Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native podcast.
My name is Anna and you're listening to week 39, day one of Your English Fiber Day, the second season.
I'm back with another week of fantastic vocabulary that you should add to your passive and active vocabulary bank.
I encourage you to tune in as often as you can, ideally every day, from Monday to Friday, so that over time you build your confidence, you improve your listening skills and, because you have a wider and wider vocabulary, you'll start to feel more like yourself when communicating in English.
Now, I record all of the vocabulary for you in the vocab bank.
Yes, we can call this many things.
The vocabulary vault, the database, the vocab bank.
It's all the same thing.
Everything we cover in every episode of this series is recorded in a database that you can access for free.
I'll leave a link in the show notes.
And now...
Without further ado, let's begin with today's snapshot of what's to come.
Mira's morning was an endless display of plate spinning, answering emails, taking calls and trying to make coffee at the same time, until she got so flustered that she spilled the coffee on her shirt.
Her boss walked in just then and she gave a sheepish smile as she scuttled away to the toilets to clean herself up.
Afterwards she made a beeline for the break room, desperate for a quiet moment and a fresh cup of tea.
Poor Mira.
All right, let's find out a little more about some of that vocabulary we just heard, starting with the noun plate spinning.
Plate spinning.
We spell this P-L-A-T-E hyphen S-P-I-N-N-I-N-G.
Plate spinning.
Plate spinning.
Plate spinning.
Plate spinning is the act of trying to manage many tasks at the same time.
Now, if you're anything like me, you will understand this completely.
My day often consists of endless plate spinning.
Here's an example sentence.
Teachers often do a lot of plate spinning to keep lessons, marking and meetings under control.
Next, we have the adjective flustered.
Flustered.
We spell this F-L-U-S-T-E-R-E-D.
Flustered.
Flustered.
If someone is described as being flustered, then it means they're nervous and confused, often because of pressure.
So if I ask you a question in a pressured environment and everyone is staring at you, then you might feel a bit nervous, anxious and confused.
And it's because of the pressure of the environment.
Here's an example sentence.
The waiter looked flustered when too many people asked for help at once.
Have you ever felt flustered?
Next, we have the adjective sheepish.
Sheepish.
We spell this S-H-E-E-P-I-S-H.
Sheepish.
Sheepish.
I had to do it.
I'm sorry.
To be sheepish, or rather to be sheepish is to feel embarrassed, awkward or shy after doing something silly.
Have you ever laughed and then snorted?
Or worse still, have you ever laughed and done something unspeakable, like farted a little bit, but so much so that everyone heard?
You will definitely feel embarrassed and awkward and shy after that moment.
So you'll be a little sheepish.
Here's an example sentence.
He gave a sheepish smile after forgetting her name.
Oh gosh, that's embarrassing, isn't it?
When you forget somebody's name.
Oh, terrible.
OK, next we have the phrasal verb scuttle away.
To scuttle away.
Two words.
Scuttle, S-C-U-T-T-L-E.
Scuttle away A-W-A-Y.
To scuttle away is to move quickly, with short steps, often like a small animal, usually to escape.
For example, the first thing I think of when I hear the phrasal verb scuttle away is a beetle.
When you lift up a stone and a beetle is suddenly exposed, they scuttle away.
They move quickly, don't they?
But they can't take big strides.
Their little legs move very fast, but they can only take short steps.
Here's an example sentence.
The children scuttled away after knocking on the door as a prank.
Do you know what that's called?
Knocking on someone's door and then running away?
In the UK, we call it knock-a-door run.
Knock-a-door run.
I never played it.
Honestly, never, never.
I wouldn't do anything like that.
OK, last on today's list is the idiom to make a beeline for. to make a beeline for.
Make, M-A-K-E, a beeline, B-E-E-L-I-N-E, beeline for, F-O-R.
To make a beeline for a person or a place is to go directly and quickly towards someone or something.
For example, When there is a huge sale of something very popular, people sometimes queue up outside the store waiting for the opportunity to go and buy that product at a knockdown price.
