Speak English Fast and Easy
In today’s episode I cover 3 topics, including 3 collocations using the word TAKE: take a shower, take action, take someone’s advice. I also share a personal story, enjoy :)
Episodes mentioned
[158] Speak Like A Native Speaker (Collocations Revisited)
[159] To Make A Fool of Yourself (Plus More Phrases)
[160] Take A Look and Take a Photo (Plus More Phrases!)
Transcript
Hey guys, you are listening to the English Made Simple Show, this is episode number 165, number one hundred and sixty-five, numero ciento sesenta y cinco.
Welcome to the English Made Simple show, my name is Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net.
Episode number 1-6-5 – isn’t it easier to say 1-6-5 then one hundred and sixty five. If you cannot remember how to say a 3-figure number just spell it out, one by one. Like in this case, one six five. Simple!
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
In today’s episode I want to share 3 TOPICS with you. Number 1 – an introduction to the Speak Easy program, the first in 2018. Number 2 – I want to share 3 collocations with you using the word TAKE, I will share the ones that are spoken regularly by native speakers. And Number 3 – I want to share the name of the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. It’s the most terrible movie that I simply cannot un-see. 2 hours of my life that I will never get back.
But first, Topic NUMBER #1 – the SPEAK EASY program.
This is the first program for the year, for 2018!
Today’s episode has been brought to you by the Speak Easy program. This is a 3 week Online coaching program for people who are too busy to attend courses in person, (don’t get stuck traffic! And avoid the peak hour in public transport) for people who don’t live in an English speaking country but want to practice their speaking, and for people who do live in an English speaking country like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US, Uk etc.. and need to improve on their speaking skills.
It goes for 3 weeks and it starts on 15th January. It is a focused style learning. Meaning you will receive feedback instantly just because the technology allows us to do that nowadays making the process of learning that much faster – and you will meet with me and other motivated learners once per week to practice speaking live (en vivo!) – you will be talking about what you’ve learnt throughout the week.
The overall objective of the course is to break the fear of speaking in English, to make you feel comfortable when speaking in English, and of course, to increase your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation. I want you to improve on your current skills!
You will be speaking in English the whole time.
So this is what we will cover week by week:
WEEK 1 – We will cover everyday topics, including talking about yourself, about your hobbies and about what you do, your job and your profession.
WEEK 2 – We will learn how to ask for and give opinions. Learn to agree and disagree with someone politely.
WEEK 3: Discuss a Specific topic. Topic of your choice.
If this all sounds great so far, and you would like to join the program please note that you will need to have the following:
[What do you need to have in order to join the program?]
You will need have access to the computer, possibly a mobile phone, we will be using Whatsapp to exchange voice messages, and so you will need your phone or access to Whatsapp and a microphone (your phone microphone is fine) You will receive instructions from me by email. So you will need to have at least basic Reading skills. We will use voice and text to communicate.
The entire course is done in English.
You will only need approximately 30 minutes a day Monday – Thursday. Everyone can find 30 minutes in their busy schedule to practice.
And on top of everything you will receive feedback from me, your awesome coach! Doesn’t that sound swell?
At the end of the 3 weeks you will receive an evaluation of your weakest and strongest areas so you can think about improving on your weakest areas in the near future.
If you would like to try a different way of learning English and if you think this sounds as exciting to you as it does to me, then visit www.englishmadesimple.net/easy to learn more about the program.
The next time I run this program will be in March later this year. Why wait till then?
Just remember guys, to be fluent in any language requires daily practice as well as to be immersed in the culture, this program will give you the foundation you need to start speaking English fluently.
So this in a nutshell covers today’s Topic number 1 of today’s show.
Moving right along on to Topic #2.
Collocations using the word TAKE. This is also something you will learn inside the Speak Easy program.
Inside the Speak Easy program you will learn what collocations to use when speaking English. The most commonly used collocations as well….
Coming back to the episode now – We have already covered some collocations last month in the show.
If you are new to the English Made Simple show, then welcome! It’s nice to have you here, finally! Thanks for stopping by! Please listen to episodes #158, #159, #160 to learn more about collocations.
Today I want to teach you three collocations TAKE A SHOWER, TAKE ACTION and TAKE SOMEONE’S ADVICE.
