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Aaaaannnnnnddddd WE ARE BACK!!! Whats good everyone this is your boy the Magic Man back with another dope episode of PAPERBACKS AND SOUNDTRACKS!!! Listen I'm not gonna lie to y'all, this is a good one! Push play!!! =)   SHOW PRODUCED AND EDITED BY- AMIR W. MUSIC PRODUCED BY- FOGMOB

Listen I'm going to take you on a journey to learn how to make million dollars using funnels.

How supportive and inclusive is your organization to the needs of single parents? As her son fought for his life, Bre got a phone call from her company that changed everything. She shares her reflections on empathy, gendered expectations, and the particular challenges facing single parents.   If we want more women to be able to step up to the table and roles of leadership, we need to create cultures where you know what it's OK, you're a mom. That's part of who you are. You know it's OK.  You know it's OK. You know your kid got sick   INTRO   Parenting is a joy…and it can be really, really hard.  The years of providing love, nurture, instruction, of wiping noses and bottoms, signing permission forms, scheduling play dates, and generally helping little people as they grow up, is a big job.  And if parenting is hard, single parenting presents a whole different level of complexity.   Today, we talk with Bre Sprague about the delight and challenge of being a working single parent, about the ways in which she was supported as well as missed, and about the scary weeks where she almost lost her son.  In her story, there are insights for all those single parents out there…as well as for anyone who cares for or works with a single parent.   Bre is a small business owner with multiple streams of income.  Since graduating from college, she had worked (in some capacity) in health and wellness.  Bre stands at 5’10, almost six feet in a pair of heels, she is also the parent of a son that is preparing to join the army this year.  In school, Bre studied exercise science and business, so she is very devoted to her daily workout.    - Bre Sprague I guess you could say I treat my workout as it's on my schedule every morning at six fifteen five days a week. And if I can't go at that time I schedule it in another spot just like I would schedule with you because it's, it's one hour for me to really focus on me and focus on getting out energy and, and changing my overall being so that I can be a better mom and a better friend and have more energy.   She also loves to cook and takes a lot of what she calls “food porn” photos. As a young woman, Bre moved to Hawaii, her whole life crammed into a duffle bag. But her life changed at 22 when she found out that she was pregnant.  Six months into the pregnancy, she parted ways with the father, realizing that she was going to begin the parenting journey on her own.    Walker was born and Bre reenrolled full time in school when he was seven months old. She had an on-campus apartment, found a great babysitter, and worked in the bursar’s office.    - Bre Sprague We just had a routine we get up in the morning at five thirty. That would be his in my time to have breakfast and, and you know just enjoy the quiet of the morning.  I'd give him to the sitter at about seven thirty I'd go to class between 8:00 9:00. I'd either be in class until 2:00 ish or 4:00 with some breaks in between.  I worked part time at the bursar's office as a collection agent which tell me that was all sorts of fun. Nothing like calling people to say hey the reason you can't schedule for classes is because you owe the university a lot of money especially talking to angry parents and then also you know I'd pick them up in the afternoon and we had our time between you know four thirty or five until about seven thirty when he went to bed and then I would study from 730 until midnight and we get up and we do the same thing the next day   Bre was supported by advocates along the way, like her finite math professor. Bre would bring a blanket and toys to office hours, letting Walker roll on the floor while she did math problems on the whiteboard.    - Bre Sprague I think out of a lot of his other undergrad students he was just impressed with the fact that I showed up as you know. By that point I was 23 but with a baby to do the work because my job was not to be a mom but was to get an education to advance our life.   After graduating, Bre worked at an athletic club as a personal trainer.  But the work was dollar for hour, and she decided to make a move into pharmaceutical sales.  She was motivated, a gifted connector, and did well selling pain medication.  But the work was not for her.    - Bre Sprague And for me I always say I was seduced out of personal training into pharmaceutical sales which is a fine industry for other people. For me I hated it. I gave up what I believed in and still believe in and preventative medicine by eating the right foods and doing the work even if it's a 10 minute walk you know to take care of your health to working in an industry that although there is a need for it there is also there is also a lot of greed and a lot of unnecessary prescribing I would say and unnecessary pushing by the pharmaceutical industry.   So, she left.  Bre was recruited into home health care sales.  There was a ninety-day waiting period for insurance to kick in.  The monthly cost for a COBRA insurance extension was $968 a month.  So, she decided to take a risk.  She was healthy, her son was healthy, surely, they could make it 90 days.    - Bre Sprague I mean I can see it right like I was holding it in my hand even right now and I had a mortgage that was like fifteen thirty one and I had a car payment and I had insurance and even though my base salary was seventy five grand a year which left me as a single mom going wow I really kind of made this I've got a great base salary and I've got bonus and I get a car stipend at the end of the day it didn't go that far especially with you know mortgage and student loans and all the bills that you need to live life I didn't have an extra nine hundred sixty eight dollars a month laying around so I made the decision to take a gamble and not to do it   Her company paid for 30 days of COBRA coverage.  And on day 31, Walker came home from school drained; he was too tired to go to Boy Scouts.  His belly hurt too much to eat dinner.  Bre was concerned, she kept him in her room that night.    - Bre Sprague So I brought him into my bed to sleep that night and the vomiting started at about 1:00 in the morning and I was almost every hour on the hour he just kept getting sicker and sicker and I would I would give him fluids and anything I put in him would come right back up   She called the doctor, and they said it was probably the flu.    - Bre Sprague And I was in the position that so many Americans are when you put off going to the doctor or to the E.R. because you know you don't have you don't have health insurance and you don't know what it's going to cost. And so, it kept getting worse.   By that evening, Walker was lying, exhausted in the tub.    - Bre Sprague And I don't know if you've ever seen somebody who's in respiratory distress, but you get this you can't even do it naturally you get this upper chest breathing it's basically a good death rattle is what it is. You get this upper chest breathing and you get. He was so white, he was so white, and I was on the phone with my friend Dr. Jesse. And he goes you can't wait any longer. You have to go you have to go to the E.R. now.   Bre went to the ER.  Walker saw six different doctors throughout the long night.  He was vomiting, continuing to decline.  Walker was taken to surgery to remove his appendix the following afternoon.  By that time, Walker was full of infection and the surgery took three hours.    - Bre Sprague After the surgery the doctor comes out and he says I am so sorry but he's, he's full of infection inside and you're going to watch your child get sicker and sicker and sicker. And there's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing I can do about it until that abscess forms so I can go in and I can get the infection all the way out he goes So we're gonna give him around the clock antibiotics but he's gonna get really, really sick this week. And that week was probably the toughest week of my life because you know I called into my employer and I said Listen I'm not coming in. I can't be in right now and explain what was going on. I explain that my child could die because it was that bad.   - Bre Sprague And he, he was so sick and I felt like I was grateful that my mom was able to come up and help and I had some good friends who came but it was a very scary time and I said to my employer that I wasn't coming into work and they said well you haven't been with us long enough to give you FMLA. And I said I don't care. Don't pay me. You know I'm going to be in the hospital at least two weeks and if not, I'll be back to work as soon as I can. And so, I really need a rep in the field. And they paused. I said I really don't need your job. And I got up and then I said Oh my God what did I just do.   - Bre Sprague I have no job, but it was it was the right thing to do. It was scary.  It was you know when your child looks at you and your child say you know mom if I die will you come to my grave because he knew how sick he was. Those are words I don't ever want any parent to have to hear and thank goodness he after he had another surgery when they got the abscess out and he was like a different child immediately.   - Bre Sprague And we had lots of medicine and great care, but it was it was painful, and it was it was scary to go through not being so uncertain. And while you're going through all that stuff watching your child you know be sick and cared for. You're also dealing with trying to get assistance from people who represent the state to try to fill out the right paperwork to see if you can get the medical bills covered. And that's, that's another element of stress and, and, and so it really was something that even if I hadn't left that job and that standpoint there wasn't any empathy to begin with.   - Liesel Mertes Yeah, I hear how just there was so much of a lack of anything on the other side of the phone as you think about that interaction. It's kind of an imaginative exercise but like what would what would you have wanted to hear in that moment as you're talking and saying I can't come in for the next week and this is really scary.   - Bre Sprague I would have wanted to hear. Please keep me posted. I. I hope that your son is okay and that he's going to pull through and I'm gonna be sending you know good thoughts and that we're going to do what we can on our end to support you. And we look forward to you coming back fully present to work.   - Liesel Mertes I mean I'm struck that one it's such a deep and miss on a human level but even if you were just representing like a business asset like you've been recruited this way you've been trained you've been wooed. I mean they've spent money and they've invested something in you and even if you're just looking at it from mishandling an investment like what a loss let alone to really realize now this is an actual person that matters even if you're just reducing it like   - Bre Sprague I felt disposable. I felt that they were in such a growth mode looking at what they wanted to accomplish as a company and growth and they have done very, very well since I was with them but it did not leave me with a positive a positive feeling moving forward even when I was going.   - Bre Sprague I felt very defeated moving forward even looking for a new a new job and looking at wow like I have a lot to offer here.   Bre does have a lot to offer and this situation made her feel like she was being treated as a liability to her employer because of her responsibilities as a single parent.  And this doesn’t have to be the case.    - Bre Sprague And you know for me when I look back at everything and I talk to other single mothers and other single parents and single fathers who do it you just find a way to make it work. You stretch the dollar you, you find a way to make sure that the needs of your child are taking care of and that's an asset that's thinking outside the box that's being able to go oh wow like let's look at this from a different perspective.   - Bre Sprague Yeah, I really feel that a single parent male or female is a huge asset or a single caregiver because there are a lot of people who are taking care of parents who are having to live with them now. And you know as a single parent that that asset and what I say that you know you're showing up you're, you're doing what needs to get done you're structured you're scheduled and I feel like that and I'm not saying that every single parent or every employee like that is like that be great if everybody was but you know it, it isn't a huge asset to any organization when you have a person who is driven to take care of the needs beyond themselves.   In caring for the needs of her son, Bre has had to make sacrifices in her life to sustain both a career and her son.  If she had to miss work for a doctor’s appointment, she made up the time late at night (just as she did in college). Bre missed birthday parties because of sales trips.  She didn’t take a proper vacation until her son was 13 because she needed to save her vacation days in case he got sick.  All of these decisions and others are part of the calculus of a working parent. In the midst of juggling all these concerns, single parents also have to manage the judgment of coworkers.       – Bre Sprague but too often I feel like single parents get that rap of not being able to show up fully because they might be you know you'll hear someone say they're leaving work again early. Well maybe they're leaving work because their child has a therapy appointment. Maybe they're leaving work because it's the only time the dentist can get them in. You know maybe, maybe they're leaving work because they just need to go and have a picnic with their kid because they haven't spent any quality time with their kid and about two weeks. And I think if the if the leadership within the company doesn't create a culture where everybody whether you have children or not can show up and do their best work and feel safe and not feel judged then no matter what your station as I think everybody ends up feeling like just a number and a cog in the wheel and a liability.   I’d like to interject a reflection here.  Bre talked about the power of the side comment, the coworker who snipes, “They’re leaving work early again…”  Often, when we think about culture in organizations, we focus on the power of top-down change.  But culture is comprised of a hundred little interactions.  How you talk about your coworkers, that matters.  Think of the difference.  You see a single mom leaving at 4 PM.  What if, instead of snarking about how you wish you could just leave in the middle of the day, you say, “She is a really dedicated mom.  I am amazed how she juggles so much and still does such great work.”   In the space of workplace culture, Bre also noticed that there was a different standard applied to men than was applied to women.    - Bre Sprague I love men and this is not meaning to be a bash on men. A lot of it is our society and still how programmed we are. And the, the double standards that do exist against women in the workplace. You know I, I know of fathers who coached baseball teams who have to leave work early to go and coach baseball and it's like wow that's great. He's coaching the baseball team and that same excitement and that same you know.   - Bre Sprague You know really applauding and cheering somebody on as a woman needs to be there because all too often it's not. And, and if we want more women to be able to step up to the table and roles of leadership, we need to create cultures where you know what it's OK, you're a mom. That's part of who you are. You know it's OK. You know your kid got sick and isn't it great that we now have technology that you can work from home for a day if you need to work from home you know or that you know you can do the companies that do unlimited PTO as long as you're getting your work done.  You know your kid got sick and isn't it great that we now have technology that you can work from home for a day if you need to work from home you know or that you know you can do the companies that do unlimited PTO as long as you're getting your work done.  And I think that's the key factor is that moving away from cultures that are micromanaging the old way of thinking to saying how do we allow somebody to show up as their full self   Moving forwards, Bre wanted to be part of a company with a culture that was inclusive and supportive.  Inclusion. This is a term that is used in business and it can bring to mind inclusion along the lines of gender or orientation of race.  But what does it mean to expand inclusion to include those who are living through disruptive life events or are in the midst of life circumstances that fall outside of the norm?    - Bre Sprague You know and I feel like inclusion in in in creating a culture that is inclusive, is that is inclusive. It allows people to, to be vulnerable no matter what boundaries need to be in place. I think it's totally fine. I love it.   