Simplified Speech #012 – Canadian wildlife

Have you ever wondered what kinds of animals live in Canadian cities? How about the wild animals that live in the vast wilderness of Canada? Join Andrew and Morag as they talk about Canadian wildlife in this special listener-requested Simplified Speech episode.   Fun fact Orcas, also called killer whales, are found in all Canadian oceans. They don’t have any natural predators, live in family groups called pods, and can grow to weigh up to 5 tonnes and measure up to 9 metres! Expressions included in the learning materials * To pop up * Loud and clear * To be bad news * Down south/up north/out west/back east * Leave it at that Sample Dialogue     Andrew: we’re going to do a Simplified Speech episode where we have a natural conversation and we use normal, everyday vocabulary, but we speak at a slower pace than we would in our regular lives. Let’s kick it off, let’s start the episode. And I’m curious, Morag, what is your favourite Canadian animal? Morag: Mmm, that’s a bit of a tough one. I think it would have to be the seal. Andrew: The seal. I wasn’t expecting that answer. OK, why a seal? Morag: Well, I love the ocean; I’m definitely a coastal girl. And they’re so cute. Oh, my God, little baby seal eyes, like they just have these giant, brown eyes and they come, and they’re fat and adorable and really friendly, so if you are out on a wharf, say, on either coast, west coast or east coast—pretty sure on the east coast, definitely west—you will get these seals that come up and say hello, and just sort of pop up. They are the cutest things in the world, Andrew. Andrew: They are cute. I know, when I lived in Victoria, occasionally I would go to the harbour downtown, and there’s a couple of seals that just hang out there all the time. And yeah, they come up and say hello. And they’re very cute, you’re right. Morag: They’re adorable. They’re also—I did a lot of kayaking when I was a kid in Victoria—and they’re some of the sea creatures, when you are doing sea kayaking, that aren’t scary when they come say hi. Because if you come too close to a whale, that can be kind of dangerous, but if a seal comes up and says hello, it’s just nice. Andrew: Now, you just touched upon my favourite Canadian sea creature. Morag: The whale? Andrew: The orca whale. The killer whale. Morag: Oh, the orca. OK, because it has two names, yeah, the orca whale or the killer whale, and it’s a sort of image of the west coast. It’s used a lot in First Nations art, and is all over west coast-ey things, you know. Andrew: Yeah, it’s a very iconic animal.           Audio/Learning Materials: Culips English Learning Podcast