English conversation practice.
Lesson four.
In the previous lesson you met Alex and Ellie.
Ellie described her daily routine to Alex.
Alex was about to ask
Ellie about her weekend activities.
But Ellie had to be somewhere and told Alex
they can talk about how she spends her weekend.
later. I would suggest you watch
lesson no 03 for better understanding.
You can find the link in the
description or in the right-hand corner.
Alex and Ellie bump into each other once
again and talk about their weekend activities.
Listen to their conversation and focus on the
highlighted words and phrases used in context.
Later I will explain their
meanings with more example sentences.
This conversation will give you good listening practice
and help you understand the native English accent.
Let's begin.
Hey, Alex.
What are you up to?
Can't complain.
Not bad.
Sorry we couldn't complete our conversation last time.
I had to rush.
Yes, you had to be somewhere. Absolutely.
Last we spoke about my daily routine.
Why didn't you enlighten me about your weekend?
Well, that would be great.
As you already know, I'm a video editor
and work for a social media influencer.
My weekends are quite buzzing.
Do you mean you work on weekends?
Yes, my weekly breaks are usually not fixed.
That's cool.
At least you don't have to face the Monday blues.
Also, I prefer a weekly holiday on weekdays.
At least the malls are less crowded.
Yes, I couldn't agree more.
How are your weekends, Ellie?
Actually, I crave weekends.
So what do you generally do on weekends?
First, I keep snoozing in bed until 10:00 a.m..
Once I'm out of bed, I have some coffee.
I know how much you love coffee.
Yes, too much.
Later I vacuum the carpet and do the laundry.
Do you cook on weekends? Nope.
I mostly have a good brunch. On weekends.
I order it from the local takeaway joint.
Do you binge on Netflix or prime video? Not really.
Not on weekends.
Instead I spend time arranging and
cleaning the plants in my balcony.
Oh, I see.
You love gardening.
And is it by noon?
Almost until 02:00 p.m..
After that I go grocery shopping
and stuff things for the week.
Do you do that online?
No, I prefer visiting the store.
Then around four I either go cycling in
the park or go swimming at the clubhouse.
Even eye relaxing.
I mostly cycle to work.
That's good exercise.
So how do you spend your evenings?
I catch up with some friends. In the evening.
We either go shopping or tittle towel for hours.
What do you do for dinner?
I mostly dine with my friends on weekend.
Quite a happening weekend, I must say. Not really.
It's what most of us do.
If you say so.
Because I work on the weekend.
Try taking the weekend off sometimes.
Just for a change.
Maybe we could catch up.
Sounds like a plan.
I'll certainly try to.
Did you enjoy the conversation?
I am sure you did and got a
better understanding to talk about weekend activities.
Now let's take a closer look at some of
the key words and phrases used in this conversation.
Number one can't complain.
It's the other way of saying I am fine.
It means everything is fine and
you have no complaints about anything.
Your life is running as usual.
You could always say can't complain in
response to the greeting how are you?
Number two enlighten me.
This phrase is commonly used to say give me
more information or update me about the latest news.
It's also used to say I don't understand.
Could you explain me?
For example, what do you mean you
had no option but to lie?
Enlighten me.
Next up, Monday Blues.
Do you like going to the office after a fun weekend?
Most of us don't.
We hate getting back to the routine weekdays.
After spending a wonderful weekend.
That negative feeling of getting back
to routine is called Monday Blues.
For example, I'm sad the weekend is over.
Why can't it be a three day weekend?
I think I have the Monday blues.
Next up tiddle.
Have you heard it before?
It means talking about other people's lives.
In short, to gossip about people, but
mostly not in a nice way.
It's an informal conversation between friends.
For example, do you want to know what happened?
Meet Michelle.
She loves to title tattle.
I love to title tattle a lot.
Do you title tattle?
Let me know in the comments.
Next up buzzing.
Have you seen a bee and
the continuous humming sound it makes?
That's a buzz.
So when you say that something is
buzzing, as in this case Alex's, weekends
are buzzing, which means he's continuously busy.
It's an English slang and is
used in replacement for busy.
