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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once I gave direction to a stranger when I was walking in the road,first the stranger ask me a address and I told him take the left and go straight.it's easy to guide them but sometimes I order food in online and the delivery guy ask my address in phone I guide him but again he ask and then he comes.

Dear Team, referring to the Task 1,I think that both messages contain descriptions (a nice big house with a swimming pool-It's the first big house on the right),i.e.the view and location of the house.Am I right or not. Thanks again.

Hello nikoslado

I suppose so, but the first message is more descriptive, which is why the correct answer is Message 1.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

My hometown is the countryside so easy to get lost if you first time to go there. because a lot of small roads, houses don't have the name, the direction not clearly on map ect. Yes, I had given them direction or pick them up at the big road. In another way, If I'm a visitor I so excited to learn how to find direction. You need to ask the local people, find the signal, understanding the culture the place you want to go ... all the way to get there. Something new you can explore. Sometimes if get lost is not a big problem, right? just my opinion.

As a matter of fact, it is not very easy to get lost in the location where is near my house or be familiar to me. If someone asks me the direction, I will use Apple map to show them the correct information for help. By the way, it is very tough to give the 100 percentage correct direction to people.

I think that my town is not big enough to lost your instructions, but if that happend, you should ask someone even gide you where you want. In addation , in my town , many of streets and roads are random.

I think my town is not big enough, but a visitor who don't know it, they could be lost because there are a lot of small street that take you to different places. Yes, it is common for we can help to visitors, giving directions on how to get to a streets, avenues, squares, etc.

yes, it is. because Tehran is very big and despite a lot of directions in the city if you don't know the directions well. So certainly you get lost. No, I haven't.

If you get lost in my town you’ll find someone who shows you the direction and propose to drive you to your place. I want to share with you my misadventure; last holidays my husband and me did a touristic circuit in Germany . We leave the Frankfurt airport we took a rental car and went to Erfurt ( the fist town to visite). The motorway is large and germen people respected the Highway Code it was easy to drive on it and we enjoyed the travel and the landscape intel arrived at night to the exit to the town. Suddenly there was no GPS no internet and we get lost in the city we tried to ask for help to the only person we saw, it was unsuccessful. Finally my husband went into a restaurant and asked someone to call a taxi for us. The taxi arrived we showed him the address and we followed him intel the hotel.