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 going on.
You guys um, i gotta take a second to thank you all because i don't know what's been happening lately.
If you've been talking to your friends, i don't know how people are finding out about the podcast um, but a lot of people are, and we have so many new listeners.
So welcome to those of you who are new and thank you so much for those of you who have been listening to my stories and um, all of my anecdotes for so long.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I wake up to new followers every day and I'm really happy that you guys like the podcast.
Okay, so let's get into it.
And this week we're going to talk about driving.
Hey, what's up?
Good, you?
So how did your driving test go?
What?
You haven't heard?
No.
What happened?
The whole town knows.
So I got there a bit late.
How late?
Like 20 minutes.
So my driving instructor was already mad at me.
I was so nervous.
I promise.
I was shaking the whole time.
Anyway, I get in the car and things seem to be going fine until... Until what?
Until I ran a red light.
What?
Wait, that's not the worst part.
My driving instructor told me to pull to the curb and I tried, but for some reason I couldn't brake.
I don't know why.
There must have been something wrong with the car.
My instructor kept shouting at me and that only made me more nervous.
After 30 seconds of pure panic, the car finally stopped.
Oh my goodness.
So in the end, you were able to brake?
Not exactly.
There was a piece of glass on the road, and I got a flat tire.
What a story.
So you didn't pass, huh?
I did, actually.
My instructor said he never wanted to see me again, so he let me pass.
So that could have actually been me in the story.
I'm going to tell you what my relationship is with driving in a second.
Let's begin with expression number one.
Run a red light.
Things seem to be going fine until I ran a red light.
If you are approaching a traffic light and then run a red light, do you stop or do you keep going?
If you run a red light, that means even if the traffic light has turned red, you keep going.
What are the consequences of running a red light?
Well, obviously the consequences can be pretty dire.
They can be pretty serious.
You know, you could get into an accident.
You could hurt someone if someone is crossing the street.
So definitely that's not something that you should do.
Have you ever run a red light?
Yes, guys, I have.
Okay, the times that I've done it, it wasn't on purpose, obviously.
It was.
You know, when you're approaching the traffic light and then it turns yellow, and then you really don't have enough time to brake.
So I don't think that's really a big deal.
But actually, when I was in California and I took my driving test, I actually had to take it twice.
And guess what?
I failed both times.
And one of those times was because I ran a red light test.
I didn't know like I turned right and I thought I could, but apparently at that intersection with a red light I couldn't turn right.
So yes, I ran a red light and I failed my driving test.
Woohoo!
Not a great driver.
Expression number two, driving instructor.
My driving instructor told me to pull to the curb.
Where does a driving instructor sit?
In the front seat next to you or in the back?
A driving instructor needs to sit in the front right next to you because he needs to be there.
He's got his own pedals and he needs to be there in case anything happens, because a driving instructor is the person that's supposed to teach you how to drive.
Can a friend or a relative be considered a driving instructor?
Not really, even though you can practice with like a relative, maybe your parents or a friend sitting next to you when you're learning how to drive.
A driving instructor is the person that is assigned to you by like a school, and that's you know whose job is to teach you how to drive.
Did you have one or multiple driving instructors and did you like them?
So I had one main one.
He was, let's say, he was easily irritated.
So if you would make like even a tiny mistake, that would make him really angry and he would start shouting at you and that made me nervous.
So I don't know.
I think he was a pretty good teacher, like a pretty good instructor, but I don't know, just the atmosphere.
I wasn't very relaxed when I was in the car with him because I was getting yelled at like all the time.
Expression number three, pull to the curb.
My driving instructor told me to pull to the curb.
If you pull to the curb, do you get closer to the side of the road or do you drive towards the center of the road?
If you pull to the curb, you are getting closer to the side of the road.
The curb is basically the side of the sidewalk.
So when pulling to the curb, do you need to do it slowly or fast?
You definitely have to do it slowly, otherwise you may damage your car.
And I don't know, even the curb, who knows?
Have you ever hit the curb when pulling to the curb? only a thousand times.
Yes, of course, every time I park.
No, I think I'm not a great driver, but I'm all right at parking.
So it doesn't happen a lot, but I do hit the curb every now and then when I'm parking.
Expression number four, brake.
For some reason, I couldn't brake.
If you're driving and then brake, Will your car speed increase or decrease?
If you brake, your car speed is going to decrease, which is usually recommended.
Braking gradually in order to stop or stopping suddenly?
Definitely braking gradually.
The other one is terrible.
If you stop suddenly, it's super annoying, especially for the passengers.
Do you think you brake smoothly when driving?
I feel like I do all right when I brake.
It's not too bad.
My aunt, though every time I'm in the car with her and that's actually one of the reasons why I don't like being in the car when she's driving is that she brakes so fast and so suddenly that every time I feel like I'm going to fly out of the car.
Expression number five, flat tire.
There was a piece of glass in the road and I got a flat tire.
What materials are car tires usually made of?
A car tire is that rubber thing that covers the wheel of the car.
So it's made of rubber.
How many tires do cars have?
Well, the last time I checked, I think it was only four.
And I think you know, even with these futuristic cars I think if it's a car, it still only has four tires
If you have a flat tire, is it because there is too much air in it or not enough air?
If you have a flat tire, that means there's not enough air in the tire.
And what can cause a flat tire?
Well, just like in the story, it can be a sharp object.
Maybe you're driving, you don't see that there's a nail or a piece of glass and you drive over it and then you get a flat tire or even heat.
If it's really, really hot, then your tires might deflate and you may get a flat tire, for example.
But that's never happened to me.
I don't drive enough for that to happen.
If it did happen, would you know what to do in case you got a flat tire?
Absolutely not.
I don't know the first thing about changing a tire.
Um...
In all honesty, if it were to happen to me, number one, I would cry.
Number two, I would call someone.
And I'm talking like a friend or someone who I think knows about these kinds of things.
And three maybe I will watch a tutorial on YouTube, because that's you know what you're supposed to do in 2020.
If you've got a problem you just look it up and you know YouTube or Google is going to solve your problems.
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.
