Halfway through the first conversation, Tom starts describing an infected toe and Katie stops him with “I hope nobody’s eating, right now!” That is roughly the tone of this episode: fifteen new words for parts of the body, learned through two unscripted conversations about things that hurt, things people paint and one alarming phone-related injury. By the end you’ll also know which letters in wrist, muscle and thumb stay silent, and how the plurals sound.
What you’ll hear in this episode
The unit opens with guided practice: you hear a description of a body part, guess the word, then repeat it after the beep. That covers the arm from shoulder down to elbow, wrist and thumb, then the leg from toes up to ankle and knees, with pronunciation notes as you go.
Then Katie and Tom talk about their own aches. Katie says “I’ve done my shoulder in” and can’t work out what she’s done to it; Tom explains a run of connected problems in his shoulder, elbow and wrist that he puts down to working on the computer. There’s a twisted ankle from jogging, sore knees from squash, and Katie laughing that “We sound like a right pair of old age pensioners.” Best of all, Tom introduces “Blackberry thumb” — tendonitis from writing too many messages — and announces he’s changing phones, which gets him “iPhone thumb” and Katie’s suggestion of “Appleitis, or something.”
The second half adds bones, muscles, bottom, forehead, cheeks, lips, nails and brain. Katie then talks to Kim, sitting outside on metal chairs in the cold. Kim agrees “It is getting a little bit chilly, yeah” and says “I’m starting to feel it in my bones actually.” They compare toenails, lip balm, blusher and yoga, and Katie asks whether using your brain will help her lose weight.
Quick facts
| Episode | 2.19 – Body Parts |
| Pack | Vocabulary and Pronunciation 2 |
| Level | 2 |
| Duration | 14 minutes 46 seconds |
| Workbook | Included in the all-in-one pack |
What you’ll learn
The pronunciation focus is the gap between spelling and sound. You’re warned that wrist is spelled with a w but begins with /r/, that the final b in thumb is silent, and that muscle has a letter you never say. Elbow gets a note on stress: it falls on the first syllable, not the second.
The plurals matter too, because most of these words come in twos and fives. You’ll hear and repeat the singular and plural side by side — a toe and toes, a knee and knees, a bone and bones — which trains the /z/ and /s/ endings without a grammar lecture.
The conversations then show you the words doing real work. Notice how often body-part vocabulary appears with possessives: broke his wrist, twisted my ankle, hurting my shoulders. Notice the useful phrase done my shoulder in for an injury you can’t explain, and how Kim uses toning about muscles. You’ll also pick up the words that cluster around these nouns: sprained, tendonitis, toenail, lipstick, lip balm, blusher. Both conversations are full of hesitation and self-correction, so this is honest practice for following speech that hasn’t been tidied up.
Vocabulary from the workbook
The glossary gives every word with its pronunciation and a plain definition. A few of them:
- wrist /rɪst/ (noun) – the part between the bottom of your arm and your hand. The word Katie opens the first conversation with.
- thumb /θʌm/ (noun) – you have four fingers on each hand and one thumb. The source of Tom’s Blackberry problem.
- ankle /æŋkəl/ (noun) – the end of your leg between your leg and your foot. Twisted while jogging.
- bone /bəʊn/ (noun) – hard white sticks in your body that keep everything together. What Kim feels the cold in.
- forehead /ɔːhed/ (noun) – the area above your eyes and before your hair. The only place Katie puts cream.
- brain /breɪn/ (noun) – the thing inside you head that thinks and controls your whole body. Katie’s “big muscle in my head”.
Also included: elbow, shoulder, knee, toe, muscle, bottom, nail, cheek and lip.
What’s in the workbook
The workbook carries the full script of the guided practice and both conversations, so you can read along and check anything you missed. After the glossary there are three exercises.
Practice 1 approaches the vocabulary from an unusual angle: which parts of the body does each item of clothing cover? Boots, gloves, a t-shirt, trousers and a sweater — and the answers are more generous than you might expect, since a sweater covers shoulders and elbows.
Practice 2 is a five-sentence gap-fill using everyday contexts: painted nails and red lipstick, a hot forehead, a heavy backpack, big muscles from the gym, and kissing on the cheek in Spain.
Practice 3 is the pronunciation work. First you identify the silent letter in wrist, muscle and thumb. Then you match words with the same underlined sound: shoulder, nail and lip against toe, brain and wrist. Full answers are supplied at the back.
The workbook comes with the complete Zapp! English all-in-one pack, which covers every episode across all levels for €39.
Who is speaking in this episode?
Katie talks with Tom in the first conversation and with Kim in the second. The guided practice and repetition sections are led by one voice.
Is the audio scripted?
The conversations are unscripted, so you get real hesitation, laughter and interruption. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
What level do I need to be?
This is a Level 2 episode. The vocabulary is concrete and the definitions are simple, but the conversations run at natural speed.
Can I use the audio without the workbook?
Yes. The guessing and repetition work fine on their own. The workbook adds the transcript, the glossary with pronunciation, and the three practice exercises with answers.
How long is the episode?
14 minutes 46 seconds, covering fifteen body-part words plus the pronunciation focus.
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