Listening, Vocabulary, Comprehension: Learn 12 new words

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.

Hey, you want to share some of that popcorn?

Oh.

Hi.

James from engVid.

Today's lesson is going to be on listening, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Special lesson.

So, the lesson actually is about movies, and that is why E is eating popcorn.

I'm going to teach you nine phrases or words, vocabulary, that is used in both business

and casual conversations.

Okay?

So, we'll go through a story, and I need you to bear with me, which means wait for a second

or two, because I'm going to go off of camera, I will read the story so you can hear it - that's

your listening component - then when you come back, we will work on the vocabulary that

I have specially picked for you, so we'll go through that, and then afterwards we'll

listen to the story once again without me there so you can practice your comprehension.

Pretty cool, right?

Yeah.

So, this is on movies, okay, so we're going to go through some idioms and some vocabulary,

and we're going to start in about five seconds.

Four, three, two, one, action.

Summertime in Canada and the USA is usually kicked off with the summer blockbuster.

It's the movie season where big-budget movies are released.

These movies are not only fun and exciting, they are filled with bombshells, curveballs,

epiphanies, unexpected turns of events, and jaw-dropping revelations.

Unfortunately, many of these movies don't live up to the hype.

Okay, so we did the listening portion of the lesson, and I hope you had that pencil and

pen or whatever and some paper, took as many notes as you could.

Let's see what you might have missed, okay?

So, this is the vocabulary we're going to work on before we go back to the comprehension

where I will read the story again and you put your new knowledge with what you heard

before to see how much of the story you understand.

You ready?

Okay.

So, a blockbuster.

What is a blockbuster?

Well, it's a thing of great power or size.

In particular, okay, it is - it can be a movie, and we talked about the summer blockbusters.

It can be a book or a product that is a big commercial success, which means it makes a

lot of money.

So, when you hear, like, Harry Potter, that's a blockbuster when it comes out because it

makes money.

It doesn't have to be a movie.

And you can have a blockbuster idea, huh?

Well, when you have a blockbuster idea, it's a big idea that could be a commercial success.

Cool?

All right.

Next, kick off.

Well, to kick something off is to start or - to start something or to celebrate.

You think of soccer or football, depending on where you are, they have the kickoff where

they actually kick a ball and the game starts.

Right?

So, we could say - and you will next year, I'm sure - you'll say, "I want to kick off

the new year with a party."

That means you will celebrate.

Or "I want to kick off this meeting" - oh, see, there's a business term - "with the reports

from last week."

And that means to start.

Cool?

All right.

Next, bombshell.

That is something that is very surprising, amazing, or shocking.

Well, bombshell comes from "bomb".

A bomb is something that explodes.

Okay?

So, because it explodes, it can be very shocking.

Bombshell - the shell is the outside of it, but a bombshell is something that will completely

take you aback or completely surprise you, like the president has five wives.

That's bombshell news, right?

It's surprising, amazing, and shocking.

A bombshell can also be a very attractive woman, because she - I did a video on stunning.

It means they're so beautiful, it's like an explosion before you of beauty.

You can have - they used to say a blonde bombshell, but you could have a brunette bombshell and

a black-haired bombshell.

And it's usually a female, though, and it means they are sexy and very attractive.

So, you could say "I dated a bombshell last year", or the bombshell revelation - oops,

sorry, I jumped ahead and was going to give you one of the words that's coming up down

here, but I'm going to go to curveball first.

A curveball is something unexpected or disruptive, and what does that mean?

In baseball, they throw a ball.

It usually goes in a straight line.

With a curveball, it looks like - see, I got a curveball for you.

You didn't expect that, did you?

It looks like they're throwing a straight ball, but the ball will actually curve and

go on an angle.

So, it's unexpected, so the person trying to hit the ball doesn't know it's going to

go over there.

And disruptive means you have a plan, and the curveball changes that plan.

Okay?

So, it will disrupt your plans or break them.

So, when someone throws you a curveball, you're like "Okay, tonight I'm going to be going

home, having dinner, da-da-da-da".

Your boss comes in and goes "Hey, Johnson, we need to get the Williamson project done".

He goes "Oh, man, but I had plans".

He's disrupted them with a curveball.

Something unexpected.

Revelation.

It's a surprising fact that was previously unknown, especially done in a dramatic way.

Funny enough, revelations is in the Bible, and it's to tell people to reveal.

So, you look in the revel, it's to reveal something.

An example would be this.

When the police arrested him, there were many revelations about his criminal past.

Things that people didn't know were revealed, or came out so people could know about it.

