English, baby!

Asking for directions

Date: Jul 13 2001

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

East coast pizza

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

This week our lesson focuses on how to ask for directions. Although I speak French, I can still remember being in France, and not knowing the way that French people normally ask directions. I can still remember how frustrating this was for me. Hopefully this lesson will help you avoid feeling the way that I did.
when you want to ask a stranger for directions you say something like, “Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to **.”(the name of the place you want to find.) After you have got your bearings, you thank the person who helped you and head towards your destination.
In this lesson, you can hear Chad ask a man on the street how to get to the nearest Starbucks Coffee.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Chad

Man

Chad: Hey! I’m trying to go to Starbuck’s. Have you seen one around here?

Man on the street: Uh yeah, actually there’s, there’s a couple of them pretty close by. Um, where are you headed?

Chad: Well, I’m just sort of heading down Twenty-first.

Man: Twenty-first? Okay. You want to head west up uh, Northrup here…

Chad: Okay.

Man: ‘Til you get to Twenty-first and hang a left, and go down to, I believe it’s Lovejoy. Or, you can go up to Twenty-third and left to Glisan.

Chad: So which one is the closest, if I’m walking?

Man: Probably the one on Twenty-first.

Chad: Twenty-first?

Man: Yeah. Yeah.

Chad: Okay. What’s like near that? Is there anything else cool? Like I want a bite to eat, like a sandwich.

Man: Well there’s a pizza by the slice place that’s pretty close that’s really awesome. It’s pretty inexpensive.

Chad: Oh that’s cool.

Man: Uh it’s called uh, New York pizza, but to be honest I don’t know the exact location. I just know it’s close.

Chad: Do their pizzas have lots of sauce, because I don’t really dig that. I like cheese!

Man: Really, I don’t know. I’ve eaten it a couple times, I always liked it but I really never thought about the sauce.

Chad: Thick crust?

Man: No it’s thin, it’s like, it’s like back East. It’s like the East coast pizza.

Chad: Okay.

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3

Go Super to Ask Ebaby! teachers your questions!

The iTEP^® test

Sponsored by

Schedule an iTEP^® test and take the official English Practice Test.
Take Now >

Discussion

How is it that these lessons all seem to end up being about pizza? They make me hungry when I write them! (Just kidding!!!)
The nice thing about this conversation is that you have a chance to hear someone not only asking directions, but also asking where they should eat, and what the food is like at the restaurant! This type of friendly conversation between strangers is fairly common, although Chad was really lucky to run into such a nice guy to give him directions.
Two important things to be aware of:
1) Chad didn’t say, “Excuse me” when he started the conversation. He said, “Hey!” because he was trying to get the man’s attention from across the street. You should try to always use, “Excuse me.” in a situation like this.
2) The very end of the conversation was cut off of the recording because of a passing car, so you can’t hear Chad thanking the man on the street for his help. You should say something like, “Thanks alot and have a nice day!” to someone who has helped you before you tell them good bye.
I hope this lesson helps, and I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Tanis

Comments

vickydong

China

interesting ha ha i know more for how to describle the Pizza in English. and sorry one star i just select by mistake , i want to select 5 stars.this artiacl is interesting for me. But i am a new comer and i do not know very well for how to operate….hope to share more information with all of you in future, let us improve together…

vickydong

China

can not listen and i think this topic is normal but usefull

ddeubel

Germany

I remember asking for directions in Kyiv, Ukraine. I asked a Japanese woman and she told me these long directions…go over the hill , turn left, through the park, down the street, look for a church, turn right etc….then she stopped and said, "When you get to the glass building, ask someone else!"

DD http://eflclassroom.ning.com

qeregetron

Turkey

you know that's very normal thing.i think when anybody ask for anything you have to help.

but you have to be polıte.thank you for the lesson

Chiachi

Taiwan

In fact, it is hard to talk to strangers, not only fearing of runing into bad guys, but also scaring the feelings of nobody paying attention to. I asked person for directions frequently in my town, and I always felt upset. Maybe person is more friendly in west countries. In my country, when I say "excuse me" and then continue to talk to person on the street, I always be treated as an strange woman, and most of people seem to be cold. So, after many times I did, now I tend to bring a map when I am gonna a place I don't know. Anyway, this article helps me a lot, and I should try it more politely next time.