This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 54 English with Fluency MC how to find love on Valentine's Day.
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Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and Boston, USA.
USA.
Today, you'll meet the Fluency MC and hear a rap song from him about Valentine's Day.
Learn about love and the English phrases you need to talk about it.
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So, Jessica, next week is Valentine's Day.
Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?
Because I love chocolate.
And well, I do help him celebrate Valentine's Day, because he always has to bring Valentine's to his class, right?
For all of his students.
But me personally, no.
What about you?
Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?
Lately, I've been doing a Galentine's Day.
Each Valentine's, I have a couple of friends that will throw some kind of gal.
Like Parks and Rec.
Yes, like from Parks and Rec.
You guys, if you've seen that, you know what we're talking about.
A bunch of girls get together, maybe go out to eat, have a good time.
Just the gals.
I love it.
Because, yeah, sometimes Valentine's Day can be it's like too much hype.
There's too much buildup and expectations.
And if that happens, then it's often a letdown.
You know you don't have time to go to dinner because we've got kids and I don't really love getting gifts.
So it almost is too much pressure.
Like, do I need to get someone else a gift?
So, yeah, it's kind of rough.
Yeah.
So you and Cole don't celebrate it.
I feel like that description is true for a lot of holidays, like New Year's Eve too, right?
Yeah.
Like there's such huge pressure and expectation and it's always kind of like nah, it was okay, or it was actually like an annoying night because it was so crowded or whatever.
Yes.
Anyway, today, guys, we are going to introduce you to Fluency MC.
His name is actually Jason Levine, but he is known as Fluency MC.
You guys should check out his YouTube channel.
He teaches you English through rap songs, and he is a...
ESL professional in a number of ways, guys.
I won't even go into all of his accomplishments, but let me tell you he is very accomplished in ESL.
And this is something that you'll never get.
You won't find anywhere else teaching you English through rap.
So let's hear what he thinks about Valentine's Day.
Alright, part of it is very cool and real and potentially, you know, romantic and special, and part of it to me is kind of over commercialized not cliche as much as I guess the commercialism of it sometimes.
But you know I don't like that, I'm cynical like that.
I like to remember especially being young and how much I like being young for Valentine's Day when we were kids.
I don't know if you guys remember anything about that.
Yeah, like you said, like when we were kids, Valentine's Day was cute, right?
Did you make Valentine's cards for all of your classmates?
Yeah, for sure.
I feel like we even made them homemade, or there was just a card with a message and we personalized them.
Now my kids' teachers say, please don't.
Put individual names so it's easier for kids just to drop them in.
Like they don't want them having to search through them to find specific ones.
So yeah, it's really commercialized and they have to have candy or they'll just throw it right away.
Yeah, it's kind of the worst now.
It really has changed a lot, right?
Like some for the better, because I remember, you know, having to do this all, growing up and exchanging valentines with your classmates.
I don't remember if they told us to bring them for everybody.
They probably – they maybe did.
I'm not sure.
But I know that like –
More popular kids would get more Valentines than the less popular kids.
And, like you, would always look through the Valentines and hope the person you had a crush on would like give you a special card.
And like it didn't happen usually, you know.
Or you'd like read the message and like read into it if it was someone you had a crush on.
You read the little conversation heart.
Oh, what does it say?
Totally have been eliminated, which I think is nice, because I don't know if we should romanticize too many relationships for kids.
Yet
I think that's positive, but it has taken some of the fun out, I think.
Yeah, I agree.
I just feel like we end up as parents having to spend so much money and the kids don't even care.
They just want candy.
So that's the big negative for me.
It's still exciting.
It's just a different school day.
It's something different to look forward to.
But yeah, I feel like Halloween's the same sometimes where it becomes all about candy for kids.
That's when it's a bummer.
But yeah, I don't know.
I think that's kind of fun.
I mean, as a kid, isn't that the best?
Just have a whole night about candy?
Why not?
It's so fun.
As a parent, I'm like, grumble, grumble.