Okay?

And I said to the police to give you that dramatic effect, because it's like "He was

arrested and then these things came out".

Okay?

Next.

Unexpected turn of events.

It's a sudden change.

A curveball is something somebody gives you and it changes your plan.

An unexpected turn of events is like you're walking this way, and then you're walking

that way.

It's unexpected.

Not only is there a change, you didn't see it coming at all.

In the first example, something could throw off your plans, and this is just everything

was shifted to a different direction, and you weren't expecting it at all.

So are they similar?

Yes.

But when we say "unexpected", someone's going to say "You had no idea this could

happen at all".

Well, with a curveball, you had some plans and it's possible, so when something - you

found out something new, it did change it, but it was always - there was a possibility

of it.

But an unexpected change of plans is "You had no clue this was going to happen at all".

Jaw dropping.

I should say this.

Jaw dropping.

Okay?

So when we talk about something being jaw dropping, it means you're so surprised you

do this - I almost choked.

You see a lot in the movies.

Or for some of you guys, if - I don't know what Apple's at now, but if the Apple 15 came

out and the price was $5, you'd be like "$5 for the Apple 15 phone?

Ah!"

Your jaw would drop, right?

So it's surprising or amazing.

Now an epiphany is somewhat related to revelation, but not.

With a revelation, something is revealed to you.

I show you something you didn't know.

With an epiphany, you will suddenly have an understanding and it's very simple.

Simple doesn't mean like it's not smart, it just means it's - you're like "Oh, that just

makes sense.

It's not too complicated."

So it may be from a complex problem, but you suddenly understand it in a way that you're

just "Oh, that was nothing.

I get it."

And it comes to you suddenly and - sorry, suddenly and striking, so it comes from almost

nowhere.

Einstein used to say that he got his best ideas in the shower, so he'd be showering,

he would be thinking about the theory of relativity for days, days, days, then one day he'd be

showering and goes "Oh, light."

And the speed of "Oh, oh, good, that just makes sense, yeah."

It's an epiphany.

So, in this case, you reveal something to yourself and you get a deeper insight or understanding

of it.

Now, finally, to live up to the hype.

What is that one?

Okay.

So, when we talk about living up to the hype, hype is an expectation of something, so you

expect it or you anticipate something to be really good or amazing.

If you live up to the hype, it is as good and as amazing as I think it's supposed to

be.

If it doesn't live up to the hype, it's not as good as expected.

Many summer blockbusters - remember we talked about blockbusters - movies, they - you get

hype which they tell you "Best movie ever", "Spent 50 billion dollars", da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

So, you expect a movie up here, but many of them, hmm, don't live up to the hype and they're

not as good.

Wasted money.

Hmm?

But that's, you know, not here nor there, it's still a summer blockbuster.

Now that we've done a definition for each one of these things, what I'd like to do is

go back, because we've done the listening, we've done vocabulary.

Let's test your comprehension now that you've got these here, you've taken notes, I'll read

the story again, and we'll see how much of it you understand.

You ready?

Summertime in Canada and the USA is usually kicked off with a summer blockbuster.

It's the movie season where big budget movies are released.

These movies are not only fun and exciting, they are filled with bombshells, curveballs,

epiphanies, unexpected turn of events, and jaw-dropping revelations.

Unfortunately, many of these movies don't live up to the hype.

All right, then.

Let's go and check your comprehension.

As I said, we've done our listening, our vocabulary, let's apply it.

And I'm betting you're going to find that, even me standing here, you can figure out

what it is.

It's almost like you've got magical mental powers, and you do, it's called comprehension.

Once you learn to think in a given language, you can almost predict what the person's going

to say based on what comes before it.

All right?

So, let's go for the first one.

"Google and Apple are joining forces to create a something video game."

Now, remember, Google and Apple are huge companies, and if they got together, that would be a

financial success, right?

So, they would be - it would be a blockbuster video game, right?

It's not going to be a small one, so Google and Apple are joining forces to create a blockbuster

video game, and you know it would take the internet by storm.

And if you guys do that - do that, Apple and Google, give me a cut, because I just mentioned

it.

All right.

Next.

"The Ralph Lauren store had a sale with something prices."

Ralph Lauren's expensive.

If they had a sale, like a big sale, what would happen?

Yeah, it would be jaw-dropping prices, right?

The prices would make you - oh, so much money I saved, that's incredible.

What about number three?

"The new Ford truck promised to be better than every other truck, but it didn't" - I

would say so.

