Exchange with Ailsa

The Fearless Fluency Club: Vocabulary

1. Along the Way: Something that happens during a journey

- We’re going to be talking about cultural exchanges and whatever comes up along the way.

- You don’t need to buy snacks now. We’ll picks up some snacks along the way.

2. What Were You Thinking: [casual] An expression of rebuke when somebody did something wrong
or foolish

- Studying abroad is more commonplace in other countries, but here people say, “What
were you thinking?”

- What was I thinking, going into the forest all by myself?!

3. As You Please: [casual] As you want to; your choice

- The second family I stayed with allowed me to come and go as I pleased.

- I do as I please and go where I want to.

4. To Plop: To drop or put down heavily; to make a sound like that of falling into water

- Your only connection is this family that’s just been plopped into your life.

- He got home after a long day of work and plopped onto the couch.

5. To Make a Fool Out of Someone: To embarrass somebody or make them look stupid

- When trying to speak another language you have to be okay with making a fool out of
yourself a little bit.

- I trusted her to be honest about where she’s going, but she made a fool out of me.

6. To Gravitate: To tend towards something or to be attracted to something, naturally or with little

effort

- All of the foreign exchange students gravitated to those kinds of classes.

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 - Musicians usually gravitate towards one another.

7. To Pinpoint: [idiom] To find the exact meaning or place of something

- I’m not sure where I can pinpoint: “There is fluency.”

- It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why I don’t like my new teacher.

8. To Kid (To Be Kidding): [casual] To tease or joke with somebody

- I’m not kidding you, I met a girl from Mexico in the airport in Atlanta who I ended up
living with.

- It really annoys me that Bob is always kidding around, even when I’m being serious.

9. Vulnerable: to be in a physically uncomfortable situation where you could experience harm or

damage; to be emotionally open to talk with friends or family members about sensitive topics

- My traveling partner and I were vulnerable together because we kind of needed each other.

- She’s not very vulnerable with other people. You have to get to know her well.

10. To Make Fun of Somebody: To tease or insult somebody, usually unkind remarks

- It was important to have a traveling partner who wouldn’t make fun of me about my
language skills.

- I hate Sally. She keeps making fun of my glasses.

11. To Encompass: To include comprehensively; to form a circle around something

- My job encompasses a large territory all throughout Buncombe County.

- The class encompassed all of World War One and Two.

12. All Sorts of: [casual] Various kinds, many different things

- We do all sorts of stuff in my job.

- Oh yeah, I love all sorts of movies. Drama, comedy, even horror!

13. A/To Step Beyond: more advanced, further than the current point; can be a noun or verb

- Studying interpretation is a step beyond just speaking a language.

- I decided to step beyond the comfort of my hometown and take a trip to New York City.

14. Good Enough: Acceptable, satisfactory, but not great; OR to have the right skills

- At first I was actually really nervous, I didn’t think I was good enough to be an interpreter.

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 - I was a little disappointed with my cake decorations, but it was good enough for the party.

15. To Have No Idea: To not know something, to have no understanding

- I had no idea what to expect at the interview.

- She had no idea Brad Pitt was sitting behind her on the airplane.

16. In Vain: Without success; futile

- Being told I was “good enough” by a native speaker made me feel like all of this studying
wasn’t in vain.

- I begged in vain for her to stay with me.

17. To Keep At It: to continue trying, usually struggling

- Just because you didn’t do great on a test, just keep at it and you’ll get better.

- After two hours of running, I wanted to quit the marathon, but I decided to keep at it.

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The Fearless Fluency Club: Vocabulary Questions
Write answers to these questions, read the questions and your answers out loud, ask them with a
speaking partner or teacher, and give as many details as possible to practice speaking.

1. What place(s) do you pass along the way to your work?

2. When was a time you said to yourself, “What was I thinking?”

3. How old were you when your parents let you do as you please?

4. When do you you plop down on the couch?

5. Have you ever made a fool out of yourself in front of a bunch of people?

6. What kind of people do you gravitate towards?

7. Can you pinpoint why you want to learn English?

8. Do you ever kid around with somebody?

9. Are you ever vulnerable with your friends?

10. Did anybody make fun of you when you were in school?

11. What responsibilities does your job encompass?

12. Do you like to play all sorts of sports?

13. Have you stepped beyond your home country?

14. Do you think you’re good enough at English to travel alone in the US?

15. What’s something you have no idea about?

16. Have you ever done something that ended up being in vain?

17. When was a time you had to keep at it?

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The Fearless Fluency Club: Grammar
Phrasal Verbs
Let’s go in-depth with a few phrasal verbs during the grammar lesson.

To Get To Know (About)

To gradually learn more about something or someone; for things, “about” means that you are
generally learning, but without “about” it means that you are completely learning everything; when
getting to know a person, “about” isn’t used often; NEVER split

- Come to some Rotary Club meetings. Get to know about it.

- Going to a movie isn’t a good first date because you can’t get to know each other.

- I just started a new IT job last week, so it’s going to take a while to get to know (about) all the
features of the program.

**Extra Material**

1. I think it’s a good idea to get to know a little bit more about a woman before you ask her out.

2. She could get to know New York.

3. I’d like to get to know you (yes, I would)/ I’d like to get to know you (if I could)

Listen to Julie London’s song “Like to Get to Know You” here

Question Time: If you wanted to really get to know someone, what are some good questions to ask?
(Sample answer: To get to know someone, I would ask questions about their childhood, family, and
future dreams.)

To Follow Through (With)

To complete an action; the most common way to split this phrasal verb is with an adverb

- In the US, there were very few students who followed through with a cultural exchange.

-OR: They were interested in cultural exchange, but they didn’t follow through.

- When you swing a baseball bat, you need to follow all the way through.

