How to Talk About Emergencies in English Improve English Conversations
rolling cool hi everybody welcome back
to our weekly live stream my name is
Alisha and today we’re going to talk
about emergencies
today’s theme is explaining emergencies
and making reports so in today’s lesson
I’m going to explain patterns you can
use to make phone or in person reports
about emergency situations I’m also
going to talk a lot about some key
vocabulary words that you can use to
describe like medical emergencies or to
describe like accidents we’ll also talk
about vocabulary for suspicious
situations so there’s a lot to talk
about
I will probably talk too much as usual
but there will be a lot of patterns that
you can kind of use to make your own
reports or to describe your own
situation so please feel free to send
your example sentences in the chat
throughout the lesson and I will try to
check them alive but they’re a lot so I
see Facebook and YouTube up hi everybody
lots of people there Josh and Diego
Minaj Lennon someone who’s a Korean name
I can’t read sorry Estevan Mohammed
Samson Adrian Apache Patricia Minaj
again hi Karina hi there and on Facebook
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hey Luis and Roenick and Momma and Zia
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lots of people as you join please don’t
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really appreciate that too okay we will
take about a minute before we begin the
lesson so as always a quick announcement
let’s see last yeah like 12 hours ago
maybe we have this new video go up on
the English class 101 YouTube channel
this is a video about food nouns so I
made this video about
counter words that you can use to like
count uncountable nouns that are like
food-related nouns so this is a really
good video for just everyday life things
so talking about eating so if you have
not seen this video yet you can check
this out this is on the English class
101 YouTube channel so I hope that’s
helpful coming soon is a similar video
uncountable drink nouns so I know lots
of you like food lessons okay cool so
with that as I said today’s lesson is
about explaining emergencies explaining
emergencies so I hope that we can talk
about a lot of things hi everybody I
can’t get to all your comments but I see
you thanks for watching okay uh we are
about three minutes in so I’m gonna
start soon I’m gonna share the video
actually and then we will begin there it
is cool okay so today we’re going to
talk about a lot of things I hope I can
get through it all we will see we will
see so let’s get started I want to start
over here I want to start by introducing
some reporting patterns so for today’s
lesson yes these are patterns you can
use to explain emergency situations yes
but you can also just use these to kind
of give reports even like at your
workplace like you’re calling to report
I don’t know some may be problem at your
workplace it doesn’t have to be an
emergency situation so there are a
couple of other times when you can use
these so let’s get started alright first
for reporting accidents for reporting
accidents we can use this pattern right
here this first one this is a phone
pattern this is a phone pattern so when
you’re calling someone like in the
emergency line in the US it’s 911 si
phone number when you’re using the phone
to report an accident
you can use this pattern right here I’m
calling progressive tense
I’m calling to report and then you’ll
need an article so I’m calling to report
up I’m calling to report and here then
are a few examples these are things to
report so we have specific noun phrases
in some cases or we have like some more
information that we need to provide
common examples I’m calling to report a
car crash or a car accident so a car
crash or car accident you can use both
of these to describe the same thing so
an accident involving a car an accident
between two cars or a car accident like
a car in a building so a car crash or a
car accident I’m calling to report a car
accident this second one this is
something that you will need to put your
own information into this is if an
object fell so fell here fell is the
past tense of fall fall becomes fell in
past tense so an object fell on a thing
or a person an object or a person so for
example a tree fell on a car or a
building fell on another building I
don’t know it’s something kind of crazy
happened so this is one you can use to
describe when one object falls on top of
another object so I’m calling to report
in this case I’m calling to report that
an object fell onto another object you
will need to change the sentence
slightly another one someone wrote I’m
calling to report that we are the best
English class whatever Thanks
that’s not a bad thing that was very
funny good Oh someone Marcelo says I
dropped a 200-degree cup of coffee on my
lap is that an accident yeah sure you
can describe that as an accident it’s up
to you if you need to call someone and
make a report about that
I don’t know but that’s a very hot cup
of coffee so you can describe that as an
accident yes so something you do not
