Learn English Vocabulary Daily #13.3 - British English Podcast

Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native Podcast.

My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 13, Day 3 of Your English Five a Day.

This is a series that aims to increase your active vocabulary by deep

diving into five pieces every day of the week from Monday to Friday.

So, let's kick off today's list with a verb and it is truant.

Truant.

I'm spelling this T R U A N T.

Truant.

Truant.

To truant is to be regularly absent from school.

Usually while you're pretending to your parents that you have gone to school.

So, if you leave the house in the morning.

You're school-aged and you leave the house say,

"Bye dad, I'm going to school now."

And you take your school bag and you're wearing your uniform and you leave the

house on time, but you don't actually go to school, you do something else, maybe

meet up with your friends and go to the shopping centre or you go and hang out

by the river or go to the park and spend time there instead of going to school.

That's truanting.

Now we often couple this with the verb 'play', to play truant.

So, truant is also a noun.

You are a truant if you do this kind of activity.

So, you can play truant.

And you can simply, truant.

It sounds funny when you say a word over and over and over again, it

starts to sound a little peculiar.

I'm racking my brain now trying to think, have I ever played truant?

I don't think I have.

I have snuck out from my house before and I've pretended that I'm going to

a certain friend's house to my parents when actually I've gone somewhere

else, but I've always gone to school because I'm very much, I'm a good girl.

I'm the kind of person who does as I'm supposed to do most of the time.

So, I've never played truant or I've never truanted.

Okay, here's an example sentence.

"Years ago it was so easy to play truant from school.

Nowadays, the doors and gates are locked so children can't get in or out

without permission during school hours."

Have you ever played truant in your life?

I'd love to know.

OK, next on our list is the noun absenteeism, absenteeism.

So, this is a long one and we spell it A B S E N T E E I S

M, absenteeism, absenteeism.

So, absenteeism is a situation in which people are not at school

or work when they're supposed to be, when they should be there.

So, if someone is absent, they are not there, they're not present.

But they should be.

Often we're absent because of illness or sometimes because of a family situation

or a problem at home then we have to take a day off work or a day off

school, sometimes to visit the dentist or the doctor or to go to a funeral.

Sometimes to go on a holiday outside of school holidays, which is very naughty.

Actually, I think it's illegal in this country, but that is to be absent.

So, absenteeism talks about the situation in which this happens.

Here's an example sentence.

"The rate of absenteeism towards the end of term is so high, it's hardly

worth the school even opening."

You got one of my character voices there.

Okay, so moving on, we have another verb and it is register.

Register.

Now we spell this R E G I S T E R.

Register.

Register.

Now this particular version of register is slightly different to what maybe

you're used to, which is when you put your name down for something.

So, like you might register for a website or register a domain name if you're

going to set up your own website, but this register is to realise something

or to accept it as valid information.

So, for example, I might say to you,

"Hey guys, something is happening."

And you might hear me, but not really hear me.

So, you might hear the words coming out of my mouth, but not

take on board the information.

That sometimes happens, doesn't it?

You're just listening, but you're not really focusing on what's being said.

So, if I say to you,

"Hey guys, I'm doing an amazing promotion right now.

You can get a huge discount on my pronunciation course."

You might hear that, but not realise what I've said.

But if you're actively listening, then you'll know that there's a

promotion on my pronunciation course.

That means that you have registered the information.

It has registered.

Okay, here's another example.

"Can you not register the fact that if you keep missing class,

you will fail your exams?"

Okay, next on our list is a phrasal verb, and it is to fall behind, to fall behind.

We spell this F A L L, fall, and B E H I N D, behind.

Fall behind.

To fall behind is to fail to do something fast enough or on time, usually when

there are other people involved as well.

So you, you tend to fall behind others.

So, like if you're running, here's a very physical representation.

If you're running with a group of runners and you are slower than they are, and you

start to move to the back of the group and slowly then a gap starts to emerge

between you and the runners, they are getting further and further away from you.

Okay, then you are falling behind that group.

If we're talking in a school situation, and all the students are working through

a textbook, and by week five of the term, they're already on chapter four,

but you are still on chapter two, then you are falling behind your peers.

You're falling behind your classmates because you're not

doing it as fast as they are.

