Swim faster!

Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

And I’m Erica.

And today we’re swimming.

That’s right. A nice summertime lesson for everyone.

A summertime lesson.

Aha.

So, we’re gonna be talking about swimming and… well, it’s a very popular sport, right?

Yeah, so this is another lesson in our sports series.

In our sports series, okay. So, why don’t we preview some of the language will find in the dialogue? Voice: Vocabulary preview.

Alright, we have two words to look at here, ah, the first word is sailing.

Sailing.

Sailing.

Sailing.

Well, this is the verb to sail, right?

Uhu.

So, sailing is traveling in a boat.

In a boat with no engine.

Right, so you must use the wind to push you forward.

Exactly, that’s a sailboat.

Yes.

Okay, so, sailing.

Uhu.

Now, let’s take a look at our other word, anchor.

Another boat word here.

Yeah.

Anchor.

Anchor.

Anchor.

Now, it’s spelled, A-N-C-H-O-R.

Right.

But you don’t pronounce the “CH” as you normally would, right?

Another one of these really difficult, ah, to spell English words.

Right, so you don’t say anCHor, you would say anKor.

AnKor.

AnKor.

AnKor.

So, the anchor is a verb and a noun.

That’s right, well, when anchor is used as a noun it means the hook, that you throw over the boat into the water and it keeps you staying in the same place.

Okay, but the verb to anchor.

Yes.

What does it mean?

To do that. Hehe.

To do that, right? Hehe. So, you… So, to throw the anchor into the water, you would just say, to anchor the boat.

Exactly, to keep it in the same place.

Okay, great words related to sailing, but now let’s listen to our dialogue for the first time, what’s… what’s happening here, Erica?

We’ve got two friends here, who are sailing in their boat and they decide to take a swim.

Hm, let’s see what happens.

Alright, so, a shark attack!

I know, this is my worst fear when swimming.

Hehe. Really? In the… in the ocean, right?

Yeah, well, also in the lake, but…

Hehe. No sharks in lakes.

I know but I’m still afraid of them.

Hehe. Alright, so, don’t worry about it, I’m sure the girl is okay, ah, it’s probably not a shark, maybe it was a dolphin.

Yeah, or maybe she’s gonna punch the shark in the face…

Hehe.

And she… she’ll escape.

Okay. Let’s take a look at some of the words that we saw in “language takeaway”. Voice: Language takeaway.

We have three excellent swimming words for you. The first one is doggy-paddling.

Doggy-paddling.

Doggy-paddling.

So, doggy-paddling, it’s not really a proper way of swimming, right?

No, you don’t see this in the Olympics.

So, if you’ve ever seen a dog’s swim

Uhu.

That’s why they call it doggy-paddling.

Right, you’re sort of moving your hands quickly in front of you.

Uhu, and your legs are all over the place.

Yeah.

And you’re basically not really swimming, you’re just trying to stay afloat.

Yes.

You’re trying not to drown.

Trying not to sink.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, so, doggy-paddling.

Again, this could be a noun or a verb. The doggy-paddle…

Uhu.

The swimming style. Or doggy-paddling, the verb.

Okay, interesting. Alright, let’s take a look at our second, ah, swimming style.

Breaststroke.

Breaststroke.

Breaststroke.

The breaststroke.

It’s like…

How’s this one?

Well, it’s sort of like swimming like a frog.

So you have your legs that are similar to like a frog, right?

Yeah.

And what are your hands doing?

Um, your hands are moving in front of you together.

Uhu.

Then out towards the side.

Okay.

So…

So you’re kind of doing like circles.

Yeah, half-circles.

Half-circles.

Uhu.

Okay, breaststroke.

Yeah.

But you get kind of tired when you swim like this, right?

Yeah, maybe, yeah.

Uhu.

Yeah.

Now, let’s take a look at our third word, backstroke.

Backstroke.

Backstroke.

Backstroke.

So, this one’s pretty easy. Backstroke, you are…

Lying on your back.

You’re lying on your back.

In the water.

Uhu, and you’re kicking your feet as well.

Yep.

But, what’re your hands doing?

They going behai… back behind you, see? I’m doing it now, you see?

Hehe. Alright, if you guys could be here in the studio you would see Erica doing her backstroke.

Yeah, I’m pretty good at it.

Yeah. Hehe. Okay, so let’s listen to this dialogue again, and then we’ll come back and look at some great phrases. DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

Okay, so, we have some really good phases related to swimming…

Uhu.

