"A foreign street. No signs you can read. Your phone just died." Your train leaves in twenty minutes, and "excuse me" feels like the hardest sentence in English. Sound familiar? Today that changes.
Being lost is not an English failure — natives get lost every day. The fear is two-sided: afraid to ask, afraid to answer. This episode trains both sides, then flips you into the guide. Ask with five frames: “could you tell me how to get to the station,” “where is the nearest pharmacy,” “how do I get to the city center,” “is it far from here,” “could you show me on the map” — plus the bus, taxi, and restroom frames. Follow the answer with ten direction words: go straight, turn left, turn right, past, next to, across from, at the corner of, on your left/right, keep going, landmark. Ten words catch every answer. Give directions in three beats: start with a landmark, give the turns in order, end with a checkpoint (“you cannot miss it”). If you do not know, the honest rescue — “I am sorry, I am not from around here” — is still English. Street drills: the phone-dead drill (ask three people, repeat it back, say thank you), the map mission (draw your street, describe it out loud three times), and the tourist challenge (answer in English first).
Made for intermediate learners (CEFR B1–B2).
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