Teacher Joseph podcast
By Joseph Mc
Teacher Joseph podcastFeb 07, 2023
#763 To Hit the Right Note (with transcript)
Today's Idiom to help you learn English is "to hit the right note". Also:
- Nemo, a Swiss non binary singer wins Eurovision
- An Archeological dig in Orkney will vanish again into the earth.
Full Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10DkiDmVrdge7ANPL5AcL3vFM0z2ykqlSSm6lMVsW3mI/edit?usp=sharing
Transcript Extract:
To hit the right note is today's phrase, and that means to do or say something in a way that's incredibly effective or well received.
For example,
His speech really hit the right note with the audience.
The comedian's jokes hit the right note, making everyone laugh.
The restaurant's atmosphere hits the right note for a romantic dinner.
The company's marketing campaign hit the right note, resonating with their audience.
To hit the right note. Now, this is actually very, very common. As you can probably guess, it comes from music because if you think of the keys on a piano, when you play them, you're hitting a note. That just means you're making a particular sound. So if you hit the right note obviously you're following music, which is correct. And if you hit the right note as a metaphor, that simply means that you're creating the right ambience. You're creating the right mood for a particular thing to happen.
Now of course we can use it with anything. The boss hit the right note when he offered the employees a pay rise. But, um, we often use it about music as well. For example, last night in Europe was Eurovision. And somebody called Nemo, that was the entry for Switzerland. He hit the right note. Uh. He won. Now, of course, I'm not directly relating. I'm not directly relating Nemo's performance to hitting the right note. This is a metaphor. Okay, so his music clearly is very good. He hit the right note with his audience and because it is a musical act to say he hit the right note is a nice, meaningful coincidence.
We're going to read the the story about Nemo today… it's a little bit complex. So we're going to go through it slowly. And there's a lot of new words here which will help us to understand more about Nemo and what happened yesterday. So it says here, and this is from The Observer:
Switzerland has won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, ending a fraught and at times tumultuous competition. Swiss singer Nemo, who defines as non-binary, entered the night as the bookmakers third favourite.
Now, if we just look at that one more time, um. A fraught and tumultuous competition, uh, really is just talking about “anxious and confused” I think would be the best way to describe it. Fraught means anxious and tumultuous means confused, maybe disorderly. So, um, this song contest, it says here:
Nemo won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, ending a fraught that anxious and at times tumultuous disorderly competition. Swiss singer Nimmo, who defines as non-binary, entered the night as the bookmakers third favourite.
Someone who defines as non-binary um means somebody who doesn't easily fit into the category of male or female. Now, this is becoming fairly common across our media spectrum here. And there's an increasing number of people who don't feel okay fitting into society's norms of masculine and feminine. This takes many different shapes. So it's impossible for me to define exactly what non-binary is. Um, but what I can tell you is that Nemo does not define himself as male or female, and therefore he uses the pronouns “they” rather than he or she. Now you can hear there the difficulties in talking about non-binary people because of the pronouns. Just a second ago I said “he” doesn't easily fit in, when of course I should immediately have used the pronoun “they”.
So it's very difficult to try to give you a description using the correct pronouns of what a non-binary person is. Um. Swiss singer Nemo, who defines as non-binary, entered the night as the bookmakers third favourite.
#762 Coffee Shops and Tea Rooms
This is the audio for the weekly English Lesson on my Website www.teacherjoseph.com which contains an essay and there's also passages for you to study.
Today's topic is Coffee Shops and Tea Rooms.
#761 1964 News: Martin Luther King Shot
#760 - To Probe (With Transcript)
In Today's Podcast to help you learn English:
The verb and noun "Probe".
Antidepressants are being probed by the Government.
Cheers Stars, Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson begin a new podcast.
Tom Sellick from Magnum PI writes a Book
Jurors in the UK get offered Counselling.
Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yuC-p53_L5WmIzvQkNzlOzrZdiOQHjNAvfHCJQL-1xw/edit?usp=sharing
Extract:
Hello everyone and welcome again to another Teacher Joseph Podcast.
Today's phrase is to be probed or to probe. Now this literally means when you take a mechanical instrument and you prod it against something. So let me just give you some examples.
So imagine you're a doctor and someone comes to you and says,
oh, I have this big thing on my arm, like a spot or a blemish, and you get your tool and you start to push it to see what's in there. Maybe you want to burst it just to see what's there.
