Hello, and I'm back from my holiday. I've been for nearly a month. on the Spanish coast of Cadiz.
And I'm back with a new season. of stories for B1 and B2 levels, and I have a nice story for you today.
One inspired from my holiday on the Cadiz coast, in fact.
So the story is about fishing. a fishing trip where you go out on a boat and try to catch a fish I'll explain how that's done in this story.
And I'm also going to bring in some vocabulary. which will be relevant to this subject, which is vocabulary about the sea and about boats at B1 level, and also some vocabulary about fishing equipment. that we use for fishing.
So here we go. This is a B1 story. For all you B1 learners out there, here we go with a new season, Season 3 of Stories to Learn English.
Hello and welcome to Practicing English.
My name is Mike Bilbre and these are podcasts. for students of English at B1 or B2 levels and if you are a B1 level student trying to reach B2 level then I recommend my book The Tudor Conspiracy Come over to practicingenglish.com and you'll see a picture of the front cover.
Click on that and it will take you to the page where you can buy the book.
Right, so as I said then, I'm going to start off with some vocabulary about the seaside. the seaside we often say is one word seaside which means usually a place where you go to stay by the sea, a town, a village,
Even a city with a beach, we call that the seaside.
We also call the area where the land meets the sea the coast.
C-O-A-S-T. And that's a B1 word too. And other words that are relevant to the sea which appear in the story are waves, W-A-V-E. a wave, which is the water which goes up and down in the sea.
And there are some references to the sea, talking about its colour, the dark blue sea.
Now the other thing then is a boat. In this story there is a boat which they go fishing on.
It's a small boat and this boat has a cabin. which is a B1 word, C-A-B-I-N which is the place where the person goes who is sailing the boat.
There'll be a wheel in there usually or some way of making the boat go to the left or to the right.
Or as they say in nautical terms, to the right which is starboard and to the left which is port.
Anyway, that all happens in the cabin. And then we talk about being on board, on board.
Another word, board, B-O-A-R-D. And if you're on board, it means you are on the boat.
We also use these words for aeroplanes as well.
You may have heard of the cabin, for example. in an airplane, which is where the pilot sits.
And we talk about being on board the plane as well.
Other words which are relevant to boats are, well, this one has an engine.
It doesn't have sails, like a sailboat or a yacht. so it's not pushed along by the wind it has an engine which has diesel or uses diesel or petrol to make it go along.
All right. Now, the other vocabulary that you'll need to know is about fishing.
Now, many of these words, as you can imagine, are not B1 words, perhaps not that common, and the words are Well, let's start with the basics.
You have a rod, r-o-d, and a rod is something that you hold when you're fishing and everything is attached to the rod.
It's a long cane or a long pole. And on the rod you have a reel, r-e-e-l.
Now that reel is by your hand and you can turn the reel the real, so that the line l-i-n-e is picked up and put onto the reel.
And that allows you to bring in the fish from the sea as you turn the reel.
So to catch a fish is the verb that we use when we're fishing.
On the other end of that line, which is the long, long bit which goes down under the water you have a hook H W O K and that's the important part.
The hook is the part that the fish bites.
Right. Now, why would the fish bite the hook? there is some bait on there.
Bait, B-A-I-T Now, these aren't B1 words, not even B2 words.
I think they're a lot higher complex words like C1 or C2 words, perhaps.
But bait then is the thing that you put on the hook.
And that's something which is going to attract the fish. something which is food for the fish, or the fish thinks is food.
So my question then for this story is this.
What is the bait used in the story? What is the bait used in the story?
Now, this story is in two parts, and this is part one.
So the second part I will... read to you in about a week or 10 days time.
So here's part one. The story is called Dad.
D-A-D, meaning father. That's the title of it.
So, really... That's what this story is about.
It's about somebody's dad. Okay, here we go.
I hope you enjoy it. Dad by M.A. Bilber.
This is a B1 story. This story is copyright.
Everybody likes Uncle Tom. How could you dislike him?
He's always cheerful and tells jokes. The ones that really make you laugh.
My mum says he's handsome. And only if my dad's listening, she adds that Uncle Tom is almost as handsome as my dad.
The other thing about Uncle Tom is that he's really good at almost everything.
He's good at sports, for instance. He does extreme sports like hang gliding and windsurfing at the weekends.
Believe it or not, I even went with him once.
Well, I didn't actually fly by myself. He held me underneath him. and we jumped off the top of a mountain in Wales.
It was amazing. We flew over a spectacular green valley for about 20 minutes.
It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life so far.
But I'm only 12 years old. At home in Haon Wai, Uncle Tom has a farm where he builds things for his animals.
Once he made a little house for the cows so they could go in early in the morning and and milk themselves while he stayed in bed.
It was really clever. Uncle Tom's good at that sort of thing.
My dad's a schoolteacher at a secondary school.
But I don't go to the same school as he does.
Dad says it isn't a good idea. And I agree with him.
His name is Henry but everybody calls him Harry.
It's a nice name, I think. He teaches kids who aren't very clever and don't pass their exams.
I don't think he's invented anything clever for the kids, though.
You know. Something like a robot that teaches them things while my dad stays in bed.
