Your English Five a Day #24.4

E239: 🎙️ Welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast, hosted by me, Anna! Tune in to Week 24, Day 4 of Your English Five a Day, where we embark on a journey to expand your vocabulary with five enriching pieces every single day.

🌟 Today's vocabulary journey begins with the noun "whim". Next up are the adjectives "sensory" and "star-struck". Then, we explore another adjective "intricate", before finishing off with the adverbial phrase "in all its glory",

🏎 🏁 Join us as we dive deeper into pronunciation, memory testing, and an engaging storytime session, where a young F1 enthusiast from Crewe wins tickets to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on a whim. With his friend, he embarks on a sensory adventure, meeting racing legends, and experiencing the race in all its glory.

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Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna, and you're listening to Week 24, Day 4 of Your English Five a Day. This is the series that aims to explode your active vocabulary by diving deep into five pieces every single day of the week. Now you can get more out of your listening by becoming a Plus Member, which gives you access to transcripts, a bonus episode as well as vocabulary lists for the weekend episodes. You'll also support this podcast to continue growing and improving. So, if you'd like to become a Plus Member, I will place a link in the description. And if you're already a Plus Member, a huge thanks from me to you. Okay, let's begin today's list. We start with the noun whim. Whim. We spell this W H I M. Whim. A whim is a sudden or impulsive decision or action. You usually just do something on a whim. So, I did it on a whim."Why did you jump into the lake, Anna?""Oh, I just did it on a whim. I just decided to do it. I just had this urge, this impulse to just rip my clothes off and jump into the lake, do a bit of skinny dipping." Have you ever done anything on a whim? I'm sure we all have, and probably in some cases we regret what we do on a whim, but often it's good to just let your hair down and go with your impulses. Here's an example sentence,"Jenna made the decision to quit her job and move to a different country on a whim, a decision she ended up regretting a few months later." Wow, can you imagine quitting your job and moving abroad on a whim? In fact, I can imagine it because my mum did that. When I was a teenager, my mum just decided life was getting a bit tough. So, she was like, okay,"I'm going to sell my house. I'm going to buy a bus. I'm going to rip all the seats out and make it into a livable vehicle, I'm going to live on it with my children and we're going to go abroad." We lived on this bus and we had nowhere to go. We travelled to France and drove around France for a while and ended up in Spain and drove around Spain for a while. I'm talking about a few months, actually, not just a few days or a few weeks, a few months and we had no fixed abode. We didn't know where we were going or what we were doing. We were just trying to figure it out. And of course, we ended up back in the UK. Alright, next on the list is an adjective and it is sensory. Sensory. We spell this S E N S O R Y. Sensory. Sensory. So, sensory describes the ability to perceive or experience through the senses. There is a particular type of toddler group that you'll find in the UK, which are called like sensory groups or sensory sessions. Or you might have a sensory room. So, in my child's nursery, there is a sensory room and it's where they focus on exciting the senses. So, they have like, you know, different coloured lights, fairy lights, flashing lights. They'll have things that make bubbles and there's lights moving through the bubbles and there's music and there are little musical instruments where they can make sounds and music. There'll be rain sticks and there might be sensory boxes where they can put their hands in and play with different materials like sand and water, maybe some sticky stuff. So, it's all about using your different senses, things that smell interesting, that feel interesting, sound and look interesting. So, something is described as sensory, then it's experiencing something through your senses. So, a sensory room, sensory play, a sensory session. Alright, let me give you another example,"Some people have heightened sensory abilities, allowing them to taste, smell and see things more intensely than others." Okay, moving on to the next word, and it is an adjective again. It's star-struck. Star-struck. We spell this S T A R. Hyphen. Struck. S T R U C K. Star-struck. Star-struck. If you are star-struck or described as star-struck, then you are in awe or greatly admiring a famous person, a celebrity, perhaps. So, if you are walking down the street and you walk past Taylor Swift or Leonardo DiCaprio or someone that you truly admire, then you might be star-struck. If you're in awe of them and you greatly admire them and you see them and you go,"Oh, my goodness!" Then you're star-struck. Usually being star-struck is also, it means that you don't have the ability to just be yourself with a person. So, it might be that you can't help but smile the whole time that you're talking to them and you feel nervous in front of them because you are in awe of them. You admire them so much. Here's an example,"Melanie was completely star-struck when she met her favourite actor at the Oscars ceremony." I think I would be star-struck actually if I went to a huge ceremony like the Oscars. I've rubbed shoulders with many famous people, with royalty and with Hollywood stars, with very well-known British actors, and I don't tend to be star-struck. But there are a couple of actors that I absolutely love and I think I would be star-struck if I was in their company. For example, I've met Dame Judi Dench twice and I definitely found it hard to be myself in front of her. Okay, next on the list is another adjective and this is intricate. Intricate. We spell this I N T R I C A T E. Intricate. Intricate. If something is described as intricate, then it is complex or detailed. So, it's not simple. For example, if you were to open up a calculator, it would be quite intricate inside. It would be difficult to fix, not like a simple toy, a little mechanical toy where you could perhaps just realign some of the mechanisms and make them work again with something that used circuit boards or electronics, then that would be much more intricate and more difficult to mend because it's intricate, it's complex. Here's another example,"The intricate design of the stained glass window took the artist months to complete". Alright, last on the list is an adverbial phrase. And the phrase is, in all its glory. In all its glory. We spell this in, I N. All, A L L. Its, I T S. Glory, G L O R Y. In all its glory. If something is done, shown, or displayed in all its glory, then it's shown in all in the most impressive and magnificent state. For example, let's say that you are at a peacock park and the park is full of peacocks. And you have heard about these amazing peacocks and their beautiful feathers. But as you're walking around, all the peacocks have their feathers down and just trailing behind them. But then