Hello and welcome to The English We Speak,
I'm Neil and … I am waiting for Li.
Ouch.
I'm Li, here on the floor.
I went head over heels but…but I'm ready to
present the programme, Neil.
Are you okay, Li?
Let me help you up.
Thank you.
I appreciate you helping me to stand up.
I am sorry that you fell over like that.
You sounded so cheerful…
so, you are head over heels, Li?
Who is the lucky guy?
The lucky guy?
What do you mean, Neil?
Well, the one you are head over heels
in love with.
Is it anyone I know?
Anyone you know?
I don't know what
you are talking about, Neil.
I have just fallen flat on my face…
You said that you are head over heels.
This is an expression we use in English to say
that you had such a dramatic fall that your
head was over your feet and we use it when
we want to say that someone fell madly in love.
Oh, that's when we say that someone
has fallen head over heels for another person.
You can also imagine you are a gymnast
doing somersaults or cartwheels.
Your head goes literally over your heels.
Yeah…It makes sense: when you are in
love it might mean that you are so happy
that you feel like jumping around.
They met at a dinner party and fell
head over heels for each other.
He is gorgeous!
I am head over heels in love with him!
She is a hopeless romantic: she is always
head over heels in love with somebody.
So, who is it Li?
Who have you fallen
head over heels in love with?
I promise I won't tell a soul.
Neil, I came here very excited to present
a programme with you
but I must say that now my head hurts…
Your head hurts?
… my feet are sore…
Your feet are sore?
What's been going on?
… but I am certainly not in love
with this bin that made me fall over.
Oh…
Okay.
So no juicy gossip for us today.
Well, we'd better say goodbye.
No juicy gossip!
And let's finish the programme because
I'd better go and have an aspirin.
Bye!
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
I'm Feifei.
And I'm the new, improved Roy.
Wow, Roy - you look really different!
Why are you wearing a suit?
Well, I decided to give some of my
old clothes away to charity and start
wearing my suit and tie and cut my hair short.
Also, I'm wearing these shoes
that have a metal sole to reduce
my plastic footprint.
You know that plastic footprint
doesn't relate specifically to your shoes, right?
Plastic footprint relates
to the amount of plastic you use in
your everyday life.
Yep, and I'm very aware of the amount
of plastic I use - in fact, I get really
angry when I receive or buy something
that uses unnecessary plastic packaging.
Roy, I've never heard you get angry before.
I'm really impressed you care
about plastic footprint.
Well, I only get upset when it relates
to the future of the planet - a planet
my son and his children will inherit.
Let's listen to these examples.
I've tried to avoid buying things
that use too much plastic packaging
because I'm very aware of my plastic footprint.
The shop has starting using paper
bags to reduce its plastic footprint.
First it was carbon, now it's our
plastic footprint we have to reduce.
I have to read more about it.
This is The English We Speak
from BBC Learning English and
we're talking about the expression
'plastic footprint'.
This relates to the amount of plastic that we
use in our everyday life.
Roy, how are you reducing
your plastic footprint?
Well, first of all, whenever I buy
a coffee, I use a reusable coffee cup.
Also, when you buy things, do
you use single-use plastic bags?
No, I don't.
I have reusable bags
that are made of cloth rather than plastic.
What else can be done?
Well, bringing your own bottle to
drink water can help, and also
avoiding plastic cutlery.
I always take my cutlery from home.
Do you drink a lot of tea?
Yes, I do.
Why?
Well, you should always make
sure that the tea bags you use
are biodegradable if you want to
reduce your plastic footprint.
I didn't know that!
Well, speaking of tea, do you want a cup?
I'd love one.
Me too, now go and make me
one while I do some work.
Bye, Roy.
OK, Feifei. Bye!
Hello and welcome to The English
We Speak from BBC Learning English.
I'm Feifei...
Excuse me, Neil - could we have
your attention, please?
Oh, sorry.
I was just playing this computer game -
I'm so addicted!
I just need to get the zombies to jump
in the jelly and ...
OK, OK, I get the idea.
But why are you looking so serious?
Serious?
Oh no, I'm not looking serious, I'm
concentrating - this is my game face!
Oh, that's a game face!
I wondered what one was,
and now I know.
If we describe someone as
having a game face,
we mean they have an intense, serious
expression because they
are focussed and determined to win a
game or achieve something they want.
And Neil, you are serious about winning
your game?
Yes - just one more zombie in the
jelly to go.
Let's have some examples, shall we?
You could tell by his
game face that he was going to win!
