Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 33, Day 3 of Your English Five a Day. We are expanding your active vocabulary by looking at five items of vocabulary every day of the working week. And today is no different. So, let's start with a noun. The first thing we're looking at is the word castle. Castle. We spell this C A S T L E. Castle. Castle. The pronunciation of this in standard British English or RP is with a long/ɑː/ vowel. Castle. However, in northern accents or in American English, you'll hear a shorter vowel at the beginning, more like an/æ/, so you'd have castle, castle. But in the south you'll hear castle, castle. So, a castle, as I'm sure you know, is a large, very strong building that was built in the past for important people such as kings and queens. And the castle would protect those people. They were fortresses. And many of them are still around today, very beautiful buildings to go and spend time in. I have visited many castles. I love walking around and pretending, well not pretending, but trying to imagine what life would have been like in the past. I always imagine it must have been quite cold and draughty in the winter. Anyway, here's an example sentence,"He had heard rumours that the castle was haunted." I often visit Hampton Court Palace, which is very much like a castle. And at Halloween, they tend to decorate it with all kinds of spooky things. And they have projectors and sound effects going off around the castle as you walk around. And it's actually really scary. I remember taking Jacob when he was a tiny tot, thinking, you know, this is for families. It's the palace, lots of families visit the palace with their children. It's very much set up for children. And my toddler will love this. He loves all the skeletons and the ghosts. But it was really scary. Like the sound effects, they weren't kind of playfully scary, they were hauntingly scary. So, we now avoid Hampton Court Palace at Halloween. So, too scary, even for the adults. Alright, next on the list is the word battlements. This is a noun and we spell it B A T T L E M E N T S. Battlements. Battlements. Battlements. This is the wall that goes around the top of a castle with regular spaces in it through which the people inside the castle can shoot. Okay. So here's an example sentence,"The crumbling battlements of the abandoned castle were becoming dangerous to people below." Okay, next on the list is own up, own up. This is a phrasal verb, so we spell it own, O W N. Up, U P. Own up. You'll notice the N kind of carries over, so you have this own up, own up, it's like it's one word, own up. To own up is to admit to doing something wrong. So, if I am responsible for breaking a glass and I quickly clean it up and throw it away, and then someone comes in and says,"Oh no, someone's taken my favourite glass. Where is it? I can't find it anywhere. Where is it?" And they discover the glass in the bin, all broken."Oh no, somebody's broken my glass. Who would have done such a thing?" I need to own up to that. I need to tell them,"I'm really sorry. It was me. It was an accident. I was going to tell you." If I don't own up, then... then nothing. I don't know what I'm talking about today. I need coffee. I need coffee to get my head straight. Yes, I'm going to own up to it. I am quite tired this morning as I'm recording this. I did go to bed at a reasonable time, but I just couldn't sleep. I had so many ideas running around inside my head of different things I could teach in my upcoming YouTube video recording session that I just couldn't sleep. It literally took me hours. So, I'm owning up to it. I'm not going to pretend. I am tired. And if I talk gobbledygook, then I do apologise. So, there's me owning up to it. I'm sorry. Alright, here's another example,"If no-one owns up to what happened, then the whole class will have to stay behind after school." Alright, next on the list is a verb. We have the verb undertake. Undertake. We spell this U N D E R T A K E. Undertake. To undertake, now this could have a number of meanings, but in this case it means to do something, especially something that will take a long time or something that will be difficult. So, we're going to do it. We're going to undertake it. We're going to get on with it. Here's an example,"The scientists concluded that they would need to undertake further research." What have you undertaken recently? Okay, next and last on today's list is the adjective common. Common. We spell this C O M M O N. Common. Common means that something is the same as lots of other things. So, if this is a common issue, for example, a computer system starts running slow after a certain number of years, if you don't update it, this is a common issue. It's the same issue that happens to all computers if you don't update them after a few years. We talk about the common cold, the cold, the virus that cause, or the many viruses that cause a cold are quite common. Lots of people suffer from these viruses and the effects of these viruses. They are common, it's a common cold. I often get asked the common question of how do I improve my speaking confidence? I've been speaking English for a very long time, but I still don't feel comfortable. I don't feel like myself when I speak English. What can I do to move to the next level and feel like English is my own language? I want to speak English like I'm a native. These are common questions that I get. So, common is a very common word. Here's another example,"What's a common last name in your country?" In the UK, it's said that a common name, surname, is Smith or Jones. Although, to be honest, I knew a Jones when I was at primary school, many moons ago but, I don't think I've met a Smith or a Jones in the last 20 years. So, maybe they're not common last names anymore. Okay, so that's our five. