Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 38, Day 1 of Your English Five a Day. This series has been designed to become your daily English listening companion. We are here every day of the working week, from Monday to Friday. So, let's kick off today's list with the verb clutch, clutch. How do we spell this? C L U T C H. Clutch, clutch. To clutch is to tightly grasp something, to hold onto something that's very important. So you don't want to let it go so you hold on to it tight. Now you can actually get a little purse that's called a clutch purse or a clutch bag which is the kind of bag or handbag that doesn't have a strap or any kind of handle. You literally just have to hold on to the entire thing. You hold the body of the purse. That's called a clutch purse. And it's called a clutch, I imagine because you clutch it. That's what you do to it. You clutch it. Do you own a clutch? Or have you bought a clutch for somebody else? Someone did buy me a clutch handbag for my birthday, I think it was quite a few years ago. I've never used it because, well, if I have to hold on to it, then I feel quite uncomfortable. I like a bag to be over my shoulder or on my back. I like to have my hands free. I don't like to be clutching onto something the entire evening. So, what have you clutched lately? Did you clutch your phone close to you as you were walking down the street late at night and you were worried about being mugged so you clutched onto your phone? Did you clutch your child close to you at any point lately? I guess if something were to happen, your child hurts themselves, or they run away from you in the supermarket, and you lose sight of them, and then you are struck with panic."Oh no, where has my child gone?" And then you find them, you might clutch them tight at that moment."Never run away from me again." Okay, so here's another example sentence,"The hiker clutched the rock face as she climbed. It was a long trek, but she was determined to get to the top." Next on the list is the noun masterpiece, masterpiece. We spell this M A S T E R P I E C E. Masterpiece. Masterpiece. A masterpiece is a work of art such as a painting, a film or a book that is an excellent or the best example of an artist's work. So I might say, I personally have hundreds of lessons and videos available online for people to consume. However, my pronunciation course is my masterpiece. It's an excellent piece of content. That is one of the best examples of the work that I have to offer. If you are a songwriter and you have a number of songs, but one song is just excellent and it becomes a huge hit, it hits number one in the charts across the world, then that is a masterpiece. Okay. Here's another example,"The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is considered a masterpiece." Next on the list is the noun collection, collection. We spell this C O L L E C T I O N, collection, collection. A collection is a group of objects of one type that have been collected by one person or being collected in one place. So, many of us have some form of collection. Maybe as a child, you collected rocks or shells. Maybe you collected Pokemon cards, Top Trump cards. I had a very weird collection when I was younger. I collected bus tickets for a while. Very strange. Very strange indeed. I also collected all of the Disney classics. So every single DVD of a Disney classic was in my possession bar maybe one or two. There were a couple of rare ones that I struggled to get my hands on. As a grown-up, you may have a collection of teapots. Some people like to collect spoons. Some people collect cars, classic cars. Some people collect garden gnomes, which are little ornaments of odd-looking men that you put in your garden. Here's an example sentence,"The family of merchants was so wealthy that they had their own private art collection." Next on the list is the adverb gingerly, gingerly. We spell this G I N G E R L Y. Gingerly. Gingerly means to do something in a careful, or cautious way. It's similar to tentatively. So, I often think about my cat walking gingerly across the floor. If all the children's blocks and bricks are out on the floor, then the cat might walk gingerly across that floor because he has to be careful not to stand on anything. Certainly, if it rains and there's a lot of surface water on the ground, my cat, if he has to walk through it, will walk quite gingerly. He's kind of very careful and cautious because he doesn't want to get his feet wet. He doesn't like it. I think that's quite typical of cats. Here's another example,"Clarissa gingerly stepped over the broken glass, avoiding any sharp edges." Ah, yes, broken glass. We have tiled floors in our kitchen and in our dining area. And we have, on many occasions, dropped a glass, a cup or a bowl. I have two young children and the chaos always accompanies us at mealtimes. And so occasionally something gets dropped or knocked off the table. And when something made of porcelain or glass hits that floor, because it's tiled, it just shatters into a hundred pieces then we are on panic mode saying,"Don't move, children, stay where you are!" We normally stand them up on the table or on the bench or on the settee, keeping them out of the way.'Cause we are always barefoot in our house as well. We don't wear shoes in the house. And then it's this race to try and clear up as many of these shards as possible without hurting ourselves. So we are gingerly stepping around, trying to find the