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!
Hello and welcome back.
I hope you're staying safe and most importantly that you're learning English.
I'm just kidding.
It's not more important, but it's still important.
Okay, let's listen to today's story.
We're talking about water.
Can you hear the dripping?
Yeah, I think the faucet is leaking again.
How annoying.
I think we should just call a plumber.
No, i can do it.
Look, you just need to turn this, then push this and then, if i remove this, oh my gosh, look at you, you're all sucked now.
Listen honey, Let's just call a plumber, please.
No, I'll just get some dry clothes and try again.
Okay, but careful.
There's a big puddle right there and you might fall.
Oh, fine.
Give me the number.
Okay, I went for a classic here.
I think, you know, we're all guilty of that.
You know, we see that something's broken around the house, we decide we want to fix it, and then we kind of mess it up even more.
Although actually I'm not guilty of that, because I usually just don't try to fix things because I know I can't do it.
Expression number one, drip.
Can you hear the drippings?
So we're going to talk about dripping, but the verb is drip.
If something is dripping, what sound will it make?
It's going to make this sound.
And what can drip?
It's usually a liquid.
Well, not usually.
It's a liquid, so it can either be water or sweat.
It's a little gross, but sweat can drip.
Does it bother you when your faucet is dripping or are you able to just ignore it?
Well, personally, I think I'm pretty good at blocking annoying sounds in general.
So if I'm working, I'm writing something or I'm editing something.
Usually I'm not that distracted by background noises.
But I have to be honest, the sound of a faucet dripping...
It is pretty annoying.
So, yeah, usually I'll do something about it.
I can't stand it.
Expression number two, leak.
I think the faucet is leaking again.
If a faucet is leaking, how much water is coming out of it?
A lot or just a bit?
If a faucet is leaking, there's only a little bit of water that's coming out of it.
Enough to be annoying, but only a little bit.
And if something is leaking, okay, it can be a faucet or it can be another thing, another object.
Is it intentional, the fact that it's leaking, or is it an accident?
It's usually an accident.
It means that this object, for example, the faucet is broken.
Or if we're talking about maybe a bucket, maybe there's a hole or maybe there's a crack in it.
And so the water is leaking out of it, but not intentionally.
Have you ever had a faucet that leaked?
And what did you do?
So actually, my mom used – actually, my mom still has a faucet that is leaking.
And she's not doing anything about it.
The only thing that she does is putting rags around it so that they will absorb the water.
I think it's a money issue.
She doesn't want to call the plumber because she's afraid it's going to be too expensive.
But I'm just afraid someday the kitchen will turn into a bathtub or Um.
So hopefully she's going to do something about it soon.
Expression number three, plumber.
I think we should just call a plumber.
First of all, have you noticed that I don't say plumber, but plumber.
So the B is silent.
So what will a plumber normally repair?
Pipes or ovens?
A plumber usually repairs pipes.
So anything that's really connected to water.
So something in the bathroom, like a sink, a shower, you know, a toilet, stuff like that.
But also in the kitchen if it has to do with water.
How often do you call a plumber?
Regularly or only on special occasions?
Usually, a plumber is someone that you call on special occasions.
So maybe something breaks or maybe, you know, you need to do some renovations around the house.
And so, you know, you will call the plumber in that case.
When was the last time you had to call a plumber?
So...
I haven't called a plumber in forever, but there is one time actually.
I can tell you a funny story.
So this was back when I was still traveling and I was in Putra Yaya, which is in Malaysia.
And I was staying at this fancy hotel, really nice, great room, great bathroom.
So I go into the bathroom and I turn on the water.
And what happens is the sink starts to fill up, meaning the water wasn't flowing away.
It wasn't going anywhere because you know that little like cover thingy that you have, that covers the hole.
Well, it was closed all the way down.
Like it was all the way down so the water couldn't flow away.
And I try to look, because usually there's like a little lever or a little button that you can push and that will make it come up.
But I couldn't find it anywhere.
So I finally ended up calling someone from the staff of the hotel.
And I remember it was so embarrassing because this poor guy came all the way up and he looked at the sink and he just like looked at me, confused.
And then he just went, he like pushed the little cover down with his finger.
And the thing, I think, popped up.
And that's it.
And the water went away.
So that was really embarrassing.
But at least it got solved.
But no, no plumber in that case, although I was close to calling a plumber.
Expression number four, soaked.
You're all soaked now.
If something is soaked, is it very wet or just a little wet?
If something is soaked, it's very wet.
And can a piece of plastic be soaked?
No, not really, because plastic cannot absorb water.
So in order for an object to be soaked, it needs to be able to absorb water.
Can a person be soaked?
Well, can you absorb water?
Yes, you can.
Maybe not your we're kind of waterproof, right?
Our skin is waterproof, but not our hair.
So and not our clothes.
So yeah, if you're out in the rain, you can get soaked.
So it hasn't rained a lot recently, but I remember this one time when I was in the Maldives and I was at the beach and you know the weather seemed fine.
So we packed all our stuff and we had walked about 20 minutes from the guest house to the bikini beach.
And we were there and then all of a sudden it started raining, but like it started raining really, really hard and we didn't have you know anywhere to go.
So we just went back to the guest house.
There were no buildings around, so we just had to walk back.
And there were a few palm trees that could cover us, but it really didn't do much.
So in the end, we ended up getting to the to the guest house completely soaked.
Expression number five, puddle.
But careful, there's a big puddle right there and you might fall.
Is a puddle a deep pool of liquid or a shallow pool of liquid?
A puddle is a shallow pool of liquid, meaning there's not much water in it.
And can you step in a puddle?
Yes, you can step in a puddle.
Although usually parents, you know, tell you not to do that because otherwise your feet and your shoes and socks are going to get soaked.
But yes, you can step in a puddle.
In fact, it's really hard not to step in a puddle when it has rained and there's a lot of puddles on the streets.
Do you try to avoid puddles when it rains or it has rained?
So normally, yes, obviously, you know, like most adults, I think I try to avoid them.
It's not very easy for me because I'm incredibly clumsy.
So I don't have very good control of my body.
My body does whatever it wants to do.
So but yeah, no, but I try to avoid them.
Unless I'm wearing rain boots, because there's nothing more fun than wearing rain boots while it's raining and not worrying about where you're going to step.
And it's just so freeing and I love that feeling.
So when I'm wearing rain boots, I just don't care.
I just walk straight and I don't care how many puddles I have in front of me.
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.
