335. VOCABULARY REVIEW: Phrases & Expressions from Episode 334.

This episode is a chance to review and explain some of the vocabulary that you heard in my interview with Craig Wealand. You’ll find the list of words I’m explaining in this episode printed below. You could copy+paste them into your own vocabulary lists, flashcard apps or simply write them into your vocabulary notebook. Remember, you should do some work to remember these phrases. Don’t just read them one by one, but try to create your own sentences with them, make associations with your life, create vivid images in your head or draw them on paper – basically, do whatever you can to push the phrases into your mind and back out through your mouth. You’re much more likely to remember them that way.

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After listening to this you could go back to episode 334 and listen to it again and try to notice the phrases as they crop up naturally in conversation. There are lots of ways to remember words.

Don’t forget that you should also use phrases, because “if you don’t use it you lose it”. You can practise your speaking with native speakers on italki. Click here to check it out: https://teacherluke.co.uk/talk

Vocabulary List

Here are the phrases that I explain in this episode.

  1. I thought it was about time that I got you (back) on LEP (it’s about time I did something)
  2. It’s been getting on for 3 years. (to be getting on for xxx years)
  3. How did you end up being an English teacher? (to end up doing something)
  4. He ended up marrying an Israeli girl.
  5. I took part of the credit for that. (to take the credit for something)
  6. I didn’t see myself doing a clerical job. (to see yourself doing something)
  7. You couldn’t just give away money willy nilly. (to do something willy nilly)
  8. You must have brushed shoulders, as it were, with Essex’s finest. (to brush shoulder’s with someone) (Essex’s finest)
  9. As soon as I got over the fear of standing in front of people. (to get over something)
  10. I came back to Spain with my tail between my legs. (with your tail between your legs)
  11. You start looking at things in a different light. (to look at something/see something in a different light)
  12. The grass is always greener on the other side.
  13. I lived in an English cocoon for the first year. (a cocoon)
  14. They’re very erratic and very dangerous! (erratic)
  15. It was just a scrape – a small dent in the car. (a scrape, a dent)
  16. Lots of tailgating goes on. (tailgating)
  17. Customer service sometimes falls a bit short. (to fall short)
  18. I’m always on a mission to go to the pub. (to be on a mission to do something)
  19. I want to sit in a pub, nursing a pint of Guinness. (to nurse something)
  20. To be constipated.
  21. My French is coming along. (to be coming along)
  22. It’s a question of trying to squeeze (in) bits of learning into the lifestyle. (to squeeze something in)
  23. It doesn’t just magically rub off on you. (to rub off on someone)
  24. They had to use the language in order to get by in a work environment. (to get by)
  25. If I don’t pull out the stops and work on the language then it’s not going to improve. (to pull out the stops)
  26. I’m turning the tables on you. You’re going to be in the hot-seat this time. (to turn the tables on someone / the hot seat)
  27. I guard it with my life. (to guard something with your life)
  28. If she dares to put a pen on my desk I shout at her and we have an argument. (to dare to do something)
  29. You’d keep them in a bag and every now and then you’d take a look and have a whiff of the petrol. (to have a whiff of something)
  30. They (cats) look down their nose at you.  (to look down your nose at something)
  31. I’ve never been very keen on cats. (to be keen on something)
  32. I can’t talk you round. (to talk someone round)
  33. The thing about dogs is that they’re too needy, too high-maintenance. (needy / high-maintenance)
  34. Doesn’t that bother you, that they’re so fickle? (fickle)

Thanks for listening. Why don’t you add a comment in order to practise using some of the phrases in the list?