Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to week 30, day 1 of Your English Five -a -Day, the second season.
With this series, you are building a habit of dipping into the English language on a daily basis, or with me at least from Monday to Friday.
Now, building vocabulary takes time.
I don't want you to be stressed about remembering the vocabulary.
Just come on the journey with me.
Enjoy listening to my voice.
Engage with the stories if you can.
Then practice using the vocabulary by leaving a comment on the YouTube video or even just making a note in your own notebook.
Every little bit it helps.
But the most important thing is that you enjoy your experience and that you do it on a regular basis, even if it's just tuning in and listening.
Every little helps.
So without further ado, let's dunk you into today's episode, starting with our snapshot.
Ruth made a bold decision to to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, even though her family thought she was too old to start medical school.
The demands of studying whilst working part -time were exhausting and her first exam results were discouraging.
She had failed two subjects, but when she finally graduated five years later, Ruth knew that earning her medical degree was the greatest achievement.
of her life. Okay, let's dive into the vocabulary starting with the adjective bold.
Bold, B -O -L -D. Bold is a great word that we use to describe someone who is confident, brave and willing to take risks.
You might make a bold comment if it's a confident and brave comment that's a bit risky.
ski. You might make a bold move by walking up to a stranger because you want to connect with them.
You might make a bold statement by wearing something flamboyant and expressive when many people just wear something conservative and plain.
Here's an example sentence.
painting the door bright red was a bold choice that reminds me of decorating our house when we first moved in we chose a deep turquoise color for the front room and i remember putting the paint on the wall and the electrician who we had at the house at the time who was fitting some light fixtures took one look in the front room looking at me with my paintbrush in hand and said, oh, that's a bold colour.
Not sure I'd like that.
But I liked it, so his comment didn't put me off.
Okay, next we have the verb pursue.
Pursue. We spell this P -U -R -S -U -E.
Pursue. To pursue is to follow or try to achieve something over time.
So, if you pursue somebody, usually it's the police chasing somebody down, so they will be pursuing a suspect perhaps.
Or you could pursue your dreams, pursue a career in something.
So, I decided to pursue a career making content, being my own boss, making my own decisions and pursuing an entrepreneurial life.
Here's another example.
He pursued his dream of becoming an actor.
What are you pursuing at the moment?
Next we have the noun phrase the demands of something.
The demands of something.
We spell this D -E -M -A -N -D -S demands of, O -F, something.
The demands of something, this describes the requirements or the pressures of a task or situation.
So you might talk about the demands of being a mother and that's the pressures or the requirements that are needed as a mum to keep the little ones not just alive but fed and nurtured, sheltered, educated, entertained.
There are many demands when it comes to being a mum.
So the demands of motherhood are taxing, are difficult.
The demands of the job is another place that you might use use this phrase, the demands of a role or a job.
They can sometimes take their toll on a person.
It could be too much pressure, too many requirements.
Here's an example sentence.
The demands of parenthood can be exhausting.
Next, we have the noun achievement.
Achievement. Achievement.
We spell this A -C -H -I -E -V -E -M -E -N -T.
Achievement. Achievement.
An achievement is something accomplished successfully through effort or skill.
For For example, if I come back to my work on YouTube, it was an achievement to reach 10 ,000 subscribers and then 100 ,000 and then a million subscribers.
Such big achievements, things that I had accomplished through effort and I hope through some skill as well.
Here's an example sentence.
sentence. Climbing that mountain was one of her greatest achievements.
Next, and last on today's list, is the adjective discouraging.
Discouraging. We spell this D -I -S -C -O -U -R -A -G -I -N -G.
Discouraging. If something is discouraging, then it makes you feel less confident or less enthusiastic.
For example, if you've been working hard to improve your English and then you enter a conversation and you try to contribute and somebody says sorry can you say that again and they look at you with a confused look and you repeat yourself but they still have that confused vacant look in their eye and you know they haven't understood you that can be really discouraging I mean it's important of course to try and not allow these situations situations too bother you, but I know that they do.
It is discouraging.
I've had it many a time when I've created a piece of work and presented it and it's fallen flat, or I've been met with lots of criticism.
That is discouraging.
I make a YouTube video that might have taken me a week to create and I put it on YouTube and it gets hardly any views.
That's discouraging.
I work work hard to create a task for my six -year -old to engage in?
He takes one look at it and says, no, thanks.
That's discouraging.
Here's another example.
The teacher's harsh criticism was discouraging.
Okay, that's our five, so let's do a quick recap.
We started with the adjective bold.
To be confident, brave and willing to take risks.
