Problems & Difficulties: Real Spoken English (Ep 3.13)

A cockroach in the flat, a driving test failed first time, and rent found "literally the day, that it's due". That's what came up when Katie asked two speakers how they handle problems and difficulties. One of them admits to being "quite stubborn and pig-headed about things"; the other says that when a problem happens, "I probably tend to panic quite a lot". Between them they use almost every word in this unit — and they use it while thinking aloud, hesitating and laughing at themselves.

What you'll hear in this episode

Katie puts two sets of questions to Alec and Hannah, and the answers are completely unrehearsed.

In the first conversation, Katie asks what the most challenging thing about learning a language is. The answer is speaking on the phone: you can understand about eighty percent of the words in isolation, but "there's no gestures, there's no eye contact". It's described as "a stumbling block at the moment" — a useful extra phrase you won't find in the glossary. Then comes an ongoing attempt to overcome a fear of insects, a story about hunting for teaching work, and rent day turned into "a kind of game". Katie finishes with a dilemma: save one person you love, or twenty strangers? The answer arrives fast, and Katie's reply is the punchline — "So maybe it's not a dilemma."

The second conversation is calmer in tone and just as honest. Katie asks about solving problems, passing or failing a driving test, staying calm in a crisis, and dealing with stress. One speaker explains that as a primary school teacher, a crisis can mean a child who "hasn't made it to the toilet on time", and that in those moments you have to "deal with whatever happens without panicking" — while admitting to headaches and lost sleep in private life. There's also a windsurfing story about overcoming a fear of water, and a comparison of traffic, distances and tourists in two cities.

Quick facts

Episode	3.13 — Problems & Difficulties
Pack	Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3
Level	3
Duration	19 minutes 47 seconds
Speakers	Katie, with Alec and Hannah
Audio	Free
Workbook	Included in the all-in-one pack (€39)

What you'll learn

This unit runs on a simple loop: hear the questions first, notice which words you already have, then check meanings and pronunciation, then hear real answers and count how many of the words come back.

The pronunciation work is detailed and specific. You'll practise syllable count and weak sounds: struggle has two syllables with the stress on the first, so the second is the weak /gəl/; tackle works the same way; manage ends in /ɪdʒ/, not a clear "age"; obstacle hides /stɪ/ in the middle; dilemma is three syllables. Then, in the extra materials, you underline the weak /ə/ across thirteen items — including the ones where it isn't there at all.

The listening payoff is in the collocations. You'll hear the difference between have trouble + -ing ("trouble finding a job", "trouble finding an apartment") and struggle + to ("struggled to pay your rent"), and you'll hear overcome used with problems, fears and obstacles in the same conversation. You'll also pick up the softeners that make natural speech sound natural: "I would say", "I probably tend to", "I guess", "at the end of the day". These are the words that fill the space while a real speaker decides what they think.

Vocabulary from this unit

challenging (adjective) — difficult but in a positive way, as you enjoy the difficulties, maybe they help you develop or get better. Katie's opening question uses it about learning a language.
to have trouble (phrase) — to have some problems or difficulties. Used twice about job-hunting.
to struggle (verb) — to fight against / try to do something very difficult. Heard about listening on the phone and about paying the rent.
to manage to do something (verb) — to succeed in doing something with difficulty. Katie asks about mountains and marathons; the answer is "managing everyday living".
a dilemma (noun) — a very difficult decision between two possible options. The last question of the first conversation.
to cope (verb) — to manage, to be successful in a difficult situation and not be beaten.
a crisis (noun) — a situation where things are very difficult and / or dangerous. Used both about the economy and about a classroom.
an obstacle (noun) — something that gets in the way, a difficulty that can stop you doing something.
problematic (adjective) — creates problems. Used about a city: traffic, distances, tourists.
to tackle a problem (phrase) — to face it and try to solve it, to not avoid it but to do something about it in an organised way.

In the workbook

The workbook for this unit is part of the paid all-in-one pack. It opens with the fifteen target words and phrases in a glossary with phonemic transcriptions and plain-English definitions, so you can check to fail, to deal with, to face problems and the rest against what you heard.

Then there are three practice sections. Practice 1 gives you six sentences where you choose between two similar options — tackle a lot of trouble or tackle a lot of problems, coping with or facing stress, problematic or challenging — which is where the collocations get tested properly. Practice 2 is a matching task: five sentence openings, five endings, including "There are always obstacles…" and "I don't know how he copes…". Practice 3 is the pronunciation task on the weak /ə/ sound. Full answers are included at the back.

The pack contains the workbook for this episode and every other one in the series.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the audio scripted?

The conversations are unscripted — real answers, with hesitations, false starts and laughter. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

Is the audio free?

Yes. The English conversations are free to download. The workbook is the paid part, and it comes with the all-in-one pack at €39.

What level is this episode?

Level 3. If you can follow a question and cope with natural speed and hesitation, you're ready for it.

Do I need the workbook to follow along?

No, but the pronunciation task and the collocation exercises are where the vocabulary sticks. The audio tells you which syllable is weak; the workbook makes you find it yourself.

How long does the episode take?

Just under twenty minutes of audio, plus however long you spend repeating at the beeps — which is the part that actually changes your pronunciation.

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