We can fall behind with work.

So, it's not always about other people, it's about the expectation

of how fast things should be done.

So, if I'm supposed to produce 10 pronunciation assessments a day, and that

would be quite hard because it takes me a while, if I were to do 10 a day, but I was

only producing 6 a day, then I'm falling behind with my pronunciation assessments.

And that would be a disaster.

Okay.

So, to fall behind, have you fallen behind with anything recently?

Here's another example.

"Mark was ill for six weeks and fell behind with his schoolwork.

We need to get him extra lessons otherwise he won't get the pass grade he needs."

There we go.

Pull out my old northern accent there.

Right, moving on to our final word for today and it is an adverb.

Idly.

Idly.

Idly.

This is spelled I D L Y.

Idly.

Idly.

Even though it's a small word, it actually feels quite hard to say.

Idly, idly, idly, idly.

A bit of a lateral plosive going on there, dl, dl, dl.

Idly.

So, if you do something idly, then you do it without any particular purpose.

So, you're not really driving towards anything.

You don't seem very motivated to achieve anything.

You're doing it idly.

Okay.

So, here's an example.

"I idly look through magazines when waiting to see the dentist.

I don't know why as they're always full of rubbish!"

So, in that example, idly looking through magazines would be flicking through

the pages of a magazine that you don't particularly want to read and you're not

really interested in anything in there.

You're just passing the time.

You're just bored and waiting.

These days people don't really do magazines in waiting rooms, they

just sit on their mobile phones and flick through social media.

Okay, so that's all for today.

Let's recap.

We had the verb truant or, as we commonly say, to play truant, which is to be

regularly absent from school while pretending that you're going to school.

Then we had the noun absenteeism, which is a situation in which people

are playing truant, or where they're just not at school or work when

they should be, so when they're just not there where they should be.

Then we had the verb register, which in this case is to realise something

and accept it as valid information.

We had the phrasal verb fall behind, when you fail to do something as fast as

you're supposed to, or to do it on time.

Then we had the adverb idly, which is to do something without any purpose.

Okay, so, if I am ill for a day, then I could say that I have what with my emails?

My emails are coming in thick and fast.

There are so many emails in my inbox.

So, if I'm sick for a day, away from my desk, away from my computer,

I will what, with my emails?

Fall behind.

That's right.

And if I hear what you say, but I don't take it on, then you could say

that I haven't what the information?

I haven't...

registered the information.

I haven't realised or accepted it.

If I want to talk about the number of people who haven't

been in school this term, we are going to talk about what noun?

We're going to talk about,

absenteeism, absenteeism.

In particular, I might want to talk about one boy who consistently does not

turn up to school and his parents don't realise, they think he's coming to school.

What is that boy doing?

He is playing truant or he is truanting.

And, if I'm now going to sit here for the next half an hour just

looking at my phone and filing my nails, then you could say that I'm

looking at my phone in what manner?

Idly, idly.

Very good.

Let's try this now for pronunciation.

Please repeat after me.

Truant.

Truant.

Absenteeism.

Absenteeism.

Register.

Register.

Fall behind.

Fall behind.

Idly.

Idly.

Fantastic.

Let's bring all of those together in a little story.

During the 1990s, the issue of truancy among children in British public

schools remained a big concern.

The constant absenteeism of students from school raised alarm bells

among the heads and teaching staff.

Each morning, the register would be taken, revealing the empty desks that should

have been occupied by eager young minds.

Those who idly played truant were not only avoiding their responsibilities, it didn't

seem to register with them that they were, in fact, falling behind in their studies.

For the sake of their own growth and development, it was essential that

these truanting students recognised the value of attending school regularly,

ensuring they didn't let their potential slip through their fingers.

Laws were brought in to allow councils to fine and prosecute

parents of absent children.

Despite being unpopular, this step seemed to have an impact.

Although truancy does still exist, and probably always will, young people

are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of attending school and how

it can change their life for the better and open up a world of opportunities.

I hope you weren't among the idle truants in your younger years.

And that wraps up today's session, I do hope you found that useful.

Remember, if you want to get more out of your learning, we do offer

lots of courses and services.

Just head over to englishlikeanative.co.uk.

Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.