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Illness in English: Vocabulary and Pronunciation (Audio)
Taught by Katie Wood — Cambridge CELTA · Cambridge DELTA · Cambridge-accredited Teacher Trainer
Recorded and taught by a team of British and North American English teachers, based in Oxford (UK) and Barcelona (Spain).
In this episode: Katie talks colds, coughs and upset stomachs with Clare and Donnie, then we drill flu, fever, prescription and sentence stress in this 16-minute episode.
What you'll hear in this episode
The first conversation is between Katie and Clare, who is just getting over a temperature and a sore throat. The cold itself was less unpleasant than the practical side of it: "I had to blow my nose every five minutes", she says, which is not ideal in company. Sneezing, she explains, is something she associates more with dust and allergies than with colds — which lets Katie tell the story of a friend who never sneezes once. "She sneezes in a group of five."
They then compare symptoms: a chesty cough that leaves your throat painful and ends in a headache, and the odd fact that "it's almost like your cough becomes worse when you lie down". Katie draws the line between a bad cold and the real thing — with flu, "you've got a fever, you're sweating, you're… aching all over" — and neither of them is convinced they have ever had it. Clare signs off planning "lots of ice cream and yogurt" for a throat sore from talking.
The second conversation is with Donnie, and moves from an upset stomach — caught abroad, from different water — to something more serious. He was a little bit sick, "But I survived." Was it painful? "Discomfort more than pain." Then a fall from a bicycle, a broken elbow, painkillers, six weeks in plaster and stretching exercises with a physiotherapist. Has he ever had a serious disease? "Touch wood, no."
Quick facts
| Episode | 2.20 |
| Pack | Vocabulary and Pronunciation 2 |
| Level | 2 |
| Duration | 16 minutes 16 seconds |
| Topic | Illness and sickness |
| Voices | Katie, with Clare and with Donnie |
What you'll learn
The teaching sections between the conversations rebuild each word from a question, so you have to produce it before you hear it. Some of the trouble is spelling: with cough, as the audio puts it, "The spelling and the sound are different." Some of it is syllables — temperature is broken down as /tem/ /prɪ/ /tʃə/, and for prescription you get "Three syllables. Stress on the second."
You'll also sort out two pairs that learners regularly collapse. Sick means unwell, but I feel sick means something is about to come back up — different meaning, same short word. And ache works as both noun and verb, which is why you can have headache, stomach ache and toothache, or simply say my head aches. The flu-versus-cold discussion in the first conversation is a usage lesson in itself: native speakers overstate it constantly, and Katie says so.
For listening, both conversations are full of the hedging that real speech runs on — I suppose, a little bit, not particularly nice — plus the rhythm work in the workbook. There's even a memorable stress pattern to copy: "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases."
Vocabulary from this unit
- to have a temperature – to be very hot because of an illness; Clare's starting point in conversation one
- to have a fever – to be hot and sweaty and shaky; Katie's test for real flu
- a sore throat – the inside of your neck hurts and is red
- to blow your nose – to push air through your nose to clean it, done with a tissue in the hand
- to sneeze – like a cough, but the air is a lot quicker, you make an achoo! noise
- to have an upset stomach – to feel sick and need to go to the toilet a lot; the subject of conversation two
- a disease – a kind of illness especially one that passes from one person to another
- a prescription – the paper that a doctor gives you which you take to the pharmacy to get medicine
In the workbook
The eBook for unit 2.20 carries the full transcript of both conversations, so you can go back and see exactly how the symptoms were described, plus a glossary of 15 terms with phonemic transcription and plain-English definitions — from to hurt and to ache through to to feel sick and the flu.
There are then three practice sections. Practice 1 gives you a six-line story about a week of coughing, sneezing, a temperature and a trip to the doctor, cut up and shuffled; you put the lines back in order. Practice 2 is a gap-fill using the unit's words — including one about blowing your nose seven times in a morning and one about a heavy night. Practice 3 is pronunciation: mark the main stresses in four sentences, such as He's been coughing and sneezing all night and I need to blow my nose. Answers, with the stress marks shown above the words, are included.
This workbook is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack — €39 for every episode across the series.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Common questions
Are the conversations scripted?
No. The conversations with Clare and Donnie are unscripted, which is why they wander into world records and bicycles. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
What level is this episode?
Level 2, from the Vocabulary and Pronunciation 2 pack. The vocabulary is everyday, but the conversations run at natural speed.
Can I follow it without the workbook?
Yes — the audio stands alone and lasts 16 minutes 16 seconds. The workbook adds the transcript, the glossary and the written practice.
What's the difference between "I'm sick" and "I feel sick"?
One means you are unwell; the other means you think you are about to vomit. The episode drills both so you don't mix them up at the worst moment.
Does it help with pronunciation as well as vocabulary?
Yes. You repeat after the beep, and the audio breaks down temperature and prescription syllable by syllable before the stress exercises in the workbook.
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