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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 senior citizens in Canada! The pronunciation explanation is how the letter ‘i’ is sometimes pronounced like the consonant ‘y’ sound!

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

Listen to the podcast:
*Try to listen at least once without looking at the words!

*music by Incompetech

Download the podcast in .mp3 from Podbean.com or itunes!

Listening Comprehension Questions:

1. What is a ‘senior citizen’?

2. What is ‘Seniors’ Day’?

3. What’s my mother’s favourite Seniors’ Day?

4. What are some other incentives to shop at Shoppers Drug Mart?

Transcript:

(*The words in blue are links to other posts here on my blog. Click on the links to learn more about the grammar, vocabulary and expressions used in the story!)

‘Senior citizen’ is a term used to refer to older people. Usually it means anyone over the age of 65. People in Canada are living longer now. Life expectancy has increased to 81 years. This means that there are a lot of senior citizens! In fact, people over 65 make up 14% of the Canadian population. Because this is such a large group of people, more and more stores in Canada are trying to attract older shoppers by having a Seniors’ Day! Once a month, senior citizens get a discount on all items in the store.

My mom loves to shop. She claims it both relaxes and energizes her. She really gets excited if there’s a sale – and she lives for Seniors’ Day! When I was younger, she never wanted anyone to know her age. Now that she can get a discount at stores, she can’t wait to tell everyone she’s a senior citizen! As soon as she gets to the cash desk, she announces “I’m a senior!”

Her favourite day is the last Thursday of the month, when Shoppers Drug Mart (a popular drugstore chain) has its Seniors’ Day. Seniors get 20% off everything in the store. My mom stocks up on kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels,…and insists on buying toiletries for her entire family (we pay her back, of course). This is because seniors are so important to Shoppers that it also offers extraordinary incentives to encourage seniors to spend!

For example, this month, if seniors spend over $50 on Seniors’ Day, they receive a free $10 coupon to spend the next time they’re in the store. Like a lot of stores nowadays, Shoppers also has a rewards program, where you earn points depending on how much money you spend. When you reach a certain level of points, you can turn your points into a reward. The more you spend, the more you save!

Seniors are definitely becoming a powerful group of consumers!

Pronunciation – when ‘i’ is pronounced like consonant ‘y’ sound

The story today was called “Seniors’ Day.” Listen carefully:

senior

Can you hear the consonant ‘y’ /j/ sound in ‘senior’?

That’s right! The letter ‘i’ in ‘senior’ is pronounced like the consonant ‘y’ sound /j/. This is the same sound you hear at the beginning of the words ‘you’ or ‘year.’

Listen to some more words and repeat after me:
onion
/’ʌn.jən/

union
/’ju:n.jən/

junior
/’dʒun.jɚ/

opinion
/ə.’pIn.j n/

behaviour
/bi.’heIv.jɚ/
(*American spelling: behavior)

million
/’mIl.jən/

familiar
/fə.mIl.jɚ/

brilliant
/’brIl.jənt/

Can you hear the /j/ sound in all these words?

Vocabulary:

life expectancy
Life expectancy has increased to 81 years.
= how long an average person (in Canada) will live

to make up (something)
[P]eople over 65 make up 14% of the Canadian population.
= to form (something

a discount
Once a month, senior citizens get a discount on all items in the store.
= a reduction in the price

to live for
[S]he lives for Seniors’ Day!
= to get excited about, to consider something an exciting part of life

to stock up
My mom stocks up on kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels,…
= to buy a lot of something (so that you can use it in the future)

kleenex
My mom stocks up on kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels,…
= tissue; ‘Kleenex’ is a brand name, but it is widely used instead of ’tissue’

paper towel
My mom stocks up on kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels,…
= thin, soft paper, usually used in the kitchen to clean up spills, dry your hands, etc.

a rewards program
Shoppers also has a rewards program…
= very common in North American stores. You earn points by shopping in the store. When you reach a certain level of points, you get a reward: a discount on future purchases, coupons, or you can buy actual merchandise with your points

consumers
Seniors are definitely becoming a powerful group of consumers!
= people who buy things