My Job Special

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderMy Job Special
Yvonne: Hello, I’m Yvonne Archer 1 and this is Weekenderfrom bbclearningenglish.com!
　　In today’s programme, a ‘My Job’ special as we hearabout the work of a young woman named Sarah Niles. As youlisten, try to catch these three key words: ‘wrote’,‘scenes’ and ‘character’. They'll help you guess whatSarah’s job is. They're all words that we hear in theworld of theatre or film. A ‘scene’ is a section of aplay or a film and a ‘character’ is one of the people init – a person who someone has written about. But is Saraha writer or an actor – the noun that’s now used for bothmen and women?
　　Sarah NilesKay wrote Beauty for me and it was kind of collaborative.
　　She wrote verses and certain scenes and we’d talk about itand she got us to explore the character – for me, Beauty’
　　s character and what I thought her family background waslike and so forth 2.
　　Yvonne: So did you manage to work out whether Sarah is awriter or an actor? Well, we heard how she 'explored' thecharacter Beauty - worked on the type of person Beautymight be – and we heard that the character was written forher - so Sarah is an actor. Here’s another chance to hearthat clip again. This time,listen out for the word ‘collaborative’ - actor Sarahsays that Beauty’s character was written in a‘collaborative’ way. What do you think that adjectivemeans?
　　Sarah NilesKay wrote Beauty for me and it was kind of collaborative.
　　She wrote verses and certain scenes and we’d talk about itand she got us to explore the character – for me, Beauty’
　　s character and what I thought her family background waslike and so forth.
　　Yvonne: Beauty is a 14 to 16 year old maid in a play called“Bones” which was written and directed by Kay Adshead.
　　But Kay didn’t work alone when she was writing aboutBeauty; as we heard, the writing was ‘collaborative’ –so Kay and Sarah worked together to create that character.
　　The adjective is‘collaborative’ – meaning joint 3 - and the verb is ‘tocollaborate’ – to work together. Listen out for them inthe future as people do use them to talk about their jobs.
　　Here are a few examples:
　　VOICE:
　　Our teams are working on a collaborative project at themoment. He’s collaborating 5 with her on a new song.
　　It’s always fun to collaborate 4 with people you like.
　　What we need is effective collaboration 6 on this campaign.
　　Sarah and Kay worked collaboratively on the writing.
　　Yvonne: Do you ‘collaborate’ with other people in yourjob - and if not, would you like to? Why not use that verb‘to collaborate’ instead of the phrase ‘to work together’ when you next have a chance?
　　“Bones” is a play that’s set in post-apartheid SouthAfrica - so that’s after the country’s first democraticelection. During the play, thanks to Beauty’s clevertricks, the gruesome secret of the old couple she works foris revealed. The husband used to be an important policemanbut during his working life, many of the people hequestioned disappeared – and now, the entire communitywatches as human bones are dug up from the couple’s rosegarden.
　　This shocking story might seem unrealistic – likesomething that couldn’t possibly happen in real life - butunfortunately, during the apartheid regime, many people diddisappear and were never found. Now Sarah Niles’ familyare not from South Africa – they’re from Barbados in theWest Indies or theCaribbean – and Sarah has never been to South Africa orever worked as a maid. So how was it possible for her tocollaborate on the writing? Let’s find out…Sarah NilesI mean in terms of South Africa, I had to do a lot ofresearch in terms of reading books and that side of it, butI think Beauty’s life or her beliefs and ideas aren’t toofar from mine.
　　Yvonne: Sarah had to do a lot of ‘research’ – so she hadto study and read books to find out as much as she couldabout South Africa. And ‘doing research’ on places aswell as characters is a part of an actor’s job. Forexample, Sarah had to find out about the history of SouthAfrica, but as we heard earlier, she also had to find outabout the family, background and work of a young maid. Ofcourse, Sarah’s never been a maid like Beauty, but shefeels that they share similar beliefs and ideas – as Sarahput it, Beauty’s ideas ‘aren’t too far from’ hers.
　　Sarah continues to enjoy learning about the people ofAfrica and about South Africa through her role in the play“Bones”. Have you ever done any acting 7 - perhaps atschool? Or maybe you know an actor. Why not visit us now atbbclearningenglish.com for a reminder 8 of some of the wordsyou’d find useful to talk about that job after today’sWeekender!