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Real Easy English

Easy level

Talking about relaxing

Episode 251017 / 17 Oct 2025

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Beth and Neil have a real conversation in easy English about relaxing – stopping work and chilling out. Take your mind off your busy day by learning to talk about resting and switching off.

Vocabulary

relax
do less activity so that you are calm and happy

relaxing
giving a feeling of calmness and happiness

switch off
stop thinking about stressful things

rest
stop doing activities

take your mind off
stop thinking about one thing and start thinking about another

Transcript

Beth
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. In this podcast, we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I'm Beth.
 
Neil
And I'm Neil. Don't forget – you can watch a video version of this podcast and read the subtitles to help you understand on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Beth
Hi, Neil. How are you?
 
Neil
I'm very well, Beth. How are you?
 
Beth
I'm good. I'm feeling relaxed. Are you?
 
Neil
I am feeling relaxed.
 
Beth
Well, that's good, because today we are talking about relaxing. If you relax, then you do less activity and you are calm and happy.
 
Neil
Sounds great! Shall we start?
 
Beth
I think we should. So, Neil, what sort of things do you find relaxing?
 
Neil
Well, I find doing something really different to the thing I was doing before, like work, relaxing. So, if I have been working, sometimes I like to cook to relax, or maybe play my guitar, or even go for a run – do some exercise. I find that relaxing.

Beth
Hmm. Yeah, I also think that cooking can be relaxing but, to be honest, I only really relax in the kitchen if I also have some music on, or a podcast. And if I'm in the kitchen on my own, then I can just do whatever I want to.
 
Neil
So, Beth, it sounds like listening to music in the kitchen helps you switch off. Now, switch off means stop thinking about the thing you were doing before that maybe causes you stress.
 
Beth
Yeah, if you switch off, you definitely relax. And I do find music, listening to music, relaxing. It definitely helps me switch off because whatever I'm doing, whether it's cooking or even something boring, like doing the washing up or folding laundry, if I have music on, then I just focus on the music, maybe sing along or just listening, and that really takes my mind off everything else.
 
Neil
What do you do to rest? Rest means, kind of, do nothing in order to recover from being busy.
 
Beth
To rest, I really enjoy having a bath and reading a book in the bath. That really helps me to relax and rest. What about you?
 
Neil
I'm not very good at resting.
 
Beth
Oh.
 
Neil
Because I think I get bored and sad. So, for me to relax, it's better to do something active.
 
Beth
Yeah.
 
Neil
And then I feel more relaxed and like I've had a rest.
 
Beth
Yeah, sometimes I feel guilty when I rest because I think: Oh, I shouldn't be doing this – I need to do this, this and this. And I find it a bit hard, but I think relaxing and taking a break is very important because we need it to make ourselves feel better generally, don't we?
 
Neil
Absolutely.
 
Beth
OK. Let's recap the language we used during the conversation, starting with relax. If you relax, you do less activity, and you are calm and happy. And we can also describe an activity as relaxing, and that means it makes you feel calm and happy.
 
Neil
We also heard switch off, which means to stop thinking about stressful things.
 
Beth
We also heard rest, which means stop doing things so that you can relax. For example, when I want to rest, I have a bath and read a book.
 
Neil
And we heard take your mind off something, which means stop thinking about one thing and start thinking about another. For example, I like to watch football. It takes my mind off the stressful day at work.
 
Beth
That's it for this episode of Real Easy English. Why not test what you've learnt with the worksheet over on our website, bbclearningenglish.com?
 
Neil
We'll be back next week with another real conversation in easy English. Goodbye for now.
 
Beth
Goodbye! 

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