Also, if you work in a factory and there's a big machine and it's not working properly, you can probe it, you can look around it, you can get your tools out. You can try to work out why it's not working for you.
That is to probe or in the passive voice you can say that the machine is being probed by the boss.
Now, the most common way to use this is as a metaphor. When something breaks down, whether it's a rule or a policy or a government issue, or even when people are not working to their capacity what they could be doing. There's often a probe, and in this case it means like an investigation as to why something isn't working the way that it should. So today's main news story says
Prozac is among 30 drugs to be probed over some kind of link to suicide and self-harm. And we're going to read through this story together. And this story today is from the British newspaper. The Independent. Okay. It says.
“Concerns raised by families over the safety of most commonly used antidepressants force an official review”. Now let me just explain a little bit there. So first of all antidepressants or antidepressants. That's the medication some people take to stop them being depressed. It says concerns raised by families over the safety of the most commonly used antidepressants. So the most common ones, okay, like Prozac. There’s being concerns raised by families over their safety. because these, uh, medicines are being given to everyone and the story continues, that they're being given to children as young as four years old. 1s
So let's continue reading this. It says “more than 30 of the most common antidepressants prescribed in the UK are to be reviewed by the medicines regulator, as figures point to hundreds of deaths linked to suicide and self-harm among people taking them. The medicines, which include Prozac, will be looked at by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. And it will look into the effectiveness of the warnings which these medicines carry”.
So, you know, these medicines often have a warning on them. So it doesn't say they're going to remove the medicines. It looks like they're going to be changing the warning on them. It says there were 85 million prescriptions. That's the note from the doctor... prescribed…that's the verb we use when the doctor gives medicine. There were 85 million prescriptions for antidepressants in England in 2022. 23. That's up from 58 million in 2015. 2016. So yeah, big concerns there over Prozac. So we'll just read that first part again.
“Concerns raised by families over the safety. of the most commonly used antidepressants forces an official review by the government after hundreds of these things have been prescribed some to children as young as four years old”.
#759 1956 News Report - the UK Government and Smoking.
#758 Private Police in the UK
#757 Worlds Apart (With Transcript)
Today's podcast for learning English:
The English idiom world's apart,
The King and Prince Harry don't want to meet,
Young British People have anxiety about using phones.
Full Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NSCB3ktTvM0IhB2TXAIWkdlBzabDmNsXsQlsn515slA/edit?usp=sharing
Extract:
Today's phrase is to be worlds apart. Worlds apart. And that basically means that you are very different from other people's opinions or ideas, to be worlds apart. Let me give you some examples.
So your best friend is getting married and you can say:
I really don't know why those two are getting married. They seem to be worlds apart on many different issues. To be worlds apart.
Uh, another example might be Um, I have two children and they're both worlds apart. They're completely different from each other…. to be worlds apart.
Those are two examples of how you could use it. You could describe your old boss and your new boss as being worlds apart in terms of how they want to move the company forward. To be worlds apart and there we are.
Right. So one headline, which is in our newspapers today is all about the Royals. Now, this story is from our Daily Mirror:
The headline says, “Worlds Apart”. And it's talking about how Prince Charles and Prince Harry are very, very different people. And it's saying here that just a few days ago they were both less than two miles apart in Central London. And yet, none of them. (Or I should say neither of them because there's only two) wanted to see each other.
It says here: “Prince Harry and his father the King were just two miles apart yesterday, but still did not meet, the Duke was at an Invictus games event in Saint Paul's Cathedral. While Charles hosted a Palace garden party. They last met in February. The King was said to be too busy to see Harry”.
Well. who knows what the true story is there but we're going to read through the rest of the story. So you can hear it. So it says,
“Prince Harry yesterday came closer to his father, the King, than he has in months, but the reunion royal fans have been hoping for never materialized”.
I'm not sure anybody cares enough to wonder if they'll have a reunion or not. It says:
“The Duke was briefly in London to mark the 10th anniversary of his Invictus games, that’s in St. Pauls Cathedral as Charles hosted a Buckingham Palace Garden Party just two miles away but the King was said to be too busy to see his son, confirming a statement earlier this week that revealed the pair would not meet because the monarch had a busy program of official events”.
Another news story which is being carried by the independent today. Uh, it's saying that young British people are worlds apart from their counterparts in other countries. The story is saying that if your aged between 18 and 34 you would never dare answer the telephone.
