M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

C: And my name is Catherine and today we’re talking about being clean.

M: Yeah, we’re gonna be doing the laundry, right?

C: It’s a very important part of everyone’s weekly schedule.

M: And not only important, but I find it to be a little bit difficult, because, you know, like washing machine and what clothes you should mix with what and, you know, how much detergent and how long. It’s such a complicated process.

C: Let’s say this, it might not be difficult, but it’s very easy to mess up.

M: Exactly, yeah, that’s the problem. It’s very easy to like just ruin your favorite t-shirt if you don’t do laundry correctly.

C: Or all of your white socks turn pink, for example.

M: Hehe. Right, so we’re gonna be looking at a lot of vocabulary and phrases related to this topic. And before we get started with the dialogue, why don’t we take at look at “vocabulary preview”?

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

C: Okay, so central to all of these phrases and words that we’re gonna be hearing is, ah, a thing, an electric thing, that helps us wash our clothes.

M: Right, a washing machine.

C: Right, pretty simple, right? So washing is, uh, to wash, washing, and machine. So they go together – washing machine.

M: Right.

C: Pretty simple.

M: So it’s easy now. You just put all your clothes in this thing and it washes it for you.

C: Whum-whum-whum.

M: Now, you know, a lot of people don’t like to use washing machines. They say it doesn’t really clean the clothes as well as doing it by hand.

C: Really? Well, I’d say a most clothes get… get washed pretty well with a washing machine, but if you have this hard-to… hard-to-get stains or some dirt maybe it’s good to have a washing board.

M: The washing board, yeah.

C: Yeah, where you can really scrub it yourself.

M: And, uh, well, funny you mentioned that word stain, because it’s our second word that we’re gonna preview – a stain.

C: Alright, a stain is some color maybe some food or wine or grass that you can’t remove from your clothes.

M: Right, so it’s very common. You’re having a nice dinner and all of a sudden you spill wine on your shirt.

C: Mm.

M: So you have a wine stain.

C: I hate that. And, uh, you can also have stain on your… you can also have a stain on your carpet.

M: Uhu.

C: Right, so if you spill some coffee on your carpet, it’s got a little circle that’s brown forever.

M: Hehe. Right, or, well… I mean, some people have stained teeth.

C: That’s right, so you can get them turned back white for… with a little money to your dentist.

M: Exactly, so those are the two words that we’re gonna be looking at today in vocabulary preview. So let’s listen to our dialogue; let… let’s see what’s happening with these people that are doing laundry.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

A: Ok, let’s go through this one more time. I don’t want anymore ruined or dyed blouses!
B: I know, I know. OK, so I have to separate the colors from the whites and put them in this strange looking contraption so called washing machine.
A: Right. You have to turn it on and program it depending on what type of clothes you are washing. For example for delicates, you should set a shorter washing cycle. Also, be sure to use fabric softener and this detergent when washing.
B: So complicated! Ok, what about this red wine stain? How do I get it out?
A: Since this is a white t-shirt, you can just pour a little bit of bleach on it and it will do the trick.
B: Cool. Then I can just throw everything in the dryer for an hour and its all set right?
A: No! Since you are washing delicates and cotton,you should set the dryer to medium heat and for twenty minutes.
B: You know what? I’ll just have everything dry cleaned.