Week 2 · Apartment repairs: no heat on a cold night
Listen for when, not just what: "tonight", "in the meantime", "first thing tomorrow". "There's no way I can…" is a polite no — the answer is in the middle of the sentence.
Read the sentences below, then practice the whole lesson with audio.
- 1Hi, it's Kai from apartment four D.
- 2The heat stopped working, and it's freezing in here.
- 3Oh no. Is the thermostat turned on?
- 4Yes, it's turned all the way up, but nothing's happening.
- 5There's no way I can get someone there tonight.
- 6Do you have a space heater you could use in the meantime?
- 7No, but I've got plenty of blankets.
- 8Then someone will be there first thing tomorrow.
- 9Is eight too early for you?
- 10That works. I'll be up.
- 11Morning! So, I hear the heat's out?
- 12Let me check the thermostat first.
- 13There's your problem. The batteries are dead.
- 14Wait, that's it? I'm so embarrassed.
- 15Don't be. It happens all the time.
FAQ
- How does this dictation practice work?
- Play a sentence, type exactly what you hear, then press check — Dictation Trainer shows word-level feedback: which words you misheard, misspelled, confused for a homophone, or missed.
- Do I need an account, and is it free?
- No account needed to start: you can practice 3 full lessons free — audio, typing, and word-by-word feedback — without signing up. Create a free account to keep going: 100 Echoes (about 10 more lessons), plus saved progress, streaks, and a mistakes notebook.
- What level is this lesson?
- This lesson is graded B1 on the CEFR scale and has 15 sentences. Dictation Trainer lessons start at A1 and climb as the library grows.