And it says here “once upon a time the sound of your phone ringing would bring about excitement. Uh, but these days, people usually ignore it…. in a recent survey 70 percent of people, within that age group up to age 34 said they wouldn't dare answer the telephone they would prefer a text and 37 percent said they would wait for a voice message”. Um, someone here is saying “people my age now are simply terrified of the phone. We might as well call it something else entirely because we are just not comfortable with it”.
#756 1964 News: The Beatles visit New York
#755 1965 News: The Death of Winston Churchill
#754 Taking its Toll
English learning phrase of the day: to take its toll, Britain's obesity crisis, Very large croissants and Britain's Airports E-Gates crash. The idiom "to take its toll" means to be damaging or harmful, cause loss or destruction. It is often used to describe the negative effects of something over time, such as the civil war taking its toll on both sides. The phrase is derived from the taking of toll, a tribute or tax, to exacting other costs. It can also be used to describe the negative effects of stress on people, such as the constant stress taking its toll on emergency room workers.
#753 1994 News: The opening of the Eurotunnel.
A reading of a news report, when the Eurotunnel was officially opened.
#752 To Have no Qualms... (with transcript)
Scotland gets a new First Minister who says he wants to eliminate child poverty.
My thoughts on Miss World and beauty contests.
Full Transcript: docs.google.com/document/d/1Ai6G0i621YlF94L9p7Ox-SH4c8dav5VJhVWcYBuQRFo/edit?usp=sharing
Extract
Today's phrase is “to have no qualms” and if you have no qualms about doing something, it means you're not worried that it may be wrong in some way. You have no hesitations, apprehensions, uneasiness or moral difficulty with the action.
For example. if you recommend a certain way of doing something you can say,
I have no qualms with this.
It means I don't have any problems with it. I don't have any issues with that. Now, we only ever use this in the negative. Okay, you can’t say I have qualms with something. Maybe in Old English, that was the case, but we don't use that now. Let's look at some examples.
So, the doctor is low on resources and he has to decide which patients he's going to treat. Is it going to be the one with cancer first? Or maybe the one with the flu.
And the doctor might say,
I have no qualms about my decision. And in the past tense he can say I had no qualms.
Likewise a business owner, who's going to fire his employees during a tough economic time. He might say I have no qualms about downsizing the company.
In the past, I had no qualms or maybe even I will have no qualms in the future.
Um, imagine that there's a breakup between two of your friends. Uh, maybe a relationship coming to an end. You might hear one of them saying
I have no qualms about this. No qualms about this coming to an end.
Uh, another example,
Someone who jumps out of aeroplanes and hopes his parachute will open in mid air, he might say, I have no qualms about risking my life. And also, with speaking your mind, Uh, if you're quite a direct person you can say
I have no qualms about telling people how I feel.
Now, this is very, very common and I use this a lot, I have no qualms about doing particular things. Telling people what I think of them I have no qualms. It doesn't mean being insensitive. It just indicates a lack of hesitation. Uh, getting things done. And that's really, really important. Especially in a culture like here where everyone kind of dances around each other being very polite. Sometimes you just have to say things in order for things to change. So, yeah, to have no qualms about doing something means to do something without a problem or hesitation very common, even in Business English.
#751 To be Fed Up (with transcript)
Full Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p14A3_eBXZQD9bTOqN8s5NxSrtF9wwNFwX-5lncg0Sg/edit?usp=drivesdk Extract:
Hello, everyone, and welcome again to another Teacher Joseph podcast.
Today, the phrase we have is “to be fed up”. To be fed up, and it basically means to be bored or to be mentally tired of a particular situation. Now, it can also mean a little bit depressed.
So for example, you might hear your friends say:
Oh, I'm really fed up of this job, I've been doing it now for 10 years.
I'm fed up of my boss's behaviour. He always acts inappropriately.
Today, I feel really fed up. It’s wet outside and I don't have very much to do.
To be fed up. A synonym of bored or perhaps even to be depressed.
Roberto’s Story of Learning
Roberto, a young man, sought my assistance with a persistent issue: retaining English knowledge. He expressed this concern in Spanish, saying truculently,
“I can’t seem to retain anything related to English.”
As we conversed, it became evident that Roberto held a high-level managerial position and led a generally content life. In his 30s, married, and with two children, he insisted that he had no time for learning. However, my experience has taught me that when people claim they lack time, it often reflects a lack of willingness rather than genuine time constraints. If it was a priority, he would get it done.
