hello everyone and welcome to this A1 English listening practice video you can use this video to practice your listening and comprehension skills as I speak before we start remember to subscribe to the channel and click the Bell are you ready today I'm going to talk about Transportation this is an important topic because we all use some kind of Transportation in our lives let's talk about the different types of trans Transportation One popular type of transportation is the Subway in other countries people also use the words Metro or underground but in the US we usually say subway many big cities around the world have a subway system in cities like Paris London and Tokyo the subway system is amazing the Subways in these cities are very organized and efficient however many big cities in the US don't have good Subway systems most people in the US drive cars so they don't need to take the subway in my hometown of San Diego we don't have a subway system I like taking the subway in other countries because it's easy you can go anywhere in the city without a car but in some cities the subway stations are dirty and a little scary you need to be careful when you take take the subway okay another form of public transportation is taking the bus big cities have bus systems that help people move around in some cities buses are nice clean and safe but in other cities buses are old dirty and a little dangerous for example in Mexico most buses are old and uncomfortable they can also be dangerous because many bus drivers drive really badly they drive really fast and often have accidents most people don't like taking the bus but sometimes they have to in many cities taking the bus is cheap if you don't have a lot of money the bus can be a good option okay now let's talk about taxis and Ubers in the past many people took taxis but nowadays many people use Uber I love using Uber I use it all the time and Uber is cheaper than a taxi and it's usually safe I always have good experiences using Uber I've taken a few taxis before but I didn't like it taxis are usually expensive in some cities Uber is illegal so people can't use it how about you do you use Uber in your city okay another common type of transportation is riding a bike this is a great way to move around the city because it's free riding bikes is also a healthy activity the problem is that it's dangerous in some cities in some cities the drivers are crazy so it's dangerous to ride a bike in the street in other cities there are bike lands in the street so it's safer but I think it's always a little dangerous to ride a bike in the city one more type of transportation is walking this is my favorite type of Transportation because it's easy free and fun I love walking because I love being outside I think everyone should try to walk more today I'm going to talk about technology this is a great topic because we all use technology every day you're using technology to watch this video right now so let's talk about some some different kinds of technology today one really important type of technology is computer technology computers today are much different than computers from the past 20 or 30 years ago computers were really limited they couldn't do the things that computers do today in the past they were also really big but today computers come in many different sizes computers today are fast powerful and easy to use I remember when I first started using a computer I was 6 years old I like playing computer games but all of the games were very basic at that time I still thought they were really fun today computer games are very complex all right now let's talk about cell phones when I was a kid not many people had cell phones most people used landlines which are phone inside your house nowadays not many people have landlines everyone has cell phones now I remember getting my first cell phone when I was 12 years old I thought it was so cool these days phones are extremely important because you can do almost anything on your phone but I think the most important technology today is the internet most people use the internet every day to do many things people like me need the internet in order to work if I don't have internet I can't work we also use the internet to study to shop and to entertain ourselves I can't imagine not having the internet I use it for many hours every day how about you how many hours a day do you use the internet okay now let's talk about technology of the past for example one really important invention was the motorized vehicle or the car before cars people traveled by horse by foot or in other ways when the car was invented people were able to travel more easily cars from the past looked very different from today's cars I think old cars looked pretty cool another really important invention was electricity before electricity people had to use candles and fire for light at night the cities were much darker than today nowadays our cities have so much light at night and of course we use electricity for so many different things today sometimes the electricity goes out and everything stops working I hate when the electricity goes out one more important invention was the television in the past television was the greatest form of entertainment everyone sat down in the evenings and watched TV nowadays more people watch TV shows on their computers like on Netflix many young people prefer doing everything on their computer or cell phone today I'm going to talk about the supermarket this is a useful topic because most people buy food from supermarkets one important note in the US many people use the phrase grocery store instead of Supermarket I usually say grocery store but you can use both so first let's talk about big supermarkets the most famous Supermarket is Walmart Walmart is really big and sells many items they sell food clothes Electronics furniture and much more Walmart has everything in big supermarkets there are a lot of cheap items personally I don't like big supermarkets I prefer smaller supermarkets because they often have better products I like to buy organic food so I search for small organic stores these stores are usually more expensive than big supermarkets organic food is more expensive than non-organic food but I think it's worth the price in big supermarkets I can't find the products I like that's why I go to small local stores there are also some very small supermarkets too we call these convenience stores for example 7-Eleven is a convenience store these stores sell some food and drinks but they don't have a lot of items I go to convenience stores when I need to buy just one or two items but I don't usually shop at convenience stores they don't have all the items that I need how about you do you prefer big supermarkets small supermarkets or convenience stores some people don't go to supermarkets they buy their groceries online nowadays you can buy everything online you order it and someone brings it to your house this is becoming a popular option I order some items online but I don't order food online okay now let's learn some important Supermarket vocabulary our first vocabulary word is cart when you enter a grocery store you grab a cart you put all of your items in your cart while you're shopping or if you're only buying a few items you can use a basket which you carry our next word is isle Isles are the rows of products in a store you walk up and down the aisles when you go shopping the next phrase is on sale when an item is on sale this means that it has a lower price than normal I love when items are on sale okay one more word cashier the cashier is the person that you pay when you're done shopping in the US cashiers are usually friendly nowadays in some supermarkets you can pay without a cashier this is called self-checkout Some people prefer cashiers and other people prefer prer the self checkout option I like both options today I'm going to talk about jobs this is a really common topic because most adults have a job or some type of work let's talk about the different types of jobs that people have one common type of job is a part-time job a part-time job is a job where you work fewer hours I had part-time jobs when I was younger I worked part-time at a clothing store at a restaurant and at my University many students have part-time jobs they study in the morning and work in the evening I did this when I was a student in the US many teenagers get a job when they're in high school I got my first job when I was 17 I was in my La last year of high school I worked at a clothing store called Hollister I didn't like that job but I liked earning money some of my classmates worked at fast food restaurants like McDonald's I also had a part-time job when I was in college when I was in college I worked at the University's dining hall a dining hall is the place on a University campus where students eat I worked as a cook and a dishwasher at my dining hall I didn't like washing dishes I liked cooking more than dishwashing how about you have you ever had a part-time job okay now let's talk about full-time jobs in the US people who have full-time jobs usually work 40 hours a week or more some people work a lot more like 50 or 60 hours a week for some full-time jobs you need a college degree for other full-time jobs you don't need a degree in the us there are many different jobs available in different Industries some examples of Industries are Finance marketing medicine it and education I work in the education industry because I'm a teacher there are many good jobs in the US for people who don't have degrees for example you can be an electrician a plumber a truck driver or many other things people who have have these jobs make good money in the US most salaries in America are high compared to other countries Americans make a lot of money but they have to spend a lot of money life is very expensive in the US the normal schedule for full-time jobs is from 9:00 a. m. to 5:00 p.
m. in the US however some people start work earlier like at 8:00 a. m.
and other people end later like at 6: PM I start work pretty early at 7:30 a. m. but I also finish early at 4:30 p.
m.