Look at Jaya's game face - you can tell
she is determined to win the race.
Put your game face on when you go to
the bank and ask to borrow some money.
You're listening to
The English We Speak from
BBC Learning English.
Neil's telling me about his 'game face' -
a serious or intense
facial expression that
someone has when they're
determined to win something.
Is this a face we only use for
computer games?
No. We can use it for board games, chess,
sport also - anywhere where you need to
focus to win the game or just achieve
something important.
Now, please be quiet,
I need to finish this game!
Sorry, Neil!
Oh no!
What's wrong?
The game has frozen.
It won't work!
So, is that your game face I'm looking at now?
No, this is just my angry face.
Oh dear.
We could call it your 'game over' face!
Grrrr.
Bye.
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
I’m Jiaying.
…and hello, I’m Rob… biting my tongue.
Rob, ‘bite your tongue’ is our phrase today,
but you don’t have to physically do it!
Oh, phew!
Biting my tongue was painful, and it was very hard to speak.
Well, that’s why we sometimes tell people to bite their tongue.
You see, when we ‘bite our tongue’, we are stopping ourselves from
saying something that might offend or upset someone.
It might be inappropriate too.
You might also say to someone else ‘bite your tongue’.
It means ‘don’t say it!’
But, Rob, we don’t physically bite our tongues.
Right.
So, for example, I shouldn’t tell someone they’ve put on weight?
I should bite my tongue?
Exactly.
Just like the people in these examples…
I wanted to tell him his new shirt looked awful,
but I decided to bite my tongue!
I know the food’s not great, but please bite your tongue and just eat it.
I had to bite my tongue when my friend kept bragging about her ‘great’ exam results.
This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English.
We’re learning about the phrase ‘bite your tongue’,
which means to ‘stop yourself from saying something offensive, hurtful or inappropriate’.
So, Rob, we shouldn’t tell people we think they’ve
gained a bit of weight, should we?
No, we should bite our tongue.
Good. And I will bite my tongue about your weight.
Excuse me?
What about my weight?
Sorry, Rob, I am biting my tongue.
Hmm.
Maybe saying nothing at all is better than saying something.
Do you fancy a biscuit?
Thanks, Rob.
Bye.
Ouch, I’ve bitten my tongue!
This is The English We Speak with me, Feifei…
…and me, Rob.
Now, our piece of authentic real English in this programme is, Feifei…
… twiddle your thumbs.
OK, I will…
Err, what are we waiting for?
Nothing, Rob!
‘Twiddle your thumbs’ is the phrase.
Oh sorry, Feifei – I thought you were telling me
to wait around, not do anything, until something happens.
Why would I do that?
So, you can watch me twiddle my thumbs?
No, Rob.
The informal phrase ‘twiddle your thumbs’ means to wait around, doing nothing,
until something happens.
But, you can twiddle your thumbs again,
while we listen to some examples…
Where have you been?
I’ve been twiddling my thumbs, waiting for you to arrive.
Just twiddle your thumbs while we work out how the computer works.
I’ve been twiddling my thumbs because I arrived early for the meeting.
This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re learning
about the phrase’ twiddle your thumbs’ which means do nothing
while waiting for something to happen.
We don’t actually have to twiddle our thumbs when we have nothing to do, do we?
Of course not.
It just describes having nothing to do.
So, you mean being bored?
Yes, exactly – and you know what is a good solution
for stopping you from twiddling your thumbs?
No.
Doing something, like making your colleague a nice cup of tea.
Hint taken.
See you later.
Bye.
Welcome back, Feifei!
Good holiday?
The best, Neil!
We flew to Mexico,
then up to California,
and then drove all
the way across the States
from LA to New York.
Incredible.
All in one week?
Yes.
It's just that...
What?
I can't help thinking...
all that travelling can't be great
for the environment.
I know.
You must have
a pretty big carbon footprint right now.
Enormous.
Let's take a moment to explain this
phrase 'carbon footprint'.
Then plan what to do about it.
Carbon dioxide is a gas
that contributes to climate change.
And your 'carbon footprint' is
the amount of carbon dioxide
you produce through your
activities - things like how much
electricity you use...
How much oil and gas you use...
What you eat is another factor.
And of course your trips by car, plane and so on...
If you take a lot of flights,
then you have a large carbon footprint!
Like me.
And me.
And the people in these examples.
I used the air conditioning non-stop
all summer.
My carbon footprint must be huge.
Martina has the highest carbon footprint
of all her colleagues.