Roberto presented a series of arguments and tasks to convince both of us that he truly had no time. He proudly reiterated,
“I have no time.”
I challenged him, saying,
“You sound conflicted. If time is genuinely scarce, why seek help? I am not in the business of selling time, I teach English.” This unexpected question left Roberto momentarily silent. He then confessed,
“I want to learn—I’ve been trying for 10 years.”
I responded,
“Being here is a positive step, but unless you can carve out time and commit to speaking in English, progress will remain elusive.” Despite my suggestions, each one was swiftly dismissed in Spanish:
“Listen to English podcasts during your commute.”
Roberto: “No, that’s my time to call my mother.”
“How about during your lunch break?”
Roberto: “I need to meet my wife; we usually have lunch together since we work in the same building.”
“Can you make any changes?”
Roberto: “No.”
Undeterred, I continued speaking in English, and he understood every word. Yet, he persisted in responding in Spanish. Curiously, I asked,
“Why do you want to learn?”
His reply: “Because it sounds good, and it could enhance my job prospects—I’ve always loved English.”
Roberto’s case highlights the delicate balance between desire and practical constraints. As we explored solutions, I thought perhaps he’d find a way to unlock the time he claims not to have. 🌟_________________________________________________
Now, we spoke the other day about what's the difference between English teaching and English coaching and I think, This essay really helps us to understand the difference because in English teaching, Uh, an English teacher, wouldn't really have known how to handle Roberto.They simply would have said,
“Okay, well you’re here now, here's grammar. Let's practice”.
But an English coach is exploring the problem with Roberto to see how he can make some time to learn. Now, as I was saying the other day, English teaching and English coaching has up until now been the same thing because teachers, who care, are always going to be exploring with you, your reasons for learning, how you learn…. just to see if you can do it better, to meet your own ambitions and that's a very different thing from just throwing grammar at you.
Full transcript from the link above.
#750 To Go With the Flow
News Headlines:
Sadiq Khan wins the London Mayoral Elections,
Prince Andrew may get evicted,
Joanna Lumley will announce Britain's Eurovision Scores.
Shoplifters to be banned from stores.
Frankie Valli gets a place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Music: The Epic 2 by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5384-the-epic-2-
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
#749 Getting the Best from Online Lessons (with Transcript)
Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13_FTArCu98SOXOw3oGTjV0XdHVqvIMGhTlNmtDKWYvc/edit?usp=sharing
Extract:
Today. I want to explore with you the difference between face-to-face classroom lessons and e-learning lessons on the internet. I've done both and there's a very real difference. And if you're someone who hasn't had an online lesson before or you're just not sure how they work, we're going to be looking at that today.
In a traditional English class, what you're getting is really well documented in advance. Not only by the course details but also because that way of educating people has been around for centuries. The idea of the teacher with students and imparting information has been the way of educating people all over the world for thousands upon thousands of years. That means that it's set in stone as we say in English, it's something which is very difficult to change. Newer countries in the world like America slowly are beginning to embrace change. They got these old systems from us and they realised that you know, they could be amended, adapted and that we could move on from them and that probably part of the reason why we now have e-learning because America Uh, once the internet came, I think has really led the way in developing platforms, like, Zoom Skype. Uh, individual lesson platforms which now are part of our everyday lives.
A teacher can become like a mentor. Where they hold you accountable. And that's where the next thing comes in that I want to tell you about and this is something kind of new that's appearing on the horizon, and that is English Coaches. Now, you've heard of lifestyle coaches. People who get you up in the morning. Get you meeting your targets. It's very much a fashionable thing. Um, these days we also have English coaches. Now, there's no clear distinction between who is a teacher and who is a coach, but, you’ll know them, if you find them. Because coaches will be more interested in your long-term goals. They'll be asking you what you're trying to meet… with the English, you're learning why exactly, you are learning that particular thing, why exactly, you're reading that particular book. Where exactly you're trying to get to… English coaching is something that really is huge and it's something that I'll be moving into more and more. Because in the past, of course, up until fairly recently, we've only had Teachers. Teachers, people who give you grammar because you pay the money, the teacher in the classroom, but it's evolving now, And what's coming is some kind of life coach specialising in languages.
