Zapp! English Listening 2.4 - Friends & Family

Katie starts one of these conversations by asking two friends to tell her about their best friend — and then undercuts the question straight away: "Have you got any?" The answer comes back flat: "One or two." That dryness runs through the whole episode. Nobody is performing. Two people compare the size of their families, three friends work out how long they have known each other, and four more speakers try to decide which relative they most resemble. There is an English saying that you can choose your friends but not your family. Listen and see whether our speakers agree.

What you'll hear in this episode

Three separate conversations, eight speakers in total, with accents from North America and from the north, south and west of England.

In the first, Katie and Clare discover they have exactly the same immediate family: parents, and one brother each. Katie's is younger by nearly four years, Clare's is a year older. Clare asks, "do you get on with your brother?" — Katie says yes, most of the time; Clare admits her own relationship is less good, and shrugs it off with "But that's life eh?" Then the extended families come out: eight uncles on one side, and cousins one speaker cheerfully admits she has never met.

The second conversation is about oldest friends. One speaker met his nearly thirty years ago at primary school and, asked why they are best friends, says only that it would "take me too long, to list all the good points". Another has known a friend since senior school, at about sixteen — he now teaches English in a prison. Katie talks about a friend she gets on with precisely because they are similar, which is also why they argue.

The third is four short monologues on family resemblance. Mike compares himself to a creative younger brother and a sister who is "a lot more settled down". Sandra describes a sister who stays home while she travels. One speaker talks about needing time away from crowds; Jesse likes sewing, theatre and the pub.

Quick facts

What you'll learn

The skill here is listening for overall understanding — getting the shape of what someone says without catching every word. Each task gives you one question to hold in your head: whose family is bigger, what the speakers have in common, whether any two of them mention the same relative. You answer it, then check.

Along the way you'll notice how much English speakers hedge and correct themselves. Clare says "I suppose so" about her cousins, then admits she doesn't actually know any of them. One speaker starts "my father only had..." and repairs it mid-sentence to "or only has". Family size gets described with a construction learners rarely meet in coursebooks: "my mother was one of five".

You'll also practise the difference between immediate family and extended family, and hear three ways of talking about resemblance in quick succession — similar to, like, alike — including "we're very much alike in many ways but then in many ways we're very very different".

One of the extra questions asks whether anyone says they are similar to their father. The answer is no — nobody mentions him. Noticing what wasn't said is a listening skill too.

Vocabulary from this episode

The workbook asks you to guess these from context first, then match them to definitions:

• get on with (phrasal verb) — have a good relationship with. Clare's question to Katie about her brother.
• siblings (noun) — brothers or sisters. Clare uses it, then glosses it herself as "brothers and sisters".
• settled down (phrasal verb) — not single anymore, happy to live a family life. Mike, describing his sister.
• creature comforts (phrase) — things that make life more comfortable, enjoyable or easier. Also Mike, about the same sister.
• passed on (phrasal verb) — died. Sandra, explaining that she and her sister are almost the only ones left of their generation.
• argue (verb) — to fight using words.
• hectic (adjective) — busy and full of things to do.

What's in the workbook

The Listening 2.4 workbook is part of the paid all-in-one pack. It sets up each of the three conversations with a gist question before you listen, then gives you the answer and explains it — including why the extended family question is closer than you might expect.

After that come extra listening questions for a second pass: two differences between Clare's and Katie's brothers, which of Clare's parents had more siblings, why Katie and one of her oldest friends argue, who has known their oldest friend longest. All answered at the back.

Then the meaning-from-context exercise: five lines lifted straight from the audio with a word or phrase in bold. You decide whether each is a noun, verb, adjective or phrase, work out the meaning, then match it to a definition. There's a short glossary, and the full transcript so you can go back and check exactly what you missed.

The pack includes the workbook for every episode, at €39 in total.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the audio scripted?

The English conversations are not. Nobody was given lines, which is why you get hesitation, laughter and half-finished sentences. The teaching sections that set up each task and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

Can I use the audio without the workbook?

Yes — the audio is free and includes the questions and answers. The workbook adds the transcript, the vocabulary exercise and the extra questions.

Which accents will I hear?

Speakers from North America, and from the north, south and west of England.

Is Level 2 right for me?

This is a Level 2 episode. The topic vocabulary is familiar — brothers, cousins, uncles — so the challenge is the natural speed and the false starts rather than the words themselves.

How long does it take?

The recording runs 12 minutes 41 seconds. With the extra questions and the vocabulary matching, expect around half an hour.

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