plan on happening is an accident okay
um good yeah misil’s you’re getting
ahead they’re on Facebook someone said
I’m calling to report at Brooklyn
College someone not breathing well I’m
going to get to that in part two of
today’s lesson
you guys are getting ahead of me that’s
awesome okay a couple more common ones
though I’m calling to report a fire up
fire I’m calling to report a fire any
fire like that’s not supposed to be
there just use the word fire so you
don’t need to say fire accident or fire
incident I’m calling to report a fire
finally this one chemical spill chemical
spill so a chemical spill some of you I
know work in like research settings so
if you work with chemicals or if you
work maybe with lots of cleaning
cleaning products and there’s a spill of
a dangerous chemical you can use this
word to report it I’m calling to report
a chemical spill calling to report a
chemical spill okay so some of you I saw
in your example sentences you already
have this giving your location part
included that’s awesome so a couple
patterns to give your location so after
you make a phone report and you need to
give your location where are you you can
use one of these two patterns so if you
have studied how to give directions you
might recognize or you might remember
some of these so first one here is I’m
at so again I’m I’m I am I’m at the
corner of the corner up don’t forget
this up here this preposition I’m at the
corner of Street a and Street B so the
idea here is for example if you’re at an
intersection right here if this is your
spot at least
okay maybe we’ll zoom in in a second so
imagine you’re at an intersection here
so an intersection means a place where
two roads come together so if you’re
here at the corner of these two streets
you can say I’m at the corner of Street
a and Street B so I’m at this corner
here that’s what this means
that’s one pattern you can use to
describe your location if you’re in a
place that’s very well-known you can use
this pattern I’m at the supermarket in
front of or maybe behind or next to
whatever may be X station for example so
if you don’t know the street name if you
don’t know exactly where you are but
there’s a really big landmark like a
station in this case or like a really
well-known store or supermarket you can
use a landmark that’s called a landmark
so something that’s well-known like an
object or a building that’s well-known
you can use that to report your location
so I’m at the corner of Street a and
Street B so to put all of this stuff
together you could say maybe I want to
report a fire I see a fire in a building
I could say I’m calling to report a fire
I’m at the corner of Street a and Street
be like the fire is in the building next
to the supermarket across from the bank
so we can put together like directions
reporting information all of this
alright so these are our basic reporting
phrases we’ll use today we’ll use we’ll
come back to them a little bit later as
well okay so I want to take a quick
break it is ten minutes past the hour
um I have as always free PDFs for you
guys but I know III don’t think I have
it here actually but oh okay
there’s actually a different one I don’t
have it in front of me you will see it
you see it right here actually - that
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whoa Oh is it bigger thank you thank you
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Black Friday is Black Friday is the day
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lot of companies have really really big
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day only is that right or it’s only
until Friday I think I saw the video
this morning I think it’s that and it’s
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this is our special thing for it this
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later with some more details to you oh
right
if you’re just joining us though today’s
lesson is about explaining emergencies
and making reports explaining
emergencies and making reports
hello everybody that just joined I see
lots of you just joined on Facebook hi
Sylvia and Kim and I’m on and BK and Ali
dad hi okay let’s continue to part two
of today’s lesson then part two here is
medical emergencies medical emergencies
so in this part of the lesson I’m going
to talk a lot about key vocabulary words
you can use to describe like injuries so
if you get sick or if you get hurt
injured these are some words you can use
and some patterns you can use to just
that you can also use some of these when
you visit a doctor to explain an injury
or to explain an illness okay let’s take
a look first one the first medical
emergency is a very common one and you
don’t have to use this in emergency
situations you can just tell your
friends if this happens to you it is I
cut myself with a knife and cut myself
with a knife so you’ll notice here this
cut it seems like it’s the same as
present-tense cut so like present tense
cut and past tense cut they have the
same spelling the same pronunciation so
we know though that this is a past tense
statement because if this were a present