One of the, the, one of my many hats that I wear the boss my CEO of that company she hasn't had to say to me but she and I have joked that she has no problem telling somebody that this is probably something you should be talking to your therapist about and it's and it's true that like you can have that vulnerability and say hey I'm going on I'm coming into work I have this going on for example my grandmother died in January and I went into work and I just was honest is that if I seem a little bit off today it's because I am my 97 year old grandmother died and there was no need I mean she was in Florida and arrangements had to be made it wasn't like I needed to be off of work but there was a you know that awareness could bring some clarity so they might understand why I might seem a little off not laughing at our jokes quickly.   - Liesel Mertes Well in some way it gives it gives people more of the story. It's like in any relational dynamic you provide an answer to the question if you don't know:  oh, she must be upset because of what you know people are providing their own answer if they're perceiving that you don't give them a context.   - Bre Sprague Yeah, I am big on clarification.   MUSICAL TRANSITION   - Bre Sprague It's not about balance it's about juggling. It's about being okay with leaving some dishes in the sink at night because that extra half an hour of sleep is so much more important than those couple dishes that just need to be put in the dishwasher. It's about not stressing over the small stuff.   - Bre Sprague And you know if somebody even little things like you know I used to spend a lot of time on in the car driving for sales reps jobs and oh this person cut me off. Well maybe that person was just trying to get to muffins with moms like give somebody Grace and give yourself Grace and that's really what it would be that it's   - Bre Sprague there's no such thing as perfection. It's just about doing your best with what you can at the time forgiving yourself for when you feel like you haven't shown up as your best and then just truly knowing that you have worth and that you're not perfect but you're a good parent and a good employee and a good friend and a good daughter.   Knowing that you are a good parent, a good employee, a good friend and daughter. These words are powerful; are you a person that gives these words of affirmation?  Because there are people in your life, in your workplace, that would really appreciate hearing them.    - Liesel Mertes Bree thank you for sharing.   - Bre Sprague I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to meet you to be on the show. I am a fan of your mission of your work because people we've heard over and over again people don't leave jobs they leave poor management and they leave toxic cultures and all too often people will make a quick lateral transfer and they're not making any more money but the environment that they're in has been so toxic that they cannot stay any longer.   - Bre Sprague And I'm a huge fan of what you are trying to accomplish and what you are accomplishing because when a person can show up as their whole self in a workplace happy employees stay happy employees are productive and that's what we really need to try to cultivate more of. And so, congratulations to you and kudos and keep doing the good work. I agree. Thanks. Thanks for that.   - Liesel Mertes Those words of affirmation I receive them so.   MUSICAL TRANSITION   Three lessons or perhaps questions emerge from my conversation with Bre.   How inclusive and accommodating is your company to the needs of single parents? If you don’t know, ask the single parents that work with you. Create a focus group, send out a confidential survey.  Then consider, what can you offer to show support to single parents?  By offering support systems like flexible working arrangements and results-oriented hours, you can give essential support as well as differentiate yourself as an employer of choice.  Conversations with people in the midst of disruptive life events really matter, do you feel equipped to have those conversations? As Bre was sitting at the bedside of her sick son, she had a phone call that changed her work trajectory.  Bre’s life was upended and the company had to absorb the cost of recruiting and retraining her replacement.  This could have been avoided.  What if that person, on the other end of the line, had been able to offer basic support and empathy?  If you would like further training for yourself or your staff in how to have these conversations well, consider engaging a workplace empathy consultant.  Vulnerability can be a way of bringing clarity to a situation. For Bre, that looked like letting coworkers know that her grandmother died and that she was compromised as a result.  Are you a part of a culture that allows people to feel comfortable expressing their emotional location?  Do they believe that they will be met with empathy when they are vulnerable?  If not, what can you do to bring more of this clarity and open communication to the workplace?  If you are in leadership, perhaps this starts with sharing some of your own need for empathy and support.    As a parting note, Handle with Care will be taking a two-week break.  We will resume the podcast at the close of July as we help you build empathy at work.       OUTRO

Listen I'm not one for gossip but this came across my desk and you know this can get a good conversation going so, i'm game let's discuss this. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This is the last episode of this series of episodes and, in it, I offer some philosophy. In that sense, it is the most didactic episode so far. Oh, and after doing a recount in my head, I am pretty sure there are 18 or 19 traffic lights between the top of Holland Park Avenue and my house. You might say "Why don't you go out and check?", in which case I would reply that Holland Park Avenue is a nasty hill to cycle just for the sake of counting traffic lights and that every time I've been out that way for some better reason in the last few weeks I've got distracted by other things on my way home and forgotten to do it. Listen: I'm as frustrated as you are about this. As mentioned, some of my short writing is online here.

Hello once again and welcome to another Mansion Ingles podcast. This is podcast number 67 recorded for November 2013. En el nivel básico practicamos los pronombres y los antónimos En el nivel intermedio estudiamos los tiempos verbales y el vocabulario del cuerpo (parts of the body). We practise some general vocabulary at advanced level, and also we help you with what to say in English in certain social situations There's also business vocabulary and a translation exercise, all to help you improve your English and take it to the next level. En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podéis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno cada mes, ver la trascripción de este podcast o leer los anteriores, ve a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal. Hemos recibido un comentario en iTunes de Carlos G - "Mil gracias por vuestro fantástico podcast, pero no hemos transcrito el contenido de los últimos podcasts. Os animo a que lo hagais para poder seguir aprendiendo. Gracias a vosotros. Un abrazo." Bueno Carlos, gracias por tu comentario. Si que publicamos la transcripción en los cuadernos mensuales, siempre los publicamos el mes siguiente. Es decir, puedes leer la transcripción de este podcast de noviembre en diciembre. Y no olvides que todos los cuadernos pasados están disponibles en www.cuadernodeingles.com/. También puedes ver las trascripciónes en mansioningles.libsyn.com/ Ok, vamos a empezar con el nivel básico y los pronombres de objeto. Do you remember the object pronouns in English? Vamos a repasarlos. me - me repite: me te - you - repite: you lo - him - repite: him la - her - repite: her lo - it - repite: it nos - us - repite: us os - you - repite: you los/las - them - repite: them Escucha y repite las siguientes frases de ejemplo Escucha: You're lovely! I really like you. repite: You're lovely! I really like you. Escucha: He's not very friendly. I don't like him. repite: He's not very friendly. I don't like him. Escucha: Are they talking to us? repite: Are they talking to us? Escucha: Football's great! I love it. repite: Football's great! I love it. Escucha: She's horrible. I don’t like her. repite: She's horrible. I don’t like her. Escucha: I don't like vegetables. I hate them! repite: I don't like vegetables. I hate them! Escucha: Homework? I hate it. repite: Homework? I hate it. Escucha: Please give it to me. repite: Please give it to me Escucha: Did they invite us? repite: Did they invite us? Escucha: My neighbours are nice. I really like them. repite: My neighbours are nice. I really like them. ¡Muy bien! - Very good! Ahora practicamos los antónimos. Escucha y intenta decir los antónimos antes que los digo yo. Luego, repítalos para practicar la pronunciación. Ready? - ¿Listo? expensive - cheap repite: cheap tall - short - repite: short young - old - repite:  old empty - full        - repite: full fat - thin - repite:  thin  happy - sad - repite: sad Ok good, now moving on to the intermediate section, and in this month's cuaderno we looked at verb tenses. I'm going to read the examples we had and I want you to think which verb tense I'm using. For example, "I live in Valencia", which tense is live? Yes, present simple. What about, "I've been living in Valencia since 1997?" Well, that's present perfect continuous. Listen : Take your umbrella with you in case it rains. - Present simple. The weather forecast said it'll get colder today. Listen : I'm really sorry we haven't been in touch for so long. Since we moved to Barcelona, we've been very busy doing up our flat here. We tried to send you an email last month, but it came back to us so you must have changed your address. Listen : We were going out to a pub quiz tonight, but we have just heard that it's been cancelled, so I think we'll just stay at home and watch a film instead. Listen : Hey Maria! How are you? I haven't seen you for ages. You look great! What have you been doing since we last met? Listen : We intended to go around Europe this summer, but my mother-in-law is sick, so I suppose we'll be staying at home. Listen : I wish you had told me that you don't eat seafood. Let me make something else for you. Moving on to the vocabulary part of the intermediate section, and we talked about parts of the body and what you did with them. For example, what do you do with your eyes? You see with your eyes. You can also look and watch. Look at something (look at that beautiful girl over there). And you can watch a game, watch TV, watch a film etc. What do you do with your ears? You hear with your ears. You can also listen. Listen and look and watch are more active verbs. You actively listen to music or to another person. You actively watch a game of football. But hear and see are senses, sentidos. So, what do you do with your nose. It's a verb and a noun, and another sense. You smell with your nose. You have a sense of smell. And what a wonderful sense it is! What's your favourite smell? flowers perhaps? or freshly baked bread? I like the smell of petrol, which is a bit strange, I know. And the smell of freshly cut grass. That's a smell I miss from the UK. There were public parks near where I used to live in London. But in Valencia there isn't a lot of grass around and it's usually full of dogs mess. My favourite smell though, has to be....chocolate! Which part of the body do you kiss with? - You kiss with your lips. And what do you do with your teeth? Well you can bite (morder, in Spanish) and you can chew (masticar). If you need to chew a lot, for a long time, you can say the food is chewy. That's the adjective. Chewy. "The steak's nice, but it's a bit chewy". What do you do with your hands and your fingers? - touch, which is another of the five senses, the sense of touch. Can you name the five senses? the sense of smell, sight, hearing, taste and touch. And of course, there is The Sixth Sense, which is a film starring Bruce Willis. What do you think with? You think with your brain. And if you are a footballer, what do you do with your feet? Kick - to kick the ball, or kick another player if you play dirty. Finally, which part of your body do you use to smile? Well, you can smile with your mouth, your lips and I believe you can also smile with your eyes. In fact, you can give a false smile with your mouth but it's very difficult to lie and smile with your eyes. Your eyes tell the truth. they are the window to the soul. Siempre me ha gustado la idea de aprender inglés con videos. Por eso te recomendamos ABA English. Los videos de ABA English son muy profesionales y están muy bien hechos. Además de las 144 clases gratuitas de gramática en vídeo, también tienes la posibilidad de probar la primera unidad de tu nivel (hay 6 niveles distintos) y realizar todas las secciones de esta unidad para probar su metodología única de aprendizaje.  Tú aprendes inglés viendo películas cortas con subtítulos, que ya es un método muy eficaz para aprender inglés,  pero también actúas en estas películas! Es muy divertido! En la misma unidad realizas ejercicios de speaking y role play actuando en el diálogo del cortometraje que has visto! Los cortometrajes, con situaciones de la vida real, son la base de cada unidad del curso de inglés. Llevan incorporada la tecnología de reconocimiento de voz propia.  Echa un vistazo a los videos de ABA English.com. Puedes empezar los cursos gratis sin coste y además con apoyo en español. Al empezar, tienes que facilitar una dirección de email y contestar algunas preguntas básicas, pero no es necesario que realices ningún pago. Pienso que si una empresa ofrece un producto gratis para probarlo es porque es bueno y la empresa cree en sus productos. ¡Regístrate hoy y aprende inglés gratis con video, en casa y a tu ritmo. ABA English.com! Pruébalo no tienes nada de perder. In the advanced section this month, we looked at some vocabulary the first expression was bound to. To be bound to means ser seguro que. Listen: Why don’t you email Pepito, he’s bound to have the meeting agenda. Repeat; he's bound to have it - she's bound to know the answer - We're bound to get lost! - I'm bound to make a mistake. Listen: I have no idea where we arranged to meet them. I suppose they could conceivably be waiting at the hotel. conceivably means posiblemente - they could conceivably be waiting at the hotel - it's possible that they are waiting at the hotel. Repeat: conceivably - You could conceivably be wrong, you know. I may conceivably get the promotion. Listen: We’re highly likely to be the leaders in our field this time next year. Highly likely means there's a very good chance. Repeat: It's highly likely. It's highly likely we'll go away for Christmas. It's highly likely he'll be late again. Listen: You’re looking really tired! You can’t have had a very relaxing holiday. Can't is the opposite of must for possibility. It's Sunday. My parents always go out for lunch on Sunday. My wife phones my parents and there's no answer. I say, "They must be having lunch now." They must be having lunch now means I'm about 95% sure they are having lunch. I'm almost positive. The opposite is they can't be. My parents can't be at home. It's Sunday. They always go out. They can't be at home. To put the modal verbs in the past you need to use have. Today is Monday. phone my mum and say, "you must have been having lunch when my wife phoned you." You can't have been at home. Listen: There’s a slight possibility that you’ll get their answer before the weekend. A slight possibility is a very small possibility. Repeat: a slight possibility. There's a slight possibility. There's a slight possibility you'll hear from them. There's a slight possibility they'll get in touch before the weekend. Listen: Pepito broke his leg last week so he couldn’t have played football at the weekend. - Another example of have putting a modal verb (couldn't) in the past. He couldn't have played. It wasn't possible that he played because he had broken his leg. Repeat: He couldn't have played - She couldn't have gone - We couldn't have known - You couldn't have seen me, I wasn't there. In the advanced section this month, we also looked at what you should say in certain situations. Some of these little language chunks (trozos de lenguaje) can be difficult. For example, someone says to you: "I'm terribly sorry, I've just spilt red wine over this white cushion." cushion is cojín. A possible answer, if it's your cushion, is "Can't be helped." or "It can't be helped", It's no one's fault, don't worry about it, it's ok. Nothing can be done to help the situation. Repeat: Can't be helped. - Someone says. "We're going to be late because of the heavy traffic", and you say....can't be helped. "Someone's says, "The shop's going to be closed by the time we get there." you say, "Can't be helped." Another example is when someone says "How about lending me your new video camera for our holiday?" If it's a brand new, expensive camera. And if, like me, you are very protective and illogically possessive of your technology gadgets, you could answer,  "No way!" (¡Ni hablar!) Can I borrow your new car for the weekend? You say, "No way!". Someone says, "Can you lend me a couple of thousand euros to go to the casino?" you say, "No way!" Someone says, "Sorry. I hope you didn't mind us putting on the stereo. We didn't know you were trying to work in here." You say: Don't mind me! (No haces caso de mi) Repeat: Don't mind me! Someone says, "Do you mind if I use that computer?" you say. "Don't mind me. Help yourself. Don't mind me." Someone makes a suggestion, like let's go out for dinner, let's rent a DVD, Why don't we go shopping this afternoon? We could go for a walk. You say, Might as well. (¿porque no?, no hay otra cosa que hacer) Repeat: might as well. - Shall we go out for a walk? - might as well. Do you want to go to the pub? might as well. Let's go to the cinema - might as well. If you don't apologise, I'll never talk to you again. I couldn't care less. (¡Me da igual!, ¡Me da lo mismo!) Repeat: I couldn't care less. You can also forget the I and just say "Couldn't care less" Are you watching this? Can I change the channel? - Couldn't care less. You're going to be late for school - couldn't care less. You can't go outside in that shirt, it's dirty. - I couldn't care less. Listen: I think you should have a word with your boss and tell her how unhappy you are with the decisions she's been making. I've got a good mind to. (No es mala idea, Creo que haría eso) Repeat. I've got a good mind to. You should report your neighbours to the police. - I've got a good mind to. Why don't you complain to you boss about your long hours? Do you know what? I've a good mind to! - Repeat: I've a good mind to.   