finally, one peacock is in front of you and it has its feathers in full display. So, they're lifted up and fanned out as it tries to impress the female. And you look at it and say,"Wow, now I finally seen a peacock in all its glory." So, it's displaying itself. It's showcasing itself in an impressive way and it's magnificent. You'll see it in all its glory. Okay, here's another example,"The sunset over the horizon in all its glory was a breathtaking sight to behold." Okay, that's our five for today. So, let's recap those five pieces. We started with the noun whim. Whim, which is a sudden or impulsive decision or action. Then we had the adjective sensory. Sensory. Something that you perceive with all your senses or experience with all your senses. Then we had the adjective star-struck. When you meet someone that you know who's famous and you are completely in awe, you completely admire them. Then we had the adjective intricate. Intricate, something that is complex or detailed. Then we had the adverbial phrase in all its glory, in all its glory, which is to showcase or display something in the most impressive way, in its most magnificent state of being. Great. Let's do this now for pronunciation. Please repeat after me. Whim. Whim. Sensory. Sensory. Star-struck. Star-struck. Intricate. Intricate. In all its glory. In all its glory. Fantastic. Okay, so let's now test your memory. A few months ago I met Elon Musk and I was surprised because although I know who he is, of course, everyone knows who he is, I've never been a particular fan of Elon Musk not that I dislike him, I don't think very much really. But when I met him, I suddenly felt in awe and admiration of him. And I couldn't really string a sentence together. I was a bit clumsy with my words. I felt a bit flustered. What adjective could I use to describe my state of awe and admiration in the presence of Elon Musk? I was star-struck. Yes, it really took me by surprise. Anyway, we had a really nice and very long conversation. I happened to tell him that I'd just actually lost my job working at Tesco's as a checkout girl, and randomly, he decided in a moment of impulse to hire me as his events manager for an upcoming event. I was so surprised. It was such an impulsive decision and just came out of nowhere. What noun could we use to describe this sudden and impulsive decision that Elon Musk just made? Whim. Yes. He hired me on a whim, even though I had no experience whatsoever in events planning or management. It was crazy, but you know, I'm not going to turn him down. I need a job. And being star-struck, of course, I was just going to say"Yes", even if it all was on a whim and probably a terrible idea. So, Elon went on to explain to me that what he needed me to do was to plan an event for his brand-new vehicle. This was a vehicle that was so complex that it was going to take the world by storm. It was going to really do so well because it was so unique, so complex, and so different to anything out there on the market. What adjective could we use to describe this new vehicle being so complex and so detailed? Intricate. It was a very intricate design. This new vehicle was just like nothing I'd ever seen before. So, I decided that during the launch, the big launch event should be using all the senses. We should get the audience to experience this brand-new technology using all their senses. I wanted new smells. I wanted interesting sounds and interesting textures all around the room. I wanted it to be a completely immersive experience. I wanted them to really feel the excitement of this new intricate design for this vehicle. What adjective could we use to describe this launch experience that was going to use all of the participants' senses? A sensory experience. Yes, it was going to be a sensory launch event. They were going to love it. It was going to be just as unique as the vehicle itself. People would be talking about this launch for years to come. And then finally, the night came. It was a stressful few months of planning, but I brought it all together and we did have this incredibly sensory launch event and people loved it. And they got to see this brand-new vehicle showcased in the most impressive and magnificent way. They could see everything that was so wonderful about it. What adverbial phrase would we use here to describe the showcasing in a very impressive way? In all its glory. Yes. So, let me remind you. I met Elon Musk, not someone I'd particularly followed much in the past, but I knew who he was. And then meeting him, I suddenly became star-struck. I was in awe and admiration and I spoke to him for a very long time, told him I was out of a job and on a whim, he hired me, which was crazy. He told me that he was about to launch this incredible new type of vehicle that was unlike anything else the world had ever seen. And it had a very intricate design, very complex. And so it needed a special kind of launch event that he wanted me to plan. So, I wanted to make it a sensory event so that everyone who came to the event would be thrilled. All their senses would be thrilled, the smells, the tastes, the sounds, the sights. It would be incredible. And it was, and the vehicle was shown in all its glory. And I was given a huge bonus."Woohoo!" Okay. Let's now bring those pieces together one last time in today's storytime. I couldn't believe it when I received the email. I had entered a competition on a whim, never thinking I would actually win. But there it was, in my inbox"Congratulations, you have won two tickets to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix!" I let out a whoop of joy and immediately called my friend, Mike, who was just as big of an F1 fan as I was. We had been dreaming of going to the Grand Prix for years, but could never afford the expensive tickets. This was a dream come true. We arrived in Abu Dhabi, buzzing with excitement. The atmosphere was electrifying as we made our way to the pit lane. We were greeted by the sound of roaring engines and the smell of burning rubber. Oh, it was a sensory overload for any F1 fan. As we walked through the pit lane, we saw the cars up close and personal. I couldn't believe it I was actually here, at a Grand Prix, surrounded by my favourite sport. Mike and I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. But the best was yet to come. We were given access to the pit garages and got to meet the drivers and crew. I was star-struck as I shook hands with Lewis Hamilton and got a picture with him. We even got a tour of the garage and saw the intricate workings of the cars. The highlight of the weekend was watching the race from the pit lane. We could feel the heat and hear the deafening noise as the cars zoomed past us. It was an adrenaline rush like no other. As the race came to an end, we were sad that our weekend was over. But the memories we made will stay with us forever. I still can't believe that I, a 21-year-old from Crewe, got to experience the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in all its glory. Dreams really do come true, and this was one dream I will never forget. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. I do hope you found it useful and enjoyable. And until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.