BOX SET: English vocabulary mega-class! 🤩 Learn 8 English 'human body expressions'!

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.