In the Business English section this month we looked at some more business English vocabulary, and the first expression was to review a proposal - revisar una propuesta - Repeat: to review a proposal. I think we should review their proposal. Have you had time to review our proposal? I think you should have a word with Pepito, he's not pulling his weight. No está haciendo lo que debe hacer. No está haciendo su parte. Repeat: pulling his weight. Are you pulling your weight? He's not pulling his weight, you know. To pull your weight means to work as hard as other people in a group - The rest of the team complained that Sarah wasn't pulling her weight. A fixed amount of money charged for professional services is called a fee. F-E-E. Repeat: What is your fee? How much is your lawyer's fee? I think lawyer's fees are too high. Is there a fee for getting a driver's license? Listen : We've reviewed your proposal, and there are one or two things we'd like to go over with you. To go over means to talk about (analizar, revisar). Repeat; to go over - We should go over these sales figures. Have you gone over the proposal? When do you want to go over the presentation? After receiving a pay cut and having to work more hours, the employees took the union's advice and went on strike.  to go on strike hacer una huelga. Repeat: They've gone on strike. Why are they on strike' They're on strike for more pay. Are they on strike again? How long have they been on strike for? Well, we're not on strike at La Mansión del Inglés. We're busy creating more material to help you improve your English. But we have reached the end of this podcast, but never fear/don't worry (never fear=no temas/no tengas miedo) we'll be back with you next month as usual with another podcast based on our monthly newsletter, our cuaderno de inglés mensual. Remember, you can listen to all our previous podcasts at mansioningles.com and of course on iTunes. And we have a new podcast called Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig en lo que hablo con mi amigo Reza, que también es profesor de inglés, sobre el vocabulario, la gramática y la pronunciación de inglés. Puedes encontrarlo también en iTunes. Si te gustan nuestros podcasts, puedes ayudarnos con una corta reseña en iTunes contribuyendo así a que más personas puedan conocernos y escucharnos. Gracias a todos los que ya han escrito algún comentario. Thank you to all of you who are writing reviews. Thank you very much for listening to this podcast, and for being part of the community of La Mansión del Inglés. Remember, If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés where you can ask questions, make comments and do exercises and practise your listening. Or you can send me an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter where we tweet useful links to improve your English, English slang vocabulary, quotations and much more. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit. Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de este mes, y todos los cuadernos anteriores en www.cuadernodeingles.com/ Until next month then, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Take care and bye for now! The music in this month’s podcast is by Revolution Void, the album is The Politics of Desire and the track is called Outer Orbit.                                            

Aprender ingles y mejora tú gramatica, vocabulario y pronunciacion con lecciones, ejemplos y ejercicios. Learn English with La Mansion del Ingles. Lessons to improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Hello once again and welcome to another Mansion Ingles podcast. This is podcast number 65 recorded for September 2013. Este mes, en el nivel básico practicamos algunas frases con el gerundio, y también tenemos vocabulario de los grupos de palabras - word families. En el nivel intermedio tenemos más ejemplos del uso de could, can y be able to y por vocabulario tenemos más confusing words; las palabras que se puede confundir. In the advanced section, we practise more advanced collocations, and there's business vocabulary as usual, and a translation exercise, all to help you improve your English and take it to the next level. En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podáis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno cada mes, ver la trascripción de este podcast o leer los anteriores, vete a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal. Many thanks to Humberto Cordero for your email. Humberto vive en Chile y es aficionado a nuestros podcasts. Dice que ha aprendido mucho con La Mansión del Inglés y quiero decir muchas gracias a Humberto por su email y sus amables palabras.   Ok, let's start then with el nivel básico y las frases que llevan el gerundio, es decir el verbo con I-N-G. ¿Cómo se dice el verbo ver en inglés? - to see. ¿Y cuál es el gerundio del verbo see? - seeing. Repite; seeing también puede ser watch. La diferencía entre see y watch es que "watch" es mirar cosas o personas en movimiento. Entonces decimos watch a football match, watch TV etc. Puedes watch a film or see a film - ver una pelicular., pero si quieres preguntar a alguien si ha visto una peli, se pregunta con el see. Have you seen any good films recently? Did you see the film yesterday? Pero si estás mirando una pelicular ahora mismo, se dice watch. I'm watching a film. Repite: I'm watching a film. What film are you watching? Do you like watching horror films? (Nota que decimos horror films y no terror films.) ¿Cómo se dice escuchar en inglés? To listen. Repite: to listen. I'm listening to music. Nota la preposición TO con el verbo to listen. To listen TO something. Repite: listen to music. Listen to the radio. I'm listening to the radio. - I'm listening to a podcast - Do you like listening to rap music? ¿Cómo se dice jugar en inglés? - to play. ¿Entonces, qué es el gerundio del verbo play? - playing - Repite: playing. Do you like playing cards? Do you like playing tennis? I like playing football. Se puede traducir el verbo hacer a make o do. Pero cuando preguntamos por las actividades y los deportes, usamos el verbo to do. Escucha: What do you like doing at the weekend? Tenemos dos verbos DO en este ejemplo. El primero es el verbo auxiliar do que necesitamos para hacer la pregunata en el timepo presente simple. Repite: What do you.....? What do you like doing? What do you like doing in the summer? Do you like going to the beach? Do you like doing sport? What do you like doing? ¿Cómo se dice nadar en inglés? to swim. ¿Y el gerundio? swimming. Repite: swimming. Do you like swimming? Do you like swimming in the sea? ¿Cómo se dice salir en inglés? to go out. ¿Y cuál es el gerundio? going out. Repite: going out. Do you like going out?  Do you like going out at night? Do you like going out to restaurants? Do you like going out with friends? Of course you do! I love going out. ¿Cómo se dice viajar? - to travel. ¿Y Cuál es el gerundio? travelling. Repite: travelling. Do you like travelling? Do you like travelling by train. Otro verbo que puedes emplear aquí en vez de like es enjoy (disfrutar). La gramática con el gerundio es lo mismo. Escucha: Do you enjoy travelling? Repite: Do you enjoy travelling? Do you enjoy travelling by train? Do you enjoy travelling by plane? I love travelling by plane, but I don't enjoy being in airports very much. ¿Cómo se dice levantarte en inglés - to get up. ¿Y cuál es el gerundio? - getting up. Repite: getting up. Do you like getting up early? I hate getting up early. I like getting up late. Especially at weekends. Very good! ¡Muy bien! Ahora, continuamos con las familas, los grupos de palabras - Word families. Creo que te he dicho una vez que es un buen idea aprender el vocabulario en grupos, en familias. Es más fácil recordarlas. Escucha algunas palabras en grupos y repitelas. twenty - thirty - forty - fifty - sixty - seventy - eighty - ninety teach - teacher - football - footballer - compose -composer       - clean - cleaner - sing - singer - law - lawyer - drive - driver - write - writer January - February - March - April - May - June       - July - August -  September - October - November - December have - had - buy - bought - read - read - write - wrote - speak - spoke - see - saw - get - got - make - made - say - said - drink - drank Spain - Spanish - France - French - Italy - Italian - Germany - German - Britain - British - Mexico - Mexican - Greece - Greek Ok good, now moving on to the intermediate section, we practised some more examples of 'can', 'could' and 'be able to'. 