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Real Easy English

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Talking about the ocean

Episode 261030 / 30 Oct 2026

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Becca and Neil have a real conversation in easy English about oceans – the water that covers our planet. Learn to talk about some of the threats to the ocean and find out Becca and Neil's favourite sea creatures!

Vocabulary

octopus
sea animal with a soft body and eight tentacles

threat
danger to someting

pollution
harmful substances or energy released into the environment

single-use plastic
plastic that you use just once and then you throw it away

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Transcript

Neil
Hi Becca. How are you?
 
Becca
I'm well, thank you, Neil. How are you?
 
Neil
I'm very well, thanks. We're talking about oceans today, and I know you live near the sea. Is that because you like oceans?
 
Becca
Yes, I do live near the seaside and I love oceans.
 
Neil
Well, we're going to be talking about the ocean in this episode, but people need to know that they can find a worksheet and a transcript to help them understand everything on our website, at bbclearningenglish.com. OK, Becca. So, why do you love the ocean?
 
Becca
Ooh, I love the ocean because it's very big and in there lives lots of really cool sea creatures.
 
Neil
Yeah. Have you got a favourite sea creature?
 
Becca
Difficult question for me to answer, Neil. I love them all, but I really like octopuses.
 
Neil
Octopuses? Why do you like octopuses?
 
Becca
They're very intelligent, very smart creatures. And I also really like the way that they move through the water. They swim with their tentacles.
 
Neil
Tentacles? That's the name for their legs.
 
Becca
Yes. Yeah. And they can use their tentacles to also pick things up, which I think is really cool. There aren't many sea creatures that can do that.
 
Neil
Do you know what my favourite sea creature is, Becca?
 
Becca
I don't know, Neil. What is it?
 
Neil
I really like dolphins. And I like dolphins for the same reason that you like your octopuses – because they're very intelligent, they're very clever, and they're very beautiful, I think – very... they're very pretty to look at. I think they're much more beautiful than octopuses.
 
Becca
Ooh, hold on now, Neil. I don't think I agree with you.

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Neil
Well, it doesn't matter if you prefer octopuses or dolphins. There's lots of amazing creatures living in the sea, but there is actually a danger with the oceans. They're not really in a good condition.
 
Becca
No. There are lots of threats to the oceans right now. So, a threat is a danger, and one of those threats is pollution.
 
Neil
Yeah. Plastic is a real problem, isn't it? So, the material that lots of bottles are made from that isn't glass. That plastic ends up in the ocean, and then it's really bad for the sea creatures.
 
Becca
It is, yeah. I've seen lots of videos of sea creatures maybe getting stuck in plastic bottles, and it's really sad. Pollution and single-use plastic are major, major threats to the ocean.
 
Neil
Yes, there are lots of threats to the ocean. For example, the plastic pollution that you are talking about. Also, the oceans are getting warmer and that's a real threat because it can cause all kinds of environmental problems.
 
Becca
You're right, Neil. There are lots of threats to the oceans. Do you do anything to protect the oceans?
 
Neil
Well, I don't go near the ocean very often, so I don't do anything directly. But I try not to use single-use plastic. So, single-use plastic is plastic that you use just once and then you throw it away.
 
Becca
So, for example, single-use plastic straws for drinks – in the UK there are lots of places that don't use those anymore and I think that's a good way to help protect the oceans. OK. Neil, let's recap some of the vocabulary that we used in this conversation. We'll start with my favourite sea creature – that's an octopus. So, 'octo-' means eight and octopuses have eight tentacles, and those are the arms of the octopus.
 
Neil
Or legs.
 
Becca
Or legs, yeah!
 
Neil
We also heard threat. Now, a threat is something that is a danger to something. For example, the oceans getting warmer is a threat to the environment.
 
Becca
And another example of a threat that we mentioned was pollution. And that is the things there that shouldn't be there. They could be chemicals or rubbish, and pollution is very harmful to whatever lives in that environment.

Neil
Yes. And a big problem – a big part of that pollution is single-use plastic. 'Single-use' means it's something that you use just once and then throw it away. That's it for this episode of Real Easy English, but if you want to test yourself with a worksheet, you can find it on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Becca
And we'll be back next week with another episode of Real Easy English. Bye for now.
 
Neil
Goodbye!

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