#Ep. 10 English Idioms Part 2 - Boost Your Conversational Fluency

In this week's episode, you'll discover the meanings behind idioms like "hit the nail on the head" and "let the cat out of the bag," and learn how to use them with confidence in everyday conversations. Join our growing community as we navigate these expressions together and share your own English learning journey with us!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Learning English Idioms for Fluency
• 10:03 English Learning Community Announcement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello everybody and welcome to this week's lesson of Learn English with Natalie. I am so grateful to have you here. Thank you very much for joining me. I hope you've all had a fantastic week. What have you been up to this week? I wonder if you could tell me in the comments or send me a message. I'm trying to get to know more of you in my community, so please feel free to share. I would love to learn more about you and also let me know how your English language learning has been going.

Speaker 1: 0:30

I've had a relatively busy week this week. I've got a week off work, so I'm spending that time trying to create more content for the podcast and trying to make sure that I'm up to date with everything, and also researching some things about how I can improve this. I've also put a deposit down on a new car, and one thing that I really want to talk about is that I've been looking for a new car, and I've been looking for a couple of months now, and I don't know if anybody else has experienced this many other women, but even though we're in 2024, I still get treated very differently when I have my partner with me, looking for cars with me, which is quite surprising. To be fair, he knows more about cars than I do. However, I feel like I'm not really being taken seriously when I'm there by myself. I wonder if any other women have experienced the same thing. Anyway, I could talk about women's rights and how women are treated all day, every day, however, and I know that not everybody feels that way, or I know that many men don't behave in that way, so thank you to those men if you are listening, but it's just something that's bothered me this week a little bit. So that's what I've been up to. Please let me know what you've been up to.

Speaker 1: 1:49

And, yeah, let's get into the lesson Now. Before we start, I would really appreciate it if you could subscribe to this podcast or YouTube channel, wherever you are listening. It really helps more than you know, and you'll be updated each time an episode is launched. Today, we're going to focus on English idioms again Now. We did this last week, so if you haven't watched last week's episode yet, then you can go back and watch that video, because I started off by introducing some idioms and I'm going to be introducing more today. Please remember, as usual, that this lesson will provide some foundations for your English language learning. So you may want to download the PDF activity that comes with this podcast or keep a journal for your notes and, as always, remember consistency is key. So well done for joining me again this week and keeping up with that consistency and please don't be afraid to make mistakes. I will allow time for you to repeat after me in the episode and if you get it wrong, don't worry, you can always pause, rewind and go back.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Okay, so a bit of a quiz time to start us off. We did some English idioms last week. I want you to listen to some idioms that I read out and I want you to think about which idiom matches this description. So the description is to be exactly right about something. To be exactly right about something is that bite the bullet piece of cake, break the ice or hit the nail on the head. Hmm, which one's correct? Bite to the bullet piece of cake, break the ice or hit the nail on the head? Which one means that you are exactly right about something, and if you said hit the nail on the head, then you have hit the nail on the head. Well done, you are correct, are correct.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Okay, as usual, I'm going to go into an introduction in a moment for part one. Then part two will be your vocabulary and speaking practice. Then part three, you will have a listening practice and part four will be your independent learning. So by the end of this lesson, you will learn different English idioms and their meaning, and you will be able to apply those to your everyday conversations. So why do you need to learn English idioms? Basically, they will help with your English fluency and the flow of your conversation. You will be speaking like a native and you will understand idioms in conversation when somebody says an idiom to you. Now, as mentioned in last week's episode, there has been some content going around that I've seen online, mainly on TikTok, where there's some faceless accounts going around that are telling you this is English, this is better English, and they give you an English idiom. Now, idioms are not always appropriate, nor are the ones that they are sharing always correct. Some idioms are used by my grandma. Okay, I'm only going to teach you the idioms that you might hear in everyday conversation as someone that is younger than 90 years old. So let's get into it. Vocabulary and speaking practice. So the idiom we are going to focus on first of all is the ball. Is in your court. The ball is in your court. Can you say that? Wonderful. This means it's up to you to make the next move. For example, she already sent you a message. The ball is in your court now. She already sent you a message. The ball is in your court. Now, the ball is in your court.

