Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 36, Day 5 of Your English Five a Day. Yes, if you are listening on the day of release, this is Friday. For many of us, this is the end of the working week, and I do hope you have enjoyed Week 36 so far. So let's wrap up the week with today's list, beginning with a verb. And the verb is bungle. Bungle. Bungle. Bungle, we spell B U N G L E. Bungle. This reminds me of a character on a children's programme that involved puppets. And there was one character called Bungle, and he would always mess things up or be a bit clumsy. He was a big bear character, I believe, if I'm remembering correctly. And to bungle something actually means to do something in a clumsy way, or to do it badly, ineptly, and it often results in a mess or in failure. So, if you bungle it, then you haven't done it very well. For example, when I was doing my gymnastics competition many years ago, I had to do multiple disciplines within the competition. And normally in practice, I was very good at doing the vault. It was the one piece of equipment I thought would be fine. I'd get some reasonable points on the vault. However, on the day, for whatever reason, I completely bungled it. I did it, but I did not do it very well. It was messy, my landing was terrible, I didn't get any height. It was just awful. I got some very low scores on my vault for the competition. Here's another example,"The mechanic has totally bungled my car repair. She's left it in a worse shape than it was before." OK, next on the list is a noun and it is clutch, clutch. We spell this C L U T C H. Clutch, clutch. The clutch is the part of a car or truck or any vehicle with manual gears that you press with your foot in order to change gear. So, if you're driving a manual vehicle and you have a gear stick, in order to change gears with the gear stick, you'll have to put your foot down firmly on the clutch so that you can change gear. Here's an example sentence,"The driving instructor told the learner to put the car into first gear and slowly release the clutch." I actually now drive an automatic car myself, but for years I have driven manual cars and occasionally I hop back into a manual car, like when I visited France, not long ago, we hired a car and it was a manual. And I thought,"Oh, this will be interesting driving a manual car." But, you know, being from the UK, we have our cars set up in a different way because we drive on the opposite side of the road. And so, I was using a manual car again. So, I was driving a manual car, but sitting on the opposite side of the car, meaning the gearbox was on the other side of me, it was on my right. Not on my left where I would normally have it, where I'm used to having it in the UK and then driving on the opposite side of the road. It was quite an experience. It was a hair-raising experience. Nobody died. So I'm very happy. I made it back in one piece and we didn't scratch the car. So, enough of clutch and bungle, let's move on to another noun, and it is peers, peers. We spell this P E E R S. Peers. Your peers are the people of equal standing or age. Or someone who is simply your equal. So, I often talk about peers within the ELAN Community. When I'm talking to my students, I talk to them about sharing their work or their thoughts and ideas with their peers. We all try to make sure that we are kind and respectful of our peers. My son goes to school and he's in a large class with many children and he has a good relationship with many of his peers. His peers seem to like him because they all call his name whenever we're on our way to school."Hey, Jacob! Jacob!" They'll be shouting from across the street trying to get his attention. And I say,"Oh Jacob, that must be someone from your class. What's their name?" And half the time he doesn't know. But they all know him. OK, here's another example,"In college, my peers were a diverse group, each bringing unique perspectives and talents to our shared experiences." Next on the list is an idiom and it is catch your breath. Catch your breath. Catch, C A T C H. Your breath, B R E A T H. To catch your breath is to stop or pause momentarily in order to start breathing normally again, often after a pause in breathing because of fear, shock, or physical activity. So, if I've been running around the squash court and it's been a really hard round and I've been sprinting back and forth playing really, really well, I may have to ask just to have a moment so that I can catch my breath because after that I'll be breathing very heavily. Sometimes I actually feel like I might throw up. And I do actually ask for a moment to catch my breath. Here's another example,"After he told me the shocking news, I had to catch my breath." Okay, next on the list is another noun and it is dead end, dead end. We spell this D E A D, dead. End, E N D. Dead end. A dead end is a road or passage that is closed at one end so you can't pass through. You can't come out at the other end of the road. You have to return and come back out of the entrance to the passage or the entrance to the road. Here's an example,"We had to turn round and come back because the road was a dead end." There's nothing worse than driving down a road only to find it's a dead end and you have to reverse all the way back out again. Obviously most of the time you can actually turn around, do a three-point turn and turn the car around, but sometimes the road is so narrow, there is no possible chance of turning around. You simply have to reverse all the way out. So that's our five for today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the verb bungle, which means to do something in a clumsy way, often leading to failure or at least a mess. Then we have the noun clutch, which is the part of a car or vehicle that you press with your foot when you want to change gear. We had the noun peers, referring to people who are your equals. We had the idiom catch your breath, which is taking a moment to start breathing normally again. We had the noun dead end, which refers to a road or a passage that is closed at one end. So, let's do this for pronunciation. Please repeat after me. Bungle. Bungle. Clutch. Clutch. Peers. Peers. Catch your breath. Catch your breath. Dead end. Dead end. Great. What do I press with my foot when I'm in the car and I want to change gear? I press the clutch. Well done. And if I do something terribly, if I do it in a really clumsy way and it leads to failure, what have I just done? I've bungled it. I've bungled it. And what do I call people who are equal to me? They are my... Peers. Yes. If I go down a road that has no exit, it's closed at the other end, what can I call this? A dead end. And if I've been running, and my breathing is very fast and laboured, I should take a moment to try and, start breathing normally again. What idiom could I use to describe what I need to do? Catch my breath. Yes, well done. Okay, let's now listen out for these items once again in today's storytime. Amy was learning to drive. Among her peers, she was one of the least enthusiastic learners. She didn't want to sit behind the wheel of several tons of polluting metal. You can find freedom with the Uber app was her attitude. But her parents insisted that she learn. It was the grown-up and responsible thing to do. One Sunday morning, Amy's mum took her down a road she didn't recognise, it was a dead end."Oh dear, a dead end, oh well, it's quiet here so this is the perfect opportunity." Amy was told to jump into the driving seat where she was instructed to practise one of the manoeuvres she hated the most the dreaded three-point turn. The street was extremely quiet. Anyone sensible was enjoying their Sunday morning asleep in bed. Amy wished she was one of them. While daydreaming of a Sunday morning lie-in, Amy got ready to do the manoeuvre. She checked her mirrors, signalled and put her hands on the wheel. She put the car into first gear. All of a sudden, the car jerked forward as she lifted her foot off the clutch too quickly and stalled. Amy couldn't believe that she'd already bungled the manoeuvre. She tried to catch her breath and steady her nerves. I'll never learn to drive this stupid car, she thought. She looked over at her mum, who calmly told her to restart the car. This time, she moved the car slowly forward, then shifted into reverse. As she began to turn the wheel, she could feel her anxiety creeping back in. In her nervousness, Amy bungled the reverse part of the turn and touched the curb. She sighed and put her head on the wheel. Her mum put her arm around her and squeezed her. Her mum's gesture helped Amy find the strength and courage to continue. She put the car back into first gear, took another breath and tried again. Finally, she managed to complete the three-point turn. Despite her slightly disastrous attempt, Amy was proud of herself for completing one of the manoeuvres she hated the most, and getting a little closer to learning how to drive. And that brings us to the end of today's episode and of Week 36. If you did enjoy this episode, then please take a moment to leave a like, a rating or review. It really does help. And if you know anyone who's also learning English, don't forget to recommend The English Like a Native Podcast. Until next week, take very good care and goodbye.