BBC 6 minute English-What makes a superhero

Transcript of the podcast

NB: This is not a word-for-word transcript

Rob: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Rob … and … is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Super-Finn

Finn: Hello Rob – it’s just Finn here actually – I’m no superhero

Rob: That’s a shame. So you don’t have any special superpowers – amazing skills and abilities that can be used for saving people and fighting against evil

Finn: Well, lots of powers, but no superpowers. I’m afraid not. Superheroes, of course, tend to be fictional characters – they’re made-up characters, who appear in comics and books and movies

Rob: You mean characters like Batman, Spiderman and Wonder Woman. Do you have a favourite

Finn: I do actually. Spiderman was my favourite when I was growing up. And he can climb up walls and I really wanted to do the same – I tried to climb up the walls in my house and sadly I failed because superheroes are fictional – they aren’t real

Rob: Well some real-life superheroes do exist and that’s what we’ll be talking about today and we’ll be explaining some words related to superheroes. But first a question

Finn: Can I use my superpowers to answer this one

Rob: You can try. What year did Superman first appear published in a comic book

a) 1930

b) 1934

c) 1938

Finn: My spidey sense tells me it’s 1934

Rob: I’ll tell you if you’re right or wrong at the end of the programme. Now let’s find out more about some real-life superheroes. These are people who don’t really have superpowers but they are doing something extraordinary

Finn: So they are doing something special – but most importantly, they are doing something good

Rob: People often describe someone who has done something brave, such as saving someone’s life, as a hero. Firefighters are sometimes described as heroes because they often risk their lives to save others

Finn: But heroes don’t have to be life-savers. We sometimes describe a person with great intelligence or amazing abilities as ‘our hero’ – that could be a musician maybe or an athlete. It’s someone we admire and look up to

Rob: Well there’s a man in Japan who’s recently been described as a ‘superhero’. To be honest, I don’t think his powers are superhuman – that means a power that ordinary humans don’t have – but what he does is rather unusual and he gives up his free time doing it

Finn: Tell me more Rob

Rob: This is Chibatman – named after the city of Chiba where he comes from. His mission – his purpose – is to make the people of the city happy

Finn: That’s a worthwhile mission

Rob: It is. Chibatman has been spotted ‘flying’ through the streets of Chiba dressed a bit like Batman and riding his custom-built three-wheeled Chibatpod. But why? Is he just a bit crazy or does he have honourable intentions

Finn: You mean does he genuinely want to do some good and make things better

Rob: Well, listen to what he says, speaking through a translator, and see if you can hear what his reasons are

Chibatman – Chiba superhero

I started doing this around three years ago. As for my reasons: during the great earthquake people forgot how to smile. I wanted to help bring the smile back and that’s why I started

Finn: OK, so because of the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, he felt people had forgotten how to smile. So his mission was to get people smiling again. That’s something we could describe as being honourable

Rob: What is interesting about him and other superheroes is they keep their identity closelyguarded – nobody knows who the real man in the costume is

Finn: That’s also true for another Japanese man who’s been called a superhero. Mr Full Moon wears a costume to hide his identity when he goes around cleaning the streets of Tokyo

Rob: Yes, he actually talks to people through a voice on his smartphone. He hasn’t been employed by anyone to do this – he just claims he wants to keep the city’s streets cleaner. We could call him a grime fighter armed with a dustpan and brush

Finn: Very good – a ‘grime fighter’ – someone fighting dirt and dust

Rob: Anyway, time now to see if your superpowers helped you answer today’s question correctly

Finn: Yes Rob, you asked me what year Superman first appeared in a comic book

Rob: And you said 1934 and you were wrong. Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in June 1938. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and originally he wasn’t a hero but a villain – the bad guy – but he was changed into a hero before he was published in the comic. Now before you change into your costume, could you save the day by reminding us of some of the words we have heard today

Finn: Yes, today we heard

superhero superpowers fictional extraordinary life-savers admire mission honourable closely-guarded

Rob: Well, that brings us to the end of today’s 6 Minute English. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s programme. Please join us again soon. Bye

Finn: Bye