Dad is older, but he isn't as tall as Uncle Tom, and he doesn't have as much hair either.
He isn't bald, but he wears a hat to school to cover his head.
He isn't as good at sports as Uncle Tom. but he plays football with me in the park whenever I ask him to.
I always beat him at shooting at the goal, though.
I don't think he's very fit really. I really like my dad.
I just wish that he was better at sports and things.
Like Uncle Tom. Sometimes I feel sorry for my dad.
I think he feels ashamed sometimes because Uncle Tom organises everything.
He's the leader and we all follow. My dad never complains, though.
I mean... Uncle Tom is never nasty. In fact, they both get on really well.
Uncle Tom often calls him my big brother and laughs and gives him a big hug.
Then Uncle Tom bought a boat in Spain so that he could go out fishing and invite all the family.
It isn't a very big boat, but big enough and comfortable enough for all of us to get into and find a place to sit.
So, that's Uncle Tom and Aunt Mary, their little daughter Cindy.
Er, she's four, I think. My mum... whose name is Angela, and Dad, and my little brother Ben.
He's six, almost seven now. And also me, of course.
My name's William. Or Will, as everybody calls me for short.
Last summer we went to a city called Cadiz in the south of Spain and we stayed together in a villa at the seaside.
It was great. We had our own private swimming pool in the garden.
Last year, in first of secondary school, I had swimming lessons at the local sports centre.
So I got really good at swimming. I swam from one end to the other of our pool at the villa ten times without stopping.
I raced Uncle Tom in the pool. But he beat me.
Just. But perhaps he wasn't trying his hardest.
I race my dad too, but he can't swim very fast because he won't put his head under the water.
He says it's because of an injury inside his ear that he got when he was a child.
The second day of the holiday was the fishing trip.
It was a hot day in August and the sky was a beautiful blue.
But there was a cool breeze that came from the sea.
We'd all taken tablets in case we got ill from the boat crash. moving all the time on the waves, except for Uncle Tom, because...
He had been in the Marines during the war and he was used to being at sea.
We walked down to the harbour to get onto the boat.
There are about 50 or more boats there, bright and shining against the dark blue of the sea.
Uncle Tom's boat was a beautiful white one with a roof over the cabin in case it rains.
Uncle Tom showed my little brother and I how to untie the ropes, while the others climbed in and made themselves comfortable.
Aunt Mary had brought a picnic for everybody.
Sandwiches, pies. crisps, hot tea, sparkling orange drink and a big cake which had all been carefully packed in a basket.
A friend of Uncle Tom's had been invited too, Stephen Little. who also spent his summer holidays on this part of the Spanish coast.
He met us at the boat. I could see my mum and Aunt Mary didn't like him very much.
I think they wanted it to be just a family event.
My dad went quiet when Uncle Tom introduced Stephen to everybody. but he was polite and stood up as he came on board and shook his hand.
Stephen brought three fishing rods. "'One for Uncle Tom, one for Dad, and one for himself,' he said.
"'Don't women and children fish, then?' said Aunt Mary in a quiet voice.
"'Sorry, Mary. Would you like my rod?' You can use it if you like, said Stephen, and he offered the rod to her.
Of course Aunt Mary said no. and she turned her head and looked out towards the water.
I'm sure everybody can have a go, said Uncle Tom. with a big smile, and he got up to switch on the engine.
"'One more thing before we leave,' said Stephen. and he stepped out of the boat again and picked up a box of beer bottles.
Fishing is hot work, he said with a laugh.
Now all the adults in my family have a beer occasionally, you know, with a meal.
But there were about twelve pints in that box.
Nobody said anything. It looked like it wasn't going to be the quiet family fishing trip we had been hoping for.
Well, drinking and driving isn't a good idea.
We don't want to sink the boat, joked Uncle Tom.
Anyway, I suppose we might have a small one.
I'll put the box up here on the roof, said Stephen.
Is that a good place to put it? My dad asked.
It might fall on someone. But I think I was the only one who was listening.
Do you kids want to come and see the engine? smiled Uncle Tom.
Yes, please, we all said together. So my cousin Cindy and my brother Ben and I... followed Uncle Tom into the cabin to watch him switch on the engine.
I was surprised at how much noise it made.
Won't the noise make the fish swim away?
I asked. Don't worry about that, Will, he replied.
Have you ever seen a fish with ears? And he laughed.
And we did too. The boat moved slowly out of the harbour and we were soon out at sea, where the wave suddenly got bigger.
We all had to sit down to stop ourselves from falling over.
It was great fun. Then we got the rods ready for fishing Stephen explained what the different bits of equipment were The best bit was the bait That's the part at the end of the fishing line that attracts the fish and makes them bite it.
The bait was a colourful plastic fish that moved up and down when it was pulled through the water.
Under each plastic fish, there were six very sharp metal hooks. which, hopefully, would catch a fish.
When the three lines were in the water, we put the rods in metal things that held them.
Then Aunt Mary opened the picnic basket.
Would anybody like a sandwich? she asked.
And that's the end of part one. The answer to my question, what is the bait used on the fishing trip?
The answer is colourful plastic fish. That's all from me for this time.
For part two of the story, I'll be back in a week or so with the second part.
Goodbye for now.
