Tonga: Volcano and tsunami hit – BBC News Review 2022

April 25, 2022



A massive volcanic eruption and tsunami hit Tonga, an island nation in the Pacific ocean. At the moment it has been difficult to get news from Tonga due to the aftermath of these events.

New Zealand have sent a plane there to look at the damage. Charities and aid agencies are planning to help, with the fear that there is a lot of people without water or places to sleep.

Rob and Roy discuss this news story and teach you some related vocabulary so you can talk about it too.

Related stories:
New Covid strain: UK cut off – News Review – https://youtu.be/Wtr162z1g48
How to use the active and passive voice – 6 Minute Grammar – https://youtu.be/38QqDrckyxM

Video chapters:
0:00​​​​​​​​​​ – Introduction
0:33 – Story
1:50 – Headline 1: Tsunami threat recedes and casualty reports are yet to come in as Tonga remains cut off
4:58 – Headline 2: Australia, New Zealand step up efforts to aid tsunami-hit Tonga
7:10 – Headline 3: ‘Cluster’ of eruptions expected, Tonga communications ‘go dark’ following tsunami
9:46 – Language summary

Vocabulary:
cut off
isolated; unable to be contacted

* When the storm damaged the phone lines, houses in the area were cut off.
* The snowstorm cut off contact with the village for several days.

step up
increase intensity of something

* We need to step up our efforts to get this project finished on time.
* Security has been stepped up after a threat was made against the celebrity.

go dark
stop communications, especially for a long time

* After the recent advertising scandal, the company went dark and stopped using social media for a while.
* The secret agent was worried her cover had been blown and went dark.

To download the audio and a transcript and test your understanding, go to our website:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/newsreview-2022/unit-1/session-2

#learnenglish #newsreview #Tongavolcano #Tonga

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38 Comments
  1. Reply
    BBC Learning English April 25, 2022 at 1:03 pm

    Learn more vocabulary in the news with News Review here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcetZ6gSk968l1s4WuxwyhiyEUmg5GOZC

  2. Reply
    ליאורה שהרבני April 25, 2022 at 1:03 pm

    Give me videos of Tonga. Dose not
    matter in what language.

  3. Thanks 🌺🌺🌺

  4. Roy is such a handsome man 😉

  5. Exercise for loosing berry

  6. Informative

  7. Reply
    Jaspal kaur Jashan April 25, 2022 at 1:03 pm

    How we can use last expression in past can we say went dark?

  8. I have worried about Tonga's people.

  9. Reply
    Nguyễn Thị Hoài My April 25, 2022 at 1:03 pm

    I try to make some examples of these words, please help me to check: cut off = I decided to cut off my ex-boyfriend completely after breaking up.
    step up= We devoted all time to stepping up the project on time.
    go dark = I have been going dark all social media and just concentrating on studying.

  10. Thanks a lot this is good practices

  11. great stories as always, thank you

  12. My heart cries out to God for these people.

  13. 1.After the gun shot at the White House last night the authority stepped up the police immediately to protect Mr president.
    2.The village stayed cut off after a hit of heavy thunder and storm .The government stepped up efforts to transport food and water for people in need.
    3.The rock star has been gone dark recently because there is not any sign of him in the media .

  14. Wow thank you for all these new vocabularies !!!!! It is extremely clear !

  15. Reply
    米家生活貼 Mitchams at Home April 25, 2022 at 1:03 pm

    Thank you BBC! We appreciate the information you’ve been offering immediately! ❤️

  16. Great

  17. 7:58 There seems to be a cat behind Rob! It's so cute!

  18. Good you can manage to smile in the face of people dying & chat about shit…

  19. BBC Learning English never goes dark allowing their listeners to step up their efforts to learn the language and not to be cut off from the stream of reliable English lessons.

  20. Many thanks!

  21. Thanx for wonderful lesson
    Does step up here mean beef up

  22. 1. omg, it is true that that town got cut off. It was completely dangerous to arrive anyway.
    2. I've got 9 band score in Ielts exam. That's my undoubtedly step up!
    3. I had been going dark all day

  23. Thank you guys, you are help it’s so precious.

  24. Reply
    Πετρος Νικου April 25, 2022 at 1:03 pm

    Illustrate your point cut off piggy bank step up go dark

  25. Is "Step Up" meaning simillar to "Initiative"?

  26. Thanks for your time.

  27. Thank you BBC. My pledge for Tonga's people. I hope they received help soon.

  28. Hope the aftermath of the hit by volcano and tsunami is under control. 🙏

  29. I am so happy to know the modern way of using vocabulary such as 1cut off, 2step up, 3 go dark ❗️

  30. Hello team!
    I'm sad, but unfortunately, here in my country, due to heavy and prolonged rains, many villages stayed CUT OFF and the numbers of deaths reached 25 as of yet. This world is very big and has got countless problems.

  31. Excellent material to practice. Stay uploading educational videos like this! We can develop our English skills!!

  32. I'm thrilled to see "Taiwan" shown in BBC News Review.😊

  33. Great phrases to help us speak like native speakers.

  34. Give me more information about vocabulary

  35. No word on the partygate?

  36. But it’s about my dog 🤣🐶

  37. Excellent till end.

  38. Excellent program 👍👍👍

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