Posted on

Audio: ‘Lightning’

Listen to this recording and try to write what your understand. You should try to write everything that is said.

You can listen as many times as you want.

Check below the recording for some of the difficult words and come back and check the full text from this recording tomorrow.

Suggested ICAO level: 4+

Follow us on twitter here, Facebook here or Google+ here for more great content!

Have a great day!

Difficult words: abort (v.), enroute

Posted on

Video answers: ‘How do plane toilets work?’

Here are the answers to last Friday’s video, enjoy!

Suggested ICAO level for video: 5+

  1. They were directly connected to the ‘outside’ world. You cold lift the lid and be looking down at the ground below.
  2. Boeing introduced a flush toilet.
  3. As late as 1982.
  4. They use a pressure differential to push your waste down the toilet.
  5. They like them because they requires very little water, which saves the airline money. They’re also less smelly.
  6. There haven’t been any reports of people being hurt because by plane toilets.
  7. The tap water, which is frequently above acceptable contamination levels.

Follow us on twitter here, Facebook here or Google+ here for more great content!

Posted on

Video: ‘How do plane toilets work?’

Fly High English - Video

Here’s an interesting video that describes a little about the history of toilets on planes and how they work.

Try to answer the following questions about the video and come back on Monday for the answers.

Suggested ICAO level for video: 5+

  1. How did plane toilets in the 1920s and 30s work?
  2. What changed by the late 1930s?
  3. When were the modern, vacuum toilets introduced to planes?
  4. How do they work differently?
  5. Why do airlines like vacuum toilets?
  6. Can modern vacuum toilets, if used incorrectly, cause serious injury to a person?
  7. What is a more serious risk for passengers in plane toilets?

Follow us on twitter here, Facebook here or Google+ here for more great content!

Have a great weekend!!

How Do Plane Toilets Work? | Brit Lab

Greg Foot explains how plane toilets actually work and whether the urban myth of toilets being able to suck your insides out is true!

Posted on

Structure: ‘can & could 1’

Using ‘can & could’

These two verbs can be used in many different ways and in the next few posts we’ll talk about the different ways they can be used. Today we’ll talk about using ‘can’ and ‘could’ when talking about ability, this is normally the first context that people see ‘can’ and ‘could’. Check out the diagram below and don’t forget to come back next week to see another way to use ‘can’ and ‘could’.

Diagram of how to use can & could relate to ability.
How to use can & could for ability.

Follow us on Twitter here or Facebook here for more great content!

Posted on

Audio answer: ‘(Off)Field landing’

Here’s the text to the listening from yesterday.

Enjoy!!

An old Airbus A300 was on final approach to its destination when the crew noticed a problem with the landing gear, it wouldn’t extend correctly and as a result the crew had to perform a missed approach. Two subsequent attempts resulted in the plane going around each time. As a result, the plane ran out of fuel and was forced to perform an off-field landing not far from the airport. The plane came down in a flat field. A couple of crew members received bruises but no serious injuries, but they were taken to hospital as a precaution. The plane had previously suffered an accident and some of its equipment had been replaced. Investigators are focusing on whether that played a part in the accident.

Follow us on twitter here, Facebook here or Google+ here for more great content!

Posted on

Audio: ‘(Off)Field landing’

Listen to this recording and try to write what your understand. You should try to write everything that is said.

You can listen as many times as you want.

Check below the recording for some of the difficult words and come back and check the full text from this recording tomorrow.

Suggested ICAO level: 5+

Follow us on twitter here, Facebook here or Google+ here for more great content!

Have a great day!

Difficult words: subsequent (adv.), run out of