And that probably is going to be the future for a lot of teachers and I think we're beginning to see that now in one-to-one lessons. More and more teachers, especially older ones are beginning to realise that this isn't just all about grammar. This is about you. This is about the person who's on the system sitting in front of you, who somewhere is a real live person and how can you help that person reach their goals. How can you Empower them how can you give them what they want in a way that moves them on to the next level.
That's that's really what's coming out of all of this. And already I'm seeing English coaches appearing on the internet, but don't misunderstand me because it seems to me that there's also another type of English coach In the same way, as there's a football coach.
So there are those as well. But I think the English coaches I'm talking about are more like mentors. They are people who really care about where you are going.
#748 Pints of Wine (with transcript)
Extract:
Well, there's a story in one our newspapers today. This is from the Daily Mirror and it's saying that pints of wine will be on sale from this coming Autumn. Now, you may remember a few months ago, I told you about this….that pint size glasses and bottles of wine were to be made available in the UK. And of course, as a nation, we don't really taste things. We just drink in volumes because we, we don't really have an appreciation you know…. we don't taste the wine and say
“Oh delicious, dry, sweet,,,, would be nice with fish”.
No…. we just drink to get drunk so it's no surprise then that we would want wine by the pint rather than appreciating the delicacy and beauty of the drink. So we're going to go through this story and we'll be talking about it as we go.
#747 To be Rigged (with transcript)
So, if we say, for example,
We had an election today to vote for our Union leader but I honestly believe the election is rigged.
The job vacancy has been advertised in the newspaper but I believe it's been rigged. We all know who's going to win.
The football match was definitely rigged. I don't think the football players were playing in their usual way today.
The competition to win a holiday in the local newspaper has been won by an employee of that newspaper. That was definitely rigged.
So it says here, TV jobs at the BBC have been rigged. Now this isn't new, there's always been accusations against the BBC that women are paid less than men. I think that the BBC is such an old establishment that it's sometimes unaware of some of its practices. Despite evolving and changing there’s still accusations that the way it operates is sometimes rigged in favour of particular people based upon gender or cost cutting and of course once there's one accusation usually that prompts many others.
So the headline says, “TV jobs at the BBC. Rigged”. So let's read through this, it says:
“ Female BBC journalists have begun legal action against the broadcaster claiming a job application process was rigged”.
Full transcript: drive.google.com/file/d/1EAOtcKX3LOgmTEWRU5SaEV4pLLDDtzx9/view?usp=drivesdk
#746 What is Beltane?
#745 To Give the Heads Up
#744 At the Supermarket (with transcript)
www.teacherjoseph.com
Full Transcript is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D0DDTVLAhyFZeXGa0qhpCjZ5Kz3N3n7M/view?usp=drivesdk
Extract:
Well I'm in the supermarket today. I'm not really sure that I have everything I want so I'm kind of wandering around here. Trying to make sure that I have everything. I decided to make an aubergine bake. So for that, I need some pasta, tomato sauce…. I already have the aubergine, mozzarella and herbs but um, yeah. I just feel something is missing. And, I just came from the coffee shop next door. While hanging over my decaffeinated coffee I was also contemplating my next project. Before you get too excited, it's nothing really exciting but I'm just considering making a few changes to my, my teaching practice and what I do or perhaps just incorporating more things. I haven't quite decided.
Oh, look at this… my goodness me olive oil. The price is £6.79 for olive oil. And, that's a little bit too expensive for me. I think that's virgin olive oil. But it still doesn't convince me to buy it.And I see there’s two two Arab men kind of hanging over the bottles, mourning the price and I'm not surprised. I'm also mourning the price when I see it.
Oh delicious what's (this)…. lovely raw jumbo king prawns. I love king, prawns…. in Spanish they're called Gambas, at least one variety is.I I love those. Um, I also love octopus but there's no chance of finding that here. What's this…. peppercorn smoked mackerel fillets oh no thanks ….covered in sugar. Um, Oh, mozzarella. Yeah, I'll definitely have some of this. Um, and also Greek yogurt. Yeah, I think that's really necessary. Uh,
Oh yeah, this is very interesting…. they have vegan cheese here but they no longer call it cheese, they just call it vegan. And because of that, Uh, you're supposed to recognise it so they put it in exactly the same pack as ordinary cheese. They sit it next to the cheese and they call it “vegan”, but recently, that's been a big debate about whether they can call it real cheese because it technically isn't, I don't know what it's made of, but if it's vegan, it's not dairy….