She drives everywhere,
flies every weekend, and eats nothing
but red meat.
I downloaded an app to calculate
my carbon footprint.
The results are pretty shocking.
You're listening to The English
We Speak from BBC Learning English.
The expression we're looking at
in this programme is 'carbon footprint'.
OK, we've heard the examples.
And Neil, I have a plan.
It's time to reduce my footprint.
Great. That's the verb we normally use: reduce.
We talk about reducing
our carbon footprint, by changing
the way we live. So, what's the plan?
I'm going to cycle to work, use less
heating in winter, and...
I've got these new shoes.
Great.
But, shoes?
They're made of recycled plastic.
Fantastic, aren't they?
Well, that's one way to reduce your footprint!
I even brought you a pair -
a little present from my trip LA.
You're so kind. I can wear them when
I'm in Tokyo this weekend.
And Paris next week.
Oh, and Iceland tomorrow.
Only kidding!
Yes, I want to hear your plan
to reduce your carbon footprint, Neil!
Bye.
Hello and welcome to
The English We Speak.
It’s me, Feifei…
…and it's me, Rob.
Now, Feifei, have you been baking again?
I have, Rob. As you can see,
I’ve been very busy –
so, feast you eyes on these cookies.
Wow – so many.
Thanks!
I’ll start with the chocolate chip cookies, shall I?
Stop! What are you doing?
Well, I'm feasting on your cookies –
like you said.
You meant ‘eat lots’, didn’t you?
No, I said ‘feast your eyes’ on them –
not just ‘feast on them’.
Oh… so no eating, just looking?
Exactly! To ‘feast you eyes on
something' means 'enjoy' - or even 'be amazed by' –
'looking at something or someone
because of the quantity, quality or
beauty of what you see'.
So, Rob, you can look at all my
amazing cookies, but don’t eat them.
Oh, really?
Yes, really. Now, feast your eyes -
and ears – on these examples instead!
This is the best room in the hotel –
feast your eyes on the amazing view.
I’ve prepared a special birthday meal –
feast your eyes on all this food.
The new art exhibition is a feast for your eyes –
the artist has used so many colours.
This is The English We Speak from
BBC Learning English, and we’re
hearing about the phrase ‘feast your
eyes on something’ –
it means look at or be amazed by what you see.
But Feifei, what is the point of
just looking at the food and not eating it?
Because they aren’t for you.
They’re a present for Roy – it’s his birthday.
But if you ask him nicely,
he might just give you one.
Just one cookie isn’t really a feast –
but it’s better than just looking.
Rob, I think your eyes are bigger
than your belly!
Thanks, Feifei.
Now hurry up and give
Roy his birthday present, please!
OK.
Bye.
Bye bye.
Welcome to The English We Speak with me, Jiaying…
… and me, Neil.
Are you OK, Neil?
You look really tired.
I am – my best friend is living with me
and he's a nightmare.
He never does the washing-up, and
he plays his guitar all day – which he’s rubbish at!
I’m just so stressed – I can’t relax.
Sounds like he’s living rent-free in your head.
What?
No Jiaying, rent is important –
and he pays that.
He’s just annoying to live with.
Why do you think he doesn’t pay rent?
No, Neil, I said ‘live rent-free in your head’.
We use this expression to say we can’t stop
thinking about something or someone.
It can be used to talk about things
or people you love or that annoy you.
It commonly relates to thinking
about something or someone to the point of becoming obsessed.
Ahhh that makes sense.
I thought you were
saying I have a big head and someone could live in it.
I didn’t think that comment through.
Well – now you know.
We can talk more about it after these examples.
Juan loves Kika so much.
She lives rent-free in his head.
The moment we lost the football final lives
rent-free in my head.
I can’t stop thinking
about what could have been.
You need to stop thinking about your
argument with him.
He’s living rent-free in your head.
You’re listening to The English We Speak from BBC
Learning English, and we’re talking about
the expression ‘live rent-free in one’s head’.
We use this expression to talk about
something or someone we can’t stop thinking about.
Yes – for example – I became totally
obsessed with videos on decorating
cakes and they lived rent-free in my head.
I loved it so much.
Instead of saying ‘live rent-free in your head’,
you could say ‘can’t get something
or someone out of your mind’.
Like my best friend – I can’t stop thinking about him!
Yes – he’s really annoying you –
have you decided what to do with him?
I have – I told him your address,
and now he’s coming to live with you.
Oh no!
Then he’ll be living rent-free in my head!
Just joking – I would never do that.
Bye, Neil.
Bye.