Hello there!
In this regular newsletter, I sit down with a cup of tea and tell you about my recent worksheets, video lessons and social media posts. I also share study tips, cultural insights, and try to motivate you to keep working on your English fluency! Subscribe to get this newsletter in your email.
Site News
Since the last newsletter, I’ve made three new lesson worksheets and two YouTube videos:
Worksheets:
- True Story – The racehorse that became a painter
- News – Man opens airplane door and walks on wing
- Easy English – Saya’s new fruit juice
Videos:
- English Speaking Drills – “When I was younger…”
- English News Lesson – Man Opens Airplane Door and Walks on Wing!
I wasn’t able to do a Livestream this week, but I uploaded 6 short videos! You can find them on my Instagram.
Nick’s News
About 10 years ago I was really into long-distance running and triathlons. I used to go swimming two or three times a week. Unfortunately, work got busier and running injuries put an end to most of my exercise habits.
Recently, though, I’ve been inspired by British super-athlete Ross Edgley, and the Netflix movie Nyad, to go swimming again. I’ll need to buy some new shorts, goggles and a hat. I look forward to using the big jacuzzi at the pool.
British Culture
I used to hate swimming in England. At primary school, we had an outdoor pool which was always freezing cold, and at secondary school, the changing rooms were too small for all the boys to use at the same time, and I was always embarrassed about changing in public. I was glad when someone – probably a student – set fire to the swimming pool building and it burned to the ground!
I did enjoy my hometown’s leisure center, though. It was huge, with a floor that could be raised for children or lowered for adults – one of the first in the country with such a feature. They also had some fun kids events, like this one.
I took my son to the wave pool in my mum’s town. I was really surprised how few people they allow in. In Japan, a wave pool is usually full of people. In England, they limit how many people can go in, so the pool is only half full.
Also, the lifeguards are really strict. They whistled at me when I jumped in. That’s not allowed. They whistled at me when I put my son on my shoulders. That’s not allowed. They also whistled at me when I went underwater. That’s not allowed. And they whistled at me when we splashed water at each other. That’s not allowed either.
It never used to be like that.
British English
Here are some common English phrases used to talk about swimming:
- Take a dip (= go in the water)
- Doing lengths (= swimming laps in the pool)
- Jump in at the deep end (= an idiom meaning ‘start a difficult task without much preparation’)
- sink or swim (= either give up or keep going!)
- Like water off a duck’s back (= an idiom meaning ‘not affected by criticism’)
Study Tip
Here is a fluency slide from my Instagram post about a woman who can remember everything!
Notice the rhythm when we stress the important words. See also how we link words together. The ə symbol (schwa) is used for words that are not important and shouldn’t be stressed: and changes to ən and to changes to tə.
Motivation
In the classic kung fu film, Drunken Master (1978), Jackie Chan has to do hanging sit ups. Every time he pulls himself up, he needs to fill a bucket with water from a cup in each hand. This exercise gives him strength, balance and teaches him patience and discipline (control).
You can use this idea when learning English. For example, start with a cup full of coins. Then say an English sentence and take a coin out. Repeat the sentence and take out a coin until the cup is empty. The more times you say the sentence, the easier it will be to remember. If you have 100 coins and the sentence takes 8 seconds to say, you’ll be talking non-stop English for 13 minutes and 20 seconds! Try it!
Thank you for joining me for tea! If you’re enjoying my blog, please share the link with your friends. I really appreciate it!
All the best,
Nick
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