But the kids are so excited.
Oh, no, man.
I'm as excited as they are.
I'm the one that takes James trick-or-treating every year.
I dress up as well.
I love it.
It's so fun.
Anyway, let's get back to Fluency MC.
And he's going to tell us a little bit about today's topic.
But as an English teacher, I really – I mean holidays teach language, and Valentine's Day in particular is a really great one, because so many learners of all ages are curious about vocabulary and idioms for talking about love.
I mean, yes, of course.
Teaching students about anything related to holidays is so fun.
Awesome vocab, but also we get to talk about our culture, right?
Yes, exactly.
And love is always a great topic.
It brings everyone together.
Everyone has something to say and wants to talk about it.
So that's great too.
Totally.
And gosh, I mean any vocabulary related to Valentine's Day.
Guys, do you listen to any music in English that you will hear?
Songs about love, right?
It could be...
Heavy metal.
It could be 70s prog rock.
It could be hip hop.
Like any genre, guys, you're gonna hear love songs.
I know how surprised I was when I first got into Led Zeppelin because it sounds like such like a hardcore sort of band or whatever.
They're totally not.
Most of their songs are love songs.
Right.
A lot of the hardest heavy metal rock, if you actually read the lyrics, it's a love song.
Totally.
So, yeah, what we're saying, guys, is this vocabulary is so useful all the time.
Speaking of music, this is the coolest thing today, guys.
I'm so excited.
Fluency MC wrote a special song about Valentine's Day, guys.
And in it are some super cool phrases that you guys need to know.
We will talk about these phrases after we hear his song.
Do you want to hear his song, Aubrey?
Yes, I cannot wait.
This is going to be amazing.
Hey hey hey, it's valentine's day, the day when you find the time and the way to say the things that you feel to the love of your life, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your husband or your wife.
Hey hey, it's valentine's day, the day when you find the time and the way to say how deeply you love and adore, want your honey, that special gal or guy, the apple of your eye, your main squeeze, your soul mate, your partner or the person you just started to date.
Through luck or fate, you know you've got a good catch and if the chemistry is right, you might be a perfect.
The 14th of February's Valentine's Day.
Romantic love is in the air and on display.
You go out to eat or catch a movie matinee.
We give each other cards and flower bouquets or a box of chocolates or a poem we wrote.
The girl at school you've got a crush on.
You might pass her a love note and work up the courage to ask her out on a date if she plays hard to get.
She might ask you to wait.
If she finds you attractive, you might go out on the town.
But if you turn her off, she'll probably turn you down.
All right, guys, come back to the blog, allearsenglish.com.
This is AEE54, if you want to find this.
We will have a link to the YouTube video guys that he made for this song and it has all the lyrics on the screen.
You could like karaoke this.
I mean, that would be awesome.
Sure.
That was awesome.
That is such a talent to be able to rap, especially when people can do it on the fly, without preparation.
It's so impressive.
So impressive.
I don't remember that movie eight mile about Eminem and it showed all those rap battles.
Like I'm just a white girl from a small town.
Like I, none of this happened where I lived and I thought that was so cool.
Like I'm blown away by the genius involved in these rap battles.
There's no way I could think that quick.
I know.
Exactly.
It's so fun.
So let's go through some of this vocabulary.
There is really fun phrases on this.
And the lyrics are there on that link.
So you can check these out there.
But the first one was Sweetie Pie.
I love this.
It's such a cute name just for someone you love.
Well, no, I don't say this, but my mom calls my son Sweetie Pie.
Like, that's her favorite name for her favorite grandchild.
That's so sweet.
He calls him Sweetie Pie and it's so cute.
I call him Sweet Pea.
That's my name for him.
That's so cute too.
I feel like my parents also call my kids Sweetie Pie.
And I will sometimes if I'm like snuggling, I'm like, oh, you're such a Sweetie Pie.
So I mean, that's what's great about this phrase is it's not just for you know, like a boyfriend-girlfriend type love.