Speaker 1: 5:38

The next idiom for today spill the beans. Or, in more modern times that we see online a lot, spill the tea. Spill the beans is the original idiom, and that means to disclose something that was supposed to remain confidential. For example, I promise I won't say a word now. Spill the beans. Can you say that? Spill the beans, your turn Wonderful.

Speaker 1: 6:06

The next idiom for today Let the cat out of the bag Sounds a bit strange. Right, let the cat out of the bag, and that means to reveal a secret. For example, she already knew about the surprise party. Somebody let the cat out of the bag. She already knew about the surprise party. Somebody let the cat out of the bag. Now. I wouldn't usually say this phrase in my everyday conversation. It's something that an older generation might say, but people will still understand what you're talking about.

Speaker 1: 6:43

Let the cat out of the bag, the next idiom we're going to focus on under the weather, which means you are feeling sick or unwell Under the weather. I'll say it one more time, and then we want you to repeat after me Under the weather, your turn Perfect. An example in a sentence I need to go home, I'm feeling under the weather, I need to go home, I'm feeling under the weather. The next one, a bit of a tricky one Burn the midnight oil. Burn the midnight oil. I'll say it one more time, and then I want you to repeat after me Burn the midnight oil, your turn Perfect. And that means to work late into the night, for example. I am so tired. I was burning the midnight oil last night. I am so tired. I was burning the midnight oil last night. Excellent, well done. Now, that's a lot of information to remember, but remember, you can use these idioms in different contexts, so they will become really useful for you and you're going to sound like a native speaker.

Speaker 1: 8:08

Now it's time for your listening practice. I'm going to read some paragraphs to you and I want you to listen and identify the idioms that I use. So I'm going to read the first one now. I was burning the midnight oil last night. It's no surprise I'm feeling under the weather. I'll read it again I was burning the midnight oil last night. It's no surprise I'm feeling under the weather. Did you hear the idioms? So I used burning the midnight oil and under the weather. I was working late last night, so it's no surprise I'm not feeling very well.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Okay, next paragraph you let the cat out of the bag and she forgave you. The ball is in your court now. You let the cat out of the bag and she forgave you. The ball is in your court now. Did you hear the idioms? So I said let the cat out of the bag, the ball is in your court. So that means you revealed the secret and she forgave you. It's up to you to make the move now.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Okay, finally, we're onto your independent learning and your task this week. I want you to write five sentences using the following idioms Now, I love it when people send me their work, so please, I encourage you to do so, otherwise I feel like I'm talking to myself. I feel so lonely here. So if you do complete your independent learning for this week, I would love it if you could tag me at learnenglishwithnatalie or send it directly to me. My email address and everything is all available in the bio. So I'm going to read those idioms again one last time so that you know which ones to use in your sentences.

Speaker 1: 10:00

Number one let the cat out of the bag.

Speaker 1: 10:03

Number two burn the midnight oil.

Speaker 1: 10:06

Number three the ball is in your court.

Speaker 1: 10:09

Number four under the weather.

Speaker 1: 10:12

And number five spill the beans.

Speaker 1: 10:16

Thank you so much for joining me today.

Speaker 1: 10:18

I am so proud that you are showing up and committing to this learning every single week.

Speaker 1: 10:22

Thank you for joining me.

Speaker 1: 10:23

And if you are showing up and committing to this learning every single week, thank you for joining me. And if you are interested in learning English at a faster pace and if you have always dreamed about being able to read English novels and understand the language and the themes that are coming up in those books, then you may want to consider joining my book club, which is available on Patreon. All the information is available in show notes or in my link tree or in my bio, and you can check that out online with a seven day free trial, so you really don't have anything to lose with that. Thank you very much for joining me. Again, please don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. It really helps me to grow this show. It's fairly new. I'm only about a month old. I'm trying to grow the show as much as I can and reach as many English language learners as possible. I need your help to do that. In the meantime, I can't wait to see what independent learning you send to me and I'll see you next week. See you later.