Zapp! English Colloquial 3.29 - Advertising
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).
Katie sets up a sentence and stops halfway: I need that like a…? Cathy has a go — "A…a gun?" — which is not the answer, but it is a very reasonable guess. The phrase Katie is after is I need it like a hole in my head, and after using her own mother coming to stay as the example, she adds: "Sorry Mum, I'm only joking!" That is the shape of this whole recording: half-finished sentences, real guesses, and a lot of laughing.
What you'll hear in this episode
We recorded this one outdoors — Katie opens with "OK, so I'm in the park on a lovely day, talking to Cathy." The format is simple: Katie describes an expression, Cathy tries to produce it, and the two of them talk about what it really means.
Cathy gets several immediately. Eye catching and caught my eye come straight out, along with "Grabbed me" and then attention grabbing. She also spots the trap built into to fall for something — "That that thing is maybe tricking you" — and offers the image of "falling into a trap", before pointing out that you can also fall for someone, which is a different thing entirely.
The more interesting moments are the ones where the phrase doesn't travel. On hook, line and sinker Cathy says plainly, "I don't know that saying." On I need it like a hole in the head, she laughs and answers "No, not at all!", then offers what would be said instead: "we call those things knick knacks". And on he could sell sand to the Arabs, she notes that "people there are so politically correct that these types of sayings are not really accepted" — to which Katie replies, "It's becoming a little bit more like that in England, but yes." There's also a small park-weather moment: Cathy is sometimes "dying for choc…for dark chocolate", though "not right now because it's very hot."
Quick facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Episode | Zapp! English Colloquial 3.29 – Advertising |
| Pack | Colloquial 3 |
| Level | 3 |
| Duration | 14 minutes 07 seconds |
| Where we recorded | In a park, on a lovely day |
| Speakers | Katie and Cathy |
| Expressions taught | 10 |
| Workbook | Included in the all-in-one pack (€39) |
What you'll learn
The teaching trick here is worth noticing. Katie almost never gives the full phrase — she says "We say we f…?" or "he could sell ice to the…?" and leaves the gap. That forces you to hear where these expressions are fixed and where they flex, which is exactly the skill a glossary can't give you.
You'll also pick up how speakers handle the phrase they don't recognise. Cathy's guesses are all plausible English — it really hooked me, at a beach?, "For the life of me" — and the recording shows the difference between something that sounds right and something that is the set expression. That difference is most of the work at this level.
There's a genuine British and American contrast running through it, and it's not decoration: two of the ten phrases are unfamiliar to Cathy, and she explains what would be used instead. Katie also demonstrates a shortened form you'll hear in speech — "Oh I bought it; I was hook, line and sinker" — and unpacks the literal image behind I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole: "a very, very long stick that you use to move a barge." Between the two conversations, the Meaning and Pronunciation sections ask you to recall each expression and then repeat after the beep, so the phrases come back several times before you're finished.
The expressions, with the workbook's own definitions
The workbook rates every phrase for how informal it is: 1 for most situations, 2 for people you know well, 3 for handle with care.
- hook, line and sinker (1) – totally and completely. The one Cathy hadn't met.
- to fall for something (1) – to believe that something, usually a joke or lie, is true.
- it grabs your attention / attention grabbing (1) – makes you look at it.
- to catch your eye / eye catching (1) – makes you look because it is unusual or attractive.
- like I need a hole in the head (2) – not wanted or needed at all.
- I'm dying to (1) – really, really want to, can't wait to.
- I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole (2) – I don't want to be involved in any way at all.
- too good to be true (1) – so good that it cannot be believed.
- He could sell sand to the Arabs (2) – so good at selling, he could sell things to people they already have.
- He could sell ice to the Eskimos (2) – so good at selling, he could sell things to people they already have.
What's in the workbook
The Colloquial 3.29 workbook carries the full transcript of both conversations with Cathy, so you can read back any line you couldn't catch outdoors, plus the scripted Meaning and Pronunciation drills.
After that come the Extra Materials. The glossary gives all ten expressions with the 1–3 informality rating — useful here, because sell sand to the Arabs and hole in the head are exactly the kind of phrases you want to place correctly before using them. Practice Exercise 1 gives you five short dialogues to answer in character: So is he a good salesperson? / Are you going get satellite TV? / The advert says it's really cheap. Practice Exercise 2 is a matching task, joining five sentence openings to five endings, including Advertising is everywhere. And we all need… Full answers follow both exercises.
This workbook is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack at €39, which covers every episode with the same transcript, glossary and exercises.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Questions
Is the audio really free?
Yes. Every Zapp! English conversation is free to download. The workbooks come with the €39 pack.
Are the conversations scripted?
The conversations aren't. Katie and Cathy are working things out live, hesitations and wrong guesses included. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
Are these phrases British or American English?
Mostly British, and the recording makes that explicit — Cathy doesn't recognise hook, line and sinker or I need it like a hole in the head, and says what she'd use instead.
What level do I need?
This is Level 3, from the Colloquial 3 pack. You'll want to be comfortable following two people talking at natural speed.
How long is it?
14 minutes 07 seconds, split into two conversations with pronunciation practice after each.
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