Travel English Understanding Directions 5 Advanced Expressions
hi i’m vanessa from speak english with
vanessa calm how can I get their help
let’s talk about it welcome to the fifth
video in the travel Survival Series so
far we’ve talked about a lot of common
situations that you’re probably going to
encounter when you travel especially to
an english-speaking country so if you
want to really remember all of these
expressions and review them it’s great
to watch the videos but I recommend
downloading my free gift to you it’s a
PDF guide travel Survival Guide it uses
all of the expressions from this series
you can download it print it out keep it
on your phone review it whenever you get
a chance you can download this in the
description below this video or at the
top here it’s for you let’s start with
today’s topic take a look at this video
and try to guess which situation which
travel situation are we going to talk
about in this video what do you think
you can sit today’s topic is asking and
giving directions if you did that is
correct we’re going to be talking about
a couple different ways to ask and give
directions so today’s lesson is useful
if you’re traveling or if you meet a
traveler in your city if you meet
someone who’s lost and needs to find a
specific place and they speak English
what are you going to say you need to be
able to use correct direction giving
expressions so that’s what we’re going
to focus on five different ways to give
directions let’s imagine that you’re
trying to go to a beautiful Botanical
Garden but you’re kind of lost so you
might ask someone do you know how to get
to the Botanical Garden you can use our
magic phrase that we’ve talked about
through this series excuse me I don’t
want to bother you but do you know how
to get to the Botanical Garden and they
might say yes go straight and then turn
left at the big intersection or just
keep going straight and then go left at
the big intersection did you notice that
in these directions they didn’t just say
go straight turn left turn right there
are some more natural expressions keep
going straight or go straight ahead and
then go right these are not as clear as
your elementary school textbooks but you
can still listen for those key words in
our second situation you’re trying to
find the tourist information center
great you’re going to find a lot of
useful information for tourists but you
gotta find it first so you might ask
someone where can I find the tourist
information center and they could say oh
it’s across the street from the
McDonald’s up there
it’s across the street from the
McDonald’s up there do you notice that
with these two so far the first one and
then this one people are using landmarks
the intersection the McDonald
oftentimes people don’t use street names
thankfully because as a tourist you
won’t probably know the street name but
they’re going to use landmarks it’s
across the street from that McDonald’s
great go ahead look for the McDonald’s
and then go across the street in our
third situation you’re trying to find
your hotel so you could ask someone uh I
thought that the Hilton Hotel was on
this road but I think I’m on the wrong
Street do you know where it is and they
might say oh yeah just go back one block
and turn left at the light just go back
one block one block is an American
English expression and it means one
street go back one block and turn left
at the light excellent this way you can
use expressions like blocks and it’s
commonly used in the u.s. to talk about
one street to the next street let’s
imagine that you’re walking around your
hometown and you see some tourists who
are lost they’re looking at their map
their map is upside down
they look really confused and they start
walking towards you and your heart
starts beating fast because you know
you’re going to have to give them
directions in English and then they say
to you I’m trying to get to this train
station am I on the right Road well you
could say to them yeah but it’s a long
way to walk you can catch the bus here
in five minutes that means that the bus
is going to come in five minutes and
you’ll get to the train station much
faster they could say or you could say
to them yeah but it’s a long way to walk
you’re on the right Road but it’s a long
way it’s far away it’s a long way to
walk so maybe you can catch the bus here
in five minutes I know when I’ve been
traveling different places sometimes
catching the bus is a little complicated
so when local people have helped me with
the bus system I feel so relieved and
just so grateful that strangers would
take time to help help someone who they
don’t even know so if you help someone
in your city to find the bus find the
train station find something they will
be really grateful in the 5th situation
let’s imagine again you finished work
you’re walking home and you see the same
tourists and they look lost again maybe
they need to get a better map well they
lost you again with a big smile because
they’re so glad that they found the same
friendly local person to help them so
they asked you how can I get to the
center of town how can I get to the
center of town maybe the center of town
is a little far away but it’s probably
faster to walk and take the bus so you
need to give a little more complicated
directions some of the best ways to give
directions like I mentioned is by using
landmarks so you could say Oh at the
third light the third light flashing
lights or stoplight at the third light
turn right and you’ll see a big statue
of a horse that’s downtown great they’ll
go three lights or three blocks probably
go three lights and turn right you’ll
see a big horse statue and that’s
downtown whoo you did it you gave
directions successfully twice so now I
have a question for you because I want
you to practice giving directions let’s
imagine that you are at work or you’re
at your favorite restaurant and you want
to explain to someone how to get to your
house well how would you give them
directions what is a good clear way to
give directions feel free to write in
the comments below use the expressions
from today’s lesson use them from the
PDF guide so that you can remember them
and use them in different ways as well
there’s a
to be mixed up and to be used in
flexible ways because that’s language
thanks so much for learning with me and
I’ll see you the next time bye
the next step is to download the free
guide travel survival tips I want to
help you master these expressions and
speaks fluently feel free to subscribe
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lessons thanks so much for learning with
me bye