Hello, and welcome to The English
We Speak. I'm Feifei.
And I'm Roy!
What are you doing? There are keys
everywhere! What is that noise?
Sorry, I was just cutting some keys!
It turns out that I've been doing my job
wrong all these years!
Ah! I know what happened. Neil called
you to say you're not a key worker, right?
Exactly! All this time at the BBC and
I hadn't cut a single key! I'm lucky Neil
was so forgiving. He had no idea what
to say when I told him I'd start cutting keys.
I'm not surprised he didn't know
what to say! A key worker is someone
who provides an essential service,
like a doctor or nurse.
Yep, that's more logical. I get
confused sometimes.
You do. Let's listen to these
examples while you get rid
of those keys.
My friends Jorge and Zdenka
are both key workers! They do
the amazing job of teaching kids.
Michiko is a key worker, but her
class is closed at the moment
due to the outbreak of the virus.
Key workers need to have easy
access to their places of work
during the coronavirus crisis.
This is The English We Speak from
BBC Learning English and we're
talking about the expression 'key worker'.
This refers to a person who is seen
to give an essential service or have
an important role such as a teacher,
doctor or nurse.
That's right! 'Key' in this expression
relates to 'vital' or 'important'.
Not to keys that open locks.
Correct. And it's been quite a
common expression during the
coronavirus pandemic. People have
been talking about the importance of
key workers being able to do their
jobs during a world crisis.
That's right. In fact, I could say
it's been a key point of discussion.
I really respect the amazing jobs that
people like doctors, nurses, emergency
service staff and teachers do.
Yes, me too. One thing though,
Roy... How much did you spend on
that key-cutting machine?
Enough to say 'please don't
tell my wife - she'll be really
angry'. Do you want me
to cut you a new key?
No. I don't want to
encourage you! Bye, Roy.
Bye!