'Can' and 'could' are modal auxiliary verbs. 'Be able to' is NOT an auxiliary verb (it uses the verb to be as a main verb). Muchas veces en inglés empleamos to be able to or to be allowed to en lugar de "can". Solo podemos formar el can en el pasado - Es el 'could'. 'Can' en el pasado es 'could'. Si queremos poner 'can' en otros tiempos, hay que usar el 'to be able to' or 'to be allowed to'. Listen and repeat some more examples with can, could, be able to and be allowed to. I can drive. Repeat: I can drive. - I could drive when I was 18. - Repeat: I could drive when I was 18. - I'm not allowed to drive a bus. Repeat: I'm not allowed to drive a bus I couldn't drive when I was 16. Repeat: I couldn't drive when I was 16. I've been able to drive since I was 18. Fíjate en la contracción. Listen: I have been able - I've been able. Repeat: I've been able - I've been able to drive. - I've been able to drive since I was 18. Will you be able to drive? Repeat: Will you be able to drive? He can play the guitar. Repeat: He can play the guitar. He could play the guitar when he was 10. Repeat: when he was 10 - play the guitar - He could play the guitar - He could play the guitar when he was 10. Listen: We won't be able to go to the wedding. Repeat: go to the wedding - Won't be able to - We won't be able to go to the wedding. She's not allowed to see him. Repeat: She's not allowed to see him. She can speak to him. Repeat: She can speak to him. But she's not allowed to see him. Moving on to vocabulary in the intermediate section and we had some confusing words: We had keen, fond, appeal, fascinated, fancy and interested. Listen and repeat some examples: I don’t fancy going out tonight. Fancy is more used in British English for the meaning of gustar or apetecer. Do you fancy going out? Repeat: Do you fancy going out? Do you fancy some pizza? What do you fancy doing tonight? Do you fancy seeing a film? What do you fancy? (¿Qué te apetece? o ¿Qué quieres tomar?) What do you fancy? - Repeat: What do you fancy? What do you fancy to drink? If you fancy someone you are attracted to them sexually. I fancy that girl over there in the red dress. She's gorgeous! I really fancied you when we were at school together. the verb appeal also means gustar, atraer. That house really appeals to me. Esa casa me gusta de verdad. Nota que appeal lleva la preposición to. Hay verbos que están casi siempre acompañados con una preposición fija. Se llaman dependent prepositions y en el caso de appeal, su dependent preposition es el 'to'. Appeal to - Repeat: It appeals to me. That holiday in Italy appeals to me. It doesn't appeal to me. A camping holiday doesn't appeal to me. I've been camping before, when I was younger, but now I'm older I prefer hotels. I want a comfortable bed. Sleeping in a tent just doesn't appeal to me anymore. What's the dependent preposition of interested? I'm interested.....? Listen: I'm very interested in astronomy. What are you interested in? Repeat: What are you interested in? Are you interested in golf? I'm not interested in golf at all. It doesn't appeal to me. When keen is used in the sense of aficionado, it also has a dependent preposition. Do you know it? It's keen on. I'm keen on tennis. I'm keen on cooking. I'm fond of it, I have a liking for it. Repeat: I'm keen on cooking. I'm very keen on Chinese food. I'm not keen on seafood. 'Fond of' is similar to 'keen on'. Repeat: fond of. I'm fond of fish. Repeat: I'm fond of fish. I'm fond of fish, but shellfish doesn't appeal to me. Are you keen on seafood? What sports are you keen on? I'm keen on motor racing, boxing and I'm quite keen on football too. I'm not very fond of golf, though. Listen: I’m fascinated by astronomy. Repeat: fascinated by. You can also say fascinated with. Repeat: I'm fascinated with this new watch you bought me. What fascinates you? Are you fascinated by technology? Siempre me ha gustado la idea de aprender inglés con video. Por eso te recomendamos ABA English. Los videos de ABA English son muy profesionales y están muy bien hechos. Además de las 144 clases gratuitas de gramática en vídeo, también tienes la posibilidad de probar la primera unidad de tu nivel (hay 6 niveles distintos) y realizar todas las secciones de esta unidad para probar su metodología única de aprendizaje.  Tú aprendes inglés viendo películas cortas con subtítulos, que ya es un método muy eficaz para aprender inglés,  pero también actúas en estas películas! Es muy divertido! En la misma unidad realizas ejercicios de speaking y role play actuando en el diálogo del cortometraje que has visto! Los cortometrajes, con situaciones de la vida real, son, entonces, la base de cada unidad del curso de inglés. Llevan incorporada la tecnología de reconocimiento de voz propia.  Echa un vistazo a los videos de ABA English.com. Puedes empezar los cursos gratis sin coste algúno y además con apoyo en español Al empezar, tienes que facilitar una dirrecion de email, y contestar algunas preguntas básicas, pero no es necesario que realices ningún pago, y yo siempre pienso que si una empresa te ofrecen un producto gratis para probarlo, es por que es bueno y que la empresa crean en sus productos. ¡Registrate hoy y aprende inglés gratis con video, en casa y a tu ritmo. ABA English.com! Pruébalo no tienes nada de perder. In the advanced section this month, we looked at some more collocations. The first of which was to draw the curtains. To draw the curtains means to close the curtains. Repeat: draw the curtains. Could you draw the curtains please? Shall I draw the curtains? It's getting dark. Another collocation with draw is to draw the line (at something) which means to set a limit at something, to decide when a limit has been reached or to separate one thing from another. For example, It's not clear where this writer draws the line between fact and fiction. Repeat: to draw the line. It all depends where you draw the line. I think we should draw the line at stealing, don't you? Of course, one meaning of draw is dibujar. To draw a picture, draw some trees and a house on paper, You can also draw a weapon, a gun. Jesse James drew his gun and shot the man dead in the street. You can also draw a game or a match (empatar). Madrid drew 1-1 with Chelsea in the Champions League. The match was a draw. A Lawyer can draw up a contract. The phrasal verb to draw up means redactar. Repeat: to draw up. Draw up a contract and I'll sign it. If you jump to a conclusion you quickly judge or decide something without having all the facts. You guess the facts about a situation without having enough information. Repeat: to jump to a conclusion. Don't jump to conclusions. Listen to me first. You're always jumping to conclusions. If something stands to reason, it's obvious, it's what you would expect. Repeat: It stands to reason. It stands to reason he lost his job. It stands to reason they bought a bigger house. To stand trial means to be the accused person in a trial before a judge. To be on trial. Repeat: to stand trial. He's standing trial for murder. The Spanish politician had to stand trial for tax evasion. Another common phrase with stand is to stand for president or stand for office. Repeat: He's standing for president in the next election. Why don't you stand for governor? If you make ends meet, you have enough money to pay for your expenses. To make ends meet. It's usually used when people don't have a lot of money, but they just manage to get by. They succeed in paying for the things they need. Repeat: to make ends meet. - I also work at nights to make ends meet. - I work overtime to make ends meet. - I had to get a second job to make ends meet. Another strong collocation is to make an impression (causar(le) una impresión). Repeat: to make an impression. She made an impression on me. You can make a good impression or a bad impression. He made a very good impression on all of us. The collocation have the impression or have an impression means to suspect or sense something. Repeat: to have the impression - I have the impression that she's a bit irresponsible. - I have the impression you