Today on Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig you’ll learn some more idioms, improve your listening comprehension with Mamen’s true life story, get a dulce de leche recipe and much, much more!

Email from Francisco Espínola Sanchez
Hi friends!
I’m glad to have the idioms topic in your podcast, I love it. I would add a few more of them:

The ball is in your court – La pelota está en tu tejado, depende de tí.
Hold your horses – Para el carro! No tan deprisa!
That’s not my cup of tea – No es de mi agrado
Don’t rock the boat – Deja las cosas como están, que me quede como estoy.
To do (to make) the most of it – Hacer de tripas corazón (aceptar una situación adversa)?
Push the pedal to the metal – Pisa a fondo
To hit (strike) the nail on the head – Dar justo en el clavo, acertar
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence – Nunca estamos contentos con lo que tenemos

Voice message from Maite from Valencia.

Comment from Lucy (I’m guessing from Argentina) on the website
This podcast was very funny!!!
Dulce de leche is very easy to do so you may ask your mums to make it for you. Takes a lot of time, though.
You put 1 litre of milk in a pot with 1kg of sugar and (lo cocinas a fuego bajo – to simmer)… and that’s all.
You should stir up the preparation every other time (every so often/every once in a while/from time to time) because it will take about four to six hours to be ready.
The milk should be condensed with the sugar. You can add to the preparation a spoon (spoonful) of baking powder to get a better consistency and color and “escencia” (Scent?) of vanilla (vanilla essence).

More cooking vocabulary in episode inglespodcast.com/142

Improve your speaking with an italki teacher

Voice message from Mamen from Biescas who has sent us a story.

For new listeners who don’t know Mamen, she is a regular contributor to the show, someone who has really improved her English because of her dedication, motivation and consistency.
This story is a true story that was inspired by episode 137 – How to tell a story in English 

Vocabulary
Siblings – brothers and siblings. How many siblings have you got?
Lawn – grass (césped)
Fed up – harto/harta (hinchado las bolas in Argentina, hinchado las pelotas) – I was so fed up with my noisy neighbours!
Barbed wire – alambre de púas (espinos)
I’ll cure you – to cure – curar (a cure – tratamiento)
I nodded – to nod – inclinación de cabeza, asentir con la cabeza
To hurt yourself – hacer daño a tu mismo
To clean your wounds – heridas
Bandage – vendaje
To weep – to cry
Scar – cicatriz
Honey – cariño (miel)

Answer the following questions  
1. Why was Mamen’s dad fed up?
2. How did Mamen hurt herself?
3. What does Mamen’s sister do for a living?

Answers

1. Why was Mamen’s dad fed up? – Mamen and her sister kept stepping on his plants and flowers
2. How did Mamen hurt herself? – She fell on the barbed wire that her father had put around his plants.
3. What does Mamen’s sister do for a living? – She’s a nurse.

Not XThere were a lot of bloodX – There was a lot of blood
Not Xyear by yearX – year after year
Not Xplayed to runX – played running
Not XI woke upX – I got up
Not Put her hand XinX my mouth – over my mouth.
Not Xat the first momentX – At first
Not Xput me a bandageX – My sister put a bandage on me.

If I had jumped higher, I wouldn’t have hurt myself.

…and now it’s your turn to practise your English. Why not record a story like Mamen. You could write it and read it, as Mamen did, or just record it and send it to us by email. https://www.speakpipe.com/inglespodcast

Send us an email with a comment or question to [email protected] or [email protected].

If you would like more detailed shownotes, go to https://www.patreon.com/inglespodcast
Our lovely sponsors are:

Lara Arlem
Carlos Garrido
Zara Heath Picazo
Mamen
Juan Leyva Galera
Sara Jarabo
Corey Fineran from Ivy Envy Podcast
Manuel García Betegón
Jorge Jiménez
Raul Lopez
Rafael
Manuel Tarazona
Mariel Riedemann
Maite Palacín Pérez
Lorena
Pedro Martinez
Ana Cherta
Maria Gervatti

We want thank Arminda from Madrid for continuing to transcribe full transcriptions.
There are now full transcriptions for episodes 131, 134, 135, 136, 138 and 139

On next week’s episode: The Mexican Wall, when to use ‘go to hell’, and Eugeni’s pronunciation

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’