Series 1 Episode 6 - He's a pest!

BCSW - He's a pest

Joe the 4-year-old nephew - is he a pest or just a sweet little boy? Written by Chris Rose.

Preparation

Do the vocabulary activity below before you listen. Then listen to the episode and do the first two tasks to check your understanding. Finally, practise some vocabulary and grammar in Tasks 3 and 4. You can read the transcript at any stage if you want.

Exercise

Listen

Listen to the audio

Task

Choose the correct word(s) to complete each sentence.

Exercise

Read transcript

Task 2

Fill the gaps with the names from the top.

Exercise

Read transcript

Task 3

Match adjectives with opposite meanings.

Exercise

Read transcript

Task 4

Choose the correct verb to complete each sentence.

Exercise

Read transcript

Transcript

Olivia:  Joe!  Can you stop that please!  Can you please come here and sit down!
Magda:  Hello there, Olivia.  Who’s this?
Olivia:  This is Joe – he’s my nephew.
Magda:  Nephew?
Olivia: My sister’s son.
Magda:  Oh!  I see.  He’s lovely!  I love children...
Olivia:  Yeah, they’re great until you have to look after them...
Magda:  You’re looking after him?
Olivia:  Yeah, just for today, fortunately.  My sister can’t get a babysitter.  But Joe comes to my shop quite often.  He loves it there...unfortunately!
Magda:  Why’s that ‘unfortunate’?
Olivia: Because he’s a pest, that’s why...
Magda:  What’s a ‘pest’?
Olivia:  Somebody or something which makes you angry...
Magda:  No!!  I don’t believe it!  He’s so sweet!  How old is he?
Olivia:  Four, nearly five. 
Fadi:  Whoooaaaa!  Slow down there, little man!  Who’s this?
Olivia:  Fadi, meet Joe.
Magda:  He’s Olivia’s nephew.  And a sweet little pest!
Fadi:  Oh really!  I didn’t know you were Aunt Olivia!
Olivia:  Thank you very much Fadi.  You make me feel old. Listen, have you had a chat with Harry yet?
Fadi:  About work?
Olivia:  Yeah.
Fadi:  No, not yet, but I’m supposed to talk to him today.  He said he’d be in here later.
Olivia:  Listen, though, it’s not true what Harry was saying...
Fadi:  About what?
Olivia:  About me being upset if he can’t do the website for my shop...I don’t mind if he can’t do it!  He wanted far too much money.  I could never have afforded it.  Now it’s ok, because he thinks he’s turning me down...I don’t have to offend him by saying ‘no’! A happy result all round!
Fadi:  I see...so I don’t have to bail you out, after all?
Olivia:  No!
Olivia:  Joe, can you stop that please?  Come over here!
Fadi: ...and here he is!
Harry:  Alright mate!  Alright Olivia, Magda...who’s this young man?
Olivia:  My nephew, Joe.
Harry:  Hello Joe!
Harry:  He’s very...erm...what’s the word...energetic?
Olivia:  I just call him “trouble”!
Harry:  So, Fadi, you wanted to talk business?
Fadi:  Yeah, finally...well, I’ve got the all clear from my uncle, so we’re on. 
Harry:  Great. 
Fadi:  But...
Harry:  There’s always a “but”!
Fadi:  You’re going to have to do us a favour and come down on the price, mate...
Harry:  What price did I quote you?
Fadi:  Two thousand five hundred.
Harry:  Well, seeing as you’re a friend, I could come down to two thousand four hundred, but not less than that.
Fadi:  We can offer two thousand.  That’s our top limit.  We don’t have a bigger budget than that.
Harry:  Come on!  You’re joking!
Fadi:  Sorry mate.  It’s two thousand, or nothing.
Harry:  No way.  Can’t be done.  I’ve got to go now...got to go and see Johnny – he’s offered me a real job...bye all!
Fadi:  Oh no, do you think he’s really upset now?
Olivia:  I don’t think “upset” is the word....
Fadi:  We can go a bit higher actually...I was just trying to be a tough negotiator.
Magda:  A bit too tough, I think.
Olivia:  You should never mix work and friendship, anyway.
Magda:  And you probably shouldn’t have a business meeting in a café!
Fadi:  Oh no.  What a mess.  I’d better go.  Hang on..where’s my...where are my....I can’t find my mobile!  Or my keys!  Has anyone seen them?
Magda:  Let’s look under the seats...they must be here somewhere...
Fadi:  I can’t see anything.
Magda:  No sign.
Olivia:  How strange...hang on a minute, my nephew’s been terribly quiet for the last five minutes...what’s he up to...Joe!!!

Your rating: None (199 votes)

Comments

we love it! we are find new friends, yelous!

Harry is saying  "Alright mate!  Alright Olivia, Magda" in this sentence Alright means hi??

Alright sbektas!

Yes, we can use it as a greeting like hi or hello. I would only really use it with close family and friends, though - it is quite informal.

Regards,

Stephen Jones
The LearnEnglish Team

The reading is  very fast to me so i have to hear many times to catch .Anyhow I'll try and try every day. Thank you for the lesson.

wow , this is a wonderful episode of this series  which I prefer to listening to ,and this episode recalls the  memory about my childhood . At that time , I also had a nickname which was called pirate . The nickname is such similar with Joe 's nickname ---pest . All of us were usually impolite for others when we were a child, making rough actions and mess things ,because of this , everyone owns a varied and colorful childhood which makes us unforgettable now .

hi
it is nice
i hop to improve my English language
thanks

WOW I like this so much! I want more, more, more tasks and episodes!!!!!

thanks a lot  

Thanks

I'm feeling depressed as I m not able to do any task I don't understand how to do those task I open ilisten I m able to read transcript. But nt able to open tasks. What to do?

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