don't trust me. Listen to the collocations and expressions again and repeat them after me: draw the curtains jump to a conclusion stand to reason make ends meet stand for president  make an impression draw the line (at something) stand trial In the Business English section we looked at some more business English vocabulary, and the first expression was to run out of something. This phrasal verb means agotar, quedarse sin algo. Repeat: to run out of. We've run out of paper. Oh no, I've run out of coffee! Can you buy some more wine, we've run out. I hate running out of beer. Another expression with run is to run short on something. Quedarse corto de algo. Repeat: to run short of - We're running short of sugar. We're running short of ink for the photocopier. Can we finish the meeting now? We're running short of time. If you come up with something, you think of something or develop something. Repeat: to come up with. He often comes up with very creative solutions. She comes up with some very good ideas. It's important not to lose sight of the main point. to lose sight - perder la vista. Don't lose sight of the main objective. Repeat: Don't lose sight of the main objective. - I think we're losing sight of our goals here. If you take drastic measures you do severe, radical or extreme things in order to reach an objective. Repeat: take drastic measures. - He took drastic measures. - We must take drastic measures to stop this fall in revenue. There are several ways to say that something has gone down - que algo ha bajado. You can say dropped, decreased, fallen and reduced. Repeat: Sales have gone down - profits have fallen - sales have decreased - profits have been reduced - sales have dropped. ¡Muy bien! - Very good! We also gave you some more sentences to translate in this month's cuaderno. First, you had to translate from English to Spanish. So,  I'll say the English sentences and you say the Spanish translation before I do. Then, repeat the English sentence after me to practise pronunciation. Ready? People are buying less. - La gente está comprando menos. Repite: People are buying less. This headache is terrible. - Este dolor de cabeza es terrible. Repeat: This headache is terrible. The pages are torn. - Las páginas están rotas. Repeat: The pages are torn. They’ve gone/they’ve left - Se han marchado. Repeat: They’ve gone/they’ve left Do you believe everything they tell you? - ¿Crees todo lo que te dicen? Repeat: Do you believe - Do you believe everything - they tell you? - Do you believe everything they tell you? Good, now I'll read some Spanish sentences and you translate to English before I do. Then repeat the sentences after me to practise your pronunciation. OK? ¿Quién está autorizado para firmarlo? - Who’s authorized to sign it? Repeat: sign - sign it - to sign it - authorized - authorized to sign it - Who’s authorized to sign it? Su piso es muy impresionante. - Your/his/her flat (UK) / apartment (US) is very impressive. Repeat: impressive - is very impressive - Your flat is very impressive. - His flat is very impressive. - Her flat is very impressive.- Your apartment is very impressive. ¿Por qué no está él aquí? - Why isn’t he here? Repeat: Why isn’t he here? Le voy a pedir perdón. - I’m going to apologise to him. Repeat: apologise to him. - I’m going to - I’m going to apologise to him. Jamás he dicho semejante cosa. - I’ve never said such a thing. Repeat: such a - such a thing. - I’ve never said - I’ve never said such a thing. Well, that's all we have time for on this podcast, but we'll be back with you next month as usual with another podcast based on our monthly newsletter, our cuaderno de inglés mensual. Remember, you can listen to all our previous podcasts at mansioningles.com and of course on iTunes. Si te gusta este podcast, puedes hacernos un gran favor y escribe una corta reseña en iTunes. Si escribes una reseña en iTunes más personas pueden escucharnos porque subimos en el 'ranking' de iTunes. y también puedes darnos algunas estrellas, si te gusta nuestros podcasts. Muchas gracias a Marlen80 que dice "Me encanta! Tanto para principiantes como para avanzados. Es muy bueno el contenido". Thank you Marlen80, we appreciate it. And thank you also to nachoycris que dicen "Muy bueno y nada pesado. Sobre todo muy practico." Gracias. Thank you to all of you who are writing reviews. Thank you very much for listening to this podcast, and for being part of the community of La Mansión del Inglés. Remember, If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of more than 26,000 fans. Or send me an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit. Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de este mes, y todos los cuadernos anteriores en www.cuadernodeingles.com/ Until next month then, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Take care and bye for now! The music in this month’s podcast is by Revolution Void, the album is The Politics of Desire and the track is called Outer Orbit.          

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del ingles. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios. Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises. Hello again. Welcome, and thank you for downloading this Mansión Inglés podcast. This is podcast number 52 recorded for August 2012. Este mes, en el nivel básico practicamos hablando sobre la rutina diaria - Our daily routine And in the intermediate section, some gerunds and infinitives, and opposites. In the advanced section, some more idioms and more words which have multiple meanings. As usual there's a business English exercise and many more ways to improve your English and take it to the next level.  En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podáis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno cada mes, ver la trascripción de este podcast o leer los anteriores, vete a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal. So come on! - ¡Vamos alla! - let's get started con el nivel básico y la rutina diaria - Daily Routine. Voy a decir algunas expresiones relacionado con la rutina diaria y tu tienes que decir la traducción en inglés antes que la digo yo. Luego, repitela para practicar la pronunciación. Are you ready? ¿Estas listo? despertarse  - to wake up   Repite: to wake up   levantarse - to get up Repite: to get up desayunar - to have breakfast Repite: to have breakfast ducharse - to have a shower Repite: to have a shower         vestirse - to get dressed Repite: to get dressed ir al trabajo - to go to work Repite: to go to work llegar al trabajo - to get to work Repite: to get to work empezar el trabajo - to start work Repite: to start work tomar un café - to have a coffee Repite: to have a coffee Repite: I wake up at 6.30. - I get up at 6.35! I get up late on Sundays. I have coffee and toast for breakfast. I have a shower before breakfast.       I get dressed quickly (rápido) - I get dressed quickly. I go to work by bus. I get to work at 7.45. I start work at 8 o'clock. I have a coffee at 10.30. Very good!  - ¡Muy bien!   In the intermediate section this month, we looked at some gerunds and infinitives. After the verb surprise is it a gerund or an infinitive? - It's an infinitive. I was surprised to see or I was surprised to discover or I was surprised to hear etc. What about the adjective busy? Is busy followed by a gerund or infinitive? I was busy....doing the report (gerund) - Repeat: I was busy doing the report  - She was busy answering her emails - They were busy getting ready for the party. What about 'Thank you for....' - It's the preposition 'for' you should focus on because you always put a gerund after any preposition. Thank you for helping me. Repeat: Thank you for helping me. - Thanks for giving me a lift. I can't thank you enough for letting me stay for the weekend. After the expression 'to be worth' (vale la pena) - What do you think, gerund or infinitive? It's worth.....