Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. recall
    • ex. The car company recalled thousands of cars because of safety issues.
  2. contain
    • ex. He isn’t allowed to eat or drink anything that contains sugar.
  3. take away
    • ex. The fruit seller took away the bad apples from the fruit basket.
  4. notify
    • ex. The guests will notify us if they are coming.
  5. a refund
    • ex. He got a refund after the flight was canceled.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Recently, Trader Joe’s recalled some of its grocery items from its stores. These grocery items include a type of canned soup and a brand of meatballs. Why is the company recalling these products? Because the soup may contain insects and the meatball may contain rocks. Trader Joe’s announced that the grocery items were already removed from the store and destroyed.

How did the insects and rocks possibly get into these products? A Trader Joe’s spokesperson said that there was a problem at the manufacturer’s facilities. Suppliers informed the grocery chain of the possible foreign material. The spokesperson said, “We took away the product from our shelves as soon as we were made aware of the issue. Once we understood the issue, we notified our customers.”

However, some customers may still have these products. What should they do? Trader Joe’s strongly advised customers who still have these products to throw them away. They can also return them for a full refund. On Trader Joe’s website, customers can find more information about the products being recalled as well as the company’s contact information.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Grocery Shopping

  • How often do you go grocery shopping? Discuss.
  • When buying from the grocery, do you check the contents of a product? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Which do you prefer, shopping in a supermarket or at a small grocery store/street market? Why? Discuss.

Recalling Products and Giving/Getting Refunds

  • In your country, what do you think grocery stores would do about products that contain insects or rocks? Discuss.
  • Imagine that a product you always buy has been recalled. Would you buy that product again in the future? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Have you ever received a refund for a product or service that was not good? Discuss.