This is an English lesson designed to help you practice and improve your English listening and pronunciation skills. The listening lesson is a short story about something that happened in my life in Canada. There is also a short pronunciation explanation about a word or sound I used in the story.

This week’s story is about my trip to the hospital to visit my aunt! The pronunciation explanation is about the weak form of ‘and’!

If you have trouble with your listening skills, here’s something that may help:
How to practice listening

Listen to the podcast:

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Watch the video:

Listening Comprehension:

1. Who were we visiting in the hospital?

2. What do I think about hospitals?

3. Why doesn’t my aunt like this hospital?

4. What interesting things can be found in a hospital in my province?

5. Has my aunt recovered from the stroke?

Transcript:

(*Click on the links to learn more about the grammar, vocabulary and expressions used in the story!)

Last week my parents and I went to visit my aunt in the hospital. About 2 ½ weeks ago she had a hemorrhagic stroke – a stroke that occurs when one of the arteries leading to the brain suddenly tears or bursts. She lives by herself, so it was pretty frightening and devastating for her. The entire left side of her body was suddenly paralyzed. She immediately called 911 and the ambulance came to her house and took her to the hospital. Her local hospital didn’t have all the necessary equipment to diagnose a stroke, so a couple days later she was transferred to a hospital in a larger city.

I really dislike hospitals. They’re full of sick people and I feel like I’m suddenly going to catch an infection just by setting foot in a hospital. I know it’s irrational but I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels like that.

This particular hospital is really creepy. My aunt is in a room with 2 other stroke patients who are in far worse condition than she is. One lady can’t speak so she just hums and moans all day. Another lady is completely paralyzed on the right side of her body. She says terrible things to my aunt like: “I’m praying to God that something bad will happen to you.” To escape her room my aunt sometimes goes to the TV lounge, but once, some strange man tried to hit on her. Can you imagine hitting on someone after they just had a stroke? That’s a bit weird.

The one feature of the hospital that I like – and this is common in most major hospitals in my province – it has a Tim Hortons inside! This is a popular Canadian coffee and donut chain. It has the best coffee and donuts on earth! In the hospital you can also buy a slice of pizza from Pizza Pizza for lunch. You can even buy a lottery ticket in the hospital if you want to!

Thankfully my aunt has almost fully recovered from the stroke. She goes to rehabilitation every day and she has regained the feeling in her left arm and leg. She can walk up and down the stairs unassisted and she’s regained her balance. She doesn’t want to be there anymore and finds it very stressful, but she calmed down while we were there. We sat out in a park in front of the hospital and talked and laughed for 2 hours. She felt much better.

One thing that’s really annoying about hospitals in my province – you have to pay for parking! At the hospital! I think that’s outrageous. We were at the hospital for just over 3 hours and my dad had to pay $16 for parking! Ridiculous.

Discussion questions:

Here are some discussion questions you can answer on my blog or on YouTube:

Have you ever spent time in a hospital as a patient?

What are hospitals like in your country? Are they comfortable?

Do you have access to good quality health care?

Pronunciation:

The word ‘and’ is a conjunction. It’s one of the most commonly used words in English. In spoken English, ‘and’ is often not stressed in a sentence. It ends up sounding like /ən/. It’s sometimes called the ‘reduced and.’

Listen carefully to the following phrases. Try to repeat them after me. Listen to them more than once if you need to:

my parents and I

2 ½ = two and a half

walk up and down

her left arm and leg

Listen to the story again. Can you hear more examples of the reduced ‘and’?

Vocabulary:

Note: Health care in Canada is provided by the government, specifically the provincial governments [a province is similar to a state in the U.S.]. We have no access to private health care; we have to take what the government provides. When I talk about hospitals, I’m talking specifically about hospitals in my province (Ontario). Hospitals [and health care] may be different in other provinces.

a stroke:
[My aunt] had a hemorrhagic stroke.
= a condition in which the blood supply to the brain suddenly stops. The victim then loses control of or cannot feel parts of their body.

to set foot in a place
I feel like I’m suddenly going to catch an infection just by setting foot in a hospital.
= to enter or to go to a place

a patient
My aunt is in a room with 2 other stroke patients.
= a person who is receiving medical care, usually from a doctor, dentist or in a hospital.

to hit on someone
… some strange man tried to hit on her.
= to start talking to someone in order to start a relationship – usually a sexual relationship! – with them

a coffee and donut chain
[Tim Hortons] is a Canadian coffee and donut chain.
= short for “a chain of restaurants;” a group of restaurants with the same name and serving the exact same food in many different locations – like McDonald’s.