Posts tagged ESL Podcast
To bite off more than you can chew
Sep 26th
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If you bite off more than you can chew things might be difficult for you. This expression might sound like it is talking about eating but – don’t be fooled – it is not. Another expression with a similar meaning is to get in over your head. You can use both of these expressions when you agree to do something and then find that it is too difficult.
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Maura: Right! So you get involved in something, but it’s more difficult than you realized and maybe too difficult for you.
Jessie: Right! Or maybe you take more responsibility than you can actually handle.
Maura: Right! So, if you imagine that you bite a piece of food and it’s a very, very big piece, it will be difficult to chew the food.
Jessie: Right! So, when we’re talking about this as an idiom, you can imagine that you’re agreeing to do something, but then you can’t actually do it. Just like you’re biting the food, but you can’t actually chew it.
Maura: Right, because it’s too much or too difficult.
Jessie: Exactly! So, for instance, if I agreed to arm wrestle Arnold Schwarzenegger, I would be biting off more than I can chew.
Maura: I think you would definitely be biting off more than you can chew because Arnold Schwarzenegger is pretty strong.
Jessie: Yeah, he’s probably a lot stronger than me.
Maura: And a lot stronger than me, too.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo credit: Dave 77459
Introducing Moheb Soliman to you!
Aug 16th
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Moheb is joining the Culips team and helping us create an online writing course (We will let you know as soon as we start taking students!), so we wanted to introduce him to you. We talk a bit about his interesting experiences in Egypt, the U.S. and Canada. Can anyone hear a difference between the Canadian and American accents?
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Maura: Yeah, for sure. So how old were you when you came to the U.S.?
Moheb: I was just 6 years old.
Maura: Ok, so do you remember it at all?
Moheb: You know, being 6 years old, I knew how to speak Arabic…
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Culips
Expression: To push someone’s buttons
Aug 8th
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Of course we all need to push some buttons to turn on a computer or our MP3 players. But to push someone’s buttons has a very different meaning from that literal meaning. In fact, it’s usually not a good idea to push someone’s buttons! In this episode, we look at three expressions, to push buttons, to have had enough and to freak out.
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Harp: Exactly.
Robin: They get upset. And there’s another expression that we use when we get very upset, when someone has pushed our buttons and we can’t tolerate it any longer. What is that expression?
Harp: This expression is to have enough or to have had enough.
Robin: Absolutely to have had enough. I have had enough, I can’t take it any longer. I’m mad and you have pushed my buttons.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Original photo: Blake Emrys, Arranged by Asami
Expression: Mum’s the word
Aug 1st
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If you want to tell someone to keep something a secret or promise to keep a secret for someone else you can use this expression: mum’s the word. At first it seems like a strange expression…mum is the word? Weird. But you will see it is not so complicated when we explain the possible origin of this expression and the meaning of mum.
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Maura: Mmmm mum mmm.
Jessie: Right. If your lips are closed you can’t make any words, all you can make is a kind of mmmum sound.
Maura: Right ,exactly. So you can’t tell the secret because your mouth is closed.
Jessie: And they think that the first time that was ever used was in a Shakespeare play.
Maura: Oh really?
Jessie: Yeah they said, “Seal up your lips and give no words but mum.”
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo credit: Jehane
White lies vs. brutal honesty
Jun 21st
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Sometimes we don’t want to be rude and so we need to tell a little white lie. Other times it may be important to be completely honest, and this is called brutal honesty. When is it OK to tell a white lie and when is it necessary to be brutally honest? Harp and Maura discuss this, and talk about honesty in relationships and with kids. How important is it to be honest your culture?
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Harp: Yeah, exactly, that’s a little white lie. So a little white lie is usually to protect someone’s feelings, I would say.
Maura: Right, you want to be polite, you don’t want to be rude. So what is the other one? Brutal honesty. So brutal honesty is when you tell the complete truth and it can be rude or impolite.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Kevin Labianco
Expression: Get it over with
Jun 13th
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Sometimes studying another language is really hard. We wish we could just get it over with and speak the language well. That is today’s expression to get something over with. We usually use this expression when we have an obligation to do something that we don’t want to do. We use the examples of homework and cleaning toilets!
