Hello and welcome to Real Easy English.In this podcast we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn.I'm Beth.
And I'm Neil.Remember you can read along with this podcast on our website bbclearningenglish.com.
Hi Neil, how are you? Neil, are you checking your phone?We're recording!
Sorry, Beth.Yes, I'm just looking at my phone.I'm just checking the football scores.Finished now.
OK, good.Well, today we're talking all about technology.
Yes, and technology is what we call new things that we use to make life easier, like phones, computers and the internet.We'll talk about new technology and how much we use it.
Okay, great.Well, let's get started.Now, Neil, you just said, I'm checking my phone.That is the present continuous and you said it because you were checking the scores or checking your phone right then, right at that moment.
But I have a question for you in the present simple, which is how often do you use technology?
So, I use technology every day, many times every day.I check my phone a lot.I use a Bluetooth speaker.I sometimes play games with my son on his video console.
OK, so you use some technology.
I do, yes.How about you, Beth?
I read quite a lot on a tablet.So I do read some books, but I tend to use technology to read.And I have been learning Spanish or I'm learning Spanish at the moment using an app on my phone.So I'm using technology for that a little bit.
And what's your favourite piece of technology that makes your life easy?
Well, I use a smoothie maker all the time.So especially when I'm working from home, I chuck any old fruit and vegetables in there and make a smoothie.What about you?
So I've got a bread maker.
Yeah.And so I put all of the ingredients together and in the morning we have lovely fresh bread.
Nice.Would you say that you are tech savvy?Are you good at using new technology?
No, not at all.Eventually, I learned the technology, but I never really get excited about new technology until lots of other people are already using it.
Yeah, I feel the same.I only really feel comfortable using technology when I have practiced and got used to it.
Yeah.So, Beth, is there any new piece of technology that you would like to get that you don't have at the moment?
Well, I used to have a really good camera, but it's now about 10 years old.So I think that technology's moved on quite a bit since then.
So I'd quite like to get a really good new camera, but the cameras on phones are quite good these days, but it's always nice to have something really good for when you go on holiday and that sort of thing.
Let's recap some of the language we heard during the conversation.We had technology – new scientific things that make our life easier, such as smartphones and computers.
Tech-savvy – good at using technology.
We learned to use the present simple to talk about our technology habits – things we always do.For example, I use my phone way too much.
And we learnt to use the present continuous to talk about things we're doing at this moment in time.For example, Neil, you are still checking the football scores!
I am.Sorry, Beth, but only because my home team is beating yours at football!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever!
That's it for this episode.If you want more Easy English, try our video series, The London to Edinburgh Challenge.All episodes are available now on our website bbclearningenglish.com.
Next time on Real Easy English, we'll talk about our hobbies.Bye for now.
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