Learn English Vocabulary Daily #11.5 - British English Podcast

Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast.

My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 11, Day 5 of Your English Five a

Day, the series that aims to increase your vocabulary by five pieces every single

day of the week, from Monday to Friday.

So, let's kick off today's list.

We start with a noun, and it is staycation, staycation.

This is something I like to do quite often at the moment.

So we spell this S T A Y C A T I O N.

So, it's very similar to vacation, but this is a staycation and they are related.

A staycation is a holiday that you take at home or near your home rather

than travelling to another place.

So, you stay in your local area.

There's lots of reasons for having a staycation.

Often it's to do with budget.

If you have a tight budget, then maybe travelling abroad is not feasible, it's

not realistic for you or possible for you.

Or you might have very young children or pets that can't really travel very easily.

So, staycations can be fun and practical in many situations.

Here's an example sentence.

"With the prices of flights increasing so much this year, we've decided

to have a staycation instead.

We do live in London, after all, so much to do on our doorstep."

Next, we have another noun and it is gamification, gamification.

We spell this G A M I F I C A T I O N.

Gamification.

So, gamification is the practice of making activities more like

games, in order to make them more enjoyable, more interesting.

So, you'll often see gamification within learning, especially for younger

people, for children, gamification is definitely added in children's courses

in order to keep them interested, to reward them for interacting with the

learning materials and to allow them to enjoy themselves while learning

sometimes quite boring or dry material.

Okay, here's an example sentence.

"Companies are increasingly using gamification in order

to train their employees."

Next on the list is a verb and it is overlook, overlook.

We spell this O V E R L O O K.

Overlook.

To overlook something is to fail to notice or consider something or someone.

So, if you just don't notice something or think about something,

that could be important, perhaps, then you have overlooked it.

For example, if I am choosing someone to be on my football team and I'm

looking at everyone in the room, but there's one person who is sitting

on a chair in the corner for some reason, and I just fail to spot them.

I just don't even realise they're there.

So I'm looking at everyone who's standing up and in fact, the person sitting on

a chair in the corner is David Beckham.

So, I would be completely stupid to overlook that person because that

person probably would be the best person to choose for my football team.

But if I don't spot them, if I just don't even consider them,

then I've overlooked them.

And that person might be quite upset that I've overlooked them.

Have you ever been overlooked in the past?

Have you ever overlooked someone or something?

Okay, so here's an example sentence.

"No one will be overlooked when we select players for the team."

I don't know why I said that in a really posh voice, but there we go.

Next, we have an idiom and it is the grass is always greener

on the other side of the fence.

Now this is often shortened to the grass is always greener, or you may

hear it in the negative, the grass isn't always greener, actually.

I'm not going to spell this because it's too long, but it is grass

we're talking about, G R A S S.

The grass is always greener.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Now, this is used to say or to suggest that other people or

other people's situations always seem to be better than your own.

But this, in reality, isn't usually the case.

Things look like they're better for other people, but in reality, they're struggling

just as much as you are, or their reality isn't as nice as it seems to be.

So, for example, if you're sitting in your garden and thinking,

"Oh, this garden is a nightmare.

We have a problem with drainage.

There's a lot of clay in the soil, which makes it hard for

me to grow certain plants.

We have a problem with ants.

And I'm always having to pull weeds, and my fruit trees

keep being attacked by aphids.

This is just the worst garden in the world.

It's horrible."

And then you look at your neighbour's garden, which is full

of flowers, and it looks beautiful, and a beautifully kept lawn.

And you think, "Wow, look at their grass.

Look at their garden.

It's so much better than mine.

How wonderful!"

But actually, your neighbour's sitting in their garden thinking, "Oh, this

garden is so difficult to keep.

It takes so much work and so much money.

I have to do so much to make the flowers bloom and to make the grass

look as green and beautiful as it does."

And they look at your garden and think, "Wow, their garden looks amazing!"

Everyone always thinks other people's situations are better than their

own, but this is not usually true.

Okay, so this is the phrase we use to describe this situation.

The grass isn't always greener.

Or, the grass is always greener.

Okay, so here's an example sentence.

