Life and Nature _ The Seasons of Change(MP3_160K)

In this podcast episode, the host introduces the new season and format of the podcast. The podcast consists of two parts: a natural English conversation or monologue, and an analysis of the language used in the conversation. The host is an English teacher and also does voiceover work and copy editing. The episode starts with a discussion on climate change and its impact on our ability to accept life changes. The conversation explores the correlation between climate change and life changes, and how humans often emulate the behaviors and patterns of nature. The host shares examples of how weather affects people's moods and discusses the challenges of making big life changes. The conversation also touches on the unpredictability of seasons and its potential impact on adaptability to change. The host concludes by mentioning the upcoming analysis of the conversation and briefly promotes a cryptocurrency exchange called Binance. Hello everyone and welcome back to Season 2 of the One British Man English Podcast. With that we've got some new music for the intro, a lot more chilled, a lot more me because it is me. Actually it's a little song, it's never been released, but you get to hear it here first. Maybe one day it'll be number one in, I don't know, Japan or somewhere far away. Obviously everyone that's been here before, welcome back, but I hope there are some new people as well. Just to give you a quick oversight of how this podcast works, we've got two parts. We've got one part which is a discussion, a very natural English conversation that could be with a guest, could be a monologue with just me talking about something interesting and inspiring. The second part, we analyze that conversation and we actually pick out some idioms and vocabulary and talk about the language itself. So it gives you real life context so you can learn some new British native phrases. I'm an English teacher day by day. I also do some voiceover work. I do some copy editing, some proof reading. I'm a jack of all trades when it comes to the English language. You can head over to my website speaktolea.com and you'll find more information there about me. We're going to start this season with just a nice, easy, gentle monologue about a nice topic that was discussed this morning in one of my English lessons actually. So without further ado, let's get into this. It's related to climate change, but it's not too heavy. It's got a nice creative element to the conversation. So yeah, let me share with you something that was discussed in a real English lesson with a real student just today. Let's go. Okay, let's go for climate change. It's an unavoidable topic these days which keeps rearing its head in the mainstream media and it is a serious and constant conversation and it should be. You know what I'm talking about, the endless, empty conversations between world leaders, their inability to actually take some action. Let's not get too political here. The rising sea levels, the melting ice caps, the impact on our environment and natural habitats, all those things. But to be honest, I wanted to create a conversation with my student that was a little bit more original, not just reading off some news article. So here's a little summary of what we discussed. The main question was does the changing climate influence our ability to accept life changes? Is there some link between the changing climate and life changes? Now one of the things that makes my teaching a little bit more unique is that I give my students the opportunity to choose their own lesson topics and also the way that they want to develop their English skills as well. What that does is create some really engaging and inspirational conversations, profound thoughts and opinions, not just for the students but also for me too as a teacher. It's great, that's one of the reasons why I love my job. So humans, let's talk about humans, complicated creatures indeed. But whether consciously or subconsciously, it's quite clear that they often emulate the behaviours and patterns of nature. We can see this everywhere, let me give you a little example. If we take a very simple idea like the weather. You know I'm British, you know I like to talk about the weather. When it's sunny outside, people are happy, they feel bright and breezy and they have smiley faces. Not always I know, but you get the idea. When it's raining, people are miserable, gloomy, sad faces. We live with nature, we are affected by nature and we are nature, we know this, sometimes we forget. So we were about to start on this heavy topic of climate change but the conversation swung in a different direction and we started to discuss life changes. Luckily I had quite a creative and open-minded student who was willing to dive deep into some different aspects of life. After some time it was quite clear that there was some correlation here actually between climate change and life change. So I'm going to ask you to open your creative minds just for a second. Now there are some locations that have experienced a more dramatic and obvious change in seasonal climates than others. Growing up I remember the seasons were distinguishable from one another and I remember the crossover into each season as the temperature and weather pedalled through its annual cycle. These days however, especially when I'm visiting in England and the reports I get from my family and friends in England, the overcast sky and relentless drizzle seems to be more present than ever and it's hard to tell where one season ends and another one begins. I think you could say the same for people living in Spain, I mean I'm only getting reports from a distance but a lot about what I'm reading about the drier climates, how it's dry for long periods of time and the seasons are sometimes hard to recognise. Now on one hand, the emergence of seasons could explain why some of us find it so challenging to step outside of our comfort zones and make these big changes in our life. I'm talking about changing jobs, about changing relationships, changing locations in the place that you live, changing career goals. These are big monumental changes in our lives and we find it hard, many of us, it takes quite a brave soul to