Oh delicious a roast whole chicken for £4.99. Yeah, but it's tiny. The weight is 0.8 kilograms,,,goodness knows what that is. I’d need to know that in pounds, but it looks tiny. What's this… vegan spreads? Oh yeah. This is supposed to be hummus but they can't call it hummus anymore because of our advertising rules. Anything vegan needs to have its own name. It can’t say vegan cheese or vegan hummus because that's not what it is.
Halloumi, I love that. Um, anyway yeah, I'm just wandering around here, so Uh, just to carry on with what I was saying. Uh yeah, I'm just contemplating my future when I was hanging over a cup of coffee this morning just thinking about …you know, we're all looking for new projects to be involved with So I'm just seeing what that looks like.
New hobby, maybe. Um, Or new project at work. I don't know, but I'll keep you posted on that. Oh delicious tuna steaks. Oh, I love those.
Um, Okay. Let me just describe what I'm seeing. I'm in a kind of like Warehouse supermarket. Um, everything is Uh, kind of packed to the ceiling in this place and it has like those low hanging fluorescent lights. And as I'm walking around I can see that It's quite busy, particularly the alcohol section. And it's only 11 A.M right now. Local time. Uh, So, it's a bit early to be thinking of those kind of things.
Yeah, very nice. So Oh, Nutella, oh delicious. I love that. That's that chocolate spread. I think it's Italian. It's lovely. Um, but I can't have any of it, but it is very nice. Oh delicious runny honey. £2.25. I don't know why that would be so expensive. I mean runny honey, is it not just, um, just from the bees.
But yeah all kinds of natural food’s expensive, isn't it? Oh, I'm just watching these two Arab boys, who were staring at the olive oil. They've now bought loads of biscuits. Um, Yeah, and Indian sweets as well.
#743 The Great Fire of London
#742 What is an OAP?
www.teacherjoseph.com
Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17gxy9GKIHUbIDKpFoEvPVFFSm9VHD1QQ/view?usp=drivesdk
Extract:
Hello, everyone, and welcome again to another Teacher Joseph podcast.
(OAP is usually written as OAP - not O.A.P.)
Today, we are asking what is an OAP. An OAP is an old age, pensioner. Now, we never say the word “Oap” We always spell out the acronym, an OAP. And this is how we refer to older people.
It may be a pensioner in receipt of government benefits, but it might just be an older person who looks a little bit frail. Frail, just means maybe not as fit as once they were…. an old age pensioner, that's how we talk about older people,particularly those who are receiving the government state pension and are aged around 50, well, actually no 60, 65.
Yes, I think 65 is the earliest date these days you can receive the government benefit. Now, there's a headline in our newspaper today that talks about the rise of OAP shoplifters. Now, as I mentioned the other day, on this podcast, shoplifting is kind of a big thing in the UK now.
#741 To Pin the Blame (with transcript)
Transcript: drive.google.com/file/d/1W9EnBKIYszG2l9J0yani4uFjaKPRNWUL/view?usp=drivesdk
#740 Out for a Walk
#739 To Bow to Pressure
#738 What is Morris Dancing (with transcript)
Morris Dancing and other news from the UK. Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPY23DVZ6YZErRpDVfruh_vmVRWUEozdikQlqdLxRX0/edit?usp=sharing
As I mentioned, St. George’s Day can be a little bit controversial because the day is often
heavily politicized. English and British people generally are reclaiming their right to proclaim
themselves as Scottish or English rather than simply saying they are British.
Today in our media there's some pictures of some of the celebrations which took place
yesterday. There's Morris dancers... now Morris dancers are very specifically English traditional
dancers who sometimes appear when there's English... very specifically English celebrations.
It's like an English folk dance. Now, many people don't know this, but in the same way as you
have Scotland with bagpipes and you have Irish people doing river dancing and talking in Irish.
In England they have Morris dancers.
Now, this is often overlooked because it's not so well known. In a country, which is full of
diversity... English traditional things often get overlooked. Of course there's the traditional
English pubs. That's one thing which English people recognise as being something which
belongs to them but they do also have some dancing.
Morris dancers are usually men who wear white suits with some red sashes across their body.
They're often wielding white flags and have bells tied to their legs to make noises as they move.
We use the word “wield” when someone is handling a flag or a weapon or generally holding something. You might recognise that word from the headlines in the newspaper.
