to lose (one’s) bearings

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 398: Parts of a City.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 398. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

We have a website at eslpod.com. Go there today and download a Learning Guide for this episode, a special 8 to 10 page guide that gives you all of the vocabulary, definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, comprehension questions, cultural notes, and a complete transcript of every word we say on the episode.

This episode is called “Parts of a City.” It’s a dialogue between Tanya and Darren using vocabulary that we have to describe different parts of a city. Let’s get started.

Tanya: We’ve been here for three days and I’m still getting lost.

Darren: Here’s a map. These are the residential neighborhoods. See? This is where we’re staying.

Tanya: I know, I know. But where were we today? The tour bus went down so many alleys that I lost my bearings after 10 minutes. I thought we were going in circles.

Darren: Look,