go, you know, I'm not feeling completely satisfied with my life, I'm going to make some drastic change. Hats off to those of you who have done it. There are many of us out there who are settling for satisfactory or even worse as an acceptable standard simply because that idea of change is so overwhelming, it scares us. Now does nature influence this and prevent us from gaining the natural experience of dealing with change? That's a good question. F**k all of that! On the other hand, although the seasons have become unstable, there is an unpredictability and sporadic element to our natural world where in some regions, an increase in natural disasters and strange weather patterns are really noticeable. If you've got a family and you're packing for a day trip, it's a hefty task these days. You know, especially if you're in the UK, you don't know what to pack. You put in some sunglasses, you put in a picnic, you have to put in an umbrella in case it rains, woolly socks in case it snows, a rain jacket, a bucket and spade. Very confusing, you kids don't know what to expect. Now you could argue that this teaches us to embrace change and be prepared for whatever may occur. The sporadicity and short term changes in nature don't necessarily hold enough substance to aid us in big life changes. Yes, it can prepare us for small things but is it strong enough to prepare us for the big ones? Think about the mighty statement that is made when there is a change of season. We get prepared for it. We have to adapt, change our behaviours, change our activities, change the way we live. And that could contribute to the confidence and bravery that we need to face the mighty challenges faced in our changing everyday life. Hmm, interesting thought. So what happens when our seasons disappear? What happens if we skip forward 100 years and we're living in kind of desert temperatures all year round? How is that going to affect our behaviour and adaptability to change? It's going to be a big shock to the system and it becomes harder, simple as that. I'll be honest, this is just a theory. I'm no scientist, I don't know much about climate change but I do like to be creative and I do like to push the boundaries of questioning, question everything and maybe, just maybe, you come up with some interesting insights into the world and how we live. I feel like I should apologise. I asked a lot of questions in that conversation without giving any answers. But I'm not a genius, am I? I'm not a scientist. What are you Lee? Let me tell you, I'm an English teacher, I'm a voiceover artist, I'm a writer, I do songs and stuff too. So yeah, that was a nice little link wasn't it? In just a moment we are going to go to part two of this podcast where we're going to actually analyse that little conversation and we'll pick out some of the more challenging words that I used, some expressions, some of the nativeness that was involved. But before we do that I am going to do some affiliate marketing right now and I'm going to tell you about a cryptocurrency exchange called Binance. If you don't want to hear me talking about products and services then go and make a cup of tea, go and make a coffee. This is your two minutes to take a break from the podcast. But I'm going to do it because, you know, I do this for free and it does take time. So Binance, cryptocurrency, some people are deep into this topic already. I kind of entered the crypto world in the last six months or so and it was a really complicated process. For me I was like, cryptocurrency, what is it? Googled it, oh God, so many tough words. But everyone was talking about it, I felt like I was missing out. So I started to work actually with a cryptocurrency exchange, it wasn't Binance actually. But I started to use Binance for my personal crypto services. Why am I talking about this? Because I want to tell you a little bit about Binance and how it is definitely the best. I'm not just saying that because they're going to pay me a little bit of money, it is the best, honestly. I've used four or five different exchanges and honestly I've had to use guides and YouTube videos and stuff because it's just so complicated. So much information on there that I didn't actually need. And as a beginner, we just wanted to buy some cryptocurrency, invest in a very, very simple way because I'm not really into that stuff, and also transfer some money to people outside of the central banking system. It was too much information. A lot of these exchanges just confused me, if anything. Binance didn't. It was very, very user-friendly for beginners. So if you're thinking about joining the cryptocurrency world, then I suggest Binance. The buttons are clear, the guides are very clear. You can withdraw your money very easily, which was something I was concerned about. And I'm still investing in Binance. And guess what? I've got some referral links. So if you're planning on joining the crypto world, choose Binance. Register with one of the links that I'm going to put in the description. I'm also going to give you some little discounts, some little extra prizes, some good interest rates. Am I going to benefit? Yeah, a little bit. But that's the whole point of this, right? If you can't see it on your platform for whatever reason, drop me an email and I'll send you a link directly. And sign up as a beginner. Super simple. If you've got any really basic questions, feel free to email me with those and I'll help you a little bit with the setup. But I'm not the best at it. I'm not a technical genius. I'm not a crypto king. And that's why I choose Binance. Right, let's go to part two. It's an unavoidable topic these days which keeps rearing its head in the mainstream media. Rear one's head. If something rears its head, it means it presents itself, often again after a period of time without presenting itself. So in my case, I've talked about in the mainstream news, this topic of climate change often rears its head. It comes back to the surface presenting itself again and everyone starts talking about it. Let me try and give it to you in a different context. Let's pretend a mother and daughter are arguing about something. It's been a really sensitive subject. They've been fighting a lot. But then they stop arguing and for a