And so, as soon as the doors open, they will make a beeline for the aisle that holds the product that they desire.
When I go to the gym, I drop my children off at their clubs or their classes.
And then I usually make a beeline for the cafe to get my morning coffee.
Here's one more example.
The dog made a beeline for its owner the moment it saw him.
Alright, that's our five, so let's do a quick recap.
We started with the noun plate spinning.
Plate spinning.
This is the act of trying to manage many tasks at the same time.
Then we had the adjective flustered.
Flustered, which means to be nervous and confused, often because of pressure.
Flustered.
We had the adjective sheepish.
Sheepish, which is to feel embarrassed, awkward or shy after doing something silly.
Sheepish.
And we had the phrasal verb scuttle away, which is to move quickly, with short steps, often like a small animal and usually to escape.
You scuttle away.
Finally make a beeline for which is the idiom.
That means to go directly and quickly towards a person, a thing or a place.
To make a beeline for it.
Alright, let's now do this for pronunciation purposes.
Please repeat after me.
Plate spinning, Plate spinning Flustered flustered sheepish sheepish, scuttle away, scuttle away.
Make a beeline for, make a beeline for Well done.
Fantastic.
Now I want you to listen out to our snapshot once again.
Mira's morning was an endless display of plate spinning.
Answering emails, taking calls and trying to make coffee at the same time.
Until she got so flustered that she spilled the coffee on her shirt.
Her boss walked in just then and she gave a sheepish smile as she scuttled away to the toilets to clean herself up.
Afterwards she made a beeline for the break room, desperate for a quiet moment and a fresh cup of tea.
OK, I want you to listen out for our target vocabulary once more as we head into my favourite item in the episode Storytime.
Marco lived by the art of illusion.
On stage as a magician.
He could make cards vanish, scarves appear from nowhere and coins melt into air.
Off stage, however, his greatest trick was plate spinning.
Though no porcelain was involved, between rehearsals interviews, sponsored dinners, travel bookings and late-night planning, he was constantly trying to keep everything moving at once without letting anything fall.
That morning, he had overslept.
His alarm had rung, but he had pressed it off with a magician's flourish, convincing himself he could steal just five more minutes.
Five minutes became forty and suddenly he was flustered, pulling on mismatched socks and rushing out of the hotel room with his jacket half-buttoned.
His briefcase packed with notes, contracts and a deck of playing cards was clutched under his arm as he hurried down to the conference level.
He spotted a door left open and slipped inside, breathless.
Around a polished table sat serious people in suits, glasses of water lined neatly in front of them.
Relieved he was not late, Marco dropped into an empty chair.
The woman at the head of the table barely glanced at him before continuing her speech.
It took only a few sentences for him to realise something was wrong.
She spoke of quarterly results, market risks and shareholder expectations.
Marco blinked.
This was not a press meeting about his European tour.
Still, he sat very still as if remaining invisible were part of his act.
He pretended to study his notes, though the pages showed card tricks and travel timetables.
Nothing to do with finance.
Then, too suddenly, the woman turned to him.
And your thoughts, Mr...
Marco's throat dried.
With a sheepish smile, he blurted, Yes, well, my projection is rather circular.
In fact, it tends to go round and round.
He made little motion with his hand, as though twirling a coin.
The room fell into silence.
One man stifled a laugh, another tapped his pen against the table.
Marco felt the heat crawl up his neck.
He wanted to scuttle away under his chair like a frightened animal.
Instead, he stood, cleared his throat and admitted, Apologies, wrong meeting.
He made a beeline for the door, his ears buzzing with the sound of muffled chuckles behind him.
In the corridor, he stopped and exhaled.
Even the best magician could not escape every mistake.
Plate spinning, he reminded himself, only worked for so long before something wobbled.
He straightened his jacket, checked the schedule properly this time and prepared to face the right audience.
And that brings us to the end of today's episode.
I do hope that you found it useful and entertaining.
Until tomorrow, take very good care of yourself and goodbye.
