S01 - 10 TV

[Music] Real Exam English, episode 10, television. [Music] Hello and welcome to Real Exam English. My name is Trevor. Today's episode is about television. Now, of course, the way we consume television is changing and the majority of young people tend to watch very little traditional TV. So when we speak about TV here, that also includes streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, or whatever. Today we have three different accents from the USA, West Coast, East Coast, and Midwest. From the UK, we have one from London and one from the north of England. And we also have one from Ireland. So a super mix of accents for you to practice listening to. And as usual, you can request transcripts on the Real Exam English pages on Facebook or Instagram. Okay, then let's go to the questions. What kind of TV programs do you enjoy most? Well, lately, because of what's going on, I've been watching a lot of TV, especially Netflix. I really like documentaries. So I've been watching a lot of documentaries on Netflix. What else have I been watching? And I'll watch like Dateline, a lot of True Crime. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but a lot of True Crime shows. But I really don't have the time to, I can't be consistent with one show all the time. So I usually just either binge watch something on Netflix. Oh, I just watched, I just binged Mad Men again. So I'm really into that right now. We heard this expression to binge watch. She said that she binge watched something on Netflix. And she said that she just binged Mad Men again. So to binge watch is to watch a lot of episodes of something consecutively, usually on some streaming service like Netflix in this case. And to binge is usually used with negative activities. So other common call locations with the word binge are drinking. So you can have a drinking binge, a shopping binge, or binge eating, for instance, where you eat lots of food. What kind of TV programs do you like best? Oh, it depends on the mood I'm in really. I don't, I couldn't, I don't really subscribe to one genre of TV program. So it really does depend on my mood. But generally, things that are science fiction, fantasy related, or quite sort of educational. So things like, I've been watching a series about the art of Persia and then the art of the low country. So that's Netherlands and Belgium. But I also really like science, science and crime. So it's a mixed bag, really. So the first thing to comment on here is the use of the word series. So the speaker said, I've been watching a series about the art of Persia. And just make note that it's a series, not a series. I teach a lot in Spain. And my students are always saying a Siri. But in English, it's a series because it's a series of episodes. So make sure to have the S on there at the end. And there was also another fantastic expression here in the answer which was a mixed bag, which is a diverse assortment or mix of different things or people. And an example of this would be how are your exams? I got two A's, two B's, a C and a D. A mixed bag, really. How often do you watch TV? At the moment, I probably watch TV every day, which is quite unusual, but that's because of the situation of being in lockdown at the moment. So watching it each evening. Never watch TV during the day. I've always thought, I always feel like I've got something more interesting to do during the day, but I'll watch a bit in the evening. Generally, not watching live TV though, sort of picking and choosing the programmes that I want to watch, either by streaming them in or even having them on old fashioned DVDs. Just one expression to focus on here, and that is picking and choosing. So to pick and choose is to take only the things that you want from a certain group. So an example would be the Rolling Stones are the best band in the world. So they can pick and choose which festivals to play at. Remember, you can get the transcripts for this and every episode on the real exam English pages on Facebook or Instagram. And you can also find lots of great grammar exercises there, as well as really useful tips on how to prepare for your exam. And if you want information on classes to prepare for your exam, then you can find that there also. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a large number of television channels to choose from? Well, the advantage is obviously variety, and that there is nearly always something on that you would watch. The disadvantage is that you're more prone to watch more TV, and you're more prone to be tempted all the time. For instance, you may decide to watch a television program at nine o'clock until 10 o'clock. And then at 10 o'clock, you may flick around the channels. And there's always something on that will make you watch more TV. Whereas if you didn't have all the channels, that wouldn't be the case. You'd be limited. It isn't a problem for me, but I can see how it would be a problem for people. Why do you think watching TV is such a popular pastime? It takes us away from our reality. It's a release from the everyday stresses of life. You can get involved in a program or a series and just not have to think about the day-to-day things that you would normally be thinking about. That's one aspect of it, or one reason that it is a popular pastime. Another reason is because it's probably just so easy and open to a variety of different levels of intelligence and education. We had a very television-specific phrasal verb here, which is to flick around, which means to go from channel to channel, usually looking for something that you might like. And we also had a couple of nice connectors here, which were, for instance, which was used to give an example. And we had Huayraz, which is used to show contrast. Do you prefer to watch a performance live or on TV? I actually prefer it live. I'd actually like to be in the arena or in the stadium with the fans, just filling the same emotions that a person in the audience is feeling when they're watching their favorite team or their favorite player play. For me, it's like one of the best things is going to a live sporting event. Do you think that television can ever be educational? Of course, television can always be educational. It just depends on what the topic is about, because there's many programs on television that covers different genres. For example, comedy, romance, soap operas. But there's also television programs that are more educational about nature or science or even at times mathematics or language. So it just depends on what the program is that can be considered educational. But sometimes sports can be educational. Okay, so the previous speaker had used, for instance, to give an example. And this speaker here used, for example. And he also used a nice variety of TV show genres. He had comedy, romance, and soap opera. Tell us about a TV program you've seen recently. The best TV program I've seen recently is a documentary called Once Upon a Time in Iraq. It's a five-part documentary series interviewing the journalists, the people on the ground, the soldiers, basically everybody apart from the politicians about what happened in Iraq. And it was a fantastic documentary. I'll be amazed if it doesn't win lots of awards this year. Why do you think watching TV is such a popular pastime? I guess people watch TV because it's easy. It's in your front room. Hopefully you can browse the channels and find something that works for you. Everybody's got diverse tastes. So the talk shows and sort of find talent song shows where people from the country show talent and that type of thing is just something I've never watched. Whereas for me, I like watching quite interesting documentaries, nature programs, films. So I guess it's just a nice, easy way of relaxing and finding something that works for you. It's easy, isn't it? A couple of very British expressions here. The first one is the front room. So the front room is really the sitting room. And this is traditionally the room in the front of the house beside the front door. That's the name. And it's the room where the family TV is usually located. And the second expression is in it. If anyone has been to the UK or watches British TV, then I'm sure you've heard this. In it is another way of saying, isn't it? Which is a question tag. So the example was, it's easy in it. And as with any question tag, if the beginning of the sentence is affirmative, then the question tag is negative and vice versa. And a word of warning, however, this is very informal. So definitely not something you should use in an exam situation. Okay, folks, that's it for the questions for today. Remember the next time you're in your front room flicking around, try to pick and choose a good series from your favorite genre and try not to binge watch it all in one go. Okay, hope you enjoyed today's episode. I would love to hear from you on the real exam English pages on Facebook or Instagram. And would really appreciate it if you could subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever. This is actually the last episode in series one of the real exam English podcast. I'd like to give a huge thanks to all of the speakers who gave their valuable time to answer questions. And thank you all so much for listening and for giving feedback. For series two, we're going to have a bunch of new accents for you as well as a completely new range of topics. And we will continue to be active on social media. So keep an eye out for vocabulary and grammar exercises, as well as news on when season two of the podcast will be out. Okay, then all the best, Trevor!