tense statement it would be a really
strange thing to say
so a quick grammar reminder we use
present tense to talk about regular
actions
yeah something we do like as part of a
schedule so if this is part of my
schedule I cut myself with a knife
that’s a really strange thing to say so
we know that this is probably a past
tense expression I cut myself with a
knife that’s how we know that this is
not a present tense statement it doesn’t
make sense as a present tense statement
so I cut myself this is also an example
of a verb that’s used reflexively so for
you more intermediate or advanced
learners reflexive verbs are verbs were
the subject and like the object are the
same person or the same thing so if you
want to change your subject make it he
cut himself with a knife she cut herself
with a knife so your subject and your
object refer to the same thing that is
correct
to do okay someone said I cut a knife
with my finger are you sure I cut my
finger with a knife so the object or the
person that was cut should be the object
of the verb here okay um I don’t see any
other questions yet okay so I’ll go on
to the next point someone mentioned this
in the facebook chat earlier many things
for that I’m having a trouble breathing
so here you’ll notice I’m having I’m
having trouble breathing you can use
this in the progressive tense I’m having
trouble breathing means right now it’s
difficult for me to breathe progressive
I’m having trouble breathing another way
to say this is I can’t breathe I can’t
breathe
so you’ll notice the grammar here
changes simple it’s a much more simple
sentence but it means like it’s
impossible for me to breathe I can’t
breathe if you want to change this so
that you can explain a friend’s
condition like my friend is having
trouble breathing he is having trouble
breathing or she can’t breathe these are
how we would change these sentences to
describe it so trouble breathing it’s
like it’s difficult to breathe can’t
breathe it’s like impossible like it
sounds much more serious I can’t breathe
okay good
I have trouble trying to breathe
underwater zazz lys I think that’s a
very common that’s very common problem
okay
let’s go on to another actually maybe
for some of you the most important part
of today’s lesson I’m having an allergic
reaction this word right here is really
important if you have like a food
allergy if you’re sensitive to food if
you’re sensitive to certain animals
allergies so like for example I know
peanuts are really common food item that
people have allergies to so some people
will eat that or contact like touch
peanuts and maybe their skin will get
really big or turn red or
can’t breathe so that’s called an
allergic reaction the pronunciation is
allergic reaction please keep in mind
there is this word allergies I have
allergies like I have allergies to pet
sir I have allergies to food allergies
and allergic has slightly different
pronunciations so I’m having an allergic
reaction reaction means response an
allergic response to something so again
we’re using this progressive verb form
here too I’m having an allergic reaction
and you can explain the the allergy to
I’m having an allergic reaction to
peanuts having an allergic reaction to a
cat for example okay someone says I
don’t understand the use of having okay
thanks for the question that man
so having here I’m having we use this to
mean I’m experiencing so in these
sentences if you can kind of think of it
as like I’m experiencing but
experiencing sounds way too formal we
use have like imagine in the sentence
I’m having a good time
it means I’m experiencing a good time
but we don’t say experience they’re here
having means experiencing so please
think of it in that way do I have any
allergies I have a slight cat allergy a
slight cat allergy I sneeze a lot okay
good Danny says I’ve got an allergic
reaction we would say I have an allergic
reaction I have I’m sorry I’m having an
allergic reaction or I’ve got allergies
too so in my case like I’ve got
allergies to cats
that’s something we would say okay good
I’m having chicken pop-up chicken pox
maybe P o XP o X is chicken pox
yes okay but let’s move along men time’s
running out
next time I have severe pain in my body
part this is the next pattern two points
for this sentence severe severe is the
pronunciation of this word severe means
very very strong very very bad I have
severe pain in something I have severe
pain in my left arm I have severe pain
in my stomach I have severe pain in my
head these are quick ways to explain you
are in a lot of pain something is very
very painful okay let’s see actually I
will talk about this because the last
part is a little bit shorter so let’s
continue on down this list for now and
if you have some examples with this
severe pain point please feel free to
send them in the chat okay I want to
continue I mentioned this word in the
first part of today’s lesson chemicals
so we talked about a chemical spill so
if you work with chemicals if you work
with like cleaning products chemicals it
might be part of your everyday life so I
got chemicals in my eye or I got
chemicals on my skin so this is one part
