Have you ever seen a whale?

6 Minute English

BBC

Language Learning, Education

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How have humans treated whales throughout history? Their sheer size, their ability to swim to great depths and their whale song have captured our imaginations throughout history. But have humans always had a positive relationship with whales? Phil and Georgie discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary.

Find a full transcript, worksheet and interactive quiz for this episode at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english_2025/ep-251002

THE LONDON LETTER CHALLENGE for elementary learners: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the_london_letter_challenge/

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newsletters

FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus

LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ Learning English Stories ✔️ Learning English from the News ✔️ Learning English for Work

They're all available by searching in your podcast app.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:05.5	Do you know someone who is starting to learn English?
0:09.9	We have a new easy video series just for them, the London Letter Challenge.
0:17.0	Three teams race around London to find eight letters, which will take them to the winning crowns.
0:24.0	Watch the series on our websites now, BBClearningEnglish.com.
0:31.8	Six-minute English from BBC learningenglish.com.
0:39.1	Hello, this is six-minute English from BBC Learning English.
0:43.2	I'm Phil.
0:43.9	And I'm Georgie.
0:45.4	Encountering an animal in its natural habitat is a magical experience.
0:50.2	Have you ever seen an animal in the wild, Georgie?
0:53.0	Yes, I have actually. I was on a walk and we saw
0:56.4	a baby badger. It was on its own and it was really cute. What about you, Phil?
1:01.3	The most impressive one I've ever seen is actually a whale. I was driving by the coast in
1:06.8	Patagonia and you could see them in the sea. Well, that sounds amazing and funny you say that because whale watching has become popular
1:14.6	in many coastal parts of the world, but watching whales is very different from what humans
1:19.7	used to do, hunt and kill them for their oil and meat, an activity known as whaling.
1:26.3	Last year marked the 40th anniversary of the International Whaling Commission's Global Moratorium.
1:32.5	That's a temporary ban on the commercial killing of whales.
1:36.2	Although Japan, Iceland and Norway continue to hunt whales,
1:40.5	there's no doubt the ban has saved many whale species from extinction.
1:45.3	In this programme, we'll discuss our past and present relationship with these giants of the ocean,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.