**Extra Material**

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 1. Can you provide any assurance that you’ll follow through on this extravagant promise?

2. Since you wanna be with me/ You’ll have to follow through/… But you have to follow through

Listen to Gavin DeGraw’s song Follow Through here

3. Will I ever get to where I’m going?/ Will I ever follow through with what I had planned?

Listen to Incubus’s song Nowhere Fast here

Question Time: Do you know anyone who promises to do something but often doesn’t follow
through?

To Chip Away At
To slowly make something weaker, figurative or literal; NEVER split

- When you meet someone who speaks other languages, it helps to chip away at the stereotype
that Americans don’t speak other languages.

- Shawn’s father always said negative things about him. Shawn’s confidence was slowly
chipped away throughout his childhood.

-OR: His father’s words chipped away at his confidence.

- The prisoner slowly chipped away at the prison wall for 10 years. Finally, he could escape.

**Extra Material**

1. If they’re wise, they’ll hide behind those walls and chip away at us, man by man.

2. This stuff might not seem like a big deal, but it chips away at you.

3. Every day I subtly chip away at their relationship.

Question Time: Imagine that you have a friend who is nervous about speaking English. What is
something small that your friend can do every day to chip away at his fear?

To Pay Off
1. To be worth the hard work or trouble; to get a benefit from hard work

- Finally my studying on Friday nights while I don't have friends yet has paid off.

- I spent 5 hours fixing my resume yesterday. I hope it pays off and I get the job!

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 **Extra Material**

1. My hard work paid off for you.

2. Your patience has paid off.

2. To finish paying for a big loan

- We worked really hard to save money so that we could pay off our house in 5 years.

**Extra Material**

I trust you paid off those parking tickets.

3. To give someone money so that they will do a bad deed (including keep silent)

- The politicians paid off the reporter so that he didn’t write about their corruption.

**Extra Material**

We paid off cops. We paid off lawyers. We paid off judges.

Question Time: What is something that you have worked hard to do, and the hard work has paid off?

To Be Open To
To be willing to do something

- People who are open to cultural exchange are the best people.

-OR: People who are open to it are the best people.

- Sometimes it seems like younger people are more open to new ideas than older people.

**Extra Material**

1. Well, I’m open to some sort of discussion on compensation.

2. It’s so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord’s message.

3. ‘Cause I’m always open to ideas/ ‘Cause I’m always open to ideas, yeah, baby, listen

Listen to this Faces song “Open to Ideas” here

Question Time: If your child (real or fictional) wanted to marry someone from another country, would
you be open to it? Why or why not? Would your parents be open to you marrying someone from
another country?

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 Grammar Worksheet
Fill in the blank: Fill in the sentences with the correct phrasal verbs from the grammar lesson. Make
sure to use the correct verb tense AND add a pronoun in the middle if necessary. Answers are at the
bottom of the page.
To Get To Know About To Pay Off
To Follow Through To Be Open To
To Chip Away At

1. One day my daughter Emma said, “Mom, I want to tell you something. I have an

American boyfriend named Matt. He has been living here in Rome for three years,
so I would like you to ______________ the idea of meeting him.
2. Emma had seemed a little dreamy over the last week, but I didn’t want to pry. I

hoped that my patience with my daughter would ______________.

3. I felt uncertain about a multi-cultural relationship, but I told my daughter, “If he is

important to you, it would be a good idea for me to ______________ him.”

4. Emma was worried that I wouldn’t ______________, so she decided to invite

Matt to dinner the next day.

5. When Matt showed up with a kind smile and a nice bottle of wine, my uncertainty

was slowly ______________.

6. Throughout dinner, Matt shared about his family, his hometown in Chicago, and

his work in Rome. I really ______________ him.

7. Something that impressed me was that he had bought a car here and

______________ within a few months.

8. His respectful attitude and responsible life ______________ my ideas of

American men in Rome. I was glad he had met Emma.

Answers: 1) be open to 2) pay off 3) get to know 4) follow through 5) chipped away 6) got to know 7)
paid it off 8) chipped away at

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The Fearless Fluency Club: Pronunciation
Let’s shadow a few of the vocabulary sentences that Ailsa and I said in the conversation. Listen to the
pronunciation tips and speak with the lesson. I recommend taking notes on this page while you’re
watching the pronunciation lesson.

The sentences
1. As You Please:

We’ve been through this. Come and go as you please.

[We’ve bin through this. Come an’ go az you pleaze.]

2. To Make a Fool Out Of:

You just have to be okay with making a fool out of yourself.

[You jus’ hafta be okay with making a fool oud of yerself.]

3. To Pinpoint:

I'm not really sure where I can, like, pinpoint: "There is fluency."

[I'm not really sher where I can, like, pinpoin’: "There is fluency." ]

4. Good Enough: I didn’t think I was good enough to do it.

[I didn’ think I was good enuf t’do i’.]

5. Keep At It: Just keep at it.

[Just keep ad i’.]

Shadowing tips:
1. Try to imitate my voice during the video lesson. Speak with me and also speak during the
pauses.
2. Record your voice:
-Listen to Ailsa’s voice and my voice
-Compare your pronunciation to ours
3. Share your recording in our Facebook group or via email to get some feedback

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Bonus
Some extra material related to this month’s lesson. Enjoy!

A fun YouTube video about studying abroad

The Vagabrothers YouTube channel has some other interesting videos about traveling around the world,
and you can click “CC” to view the full subtitles on most of their videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07a8NU34lw0

Does Language Shape The Way We Think?

In this TED Talk, scientist Lera Boroditsky explains that science now proves that our native language
changes how our brain thinks about the world. Some languages don’t have words like “left and right.”
Some languages don’t use numbers or colors in the same way, etc.

You can click “Transcript” or “Subtitles” to catch every word she says.

https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think/

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