The verb TAKE is irregular, the past tense is TOOK and the participle TAKEN.
Let’s do this a bit differently.
Let me tell you about the day I had last week. Have a listen to the word TAKE and see how I use it in the following scenario. What I am about to share is a true story, this really happened to me but some parts are exaggerated.
Last week, my Monday started out with me taking a shower in the morning. To take a shower is a collocate, meaning to wash/clean yourself in the shower, in the bathroom. You can also say to HAVE A SHOWER. Both are fine.
The thing is, I had just shampooed my hair when midway through, the shower stopped, the water stopped flowing. Arrrrghh… no water. I was covered in foam (from the shampoo!) from head to toe, (there were bubbles everywhere!!) had the shower gel and shampoo all over. All I wanted to do was just rinse my hair, finish the bloody shower but no way. I didn’t know when the water was going to come back on. I couldn’t wait forever for the water to come. So I had to think quickly on my feet, had to do something – I couldn’t stay in the shower all day covered in bubbles. So I took my towel and just dried my hair as it was, all shampooed – and got myself ready to go out and go to my favourite café for a nice cup of coffee to relax.
I was thinking ok well that was weird, this had never happened to me. I would have to take a another shower again at some point that day.
So, I went to a French café here in Adelaide, had the most delicious pancakes for breakfast and drank the smoothest coffee. It was just perfect. I finished my coffee and off I went, started walking back to my car as I wanted go back home. As I was walking back to my car and I realised oops I forgot my bag at the café. It had my house keys, car keys and my wallet of course. Ouch, had to rush back, took about 10 minutes of fast walking to get to the café. And lucky for me, the café wasn’t too busy at the time and I could see my bag resting on the chair. Phew! No dramas!
I picked up my bag and off I went home.
Ladies and gentleman, this is a true story, based on true events.
Wasn’t this the most useless story you’ve ever heard in your life. At least it was a fun story.
Anyway, back to the same day after the chaotic morning, I got home after breakfast to check on the water and it was still turned off. I was angry, infuriated. I didn’t know when the water will be turned back on. So I had to take action and call SA Water (South Australian Water provider) – I had to call to complain but also to find out what the heck is going on. You know what I am saying…
To cut the long story short, they assured me that the problem would be fixed soon. And it was fixed in about 2 hours after I called.
So take my advice people, because this could happen to you, take 2 towels with you the next time you go to the bathroom to take a shower. Have a spare towel hanging on the rack. Ha!
You’ve been warned.
Did you hear the collocations I used here?
Take a shower, take action and take my advice. I hope you were able to follow the story.
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And lastly, final topic for today – TOPIC #3. I want to share something else with you. The worst movie I have ever seen in my life happened last week. If you are listening to this show in REAL TIME – you are listening to this episode in January of 2018. (Two thousand and eighteen or twenty-eighteen for short) you will know that the recent Star Wars movie came out, it’s called The Last Jedi.
And it is the LAST TIME I will watch Star Wars movie. This movie has completely put me off any future Star Wars movies. I don’t want to reveal any more than this. In case you do plan to watch it at some stage, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It would be interesting to know what others thought of the movie if you had seen it?
Honestly, your 2 hours would be better spent learning how to knit a jumper for yourself.
Again, you’ve been warned! It’s up to you now.
We’ve come to the end of the show. Amigos y Amigas!
Thank you for joining me today, you’ve been an awesome audience let’s do this again soon.
Please remember to check out www.englishmadesimple.net/easy to learn more about the Speak Easy program. If you would like to improve your English speaking skills then TAKE ACTION now and join the Speak Easy program. All you will need is 30 minutes a day.
For more info, visit, www.englishmadesimple.net/easy
Thanks again, you’ve been jamming with Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net, until next time – hasta la proxima!
Milena Vujnic
Podcast Host at English Made Simple Podcast
Milena is the host of the English Made Simple Podcast and is passionate about helping English learners break their fear of speaking English so they can confidently make conversation and be understood by other English-speakers.
Milena lives in Australia with her Chileno husband and loves anything podcasting and online coaching and is honoured to be supporting and guiding immigrants from all over the world with her products, programs and coaching services.
Click here to learn more about how you can work with Milena.