dustpan and brush, trying to get a bag or a cardboard box to put all the shards in and dispose of this glass. And then we have to hoover and mop to try and clear it all away. So, gingerly. Let's move on to our last item, which is an idiom, and it is have a change of heart. Have a change of heart. Have, H A V E. A change, C H A N G E. Of heart, H E A R T. Have a change of heart. If you have a change of heart, it means that you alter your feelings, or you change your opinions or your intentions. And it's often because you have a new understanding or you've gained a new perspective. So for example, you decide that you're going to go on holiday to Madeira because you've heard that it's a beautiful place to visit. But when you learn that Madeira is quite hilly, there are lots of slopes and you have to be okay with walking up and down hills, if you want to explore any of the areas in Madeira, then you might decide,"Actually, I've got a bad back and I've got sore knees. I don't really want to do much hill walking. Maybe Madeira isn't the right place for me. Maybe I should go somewhere a little flatter." So you may have a change of heart because of what you've learned. Here's another example,"The judge, initially ready to give the defendant a harsh sentence, had a change of heart after hearing the defendant's heartfelt apology." Okay, so that's our five for today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the verb clutch, which is to grasp something tightly. Then we had the noun masterpiece, which is a work of art, such as a painting, a book, or a film, that is excellent, or it's the best example of an artist's work. We had the noun collection, which is a group of objects of the same type that are collected by one person or in one place. We had the adverb gingerly, which is to do something in a very careful and cautious manner. And we had the idiom to have a change of heart, which is to change your feelings or opinions about something based on something you've just learned, having a new understanding of something. Okay, let's do this for pronunciation purposes. If you are feeling confident or if you're alone, then please repeat out loud after me. Clutch. Clutch. Masterpiece. Masterpiece. Collection. Collection. Gingerly. Gingerly. Have a change of heart. Have a change of heart. Fantastic. Let me test your memory now. What is the noun that I could use when I'm talking about a work of art that is the best example of an artist's work? A masterpiece, absolutely. And if I like to bring lots of paintings together so that I have lots of them in my home, what noun would I give to this group of paintings? It is my... collection. Yes, it's my art collection. And if someone tried to take one of these masterpieces from my collection, I might hold on to it very tightly. What verb could you use here? What am I doing? I am clutching that masterpiece to stop you from getting it. Yes. But if you tell me that the painting actually belongs to you, and it was stolen from you, and it has lots of sentimental value, then I might change my feelings and allow you to have this painting and I'll release my tight grip. What idiom would you use to say that I've altered my feelings in this circumstance? I've had a change of heart. Absolutely. And I'm unable to weave it into the story, but what adverb could you use to describe doing something in a very careful and cautious manner? Gingerly. To do something gingerly. Absolutely. Well done. Okay, listen out for the target vocabulary during today's storytime. Cold sweat ran down Marco's forehead. He had squeezed his way through the museum's ventilation system. And now, he was in the air duct just above the collection's masterpiece. The unsigned 19th-century landscape was thought to be a Rembrandt, worth millions on the black market. He removed the air vent, attached a wire to the ceiling and to his belt and lowered himself down. He stopped opposite the painting; his body suspended above the floor. Everything was going according to plan. He and his partner Luca had spent months studying the museum's security system and preparing the perfect crime. Luca kept watch by the entrance, while Marco took the painting. He gingerly lifted the canvas free from its frame and rolled it up. He clutched it in his hands. He couldn't believe it was finally his. He made his way back through the ventilation system to meet Luca. But halfway along his escape route, Marco had a change of heart. This was the most expensive painting they'd ever stolen. It could make them millions. But he had wanted out of the game for a while. The life of an art thief is secretive and stressful. He didn't want it anymore. He radioed Luca on his walkie-talkie."I can't do it, Luca. I'm putting the painting back.""You're going to do what? Have you lost your mind?""No, not at all, I'm finally thinking rationally." He turned off the walkie-talkie, and made his way back to the room where he'd stolen the painting. He carefully put it back in its frame. It was as if he had never been there. When he got outside, he saw that Luca had left, taking their getaway vehicle with him. Their partnership was over. But Marco felt relieved. His life of crime was finished. And a new, more honest life was waiting for him. Well, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, take a moment to leave a like, a rating, or review. And I look forward to tickling your eardrums once again in tomorrow's episode. Until then, take very good care and goodbye.