in my eye
I got chemicals on my skin so notice
here your preposition changes yeah in my
eye so meaning like inside your eye area
and on my skin I got chemicals in my eye
on my skin watch out for that
preposition there this part I got I got
so we used got to mean like I had eaten
like a negative reaction or I had a
negative it’s kind of used to mean like
something negative happened to me so I
got chemicals on my skin we would say we
would not say here I have chemicals
on my skin like you could explain it as
like a simple fact but it sounds more
kind of like a negative experience to
say I got chemicals on my skin
oh no similar to like I got a bad score
on a test or I got lost for example it’s
like saying became with a negative
feeling about it
I got chemicals on my skin it’s bad okay
um anything else someone said I everyday
have pain head I’m talking I’m going to
talk about that later I have a headache
every day I have a headache every day
nice examples to everybody Albertus that
I have severe pain in my shoulder
shoulder SH o u LD er shoulder shoulder
yes you may ask live questions I can’t
promise I can catch all of them nice one
I got chemicals usually we use this
plural form chemicals chemicals s don’t
forget your s there
I got chemicals in my ear I got
chemicals in my hair good I have severe
ah careful severe your spelling of
severe there there’s an e at the end
without it sever the word is severed
this becomes the word sever sever means
to cut something severe means very
strong watch out for your spelling there
I got chemicals on my nails up for your
nails we use this preposition on as well
so watch out for that okay I got wasabi
in my eye oh no come nice example
sentence that’s pretty good
I got chemicals in my mouth nice nice
nice
I have dizziness in my head or just I
have dizziness is okay we understand
it’s in your head there great nice
example is everybody let’s continue on
to this next part and then we’ll talk
about a couple more vocabulary words and
take a break um this is one I actually
had to use this one time I found a
person on the ground so maybe you’ve had
like this experience on the street or
something if you find another person
and you want to explain that what do you
say so first past tense I found a person
on the ground so not floor floor is
inside like now in the studio we are
inside there’s a floor here if you’re
outside it’s on the ground on the ground
again your preposition here is on so I
found a person on the ground he or she
is not responsive he or she is not
responsive responsive you see inside
this word responsive is this response
response so that means he or she is not
giving a response if I say like hello
are you ok there is no response we
communicate that with this he is not
responsive she is not responsive this is
a key word when you’re making a phone
reports there ok let’s finish this part
with this last bit down here describing
pain I want to introduce three points
here about describing pain junior Alisha
I have an allergy or I’m allergic both
are ok I have up like peanut allergy or
I’m allergic to something both are fine
there ok last describing pain if you
move nice era if you have arrived in a
hospital a common question a doctor or
hospital staff will ask you is this one
right here on a scale from one to ten
how bad is the pain on a scale from one
to ten this part on a scale from one to
ten means from zero or sorry from one to
ten how bad is the pain so that means
you please choose a number so one is
like pain ten is strong pain on that
scale how bad is your pain so you can
say eight six three that’s a quick way
for doctors and nurses to understand
your pain last part in this section
three key vocabulary words here some of
you already talked about
these are three ways different ways to
describe the pain that you feel the
first word is sharp pain sharp pain so
sharp like a knife a knife is a good
image for this word so sharp pain if you
can imagine like someone stabbed you
it’s really like like a knife pain in
your body you can describe that as sharp
pain so for example I have a sharp pain
in my stomach or I have sharp pain in my
head so it’s like a knife we use sharp
pain to talk about that the next word
here is this one throbbing pain this one
is hard to pronounce so there’s that th
at the beginning and unvoiced th
throbbing throbbing pain so this the
root here is throb throb to throb means
to rhythmically beat so this comes from
your heartbeat actually so your heart
has like that regular beat so when you
have pain that has the same rhythm as
your heartbeat like you notice it’s it
has like a rhythm to it we describe that
as throbbing pain something is throbbing
pain so like a headache is often a great
example of throbbing a pain you could
say sharp throbbing pain too if you want
to that’s also good okay and the last
one that I want to describe is eight you
can put this before I’m sorry after a
body part - someone mentioned headache
earlier great headache stomach ache
backache those are the common ones I
think so an ache is kind of just a low
level of pain that’s just constant it’s
