Welcome to a new episode of English Vocabulary Booster.
My name is Lara and I'm a SALSA certified English teacher.
Learning new vocabulary usually takes a long time, but we'll do it in a way that's easy, quick and efficient.
In every episode, we'll learn how to use five new English words or expressions, so that you too can start speaking like a native.
So let's get learning!
And welcome back to this new weekly episode.
Just a quick thing before we start.
I just wanted to let you know that I posted a new video on my YouTube channel.
I haven't posted in forever.
Honestly, it's kind of upsetting.
It's just I get very few views and, you know, some of the comments are not the nicest.
But, you know, that's the internet.
Anyway, just to tell you that I posted a new video and it's about the three mistakes that people usually make a lot of students make, I should say, when trying to learn new words.
So go check that out and see if that helps you.
And if you have any other ideas, just let me know.
Okay, so let's listen to today's story.
This week's topic is body parts.
Hey, Mom.
Hey, sweetie.
What's going on?
It's just, Mom, I can't stand my neighbor.
Why?
Well, she's a nice old lady and everything, but... But why?
I thought she was super helpful.
Didn't she even lend you a hand when you had to leave town and needed someone to feed your cat?
Ahem, ahem.
Yeah, but ever since then, she's been so annoying.
She's incredibly nosy.
I'm sure it's not that bad.
No, seriously.
She looks in my mailbox.
She talks to my friends when they come visit.
And now things are just getting out of hand.
The other day, I came home, and she was in my house.
I swear, it's getting so f***ing annoying.
Tommy, watch your mouth.
Sorry, Mom.
It's just... Ugh.
Also, why do you keep clearing your throat?
What?
I'm not.
What are you... Wait a second.
Cough, cough, cough, cough.
Well, hello neighbor.
All right.
So I'm not sure it was very clear, but it was the neighbor at the end.
So she had been listening to the whole conversation.
Just wanted to make that clear because I wasn't sure if that was actually, you know, clear.
Okay, so let's look at expression number one, lend someone a hand.
Didn't she even lend you a hand when you had to leave town?
When would you need to lend someone a hand?
When they're doing something easily or when they're experiencing some difficulties?
If you lend someone a hand, it's because they're experiencing some difficulties.
They're trying to do something, but they can't on their own.
They need someone's help.
And if you lend someone a hand, do you usually expect something in return or not?
Well, no.
That's the thing about lending someone a hand is that it's a favor, so you don't expect anything in return.
So when was the last time someone lent you a hand or the last time you lent someone a hand?
Well, it's not like I've got the chance with the quarantine to do lots of favors, but my boyfriend and I work together.
We work in the same office, I should say.
So he's Spanish and sometimes he has to like prepare a presentation or whatever, maybe send an email in English.
So whenever he needs my help, I will gladly lend him a hand and maybe correct the email or help him work through his presentation.
Oh, and careful, lend is irregular.
So the past is lent with a T.
Okay, expression number two, nosy.
She's incredibly nosy.
If someone is or is being nosy, do they mind their business or not?
If someone's being nosy, that means that they want to know about your life or about your things.
So are they doing it because they're worried or because they're curious?
If someone's being nosy, it's just because they're curious.
They're not doing that because they're worried about you.
But is being nosy considered a good thing or a bad thing?
I'm afraid being nosy is considered a bad thing.
It's not like being curious because being curious can actually be something positive.
You know, you can say, oh, he's such a curious child.
He wants to know about the world.
But being nosy, that just means they want to know about your life or about your stuff, just because you know they're interested, but not in a good way.
So do you consider yourself nosy?
I am pretty nosy, I think.
But I'm also, I try to be discreet.
So I try to not be too obvious.
Unlike my neighbor.
So my next door neighbor, she's an old lady.
I think that's where the story comes from.
I didn't notice until I finished writing the story and I was like hmm, this sounds familiar, but we just moved into a new apartment and the neighbor she's a sweet old lady but we often like our balcony is right next to her balcony.
And a lot of times we've caught her looking like our way, but like, not just like oh, i'm looking at the birds no, she was looking inside, like she was trying to look through the window to see what we were doing.
And then whenever we catch her, we like wave and she waves back and it's really uncomfortable and i don't know what to do about it.
But that's a great example of a very nosy person.
Expression number three get out of hand.
Things are just getting out of hand.
If a situation is getting out of hand, is it easy or difficult to control?
If a situation is getting out of hand, is getting difficult to control?
But can you still do something about it?
Yes.
The good thing about a situation that's getting out of hand, it means it's still salvageable.
You can still do something about it and fix it.
Can you think of a time when things in your life started to get out of hand?
When and what did you do?
I think the best example would be when I first started teaching kids here in Spain.
And I had a class of eight and nine-year-olds.
And they were very sweet.
But during the first class I realized things were starting to get out of hand, because they started making jokes and they started talking.
And I was like, okay, if I don't do something about this now, I'm going to regret it.
So I noticed things were getting out of hand and I immediately said hey listen, like you have points.
So if you do something good, you get points.
If you do something bad, you lose points.
And that helped me get the situation back under control.
But yeah, things were getting out of hand there.
Expression number four, watch your mouth.
Tommy, watch your mouth.
When would you tell someone to watch their mouth?
When they're saying something rude or when they're saying something stupid?
The expression watch your mouth is used to say that you shouldn't say something rude.
Often a bad word, okay?
Who tends to use the expression watch your mouth, adults or kids?
Well, it's usually an adult that tells a kid to watch your mouth.
You know, especially younger kids, if they're being rude or if they say something inappropriate or, like I said, a bad word, the parent or the teacher would say hey, watch your mouth.
Be careful about what you're saying.
Have your parents ever told you to watch your mouth?
Oh boy.
Well, obviously my mom.
She's Italian, so she's never used this expression, but my mom was very strict about what we could and could not say.
She was really against using bad words.
So yes, I've heard this expression a lot, but my mom definitely told me many, many times to watch my mouth.
Expression number five, clear your throat.
Why do you keep clearing your throat?
What sound do you make when clearing your throat?
Well, it's something like, and what are the reasons for clearing your throat?
So there could be several reasons.
One of them is maybe you're nervous and you have to talk, maybe in public, and you just want to make sure that your voice is steady before you start talking, so you clear your throat.
Or maybe, just like in the story, you want to get someone's attention.
And so you go, hey, just look at me or no, don't say that.
And you clear your throat.
Or simply, which is why I usually do it, is because you've got something stuck in your throat.
Maybe you just swallowed something and it didn't go down all the way, or it's bothering you in your throat.
And so you try to, you know, swallow it and get rid of it.
And do you clear your throat before a speech?
I don't.
I think it's because I don't get super nervous before talking in public.
So no, the only reason why I would clear my throat, I think, would be if I got literally something in my throat.
And that is it for today.
And remember, if you want to access the transcript, as well as lots of other resources, visit enboocom.
That is E-N-B-O-O-O dot com.
Have a great day.