"You may think it's a good idea to go and work for your competitors now,

the grass is always greener, right?

But please, take time to think about it carefully."

Okay, moving on to our last word for today.

It's another verb, and it is sample.

To sample.

We're spelling this S A M P L E.

To sample something.

To sample something is to experience or get a little taste of something

for the first time to see if you would potentially like to have more

of that thing or that experience.

So here's an example.

"I can't wait to sample the local hospitality.

I can't believe we've never been to our local fete before."

Or when you go to a restaurant.

Sometimes they bring out little samples for you, little tidbits,

tiny little things for you to try so you can see if you like the taste of

something the chef is doing today.

If you go into a beauty or a health store, there's often someone offering free

samples of a cream or a lotion or potion.

So you can just have a little try of a hand cream or a face cream

or some perfume or something.

And if you like it, then you go, "Oh, how much is it?"

And the idea is that a free sample will lead to a sale.

Okay, but there I'm talking about sample the noun, but to sample

is to try, is the act of trying something to see if you like it.

Okay, so there's our five for today.

We had our noun, staycation, which is a holiday at home.

Then we had the noun gamification, which is turning an activity into

a game so that you enjoy it more.

We had the verb overlook, which is to fail to see or consider something.

We had the idiom, the grass is always greener on the other side

of the fence, which is seeing other people's situations as being better

than your own, even if it's not.

And then the verb sample, to try or experience something, to see if you

like it, often for the first time.

So, let's now work on our pronunciation.

Please repeat after me.

Staycation.

Staycation.

Gamification.

Gamification.

Overlook.

Overlook.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Sample.

Sample.

Very good.

So, what verb would I use if I fail to notice someone, or fail to

consider someone for a job role?

Overlook.

And what's the noun I'd use to describe turning an activity into a game?

Gamification.

Now, I'm going to take a holiday, but I'm going to take a holiday at home.

What would I call this?

A staycation.

And if I want to just try something to see if I like it, what verb could I use?

Sample.

And if I really believe that someone always has a better situation

than me, what idiom might you use?

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Very good.

OK, let's bring everything together in a little story.

Sam was a shy and anxious teenager who hated going out.

He preferred to stay at home, alone, where he felt safe and comfortable.

He avoided social situations which made him feel nervous and awkward.

He had few friends, and rarely spoke to anyone.

But Sam wanted change.

He wanted to overcome his anxiety and enjoy life, he wanted to explore

the world and have adventures.

The turning point came one summer when his family revealed that they

would not be heading to Spain on holiday as they had planned, but

instead they would have a staycation.

They felt that it would be better for Sam and his anxiety.

Sam knew how much his mum and dad had wanted to go to Spain and he

felt bad, he thought, "I'm going to take charge, I'm going to change."

He decided to turn his life into a game, he was going to use

gamification to motivate himself.

Sam created a list of tasks that would help him to face his

fears and improve his skills.

He assigned points and rewards for each task.

He set goals and deadlines for himself and tracked his progress

and celebrated his achievements.

He started with simple tasks, such as saying hello to a stranger,

ordering food at a restaurant, or joining a club at school.

He gradually moved on to harder tasks, like talking to strangers, going on a

date, and travelling to new places.

He also rewarded himself for his efforts, he treated himself to a

cinema trip, and even a concert.

His biggest task was to perform on stage in front of an audience.

He decided to audition for the local theatre group's summer talent show.

He knew that he would probably be overlooked as he wasn't a

skilled performer, so he spoke to the director about his struggles

and his desire to overcome them.

This earned him a place in the show and he got a chance to truly challenge himself.

To his surprise, being a member of the theatre group was great fun.

He even got to sample a dance class and some musical theatre singing.

When the time came to perform in the talent show, he found that he

enjoyed the thrill of standing in front of an audience, supported

by a group of energetic friends.

He had always previously found comfort in his solitude, thinking he would

be fine without friends, but in that moment, he realised that he was wrong,

and that, in this case, the grass was greener on the other side of the fence.

He had jumped over that fence of anxiety and he was never going back.

And that brings us to the end of today's episode and to the end of Week 11.

I do hope you found it useful and enjoyable.

Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.