not really throbbing it’s not really
sharp it’s just uncomfortable maybe like
shoulder ache as well okay so those are
three quick words you can use to talk
about different types of pain all right
but I have to take another break and
then we’ll finish with a few more key
words if you missed it earlier if you
missed it earlier
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a Thursday the day after Thanksgiving is
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Friday deal okay a couple questions
Armando says hi when do you use it hurts
it hurts this a very general word
anytime you make it like an injury like
if I kick something like ahhh my leg
hurts like we use that to talk about
just general pain we don’t say I have a
pain in my leg for that we would say it
hurts like ah my head hurts a little
today like ah my hand hurts like I
stretched it I don’t know or like my
neck hurts I slept weird okay let’s
finish then with this part here MA
ammaji says how many days do you have
online class in a week this is once
you were watching once a week class okay
let’s go to this our last part here I
want to introduce just a couple of
vocabulary words for suspicious people
suspicious sounds they’re disturbances
so if you want to make a report like we
talked about here about something that’s
not an accident but it’s a suspicious
person this is how you can do it
so like I’m calling to report a strange
man or I’m calling to report a strange
woman outside my house so again you can
use those location expressions we talked
about at the beginning of today’s lesson
I’m calling to report a robbery I’m
calling to report a theft what’s the
difference between robbery and theft
robbery is generally like large-scale
like a bank robbery like someone stole a
lot of money or like lots of like
diamond necklaces or something that’s a
robbery
theft is usually smaller scale like
someone went to a convenience store and
like stole like five hundred dollars
it’s usually like smaller scale things
robberies are like bigger things so I’m
calling to report a robbery or I’m
calling to report a theft that’s another
point here we use an article I’m calling
to report a robbery I’m calling to
report a theft is okay or I’m calling to
report theft you may hear it with no
article there the last two words are
threat and assault threat threat so
again there’s that thr pronunciation a
threat so threat this is related to the
verb to threaten to threaten so in this
case there’s not any like physical
attack but someone uses strong words to
say something like I’m going to hurt you
or I’m going to do something bad they’re
saying that something bad is going to
happen in the future that’s as a noun a
threat so you could say I’m calling to
report a threat
or I’m calling because I was threatened
threatened finally assault if you see it
like a fight if you see a fight you can
say I’m calling to report a fight yes or
I’m calling to report an assault
and assault so if threats are like words
we’re using words to scare somebody
assault is actually attacking somebody
so you’re using physical force making
someone do something that is assault so
I’m calling to report an assault or
someone was assaulted for example as a
bird assaulted so these are a couple of
words you can use to talk about
suspicious people are like fights or
other disturbances so those means like
societal problems very example uh
armored threatened threatened with a
knife yes you could say that someone
threatened me with a knife yes you can
okay um I don’t see other questions yet
some of you are writing some very silly
sentences about theft okay ah great I
will end there for today though cuz I’m
late I talk too much as always so this
lesson if you missed it please don’t
worry this lesson was recorded you can
watch this on our Facebook page or on
our YouTube page at any time if you have
questions please send them in the chat I
will check your messages and try to
answer them somehow in the future of
course we will be back next week so
today’s lesson will finish here but next
week we will be back next week it will
be November 29th Wednesday November 29th
the topic will be explaining steps in a
process so I’m gonna talk a lot about
sequence words like first after that
then next that sort of thing um so I
kind of I want this to be a good lesson
to help you with writing and with
imitations too so please join us next
week for this lesson
so that’s Wednesday now it’s 9 p.m.
eastern standard time because of
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that would be fantastic
so we’ll finish there for today don’t
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Friday sale there’s only I wonder how
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really really appreciate it thank you
for your questions really great
questions everybody and thank you for
your example sentences so please enjoy
your weekend if you are celebrating
Thanksgiving and Black Friday I hope
that you have a nice celebration but
otherwise I will see you all again next
week thank you bye bye
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