+gerund - It's worth visiting the Louvre if you're in Paris. It might be worth trying different software - Are you sure it's worth going by car? After 'be used to' which has the meaning of estar acostumbrado/a a is it gerund or infinitive? - 'be used to' - It's gerund - I'm not used to driving on the right. Repeat: I'm not used to driving on the right. - Are you used to eating so late? ¡OJO! -  It's the used to that means soler, tener el hábito de that takes the infinitive - For example, I used to live in London. I used to drive on the left. I used to have dinner at 6 o'clock. What about after the expression to be happy? - I'm happy......to see you. - Repeat: I'm happy to see you - - I'm happy to see you again - I was happy to learn that you're coming to visit. And after finish? - put a gerund. I've finished washing the car. I'll help you when I finish doing my homework. Listen and repeat some examples: He was surprised to discover the truth. She’s busy doing the housework. Thank you for giving me a hand. It might be worth taking it back to the shop. She’s not used to working late. I’ll be happy to help you. Have you finished doing the dishes? Don’t forget to send us a message on Facebook. We also looked at some opposites in the intermediate section. Listen and try to say the opposites before I do. The opposite of sharp is.......blunt. This knife isn't sharp, it's blunt. The opposite of tender meat is........ tough meat. Tender is soft and tough is hard. Be careful of the spelling of tough, it's really strange.T-O-U-G-H repeat. tough. - tough meat - this steak's really tough - How's the meat? It's a bit tough. - It's a bit tough. The opposite of to take off for a plane is to........land. Repeat: We take off at 7 and we land around 9.30. - What time does the flight take off? The opposite of agree is .........refuse. Well, it can also be to disagree. You agree with someone or you disagree with someone. But you can agree to do something or you can refuse to do something. Repeat: I agreed to take her to the station. She refused to lend me any money. The opposite of catch a train is........to.... miss a train, or a bus or a plane. In Spanish you say to lose (perder). That always makes me smile when my students make that mistake. "I'm sorry I'm late, I lost the bus." You lost the bus? Where did you put it? It must be here somewhere. It was in my pocket five minutes ago, then it disappeared! - What's the past of catch? - Caught. Repeat: caught. We caught the last train. We nearly missed it. The opposite of useful is.......useless. Repeat: useful - this new application is really useful. - useless - It's totally useless! Speaking about the weather, the opposite of severe weather is mild weather. Repeat: severe - Canada has some severe weather. - Valencia has mild winters. And finally, the opposite of to admit is......to deny (admitir y negar - admit and deny Repeat: He admitted stealing the money. - I denied eating the chocolate. If you like these podcasts, and if you are learning more English with these podcasts, you can buy full lessons for only 1 euro and 40 centimos from our online shop - nuestra tienda online. Estas lecciones están diseñados como una continuación del curso de audio Mansión Auto 2, y están basados en nuestro curso básico interactivo que ha ayudado a más de 25 millones de personas a aprender inglés. Las lecciones están a nivel intermedio (B1) y estamos poniendo nuevas lecciones constantemente en mansioninglesdescargas.wazala.com (that's: mansioninglesdescargas - todo junto - punto . wazala - punto.com. Cada leccion vale 1.40 euros y dura approx. 1 hora 15 minutos y cada leccion está en formato mp3 y lleva su trascripcion en formato PDF. There were more idioms this month in the advanced section. Let's see if you can remember the idioms if I say the Spanish equivalent. For example, what's the English idiom for Sobre gustos no hay nada escrito? gusto is taste and the idiom is - "There's no accounting for taste." What about No se oia ni (el vuelo de) una mosca? - "There wasn't a sound to be heard." The next one is Mas puede la pluma que la espada. This is a direct translation to English - “The pen is mightier than the sword.” What about, Hierba mala nunca muere. or is it, Mala hierba nunca muere? Think of good people for this translation not bad grass or bad weeds - “Only the good die young.” - Next: Nada mejor que un ladron para atrapar a otro ladron.  translates to - “Set a thief to catch a thief.” And finally, En una hora ne se gano Zamora  has the word Rome in it -         "Rome wasn't built in a day." Now listen and repeat the idioms:  “There's no accounting for taste.” “There wasn't a sound to be heard.” “The pen is mightier than the sword.” “Only the good die young.” “Set a thief to catch a thief.” "Rome wasn't built in a day."    Also in the advanced section of this month's newsletter we looked at some more words with multiple meanings. For example, you probably know that drill means taladro you drill holes in the wall. The dentist uses a drill on your teeth - erghhhh! I hate that. And also we can have a fire drill at work. A practice, in case of a fire. A drill bit es una broca and in the army, un unstructor militar is a drill instructor. Bust was the next word. To go bust means ir(se) a la bancarrota, quebrar - during this recession many companies are going bust. And bust is also a ladies bosom or chest. What bust size are you? You may be asked ladies when you go to buy a bra in Marks and Spencers. In colloquial English to bust something means to break it. Who busted the remote control? Don't play with that, you'll bust it! The word file is carpeta - a paper file or a digital file - and it's also a tool (una lima) - you file your nails with a file - a nailfile and you may need a file in carpentry or metalwork. You can also file a news report (presentar un reportaje), and you can file a law suit which means presentar or entablar una demanda - You can file for a divorce, although lets hope you never have to! As a verb it can mean to walk in line - to file past something. So, how would you translate " la multitud desfiló ante la tumba."? - the crowd filed past the tomb. Iron is hierro and we can say that something is as hard as iron. The ground is as hard as iron. It's also una plancha. And I try to see and use my iron as infrequently as possible. I hate ironing, God I hate ironing! the verb is to iron and there's a phrasal verb to iron out which means to resolve, (poner en orden, limar diferencias). We need to iron out a few minor differences before we begin. In English, to "strike while the iron is hot" means to take advantage of something while the moment is most appropriate. We shouldn't wait, we should strike while the iron is hot. Take action now! Bound as a verb means saltar - El perro iba dando saltos detrás de la bicicleta - The dog bounded along behind the bicycle. If you are bound (the adjective) you are tied up - literally, not figuratively - My hands were bound -  tenía las manos atadas - bounds also means limits - Su generosidad no tiene límites - Her generosity knows no bounds -   Another popular expression is "Within the bounds of possibility" -  dentro de lo posible - Yes, of course we will do it if it's in the bounds of possibility. In the Business English section, we looked at some more business English vocabulary. Don't forget that we do business not make business, and we make money, not do money. So, we do business with people in order to make money. Repeat: do business, make money. Trendy means moderno - A trendy item of clothing or a trendy hairstyle. Iba vestida muy moderna or a la última moda.- She was wearing a very trendy outfit. Este barrio se está poniendo de moda - This part of town is getting very trendy. Repeat: trendy - a trendy shop - That's a very trendy shirt you're wearing. - It's a really trendy restaurant. Make often translates as hacer - it can also mean 'manage to attend'. Listen: I'm afraid I can't make Saturday - Me temo que el sábado no puedo. We just made the 3 o'clock train - llegamos justo a tiempo para el tren de las tres. Repeat: I can't make it - I'm sorry, I can't make it - Can you make it tomorrow? - Can you make it on Friday? If you have a hard time doing something, it's difficult for you to do it. It was a difficult experience - mal trago o mal rato - I had a hard time getting over my divorce. - They gave me a hard time at the interview. A great deal means a lot. - a great deal of money, a lot of money - Repeat: A great deal - We spent a great deal - We spent a great deal of money on the flat. The learning curve is la curva de aprendizaje. Repeat: the learning curve - What's the learning curve like on this software? Is it easy to use? Can I learn quickly? You can learn quickly with La Mansión del Inglés. Go to our website at mansioningles.com and improve your English. Well, that's just about all we have time for now. Remember you can listen to all our previous podcasts at mansioningles.com and on iTunes. Thank you very much for listening to this podcast, and for being part of the community of La Mansión del Inglés. Remember, If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit. Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de este mes, y todos los cuadernos anteriores en www.cuadernodeingles.com/ También tenemos dos aplicaciones para el nivel principiante y el nivel básico a la venta en la tienda de iTunes. Para encontrarlas, busca imansionauto. El precio de cada aplicación es de 2,39 euros. Until next month then, take care, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Bye for now! The music in this month’s podcast is by Revolution Void, the album is The Politics of Desire and the track is called Outer Orbit.