BBC 6 minute English-The perfect Santa

Transcript of the podcast

Note: This is not a word for word transcript

Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil and joining me today is Dan who is looking very jolly

Dan: Of course I’m looking jolly – meaning happy and smiley; it’s my favourite time of the year

Neil: Ah yes, all that food, all those presents, all that fun

Dan: Forget the food and fun – Christmas is all about the presents

Neil: I’m not sure that’s quite the spirit – the real meaning of something

Dan: Well, Neil, I was actually talking about giving presents, not getting them

Neil: Ah sorry, Dan, I misjudged you. As you enjoy giving presents so much, I’m very pleased to have you with me in this 6 Minute English – Our topic… What makes the perfect Santa? We’ll have 6 items of vocabulary for you and, of course, our quiz question. Ready

Dan: Hit me

Neil: How many Santas are there in the world

a) 1,500

b) 15,000

c) 15 million

Dan: I know there are a lot but 15 million must be wrong; 1,500 seems too few, so I’ll go for 15,000

Neil: We’ll see if you’re right at the end of the programme. Dan, you seem like a strong candidate for a job as Santa. Ever considered it

Dan: I’d love to! A candidate is a person competing for a job

Neil: And what do you think is a key part of being Santa – or Father Christmas as we also call him in the UK

Dan: You’ve already mentioned being jolly

Neil: I have. Let’s listen to James Lovell, who runs a Santa school at his company Ministry of Fun in London. What does he say is the key

James Lovell

A perfect ‘ho ho ho!’ is a key part of being a Father Christmas. It’s a ho ho ho! And it needs to just reinforce the fact that you are the jolliest person on the planet. So I like to reach down into my tummy, tap it and with a big smile on my face go ho ho hoooo

Neil: The perfect ho ho ho! You need that to reinforce the fact you are the jolliest person in the world

Dan: To reinforce means to make something stronger. Ho ho ho

Neil: Wow, Dan! You’re very convincing. Are you sure you’ve never done this before

Dan: I haven’t but I want to. It feels good! Ho ho ho

Neil: I could be the ideal career move for you, Dan. But I bet it’s not all fun

Dan: Hmm, maybe. I think there would be a lot of pressure to perform. Pressure is the feeling of worry you can get when you are expected to deal with a difficult situation

Neil: Yes, think of all the children you have to impress. Pressure indeed. Let’s hear from James Lovell again, who runs a Santa school in London

James Lovell

Portraying Father Christmas is not an easy job because when you’re dressed as Father Christmas, you have a huge responsibility to recreate the magic of the real Santa in every way. You need to look good, you need to have lots to say and you need to be incredibly jolly and you need to have magical eyes

Dan: So it seems I was right: portraying Father Christmas is not an easy job. Portraying meaning playing the part of – like an actor does

Neil: He says there’s a huge responsibility to recreate the magic of the real Santa. To recreate means to make something exist again

Dan: All those kids expecting that magical moment – and it’s all down to you as Santa! Hmm I’m beginning to have second thoughts about this career change

Neil: Could you handle the pressure

Dan: I’m not sure I could! Portraying Father Christmas might be a challenge too far – despite my ho ho ho

Neil: Now it’s time to find out the answer to our quiz question. I asked how many Santas there are in the world

a) 1,500

b) 15,000

c) 15 million

Dan: I said b) 15,000

Neil: And you were… wrong! I’m afraid it was a trick question – there is, of course, only one Santa

Dan: Ahhh that’s not fair

Neil: Sorry! Shall we have a recap of the vocabulary

Dan: Yes please – that would make me jolly again

Neil: Jolly, meaning happy and smiley. What makes you jolly, Dan

Dan: Christmas of course! Now Neil, I have to say, cheating me out of that quiz question was really not in the spirit of 6 Minute English. We are always nice to each other

Neil: Ah yes, you’re probably right. Spirt here has the sense of something’s real meaning. The spirit of 6 Minute English is friendly educational fun – not cheating your colleagues

Dan: Glad we’ve got that straight. Our next word is candidate. Until you made me think about how hard it is to be a good Santa, I thought I’d be a strong candidate for the job

Neil: A candidate is a person competing for a job. Next we had reinforce

Dan: Reinforce means to make something stronger. Repeating the vocabulary in 6 Minute English reinforces your ability to remember it

Neil: That’s right – and it puts you under less pressure when you’re speaking English if you have a good range of vocabulary

Dan: Pressure is the feeling of worry you can get when you are expected to deal with a difficult situation – like pretending to be Santa! Yes there’s a lot of pressure involved in portraying someone else

Neil: Portraying, meaning playing the part of someone – like an actor does. It can be very difficult to get it right

Dan: Yep, it’s a real skill to be able to recreate the look and character of another person. Recreate meaning to make something exist again

Neil: Well we’ll try our best to recreate a positive learning experience for you all next time on 6 Minute English. Until then don’t forget to check out our YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Goodbye

Dan: Goodbye