month, everything is cool. But occasionally, this problem rears its head. It pops up to the surface and something triggers this response and they start arguing again. The situation has reared its head. Sometimes we say reared its ugly head because we're talking about something negative. Very rarely do we talk about a person rearing their head. It's usually a situation, an idea, an argument, a topic. They often emulate the behaviors and patterns of nature. Emulate, emulate. Make sure you get that U sound in the middle, emulate. Emulate simply means to mirror something or to copy something. I like to use emulate. I use it quite a lot. I get a bit bored of saying copy. It doesn't have the same power to it. Listen to this sentence. Humans tend to copy nature. Nah. Copy? Nah. Copy is weird. I mean like what, photocopying? Nah. They follow the patterns and behaviors of nature. So I like emulate. It has a much better vibe to it, much more creative, much more poetic. Use it when you're being creative, this word. Don't use it in informal settings because if my daughter is making the same faces as my son, I'm not going to say, oh look, look how Molly is emulating her brother. That sounds really strange. I just sound like some posh idiot. So I would say, hey look, she's copying her brother. That's an informal word, to copy. But when you're talking about your ideas, trying to express something quite profound, something quite deep in a creative way, yeah, use some creative language. Emulate. When it's sunny outside, people are happy. They feel bright and breezy. Bright and breezy. Bright and breezy can describe the mood or tone of a person or it could describe a place or an environment. So first let's talk about the person. If someone is bright and breezy, they have a lot of energy, they're happy, they're talking like this. But if a place is described as bright and breezy, let's say a room in a house, then it is literally bright and spacious and gives you those happy vibes. So it is kind of related to the mood that you feel when you're in that place. What do you think about the apartment that you just bought? Oh yeah, I love it. The lounge is so bright and breezy. Makes you feel good. When it's raining, people are miserable, gloomy, sad faces. If you're feeling gloomy or your mood is gloomy, it's dark, it's miserable. You can describe a person's mood, the weather, a place or gives you the impression of dark, gloomy, miserable. Oh, I don't like speaking to him. Why is he always so gloomy? No, I'm not buying that house. So gloomy. The overcast sky and relentless drizzle seems to be more present than ever. Overcast. Overcast. Overcast is a word that we use all the time in England. One, because we talk about weather, and two, because that is the weather that we always have. If you describe the weather and you said, well, it's a bit overcast, it means that the cloud base is everywhere. It's just one big grey cloud covering the whole sky. It doesn't have to be grey actually, but all you see in the sky is cloud. Overcast. Relentless is an adjective that describes the intensity being continuous. Continuous intensity. Let me give you a sentence that would describe it perfectly. The heat in the desert is relentless. It never stops. It never ceases. It never gives you a break. My boss is relentless. I would be describing my boss as someone who gives me so much work and never gives me time to relax. Drizzle. Drizzle. Another useful word to describe the weather. If it's drizzling outside, it means there's little, spishy bits of rain. You know when it doesn't rain properly? It's just spitting in your face. Really frustrating. I don't like drizzle. You don't know whether to wear a rain jacket, whether you're going to be alright. You don't know whether you can go out for the day or not. You don't know if it's going to turn into a thunderstorm. Oh, it's just drizzling. Remember when you're talking about weather, you don't say the weather is drizzling. We hardly use the word weather. We don't say there is drizzle. We say it is drizzling. There is an unpredictability and sporadic element to our natural world. Sporadic. Sporadic. It means that something is occurring occasionally. It's irregular, random, sporadic. Let me give you a sentence with the word sporadic. The storm caused sporadic flooding around the region. It means there was flooding in random places on the map. I talked about the weather patterns being sporadic, like we can't predict it, it's so random. It's a hefty task these days. Hefty. Hefty is usually a little bit more simple than the way I used it. Hefty describes usually something that is heavy. So I could say I broke the door with a hefty kick. It means a heavy kick with a lot of power. The way I used it, I talked about a hefty task. Now it kind of makes sense if you talk about a heavy task. It means a task that is difficult to achieve. It's awkward. It's heavy. It's a little bit creative, but you can use it in this way. A hefty task, one that is very difficult, awkward, heavy. And that's the end of the first episode of Season 2. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you were inspired by the conversation. I hope you learned some new words. I'm sure you did. Don't forget to head over to speak2lead.com. I've got a new flashy website. It's just about complete. You can go and check it out for yourself. If you've got any questions about the podcast, anything about the English that we've learned today, anything about English lessons, voiceover, written work that you might need, I'm there. Just send me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I possibly can. Great to have you back. It's great to be back and I'll see you next time on the One British Man English Podcast. See you soon. Bye. You can go anywhere you want to go. It's a choice, you can take it fast or slow. Wrong or right, nobody has the answer. Black and white, what about all the colours? You can go anywhere you want to go. I'll just sit right here and watch the flowers grow. You might think that everything has an ending. I disagree because I can see the world still spinning around me. Float away, far away and I'll find my way back to where I came from. Float away, far away and I'll find my way back to where I came from.