An invitation to a party

Listen to some phone messages with directions to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Automated message: You have two new messages. Message number one, received today at 3.45 p.m.

Hi, it's me. How's it going? I guess you're at work and you don't have your phone on, right? First of all, thank you, THANK YOU for the birthday card and message. I received it this morning. That's so nice of you. I'm organising a little party for my birthday. It's nothing very big – only a few of my best and closest friends. That means you too! We're going to have it at my cousin's house. She lives in the countryside in a nice big house with a swimming pool. I'd love to see you there. It's going to be this Friday. I'll send you the instructions on how to get there later, OK?

Anyway, have fun at work. Don't work too hard, OK? Talk soon.

Automated message: You have two new messages. Message number two, received today at 5.15 p.m.

Aw, you're still not answering your phone! OK, here are the instructions to get to my cousin's house for the party. Are you going to take your car? If you take the car, drive straight on Forest Road until you get to the motorway. Drive past Brownsville and take exit 13A. That's 13A. You drive down the road there and turn left. It's the first big house on the right. OK? If you're taking a bus, you can get the number 80 to Brownsville. Call me when you get there and somebody can pick you up in a car. I can't wait. This is going to be so great!

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

Discussion

Is it easy to get lost in your town? Have you ever given directions to a visitor?

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Language level

A2 Pre-intermediate

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It's not very hard to get lost in Panama, specifically the part where I live. There are lots of buildings as well as shops so giving directions proves to be quite a challenge. Since I've been living here for around 8 years or so I can easily give instructions for visitors to make their way around it.

Getting lost in my own town is impossible. It is easy for me to give directions in my city. When I give directions to visitors, they find it very easy to get to their destinations.

From where i live it is not really hard to get lost as you can distinguish your surroundings, and even though in my neighborhood the houses look the same the way to my house is relatively simple. I have given directions to a visitor though it sometimes can't be comprehensible as I am not really good at explaining the details of my surrounding in a way others would understand.

It is easy to get easy in my town. The street names are not really visible and most people don't use them. I have sent directions to my friends on how to get to my house, but instead of using the street names, I use landmarks as references instead.