#737 Shakespeare's Birthday (with transcript)
#736 Stephen Lawrence Day (with transcript)
#735 What does Saga Mean?
#734 Sick Note Culture (with transcript)
#733 The Learning Process
#732 To be at Risk (with transcript)
More Brexit woes :-) https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Ra-c46fwU7GJ5qQEP62rKSWn5S1GZoj/view?usp=drivesdk
Today's phrase is “to be at risk”. To be at risk. And to be at risk, means to be in a situation where there's a possibility of something negative. A negative outcome, which could be dangerous orcould be illness or maybe it's just something, which will expose you to a particular event that youdon't want.Now, just to clarify, to be at risk indicates exposure to circumstances which you may finddifficult. Let's do some examples so I can explain a little bit more. It's always better when wemake examples.If you don't study English. Then the English that you have may be at risk.An investor putting all their money into one place is at risk of losing their whole Investment.A student, who's struggling with his studies is at risk of falling behind in school.A homeless person who's sleeping on the streets is at risk of catching an illness or violence orexposure to bad weather conditions.To be at risk. Now, let's just pick up for a moment on this issue of your English being at risk. Forthose of you who know me, I'm very into creativity. I'm very much into this idea of bringingEnglish alive but if you simply study grammar all the time, just to make your English good,you're missing out on the practical examples and because of that Your English may be at risk.It becomes dry and uninteresting because you've spent your time just studying the rules aboutit, It's like walking around the swimming pool reading a book about swimming. And then saying,“okay, I know how to swim”. But yet, when you're in the water actually doing the swimming, it's alittle bit better.So of course with your English if you're simply walking around the edge saying,” ah, yes now Iknow how to make the present perfect”. It's not really going to help you. Just picking up again onthis idea of swimming... walking around the swimming pool saying, “Now I know how to do thisparticular type of swimming, the back stroke or the front stroke”. It would be better if someonejust pushed you into the water and then you would learn quickly and more easily. So that's oneway in which your studies could be at risk. Also, your job might be at risk. If your boss tells youthat the company is having problems.Now, let's look at a few examples of “at risk” from the media.... one headline in one of ournewspapers today is all about Brexit. They’re saying that because of Brexit, UK drug shortagesare putting lives at risk. Now, when it says drug shortages, it means medicine. In AmericanEnglish and here as well we often call very specific types of medicine,drugs. And it says here“drug shortages are a new normal in Britain caused by Brexit”. And, one of the advisors to theGovernment is saying that we need to be very careful because a recent surge in the number ofdrugs unavailable is creating serious problems for doctors, pharmacists, The Health Service andof course, the people who take them. There's a number of warnings from drug companies, that'smedicine supply companies. About impending supply problems..... impending means somethingthat's just about to happen.Last year 648, drugs were unavailable and that's risen now to 1634. Now I don't think I've readthat properly so I'm going to read exactly what it says here because it's not last year.It's from2020. It says “the number of warnings, drug companies have issued about impending supplyproblems has more than doubled from 648 in 2020 to 1634 last year”. So, It's 648 from 2020,not 2023. And it's saying this is becoming quite normal now particularly for Diabetes, Epilepsy.And Attention Deficit Syndrome.So, I don't know what's going to happen. You know, many of us here in the UK have diabetes.So that's a bit of a big issue. To be honest, I haven't heard of any problems in supply, where Iam. But it's saying that these are impending... waiting to come in.
#731 Thorn in my Side
#730 National Joseph Name Day. (With transcript)
drive.google.com/file/d/16ZrQW0JlEjns4ZT6DJ_gn02PFejhugIP/view?usp=drivesdk
#729 To Trigger (with transcript)
#728 To be Crowned
#727 To be Held Up (with transcript)
drive.google.com/file/d/1x8YnkubhBa7BFKKC--RjIP8004_s2E1b/view?usp=drivesdk
#726 Describing a Street
#725 To be Strapped for Cash (with transcript)
#724 To Let Rip
#723 Me-Time (with transcript)
Transcript: drive.google.com/file/d/1hAeGXpTLP8-KxI25TQWc2799T47OdIRf/view?usp=drivesdk
#722 To Set the Wheels in Motion (with transcript)
Transcript: drive.google.com/file/d/1M6MOiD2O2J5waS3i3sRkB7yrLGS4dIiQ/view?usp=drivesdk