For example, it seems Mumbai never sleeps.
It's always buzzing with people around.
Snoozing in Bed quite an interesting one, isn't it?
To snooze means to have a short and
light sleep when you don't like to get
out of the bed, especially in the morning.
And try staying in the bed, turning off the alarm
every time it rings, you snooze in the bed.
Here's an example sentence I set three alarms
at an interval of ten minutes because I
have a habit of snoozing in bed.
Crave Week to crave something
means to want something badly.
To crave a weekend means to long for a weekend.
In short, you want a break
from your dull weekday routine.
This week has just started and
I am already swamped with emails.
I am craving weekends.
Up next brunch.
A brunch is a meal eaten in
the late morning, say around eleven.
It's a combination of breakfast and lunch.
For example, I usually don't eat lunch at work.
I leave home after a heavy brunch.
To relish.
When you relish something, you enjoy doing it.
It's your favorite thing to do and gives you enjoyment.
Relish is mostly associated with food, but can also be
used to talk about what you like doing the most.
As you heard in the conversation, Alex
relishes cycling to work every day.
Here's an example sentence I relish cooking every
Sunday and my family relishes my chicken curry.
Why don't you try making a sentence
in the comments using the word relish?
I would love to read them.
Catch up.
Catch up is a phrasal verb.
And in this context it means to
talk casually with someone you know.
As you heard Ellie saying, she
catches up with friends on weekends.
For example let's go for a coffee.
I need to catch up on all the gossip I missed.
And the last phrase from today's conversation is
a happening weekend or happening plus a noun.
In this context it means having a
weekend filled with fun and enjoyment.
You could use happening with other nouns such as
a happening party, a happening event, a happening restaurant.
Here is an example sentence the party
I attended last evening was quite happening.
It was filled with lots of celebrity guests.
Those were twelve keywords and
phrases from today's conversation.
Now listen to the conversation one more
time and see how those words and
phrases were used in realtime speaking.
Hey, Alex.
What are you up to?
Can't complain.
Not bad.
Sorry we couldn't complete our conversation last time.
I had to rush.
Yes, you had to be somewhere. Absolutely.
Last we spoke about my daily routine.
Why didn't you enlighten me about your weekend?
Well, that would be great.
As you already know, I'm a video editor
and work for a social media influencer.
My weekends are quite buzzing.
Do you mean you work on weekends?
Yes, my weekly breaks are usually not fixed.
That's cool.
At least you don't have to face the Monday blues.
Also, I prefer a weekly holiday on weekdays.
At least the malls are less crowded.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
How are your weekends, Ellie?
Actually, I crave weekends.
So what do you generally do on weekends?
First, I keep snoozing in bed until 10:00 a.m..
Once I'm out of bed, I have some coffee.
I know how much you love coffee.
Yes, too much.
Later I vacuum the carpet and do the laundry.
Do you cook on weekends? Nope.
I mostly have a good brunch. On weekends.
I order it from the local takeaway joint.
Do you binge on Netflix or prime video? Not really.
Not on weekends.
Instead I spend time arranging and
cleaning the plants in my balcony.
Oh, I see.
You love gardening.
And is it by noon?
Almost until 02:00 p.m..
After that I go grocery shopping
and stuff things for the week.
Do you do that online?
No, I prefer visiting the store.
Then around four, I either go cycling in
the park or go swimming at the clubhouse.
Even eye relaxing.
I mostly cycle to work.
That's good exercise.
So how do you spend your evenings?
I catch up with some friends in the evening.
We either go shopping or Tittle Tattle for hours.
What do you do for dinner?
I mostly dine with my friends on weekend.
Quite a happening weekend, I must say. Not really.
It's what most of us do.
If you say so.
Because I work on the weekend.
Try taking the weekend off
sometimes, just for a change.
Maybe we could catch up.
Sounds like a plan.
I'll certainly try to.
That's all for today.
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Here are some of the previously uploaded conversation
practice lessons you might have missed watching do.
Watch them.
I will see you soon.
Until then, as I always say,
keep learning, keep practicing English.