Full video

0:00

Hello and welcome to Real Easy English.

0:04

In this podcast,

0:05

we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn.

0:10

I'm Beth.

0:11

And I'm Georgie.

0:12

You can find a video version of this podcast

0:15

and a worksheet to help you learn all on our website,

0:18

bbclearningenglish.com

0:27

Hi, Georgie.

0:28

Hello, Beth.

0:29

How is your week going?

0:30

It's going well. It's quite a busy one, isn't it?

0:32

It is. It's only Wednesday.

0:34

Yeah, it feels like Friday.

0:36

But today we're talking about secrets.

0:40

Secrets!

0:41

A secret is a piece of information that you don't tell other people.

0:46

Beth, does that mean you're going to tell me all of your secrets?

0:51

No. Not now. Maybe later.

0:56

Ooh... OK.

0:58

So, Georgie, are you good at keeping secrets?

1:02

No, I'm definitely not good at keeping secrets.

1:05

I'm a bit of an open book,

1:07

which means the opposite of someone who is good at keeping secrets.

1:12

You're very honest

1:13

and share things, maybe too much.

1:15

What about you?

1:18

OK. I am probably the same as you.

1:24

I think I'm not good at keeping secrets,

1:28

but if it's a really important secret and I've been told,

1:31

please don't tell anyone, then I won't tell anyone.

1:35

Yes. So, Beth, what is the biggest secret you've had to keep?

1:43

I flew abroad to surprise... my boyfriend at the time – his dad.

1:52

And we had to keep it a secret.

1:54

And we even called him in the morning on a video call

1:59

and pretended we were at home, and we were actually in a different country.

2:04

Oh my gosh.

2:05

So, that was a big secret.

2:06

So, it went well? Was he surprised?

2:08

It did. He was very surprised.

2:10

We were very pleased that we kept it a secret.

2:13

We did well.

2:14

Well done, well done.

2:16

I've had to keep a big secret.

2:18

Last year, my friend told me that

2:22

she was going to propose to her girlfriend.

2:26

But she told me I had to keep it a secret.

2:28

And it's really...

2:29

it was really difficult because we have a group of friends,

2:33

and I really wanted to tell them, but I couldn't.

2:37

And I managed to keep it a secret, so I was very proud of myself.

2:41

That's good. Well done.

2:43

That reminds me,

2:45

I had a big secret, too.

2:47

My friend told me, don't tell anyone and don't tell your mum...

2:52

And I told my mum by accident.

2:54

Oh no!

2:55

Can you reveal the secret to us?

2:57

Oh, yeah. She was pregnant.

2:58

She's now had the baby.

2:59

OK.

3:00

But she said, yeah, I'm pregnant, but it's really early,

3:02

so please don't tell anyone.

3:04

Don't even tell your mum.

3:06

And then I spoke to my mum a few weeks later and said:

3:09

You don't know? She's pregnant!

3:12

And then I realised, oh no! I wasn't supposed to tell you.

3:16

But that was kind of an accident.

3:19

It was definitely an accident.

3:20

Yeah.

3:20

But I felt really bad.

3:22

Well, now she's had the baby. It's OK.

3:24

It's not a surprise anymore.

3:26

Sorry!

3:30

Beth, do you think secrets are a good or a bad thing?

3:35

I think it really depends on the secret.

3:39

There are good secrets,

3:41

like proposing or having a baby.

3:44

And then I guess a bad secret really is a lie.

3:48

If you have to lie, then that's not good.

3:51

Yeah, I agree.

3:53

It's... it's not...

3:54

yeah, it's not good to lie.

3:56

And I think that's a reason why I'm not very good at keeping secrets.

4:01

Because I'm a really bad liar.

4:04

You can see it in my face if I'm holding...

4:07

holding in a secret.

4:09

Yeah. I think sometimes you can look at someone's face

4:11

and know what they're thinking.

4:13

I'm definitely like that.

4:15

If I'm annoyed or angry or something,

4:19

you can tell from my face.

4:20

Well, that's good because I'll always know that you're being honest

4:24

and not keeping any secrets from me.

4:32

Let's recap the vocabulary we heard during the conversation.

4:36

We had a 'secret', which is a piece of information

4:40

that you can't tell other people.

4:43

And we also have the phrase 'keep a secret',

4:46

which means to not share that piece of information.

4:50

If someone is 'an open book', they don't have secrets and

4:53

they're honest about their life.

4:55

And if you 'lie', you say something that's not true.

4:59

It's usually seen as negative,

5:01

but sometimes you have to lie if you want to keep a secret.

5:05

And we call someone who lies a lot a 'liar'.

5:09

And that's it for this episode of Real Easy English.

5:13

Test what you've learned with the free worksheet on our website,

5:16

bbclearningenglish.com

5:18

We'll be back next week with another conversation in easy English.

5:22

Goodbye.

5:23

Bye!