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Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 2.13 - Around the Home
Taught by Tom Wilkinson — Cambridge CELTA
Recorded and taught by a team of British and North American English teachers, based in Oxford (UK) and Barcelona (Spain).
One of our speakers starts by describing the thing that takes smoke out of a house, then adds that it was "useful at Christmas time...for Father Christmas". Another explains that a fence goes around your property and is used to... Katie jumps in with "...stop dogs coming in?" and Tom replies, "To stop children getting out." That's how this episode works: you hear a word described in ordinary, hesitant English before anyone tells you what it is, so you have to guess.
What you'll hear in this episode
The episode is built in two halves. First, Alec describes seven things connected to houses — a chimney, a balcony, a drive, a garage, a roof, a basement and an attic — and you decide which word he means before the answer is given. His descriptions are full of useful detail rather than dictionary definitions: a balcony is where he likes to sit "when the sun is out" with coffee and a newspaper; a drive is "sometimes they're flat. Sometimes they're on a slope"; a garage is for cars but also "tools...and bicycles", and the doors are "sometimes...automatic".
Then Tom and Katie take the second group: a letterbox, a fence, a path, steps and stairs, central heating and a mortgage. Tom describes the letterbox as something used "by the postman" — and Katie interrupts with "Or the postwoman!", which turns into "The postperson." On central heating, Tom says, "We have this...a lot, in England, because it's so cold. And you press a button and...by magic your house is warm!" His mortgage description is genuinely practical: a loan from the bank that you pay back "every month, for sometimes twenty or twenty-five years".
Between the listening sections come two pronunciation drills, where you answer a question, hear the word, and repeat after the beep — with example sentences like "The washing machine's in the basement."
Quick facts
| Episode | 2.13 — Around the Home |
| Pack | Vocabulary and Pronunciation 2 |
| Level | 2 |
| Duration | 14 minutes 26 seconds |
| Format | Unscripted descriptions plus guided pronunciation drills |
| Words taught | 14 |
| Speakers heard | Alec, Tom, Katie |
| Workbook | Included in the all-in-one pack (€39) |
What you'll learn
The obvious gain is fourteen everyday nouns you need to talk about where you live. The less obvious gain is how English speakers define things when they haven't prepared. Nobody here says "a chimney is a vertical structure" — they say it's "the...thing, that takes smoke out of your house". Learning to follow that kind of vague, circling description is a real listening skill, and it's exactly what you'll need when a native speaker can't remember a word either.
The pronunciation work targets the traps. Garage is broken into /gæ/ /rIʤ/. Chimney comes with a note that the stress falls on the first syllable. Basement is drilled for its /mənt/ ending. And mortgage gets a warning that "It sounds completely different to the spelling" before the two chunks /mɔ:/ /gIʤ/ — because that silent letter catches almost everyone.
You'll also sort out a pair that learners mix up constantly: steps are outside, stairs are inside, and from there the episode connects them to upstairs and downstairs — "the bedrooms are upstairs and the kitchen is downstairs".
Vocabulary from the workbook
The glossary gives all fourteen words with phonetics and plain definitions:
- a chimney /tʃɪmni/ — the thing that lets the smoke out of the house if the house has a fireplace
- a balcony /bælkəni/ — an area opening out from the windows of the upper floors, that you can sit on
- a drive / driveway /draɪv/ /draɪvweɪ/ — a hard surface going from the road to the garage or house
- a garage /ɡærɑːʒ/ /ɡærIʤ/ — the place you store a car at home
- a roof /ruːf/ — the top of the house, the outside area that keeps the rain out
- a basement /beɪsmənt/ — a room underground at the bottom of the house
- an attic /ætɪk/ — a room in the very top of the house just under the roof
- a letterbox (UK), mailbox (US) /letəbɒks/ /meɪlbɒks/ — where the postman puts letters
- a fence /fens/ — a barrier made of metal or wood around the edge of an area like a garden
- a path /pɑːθ/ — a way from one area to another that you can walk on
- steps /steps/ — flat areas of wood or stone on the outside of a building that you can walk up or down
- stairs /steəz/ — flat areas of wood or stone on the inside of a building that you can walk up or down between floors
- central heating /sentrəl hiːtɪŋ/ — a system that keeps the inside of buildings warm when it's cold outside
- a mortgage /mɔːɡɪdʒ/ — a special loan that you get from the bank so that you can buy a house or flat
What's in the workbook
The workbook for 2.13 gives you the full transcript of every clip, so you can go back and see exactly how Alec talked his way around "chimney" and where Katie cut in. Alongside it: the glossary above, then three practice sections with answers.
Practice 1 is a gap-fill — "Is the car in the _? No it's on the ___." Practice 2 asks short logic questions that force you to prove you understand rather than just recognise: can you get a mortgage to buy a car? Would you walk up steps or stairs to get into a museum? Practice 3 is pronunciation — find the silent letter in mortgage, then work out what sound the letter c makes in balcony, central heating, fence and attic. The answers are all at the back.
This workbook comes with the complete Zapp! English pack, which covers every episode across all the shows for a single payment.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Common questions
Is the audio scripted?
The descriptions from Alec, Tom and Katie are unscripted — that's why you hear hesitations and interruptions. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so instructions stay clear.
What level is this episode?
Level 2. The vocabulary is concrete and high-frequency, and every word is described before it's named, so you get support as you listen.
Do I need the workbook to follow along?
No — the audio works on its own and the answers are given aloud. The workbook adds the transcript, phonetics and written practice.
Why teach steps and stairs together?
Because they describe the same object in different places: outside and inside. The episode makes Tom point that out himself before the answer is given.
How long is it?
14 minutes 26 seconds, including both pronunciation drills.
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