And water.

Yep.

Okay, let’s take a look at these in “fluency builder”. Voice: Fluency builder.

Alright, the first one, I love this phrase, um, take a dip.

Take a dip.

Take a dip.

So, if I say, I’m going to take a dip…

You’re going to have a quick swim.

A quick swim.

Yep.

So you can take a dip in the pool.

Yep.

In the lake.

In the ocean.

In the ocean. Even your… in your bath-tub, right?

No.

No?

No, it’s just for swimming.

Hehe.

Unless your bath-tub is really really really big.

Alright, so, not for the bath-tub, but for swimming.

Yep.

Okay. Now let’s take a look at our second phrase, for a little while.

For a little while.

For a little while.

For a little while.

This is really common, I use this a lot.

Yeah, me too, I probably use it five hundred times a day.

Hehe. Okay, so let’s listen to some examples with for a little while and then we’ll come back and explain it. Voice: Example one.

I’m tired, I just going to sit down for a little while. Voice: Example two.

It will only hurt for a little while. Voice: Example three.

Do you want to play tennis for a little while?

So it means for a short time.

For a short time. And you can change it, right? You can say "Oh, I’m going to play for a little while".

Yeah, or "I’m going to sleep for a little while".

Aha, for a short time.

Yep. Alright, so if learners use this phrase, um, I find it sounds really really great, cause it’s… it’s not something that students normally use.

Yeah, I guess a student wouldn’t really use this phrase normally.

Yeah, so, guys, use it, cause you’ll sound awesome.

Yeah, you’ll sound really really fluent. Okay, and let’s take a look at our last phrase, straight towards.

Straight towards.

Straight towards me.

Straight towards.

Okay, so straight means directly.

Right, in a line.

In a line, not going anywhere else but directly.

Yeah, not moving side to side.

And towards is in that direction.

Uhu.

So, the shark was coming straight towards me, it’s coming directly at me.

Moving in a line, and not moving side to side.

Okay, so can you give me another example of how you would use straight towards?

Watch out! There’s a car coming straight towards you!

Okay, directly towards you.

Yeah, or maybe, um, when I get home from work I go straight towards the fridge.

Really?

Yes.

I believe this.

Hehe.

Alright, so, straight towards, directly. Okay, so we’ve looked at a lot of great words, really good phrases, let’s listen to this dialogue one last time and then we’ll come back and Erica’s gonna tell us a really great story about boat.

Alright, well, Marco, I was telling you, um, that I used to spend every summer on the lake.

Uhu.

Um, and my family had a really small house on a small island.

Uhu.

And the my cousins had another small house on another small island.

Okay.

So our families are really close and we used to go to one house for dinner one night and another house to… dinner…

Uhu.

The next night. So, everyone was over at my cousins’ house except for my grandfather.

Uhu.

Um, and, so, he was thinking: okay, it’s late, maybe I’d better go pick up my wife and see what’s going on. So, he goes into the boat. It’s dark.

Okay.

There’s no light on the boat.

Uhu.

He’s driving straight towards the island when suddenly my… my cousin in his boat drives directly into my grandfather.

Hehe. So, they crashed.

They crashed.

Two boats crashed in the lake.

Yeah, and then my… my grandfather’s boat flipped over, turned upside down.

Wow.

And he fell in the water.

Da… wha… but he was okay, right?

Yeah, he was okay, but, um, you know what, he was really angry about this.

Hehe. And the boat?

The boat stayed in the water and, you know, the… the m… engine fell down to the bottom.

Aah.

So, we had to go the next morning to get the boat, and we actually had to, um, hire some scuba divers to go to the bottom of the lake to get the engine.

Wow.

Yeah, um…

I imagine your grandpa was pretty angry.

Yeah, he tells the story, um…

Every year.

Yeah, exactly.

Hehe.

Um, but you know what, I… I’ve got a million of these crazy lake stories, cause my family, just…

It always happens.

Yeah, um, yeah.

Hehe, alright guys, well, do you have any crazy stories or any stories related to boats or to swimming?

Or to shark attacks?

Or shark attacks.

Yeah.

Ah, so come to our website englishpod.com, leave your stories, share with us and also if you have any doubts or questions Erica and I are always there to answer.

Well, we’re out of time for this lesson, but, um, until next time… Good bye!

Bye!