Bold. Then we had the verb pursue, which is to follow or to try and achieve something over time.
You pursue it. Then we had the noun phrase, the demands of something, which is the requirements or pressures of a task or situation, the demands of that thing.
Then we had the noun achievement, which is something accomplished successfully through effort or skill.
Achievement. And we had the adjective discouraging, which is making you feel less confident, less enthusiastic.
Discouraging. Now, let's do this for pronunciation purposes.
Please repeat out loud after me.
Bold Bold Pursue Pursue The demands of something.
The demands of something.
Achievement achievement discouraging discouraging Very good.
If somebody makes a very confident and brave choice, what adjective could I use?
Bold. Yes, very good.
And if I'm watching a police officer run down the road, he's following somebody else, a criminal perhaps, what is he doing?
What verb would we use?
He is pursuing that person, yes.
Or if I'm trying to achieve something over time, then I pursue it.
And if I actually accomplish the thing that I'm trying to achieve over time, maybe I'm building a ship out of matchsticks, if I finally do it, what is the noun I would use to describe this thing that I've accomplished?
It is an achievement.
Yes. And luckily, no amount of criticism was able to make me feel less confident about my ability to achieve what I was pursuing.
What adjective would you give to to the comments that were trying to make me feel less confident or enthusiastic about my pursuit.
They were discouraging.
They were discouraging, but they didn't succeed in discouraging me.
Now, if we want to talk about the pressures of living life in politics, living life in politics requires so much of you and if we want to talk about that, what noun phrase would we talk about?
We talk about the demands of life in politics.
Very good. All right, with that in mind, let's now revisit our snapshot.
Ruth made a bold decision to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, even though her family thought she was too old to start medical school.
The demands of studying whilst working part -time were exhausting and her first exam results were discouraging.
She had failed two subjects, but when she finally graduated five years later, Ruth knew that earning her medical degree was the greatest achievement of her life.
Fabulous. It's time now to listen out for our vocabulary once more as we head into Storytime.
Margaret stared at the university prospectus on her kitchen table At 65 most people her age were thinking about gardening or holidays But Margaret had spent 40 years working in a factory And now she wanted something different She wanted to pursue a degree in history You must be mad, her daughter Clara had said when Margaret first mentioned the idea.
University is for young people.
You'll be ancient compared to the other students.
Margaret knew Clara meant well, but her words were discouraging.
For weeks, Margaret had been going back and forth about whether to apply.
The demands of university life seemed overwhelming.
Essays, exams, lectures.
Could she really manage it all at her age?
She picked up the prospectus again and flipped through the pages.
There were photos of smiling students, most of them young enough to be her grandchildren, but tucked away on page 15 was a small article about mature students.
It mentioned a 70 -year -old man who had just graduated with a degree in English Literature.
Oh, if he can do it, so can I, Margaret said to herself.
The next morning, she made a bold decision.
She walked to the university campus, which was only 20 minutes from her house.
She had passed the buildings countless times on the bus to work, but had never been inside.
The admissions office was buzzing with activity.
Young people chatted excitedly about their course choices.
Margaret felt out of place in her sensible cardigan and comfortable shoes, but she took a deep breath and approached the reception desk.
I'd like some information about studying history, she said to the young woman behind the counter.
her. Brilliant. Are you inquiring for your daughter or granddaughter?
The receptionist asked with a smile.
Actually, it's for me, Margaret replied.
The receptionist looked surprised for a moment.
Then her smile grew wider.
That's fantastic. Let me get someone to help you.
Dr Williams, a history lecturer, came to meet Margaret.
He was enthusiastic about her interest and explained that the university welcomed mature students.
Life experience is valuable, he said.
You'll bring a different perspective to your studies.
Margaret left the campus with an application form and a reading list. That evening, she filled out the paperwork carefully.
When she came to the section asking why she wanted to study, she wrote, I've always loved learning about the past. Working in a factory was necessary but it wasn't my passion.
Now I have the chance to follow my dream.
Three months later, Margaret received her acceptance letter.
Clara was still worried but Margaret's husband Dave was proud of her courage.
On her first day, Margaret felt nervous as she walked into the lecture hall.
Students looked up as she found a seat near the back.
But as the lecturer began talking about medieval England, Margaret forgot about her age and focused on learning.
The achievement of getting into university was just the beginning.
Margaret knew the real work lay ahead, but she was ready for the challenge.
After all, it's never too late to start something new.
and that brings us to the end of today's episode i do hope you found it useful if you did then i'd greatly appreciate if you take a moment to just boop that like button if you're watching on youtube or leave a rating or review if you're listening from any other platform.
Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.