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the noun castle, castle, which is the big strong building that kings and queens and lords and ladies would live in to protect them from the outside dangers. Then we have the noun battlements. Battlements, which describes the wall that goes around the top of the castle with the little regular spaces in between that people would stand up and shoot people through. Delightful. Then we had a phrasal verb, own up, to own up, which is to admit to doing something wrong. We then had the verb undertake, undertake, which is simply to do something, especially something that would be a big task, a big commitment, something that's difficult or would take a long time. And finally, we had the adjective common, common, that describes something that is the same as many other things. Fantastic. Let's now do this for pronunciation practice. Please repeat after me. Castle. Castle. Battlements. Battlements. Own up. Own up. Undertake. Undertake. Common. Common. Very good. Alright, let me quickly test your memory. What is the big building called that kings and queens used to live in to protect them from attack? Not a palace, but a... castle, of course. And what is the strange wall at the top of the castle with regular spaces in between it? Battlements. Battlements. Yes, of course. And if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it, even though it's difficult, it's going to take a long time, I'm going to do it. What verb could I use here? I'm going to undertake this task. I'm going to do it. Even though this task is something that lots of people have to do. And lots of people say they don't like doing. It's a very, I can't think of a synonym for this, but it's a task that lots of people have to do. It's the same for everybody. What adjective could I use to describe this task that is the same for everybody else? A common task. It's a common task that everyone has to do. Okay, and the last one. I have done something wrong. I stayed up far too late. And now, I'm paying the price. And you're having to listen to it. What phrasal verb could I use to describe the fact that I'm admitting to doing something wrong? What am I doing? I'm owning up. I'm owning up. Yes, I'm so sorry. The gibberish that you're hearing right now, it's all my fault. It's not anyone else's fault, but my own. I couldn't put my brain to sleep last night. But nevermind, we're on to the last part of today's episode, which is storytime. Hopefully we won't lose anyone like last year, Rajesh thought as he counted the kids yet again. Yes, every teacher's worst nightmare had happened to him. Thankfully they found the pupil after about an hour of searching. So he never owned up to the parents about what had happened."Okay, time to get on the bus," he called to the class. He tried to put last year's disaster out of his mind. Time to focus on the present, he thought. He was actually quite excited about their trip to a nearby castle. He was a history teacher after all. This will help bring history to life for them, he thought to himself. Or more likely they'll be happy to get a bit of time outside of the classroom. The bus stopped at the entrance to the castle. Rajesh and his class admired the battlements towering over their heads. His colleagues thought he was mad to undertake a trip with a class like this. It was common knowledge that there were troublemakers in the group. But Rajesh wanted to give the kids a chance. A guide came over to meet them to take them on a tour. The kids were captivated by his tales of castle life back in medieval times. Wow, this guy really can bring history to life, I should take notes, he thought, feeling jealous of the guide's storytelling and acting skills. He counted the kids again. No one's missing, he realised. And it's almost time to go back. He couldn't believe that the trip had gone smoothly. Just wait till I tell my colleagues back in the staff room, he smiled to himself."That was an awesome trip sir," said one of the kids, known for being a troublemaker. Rajesh never thought he'd hear that pupil say something positive about school. Although the job was often tough, moments like that made him realise that being a teacher was worth it. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. I do hope you'll join me once again tomorrow for 33.4. Until then, take very good care and goodbye.