our three Rs that we have looked at this week. Earlier this week we spoke about reduce and reuse and now we’re going to speak about recycling.

Jack: Recycling is a process. This process usually starts in the home when we sort our rubbish into different materials.

Rich: To sort something means to organise things into different groups.

Rowan: So the process of recycling starts when we sort our rubbish into different materials such as paper, glass, plastic and organic waste.

Rich: All this rubbish is then treated - it is recycled so it can be used again.

Jack: The difference between recycling and reusing something is that when we recycle something it needs to be treated and the material is used for something else.

Rowan: We used a few words and phrases connected to recycling in the roleplay. Listen to this part of the roleplay again and think about what we do with our rubbish:

Jack: So we’re sorting the rubbish into three bins. We’re putting the brown paper into this bag to recycle and the coloured paper into this bag to throw away and leftover food goes in the green bin.

Rich: Yes. I’ll take the recyclable rubbish down to the recycling bins at the end of the road later. 

Rowan: Where I live, you get a special bag for paper and card and boxes for glass, plastics and metal and the council comes and picks it up once a fortnight. As long as I remember to put it out.

Jack: When we recycle we have to think about what rubbish is recyclable. Recyclable is an adjective and it is used to describe items that can be recycled.

Rich: There are lots of things like the shiny coloured paper we spoke about that can’t be recycled; it’s not recyclable.

Rowan: If it’s not recyclable we have to throw it away and this rubbish often ends up in a landfill.

Jack: That’s a bit of language from our last podcast: throw away, landfill and end up. Do you remember what these words mean?

Rich: I also spoke about recycling bins. Where I live, there are big bins that I share with everyone who lives on my street. These recycling bins are different colours: blue for paper, yellow for plastic and green for glass.

Jack: We sometimes call the recycling bin for glass a bottle bank.

Rowan: So, Rich takes the recycling because he has to walk down the street to the recycling bins. Where I live the recycling is collected from my front door so I need to put out the recycling.

Jack: Yes, me too. I put out the recycling once a fortnight - once every two weeks. Here to put out means to leave outside. It’s actually quite a common phrase, you might put out the rubbish in the evening, put out the washing so it can dry or put out the cat before you go to bed.

Rich: OK, we’ve looked at lots of language connected to recycling. You can find the transcript and more activities on the Premier Skills English website to help you understand what we’ve been speaking about.

TASK

Rich: In this task, we’d like you to think about the three Rs that we have discussed this week: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Jack: We want you to look around where you live and choose one item. This could be something small like a plastic water bottle or something bigger like the computer, mobile phone or tablet that you are listening to us on right now.

Rowan: We want you to tell us the journey of this item. Where has it come from? How much do you know about it? Is it made from recyclable materials? Is it second-hand? Have you been using it for a long time?

Rich: And what will happen to this item when you have finished with it? Will it go in a rubbish bin? Will it be recycled? Will it be used for another purpose?

Jack: Or maybe you will be able to give it to someone else so it can have another life. So, we want you to tell us the journey of an item in your house.

Rowan: Try to use some of the language you have heard in the podcast this week.

Football Phrase

Rich: It’s time for this week’s football phrase. Remember that you will hear this football phrase in all three parts of this podcast and we’ll have the answer for you in part one of our next podcast as well as in This Week which you can also watch on YouTube. 

Jack: Have you got this week’s football phrase, Rowan?

Rowan: I have. This week’s football phrase is ******* ********. On the BBC website, it says that Premier League clubs are able to have fans watch matches, but the stadiums can only open with ******* ******** because of Covid-19 restrictions. This is better than having no fans at all, but I’m looking forward to the atmosphere you get when a stadium is full.

Rich: Me too. There’s nothing like the sound of Anfield at full ******** singing You’ll never walk alone.

Jack: If you have a football phrase that you would like us to use in the podcast, just get in touch and let us know.

Rowan: Right, that’s all we have time for now but we will be back soon with the second part of this podcast connected to the environment.

Rich: Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below. If you get it right, we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast and live on YouTube. 

Jack: If you have a question for us about football or English you can email us at premierskills@britishcouncil.org

Rowan: or you can leave your questions and comments on the website in the comments section or on our Facebook page.

Rich: or you could give us a rating and a fantastic review on Apple Podcasts.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football!