"It didn't live" - and you should have guessed it, it's really long - "up to the hype", right?

They hyped it, they said it's going to be great, but it didn't live up to those expectations,

it didn't live up to the hype.

And number four, "We something our retirement with a trip to Mexico."

Wow, that sounds like a celebration.

And a bit of a party, so that would be "We".

We kicked off our retirement, right?

Bit of a party, going to a nice country that's nice and warm when it's cold in Canada and

the United States.

Now, what about this one?

"The president who took over the company just three days ago died in an" - wow, that's sudden,

isn't it?

Mm-hmm.

That was sudden, so it's unexpected, and I bet before I get here, you'll finish it.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, that's an unexpected turn of events.

And that is your conclusion to your quiz, congratulations.

I'm betting you probably got five out of five, and you're surprised that we did just a story

and you were able to figure out and now have a greater understanding of some English.

Cool?

All right.

So, what we're going to do now is my favourite part to give you a bit of a bonus.

You worked hard, so I'm going to give you a little extra for staying here.

All right?

So, this one, let me go here, make sure you can see me.

All-star cast.

So, what is that?

Well, I think it was 2000 and - I can't remember, Michael Jordan was on the team, Scotty Pippen,

they were on the Olympic team, the American Olympic team, and they called it "The Dream

Team" because it was basically all the best players of the NBA went to play at the Olympics.

Guess who won?

Surprise, surprise, the American team, okay?

But if you watch a movie and it's got Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Chris Helmsworth, the

three Chrises, that would be an all-star cast of Chrises, right?

All superheroes in a movie.

When you have an all-star cast, it means the group is completely made up of the star performers,

the best.

Some movies you'll see and they'll say an all-star cast, and it will have the biggest

names in movies, and they'll all be in the same movie, which is pretty cool.

But this also happens for sports teams, and if you have an all-star cast in your company,

it would be the best manager, the best salesperson, the best developer, period, and they might

be the best in the industry, okay?

Break a leg is interesting.

It sounds like it's bad stuff, but it's actually good luck.

This came from the superstitious theatre.

In the theatre, they used to say "break a leg" because they were afraid that if somebody

said, "I wish you good luck", you might have bad luck.

So, the mentality, crazy, was to wish you would break a leg, and because they gave - saying

bad luck, that you would probably have good luck.

I'm not a theatre major, but anytime someone says to you, "Hey, break a leg", they actually

mean the exact opposite, and they're being superstitious to try not to bring bad luck

to you, alright?

Now, to be in the limelight - well, right now, if I stand here, you're going to see

me get brighter.

I'm in the light.

It's like someone's putting a spotlight on you.

It's not quite the same spotlight, but you're a public figure, and what it means is people

want to know about you besides what you do at your job.

So, when you're in the limelight, if you're a TV star, they love the fact you're a TV

star, but they want to know who you're married to, who you're dating, what you're doing on

the weekends.

So, some people like being in the limelight, which is people want to know about them, and

other people shy away or go away from the limelight because they want to keep their

business personal.

They don't want everyone to know about it.

What kind of person are you?

It's a good question.

Now, as always, I want to say thank you for watching the video.

Because of that, I'm going to give you homework.

Why?

Because homework makes you better, right?

And if it makes you better, I feel like I'm doing the job I want to do, which is serve

you.

So, I'm not talking french fries, I'm talking education.

Okay?

So, I'm going to give you two questions, and these two questions will be worth - hmm, let

me see - 10 million points each.

That's right, I'm going big now.

You get 10 million points for each one you get correct.

The first question is, "Many new products fail to something they create."

What is the answer for that question?

And the second one, "The new book had many" - ooh, there's two of them there.

So you know what?

You can get 30 million if you get it right.

Put them in the comments below.

As I said, other students will - and I've seen it happen many times - give you a thumbs

up or down, whether that's on engVid or YouTube or whatever platform you're using.

Anything else?

Oh, please make sure you go to www.engvidasavideo.com, where there'll be a further - you know, more

of a quiz, 10 questions that you can do to see how much you comprehended.

And before I go, I do have a quote for you, and it has to do with movies, because this

was about movies.

It's, "Life is not the amount of breath you take, it's the moments that take your breath

away."

Some of you are - right away said, "Hitch", Will Smith, and that's correct.

Will Smith said that line in the movie Hitch, where he was playing Alex Hitchens, and this

particular video is going out for Virginia in Italy, she talked about movies, so this

is for you.

Anyway, you have a great day, all of you.

And go enjoy the quiz.

As always, it's a pleasure.

See you.