Talking about the beach

Introduction Neil and Becca have a real conversation in easy English about beaches – the area of sand, or pebbles, where the land meets the sea. Learn to talk about the difference between sandy beaches and pebbly beaches, how to cool down after you've been sunbathing, and the difficulties of eating picnics on the sand! Vocabulary sunbathe sit or lie in the sunshine to relax cool down do something, like swimming, to lower your body temperature when you are feeling too hot go for a swim go swimming, or spend time in the water to relax or cool down  pebble/pebbly beaches beaches covered in small, smooth stones sandy beaches beaches covered in sand  picnic meal that you eat outside Transcript Neil Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. We're back with another conversation in easy English to help you learn. I'm Neil.   Becca And I'm Becca. And you can find a video version of this podcast on our website that comes with subtitles to help your learning. That's at bbclearningenglish.com.   Neil Hi Becca. How are you?   Becca I'm really well, thank you, Neil. How about yourself?   Neil I'm very well. You look very relaxed, though. So, what have you been doing?   Becca Well, I've recently been to the beach. I went to my... to visit my parents, and they live quite close to the beach, so that's probably why I look and feel very relaxed.   Neil The beach. Fantastic! Well, we are talking about the beach today. OK. Becca, when you have a beach day, do you like to sunbathe, which means lying on the beach in the Sun doing nothing, or do you prefer to do something active, like swimming? People often play sports on the beach – that kind of thing.   Becca I do love to sunbathe, but we don't have a lot of sun in the UK, and the temperatures aren't always the best for sunbathing. But it's still something I really enjoy doing. I'll sunbathe for a little bit. I'll kind of... I'll cook under the Sun and then I'll go for a swim to cool down. But yeah, I prefer more relaxing activities. I know some people enjoy, like, beach volleyball, or some people like long, long coastal walks. But yeah, I prefer, kind of, just staying in one spot and relaxing there. How about you?   Neil I prefer to do something active at the beach. Swimming. I like to play beach football, beach cricket...   Becca Ooh!   Neil Whatever! And if I am lying or sunbathing, I like to read a book. But...   Becca Yeah.   Neil ...it's a bit uncomfortable.   Becca It can be. It can be uncomfortable. Yeah. Also, you mentioned that you like playing some sports on the beach. I imagine it can be quite difficult to play sports on a pebbly beach. Pebbles are small stones, and very different to sandy beaches. Sand is quite soft and, I guess, easier for beach football and beach cricket.   Neil Yeah, lots of the beaches in the UK are pebble beaches with stones on them rather than sand. And yes, it can be more difficult. It can really hurt your feet.   Becca Sometimes it is quite funny on a pebbly beach to see people coming out of the sea from their swim and then, kind of, you know, finding it quite difficult to walk along the beach. It sometimes is quite funny.   Neil How about food? So, do you take a picnic to the beach?   Becca Yeah, sometimes. Another reason, actually... We talked about pebbly beaches. But I really love a pebble beach because it's easier to have a picnic on a pebble beach. I don't know about your own experiences, but every time I sit on a sandy beach with a lovely picnic, it always gets ruined by all of the sand.   Neil Exactly. You end up with a kind of crunchy sandwich.   Becca Yeah. Sandy sandwiches.   Neil Sandy, sandy sandwiches!   Becca Not tasty! So, I do love a picnic on the beach. But, yeah, you do have to be careful about where you are, and the wind as well.   Neil Yes, especially in the UK.   Becca Mmm. Yeah.   Neil Because they're quite windy.   Becca Very windy in the UK.   Neil But the world is full of beautiful beaches. Have you got a memory of a favourite beach you've been to somewhere?   Becca Yes, I have beautiful memories. Probably the most recent and the most beautiful was when I was in Thailand last February. Very cold and rainy in the UK, so I decided to go to Thailand, and I just remember seeing the sunset at the beach, and I'd never seen the Sun so red before. It was incredible. So, when the Sun is setting and it's, kind of... it looks like it's going below sea level, at night time. Just beautiful. Stunning.   Neil Time now to recap the vocabulary we've heard in this podcast, starting with sunbathe. If you sunbathe, you sit or lie in the sunshine to relax. But you have to be careful in case you get burnt.   Becca Yes, and if you sunbathe for too long, you might need to cool down. To cool down means to do something to cool yourself when you're feeling too hot. And you can do that by going for a swim. And to go for a swim is to literally go swimming, but it could also mean just to relax in the water.   Neil We talked about two different kinds of beaches – pebble beaches and sandy beaches. Pebble beaches are covered in small, smooth stones. They can be difficult to walk on. A sandy beach is covered in sand, and sand is that fine grain and it's much more comfortable to walk on.   Becca And lastly, we mentioned picnics. A picnic is a meal that you enjoy outside.   Neil That's it for this episode of Real Easy English, but don't forget to go to our website to download a free worksheet. That's at bbclearningenglish.com.   Becca And we'll be back next week with another episode of Real Easy English. Bye for now.   Neil Goodbye. Now try this... Watch The London Letter Challenge. Download a free worksheet. Discover more programmes for your level.  Find all our latest programmes.