Learn English Vocabulary Daily #16.1 — British English Podcast

Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast.

My name is Anna and you are listening to Week 16, Day 1 of Your English Five a Day.

This is a series that aims to increase your active vocabulary

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

So, let's start today's list with a noun, and it is tactic, tactic.

We spell this T A C T I C, tactic.

Tactic.

A tactic is a planned way of doing something.

So, here's an example, my son is not very good at eating vegetables.

He loves fruit, but he won't take vegetables at all.

He won't even have them on his plate; he tends to pass them on to somebody else.

So, I have to employ lots of different tactics to try and get him

to at least try these vegetables.

So, for example, one tactic is to get him to help me prepare the meals.

So, he prepares the vegetables either by cutting them grating them, adding flavour

to them, adding them to the pan, going through the process of cooking them.

And then hopefully by the time it's laid on the plate, he feels almost

like he has to try it because he's been so involved in creating the meal.

It doesn't always work.

Another tactic is to hide vegetables in things like sauces, or to hide them

in a stew by sticking it all into a blender and blending it down, so that he

doesn't really notice they're even there.

The flavours of the meat, or the things that he does like, overpowers

the flavour of the vegetables.

So, he gets the vegetables, but in a more blended way, which isn't as good from a

fibre point of view, but it's one tactic that has worked many times in the past.

Do you have to use any tactics to achieve anything?

When I play squash I use different tactics, depending on my opponent.

Here's another example,

"Okay guys, we need to agree tactics before the game.

We can't afford to lose this one, the championship depends on it".

Next on our list is a verb and it is establish, establish.

To establish.

We spell this E S T A B L I S H, establish.

To establish something is to start something that will last for a

long time or to create, or set something in a particular way.

So, often schools and companies will say they were established in

a particular year, or a charity might have been established in 2010.

English Like a Native was established back in 2017, I think it was.

I might have to establish a new long-term routine that employs many

tactics in order to get my son to eat.

So, I establish a new routine.

Here's another example,

"Once we establish the price, we can begin to advertise and sell

the product on the high street."

So, once we create or set the price, once we establish the price.

Alright, let's move on to our next word.

This is an adjective and it is old-school, old- school.

We spell this O L D, hyphen, S C H O O L.

I like this word.

Old-school means that something is old-fashioned or not modern or recent.

Sometimes old-school can also be deemed to be quite cool because it is old and cool.

I don't really know how else to explain it.

There's just that sense of being a bit cool.

So, if I am on my BMX and I'm doing some tricks that are really

great, but we're definitely much more the style of the nineties.

Then you might look at me and go,

"Whoa, old-school!

Wow!

Yeah!

Cool!"

Okay.

So, in that sense it is a positive adjective, but it depends on the context.

If I say that I've employed a new teacher and the new teacher doesn't like to use

the technology provided in the classroom, instead she prefers a chalkboard and

she doesn't like laptops or devices.

So, it's all pen and paper.

She's very old-school like that.

Then that may not be so positive.

But generally old-school is used in a positive way.

Here's another example,

"Don't you find Adam very old-school in his approach to management?

Next on the list is an idiom and it is change the face of something.

To change the face of something.

We spell this change, C H A N G E.

The, T H E.

Face, F A C E.

Of something, so, that's O F, of.

Something, S O M E T H I N G.

Change the face of something.

Now this means to transform or to revolutionise or to

completely change something.

So, this is used for things like society or a system, something that's quite large.

So, for example, you might change the face of the postal service, which at this

point probably needs it because there's not been much in the way of good news

for the postal service in the UK lately.

So, perhaps some of the recent scandals will change the

face of the postal service.

Maybe something will finally be done and it will be transformed and revolutionised.

You might say

"AI has transformed the face of the creator economy."

Here's an example sentence,

"The government is planning to change the face of the National

Health System, I hope they follow through with their plans this time".

Alright, moving on to our final word for today, and it is a noun,

and it is edge, edge, which is spelled E D G E, edge, edge.

Now, we're talking here about to have an edge over someone.

So, to have an edge over someone, to have the edge.

Now, this is to have an advantage over another person.

Here's an example sentence,

"In terms of experience, Clara definitely had the edge over the

other people that we interviewed."

So, do you ever have the edge in any particular situation?

I've got vague memories of entering karaoke competitions when

I was younger and, and winning because, well, I had the edge.

I had been trained to be a professional singer.

And so I would just occasionally go to my local pub and take part in

a karaoke contest more, so that I could just continue to get experience

of singing in front of people in a kind of bar environment, because

that's quite hard on your voice.

But in these cases, I would win the competition, which was probably a

little bit unfair because I definitely had the edge over the other people

taking part in the competition.

So, I've just made a confession there.

For those people that I stole that trophy from, I apologise.

Please accept my sincere apology.

I should never have entered!

Okay.

Apologies and confessions over.

Let's recap today's list.

We started with the noun tactic.

So, a planned way of doing something.

Then we had the verb establish, which is to start, create, or set something

that will last for a long time.

Then we had the adjective old-school, something that's not modern or recent,

something that's old-fashioned, but potentially quite cool.

Then we had the idiom to change the face of something, which

is to transform revolutionise, or completely change something.

And then we had the noun edge.

To have the edge over someone else.

Okay, let's do this for pronunciation.

So, please, repeat after me.

Tactic.

Tactic.

Establish.

Establish.

Old-school.

Old-school.

Change the face of something.

Change the face of something.

Edge.

Edge.

Very good.

Now, if I have an advantage over you.

So, I've got some experience that you don't have that's going to

help me to achieve a shared goal.

What do I have over you?

I have the edge.

I've got the edge.

Absolutely.

I've got an edge over you.

And if I want to transform and revolutionise how this company

functions, what idiom could I use?

Change the face of the company.

Absolutely.

And then if I want to start something that will last for a long time, maybe I'm going

to start a charity, what verb could I use?

To establish.

Establish.

And I'm going to need some plans of ways to do things.

So, what would I call those, those planned ways of doing things?

Tactics.

Tactics.

Now my tactics are not modern.

They're actually quite old-fashioned.

What other adjective could I use to describe them?

Old-school.

Old-school.

OK, you know what's coming next.

Let's bring them all together in a little story.

After being replaced by a younger player in his old team a few weeks ago, Robin,

or Robbie as he liked to be called, had felt a sense of rejection, but not defeat.

Today, he stood on the field amongst a group of young rugby players

with a determined look on his face.

"This is it!"

Robbie said to himself.

"My chance to establish my own team and change the face of rugby.

And this time, I'm not going to let anyone tell me I'm too old."

He began setting up cones and going over tactics with the young players.

"Old-school tactics may not be popular, but they're effective.

We'll use them to our advantage, to have the edge over our opponents."

The young players listened intently, impressed by their new manager's

knowledge and determination.

"Together, we'll build a team that will be feared on the pitch.

And we're going to do it our way."

With renewed vigour, the team continued training, ready to change

the game and prove everyone wrong.

"This is just the beginning" Robbie told them.

"Together, we're going to show what we're made of and make

our mark on the rugby world!"

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

I do hope you found it useful.

And until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.