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Jessie: “To get something over with.”
Maura: Yeah, we usually say, “to get it over with”.
Jessie: Yeah, but we usually don’t say it that slow.
Maura: No, I’m saying it slow so that everyone listening can hear the words that I’m saying.
Jessie: So how does it sound if you were saying it in normal conversation?
Maura: Well, we say it very fast, we say “get it over with”.
Jessie: Right, so the ”t” kind of mixes with the “over”.
Maura: Exactly, it doesn’t sound like a hard “t” sound, so the real slow expression is “to get it over with”.
Jessie: “To get it over with.”
Maura: “To get it over with”, right that’s how we naturally say it. So now that we know what it sounds like. What does it mean?
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo credit: martapiqs
Expression: To pull strings
May 30th
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Sometimes it is not easy to get what we want. What we want could be a job or tickets to a really popular show. In these cases, sometimes we can pull strings to get what we want. When people pull some strings, they use power to get what they want. Is it fair to pull strings?
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Maura: Right, the strings really represent the power and the connections to power that you have.
Harp: Exactly.
Maura: Good, you can pull strings, if you have power.
Harp: Exactly. Or someone can pull strings for you if they have power.
Maura: Exactly, it can work in all different ways, depends on who has the power. So what are some examples of where people might pull strings?
Harp: Well, there was that concert I wanted to go to last night.
Maura: OK.
Harp: Well I pulled some strings. I called my friend and he got me some tickets.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Sister72
Culture: Harp’s trip to India
May 24th
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Harp recently went on a trip to India with her family. Have you ever been to India? Harp tells us about the weather and the food. She also tells us about shopping in India, because this was a shopping trip with Harp’s two sisters and mom!
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Harp: Oh it is fantastic. It is completely different from North America.
Maura: Oh really?
Harp: Yeah. So I guess if you go to a shopping mall in India or in Delhi or in one of the big cities it’s the same, but we were looking for Indian clothes so we were trying to buy the lenga, the saris, the suit. And I’ll put pictures on the website so you can understand what that means. OK, so you go into a store and first thing you… sit down, right away. There is no walking around.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Harp
Expression: When pigs fly
May 16th
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The expression when pigs fly is used when people talk about something they would never do, or some event that would never happen. It is a very old expression, and no one knows why we talk about pigs! We can also use the similar expression, when hell freezes over. Check out the examples in this episode.
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Jessie: I would never shave my head.
Harp: Or you could say I would shave my head when pigs fly.
Jessie: Oh I see. So pigs could never fly and I would never shave my head, so I could say, I will shave my head when pigs fly.
Harp: Exactly.
Jessie: So that means “never”.
Harp: Exactly. So should we give some more examples? My boyfriend is very adventurous and…
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Illust: Asami Takemoto
Expression: To hold a grudge
May 9th
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Are you holding a grudge against someone? Have you been mad at someone for a week? A year? 10 years? We hope not! To hold a grudge is not a good thing and means that you are mad for a long time. It is much nicer to be happy! Listen to this fun episode to learn more about holding a grudge and having hard feelings.
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Robin: OK, can you give me an example?
Harp: For sure. So let’s say, that I have an ex-boyfriend and my friend decides she wants to date him and so she dates him for maybe a month. That is my ex-boyfriend, she is not allowed to date him! I’m still going to hold a grudge 10 years, 20 years later. I think it is an unwritten rule you can’t date your friends exes.
Robin: Ok so you would be mad 20 years later.
Harp: Ok maybe not 20 years but I would hold a grudge for a while.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Lst1984
Of all the podcasts with 'real world' English examples, I like yours the best. Maybe its the fun you put into the lessons. The students can here that in your voices. And they also feel your dedication to what you are doing - it's just not a job you do, but a gift you give to everyone who listens. And while the students like the Lipservice PDFs for all the information it contains, as a teacher I am impressed by the professional effort put into making them. I give the Culips podcast and the Culips crew my highest recommendation, both as a teacher, and a listener. 
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