It's for anyone you love.
You can call them your sweetie pie.
And it's, like, cute.
I think it is often used for kids.
Yes, for sure.
All right.
The next one is more equivalent to boyfriend, girlfriend.
To call someone your main squeeze.
And I think this is older guys.
I don't think a lot of people use this anymore, but you heard it in the song.
And I think you will hear it in other songs just because it is a fun phrase.
Yeah, it is funny.
But I think if someone called me this main squeeze, I'd be like okay, so you have a lot of squeezes.
I'm just your main squeeze.
What?
That's true.
You could look at this very cynically and be like oh well, there have to be numerous for one to be primary.
How many squeezes do you have?
That's a question.
Ask that question.
Don't be afraid.
All right.
The next one, soulmate.
Now this is something – yeah guys, you're going to hear this all the time in songs and movies, all the time.
The soulmate is the perfect person for you.
So somebody that says soulmate believes there's like – you know one person that the universe made for you, right?
Do you believe in soulmates, Aubrey?
No, I don't.
I think you could be a perfect match for lots of different people.
Maybe I'm wrong but, what's interesting, I feel like the younger generation is moving towards saying my person for this.
Yes.
When they mean that, the one person for you, your soulmate, they'll say, you're my person.
You know, and that's really a construction that has become a lot more mainstream in a number of ways.
When people are talking about their tribe, right?
That's also something we say now.
Yep.
They feel comfortable with their community, the family they made, not the family they were born with.
Kind of all of these phrases we summarize by saying, my people.
You're my people.
Those are my people.
Which I think is cute, but you're right.
I think it's the singulars used romantically, like Yeah.
No, I found my person.
He's my person, which I think is cute.
I like it.
It is cute.
And this is a very big compliment.
I feel like it's very endearing for you to tell someone they're your soulmate.
Even if you don't believe there's just one person out there for you, if you feel like you've found the person for you, if you call them your soulmate, that's so sweet.
Yeah.
I think I I don't know.
I think there's a lot of pressure in that phrase.
Like maybe just like nobody is perfect.
And I feel like, oh, really?
Oh, God, that like I don't know.
That phrase has a lot of pressure for me.
OK, let's move on.
Okay, this next one is a cute idiom to describe someone as a good catch.
Now, this is an idiom that's been around forever, but people still use it.
So when you're talking about someone who has potential right, who is a good person to be in a relationship with because They are attractive or rich, or they have a good job or whatever,
They're a good catch.
I feel like this comes from more like the 50s and 60s, when it's like women had to look for good catches because they had to get married and be supported, because women didn't have access to to things to support themselves.
I feel like that's where it comes from.
Yeah, that makes sense.
And we often drop the good too.
You'll hear someone just say like, he's a catch or wow, she's a catch.
And you know that that's implied.
They're a good catch.
Yes, that's a good point.
I love it.
All right.
Two more quick ones, guys.
Turn you off.
That just means someone does something that stops you from being attracted to them.
So for example, if I see someone chew food with their mouth open, that turns me off.
That is a turn off.
The Don't like it.
The next one, last one, guys.
Turn someone down.
What does that mean, Aubrey?
Yeah, it just means to say no.
If someone asks you on a date and you turn them down, you're saying, no, I can't go.
Yeah, exactly.
And it doesn't have to be just romantic either.
Like it could be.
You know, a friend wants to go to the movies and you're like oh, I got to turn you down today.
Sorry.
And then follow it up by saying rain check, which means sorry, I can't go to date.
We'll go again another time.
Rain check.
Okay.
I use that all the time.
I feel like it softens the blow of saying no.
You're letting them know, I really do want to hang out with you sometime.
Let's rain check and do it soon.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
So many great phrases today, guys.
So definitely check out our guest's YouTube channel.
It's just called Fluency MC.
So many fun lessons on there, guys.
Definitely check it out.
All right, Aubrey, thanks for chatting today.
Yep.
Bye.
Bye.
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