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23

Unit 23: Great expectations!
First conditional

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Session 1

A boy or a girl? In this session, we hear about the arrival of a baby and learn some idioms used to talk about expecting a child.

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Session 1 score

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    Activity 3
  1. Activity 1
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Activity 1

A bun in the oven!

Baby talk

For some people, there is nothing more exciting than expecting a baby. There is the anticipation of what it will look like and what characteristics it will have. And the big question is: will it be a boy or will it be a girl? The sex of the child will decide a number of outcomes - its name, what it wears and what it does.

Listen to this conversation. See if you can count how many different ways people say that someone is going to have a baby.

 

Listen to the audio and complete the activity

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Harry
So have you heard my news?

Lucy
No, what is it?

Harry
We'll be hearing the patter of tiny feet soon.

Lucy
What?! You're finally getting a puppy?

Harry
No! My wife is pregnant, so we're expecting our first baby.

Lucy & Pete
Congratulations! That is good news.

Pete
Actually, I thought your wife had a bun in the oven, when I saw her the other day – but I wasn't sure if she had just eaten too much!

Harry
You mean she’d got fatter? Well, no she hasn't, but she is eating a lot, now that she's eating for two. 

Lucy
Of course. So, when is the happy event?

Harry
The baby's due in November.

Pete
Great – and what are you going to call it?

Harry
We're not sure yet but probably, if it's a girl, we'll call her Scarlet – and if it's a boy we'll call him Alfred, after my grandfather.

Lucy
Good choices. So if your wife is in the family way, when is she going on maternity leave?

Harry
She has had some morning sickness but she’s going to carry on working until nearer the due date. We're very excited you know.

Pete
I'm sure you are but you'll need to take good care of her now that she's carrying your child.

Lucy
I'm sure he will – you know what, I'm beginning to feel quite broody myself!

To do

Did you hear the phrases about expecting a baby? Take the test and see what you've learnt.

Download

You can download the audio here (size: 3.9MB).

What did they say?

7 Questions

Sort these idioms in one that were said and weren't said in the dialogue

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
x / y

What did they say?

7 Questions

Sort these idioms in one that were said and weren't said in the dialogue

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
x / y

Next

How did you get on? Hopefully we've introduced you to some idioms to describe someone who's pregnant and expecting a baby. In the next activity you can check your understanding - but be quick, the baby is due soon!

Session Vocabulary

  • expecting
    (here) waiting for a baby to be born

    anticipation
    an excited feeling that something good is about to happen

    characteristics
    particular features and behaviour that someone has

    outcomes
    likely results of something

    pregnant
    having a baby growing inside her

    due date
    date the baby is expected to be born

    maternity leave
    a period of time in which a woman is legally allowed to be away from her job in the weeks before and after she gives birth

    morning sickness
    the feeling of wanting to be sick, usually felt by some women during the first months of pregnancy

    broody
    feeling like you want to have a baby

View full vocabulary reference

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