Today we're going to listen to a weather report.

We're going to listen for numbers, and practise saying and spelling them.

Listen to the weather in Sydney.

Good morning. It looks like being another glorious summer day in Sydney.

Temperatures will range from a minimum of 16°C in Richmond and 17°C in the city,

with maximum temperatures reaching the high 20s, with 29 in Richmond and 27 in the city

by early afternoon. This summer promises to be the warmest since 1987. The average minimum

for this time of year is 15°C and the average maximum is 22°C.

Humidity will be high again today, ranging from 80-90% across the metropolitan area,

and possibly for the next 5 or 6 days.

Sunrise will be at 5.45 am and the sun will set at 7.43 pm. The next full moon will be

on December 9th.

For those interested in fishing and surfing, windy conditions will prevail all day with

winds gusting from the southeast from 10-15 knots, then easing to 10-11 knots by late

afternoon. Swells along all Sydney beaches will range from 1 - 1.5 metres.

So counting and numbers are a very important part of language. You need them to talk about

how much things cost, what you earn, telephone numbers, visa cards, passports, addresses

and dates.

Being able to listen for and understand numbers is an important academic skill.

There are some conventions you need to learn, and you'll need to do a lot of practice listening

for and saying numbers.

Let's get started.

Listen to these pairs of numbers:

13, 30

14, 40

15, 50

16, 60

Now you try these ones:

17, 70

18, 80

19, 90

They sound very similar. You'll need to listen carefully so you don't get these mixed up.

Temperatures will range from a minimum of 16°C in Richmond and 17°C in the city.

Humidity will be high again today, ranging from 80-90% across the metropolitan area.

The temperature in Richmond is 16 degrees Celsius.

The humidity is 80 - 90%.

Did you hear these numbers correctly?

If you don't understand what someone's said, ask them to repeat, and stress the key syllable.

And that will be 16 dollars.

Did you say sixTEEN, or sixTY?

Usually the first syllable in a number is stressed.

16, 60

Notice that it is the final 'n' in teen that you have to be careful with.

-teen, -ty

But, of course, when you're listening for numbers, you can often work out the correct

amount by the context. Try to always be aware of what seems right, even if you didn't quite

hear properly.

Pronunciation of years can sometimes be difficult as well.

Listen to the clip:

This summer promises to be the warmest since 1987.

1987. NINEteen EIGHty seven.

Notice where the stress comes.

NINEteen NINETY nine.

Let's practice some more:

2001, two thousand and one

1932, nineteen thirty two

2040 twenty forty, or perhaps this will be read as two thousand and forty. I guess we'll

have to wait and see!

Notice 40 is spelt forty, not like four and fourteen.

OK, now let's look at temperatures.

Temperatures will range from a minimum of 16°C in Richmond and 17°C in the city,

Temperatures will range from 16 degrees Celsius.

We write that as 16 degrees Celsius, with a capital C. If it was in Fahrenheit, we'd

write 16 degrees Fahrenheit, with a capital F. But in Australia, we use Celsius.

So when giving a temperature range it is written 16-17°C, or 16 to 17°C.

These are both read out the same way. Notice that the 'to' is unstressed.

16-17 degrees Celsius.

Now we're going to listen to a different weather report.

Look at it written, and see if you can work out what should be written in the blanks.

Here is the weather report for Sydney today, Tuesday 14th November.

The sun will rise at 5:15 and set at 6:45.

The minimum temperature for metropolitan Sydney will be 13, rising to a maximum of 30 degrees

Celsius.

Humidity today promises to be high at 70-80 per cent

OK, let's have a look at that.

The weather report for Sydney today, Tuesday the 14th November.

She said: Tuesday the 14th November.

The sun will rise at 5:15 and set at 6:45.

The minimum temperature for metropolitan Sydney will be 13, rising to a maximum of 30 degrees

Celsius.

Humidity today promises to be high, 70-80 per cent

How did you go with that?

Remember, pronouncing final consonants will help considerably in hearing and understanding

numbers. This is very important so that listeners understand what you say.

Listen to the pronunciation of numbers here.

Humidity will be high again today, ranging from 80-90% across the metropolitan area,

and possibly for the next 5 or 6 days.

She says five or six days.

By linking final consonants with the first vowels of the following word, your speech

will be much clearer.

We say:

5 or 6

7 and 8

9 or 10

OK. Now let's listen for some times:

Sunrise will be at 5.45 am and the sun will set at 7.43 pm. The next full moon will be

on December the 9th.

She says: Sunrise will be at 5:45 am.

Sunset will be at 7:43 pm.

Notice the way we say the time. We say the hour and then the minutes as a whole number,

and we add a.m. for morning, p.m. for afternoon.

5.45am, five forty five am

7.43pm, seven forty three pm

But there are a number of different ways of saying the quarter hours.

We have:

7am or 7 o'clock

7.15 or quarter past 7

7.45, or quarter to 8

7.30, half past seven

Now let's listen to some more of the weather report.

For those interested in fishing and surfing, windy conditions will prevail all day with

winds gusting from the southeast from 10-15 knots, then easing to 10-11 knots by late

afternoon.

Notice that she says for those interested in fishing and swimming.

Interested here is a past participle, but it's used as an adjective.

English verbs have 2 sorts of participles, present and past.

So the regular verb to interest has interesting, interested.

bore: boring, bored

tire: tiring, tired

excite: exciting, excited

When we want to say how we feel about something, we can use the past participle.

I am interested in science.

I am bored with reading.

I felt tired after that walk.

But when we're describing the qualities of a person or thing, we use the present participle.

Science is interesting.

A good way to remember these is to make sure you always write a table with the past and

present participles together.

You'll notice that the present participle usually ends in -ing, and the past participle

ends in -ed. But, of course, there are always irregular verbs to watch out for as well.

And that's all for Study English today. Hope you keep practising those interesting participles.

They should keep you interested!

See you next time, bye bye.