Hey there! This is TOP episode 166. Learn English with Sia ‘Unstoppable’
My name’s Ola and I’m an English teacher. I believe you can eliminate your language blockade. You can speak English with more confidence, slay that fear and enjoy easy communication.
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Hello there! Thanks for tapping play! Today we’re looking at the lyrics of ‘Unstoppable’ by one of my favourite artists Sia. But before we do just that. I’ve set up a challenge. It’s a 5-week programme to make you start speaking English. It’s completely free. Every week you’ll receive a short video message from me with a task. It’s time you started speaking English fluently. The link is in the description.
My Online Speaking Course is open as well, learn fluency with me, visit the same website powiedzcos.pl to learn more.
Visit my shop, buy a Worksheet set, and have your Worksheets in one place. Also, check out my e-book with episode transcripts. Thank’s for your patience and let’s get back to the episode.
Time to go through the lyrics! Listen to each line and repeat out loud.
All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this town
I’ll do it ’til the sun goes down and all through the night time
Oh yeah, I’ll tell you what you wanna hear
Leave my sunglasses on while I shed a tear
It’s never the right time
All smiles – If you say that someone is all smiles, you mean that they look very happy. For instance:
Tears one moment all smiles the next.
I know what it takes to fool this town – I know what it takes to do something, so I know what I gotta do in order to achieve that. I know what is necessary to do just that, to fool this town, o trick everybody here. Let’s see this phrase in a sentence:
I’ll do whatever it takes to be a dancer.
Leave my sunglasses on – I’m not going to take them off. I will leave them on. One useful sentence:
Don’t take off your shoes! Leave them on!
I shed a tear – to shed a tear means to cry. Like in this sentence:
She shed no tears when she heard he was going to leave her.
Listen and repeat the next couple of lines:
I put my armour on, show you how strong how I am
I put my armour on, I’ll show you that I am
I’m unstoppable
I’m a Porsche with no brakes
I’m invincible
Yeah, I win every single game
I put my armour on – armour. It’s special metal clothing that soldiers wore in the past to protect their bodies during the fight. In fact, this word is still used to describe special clothing that soldiers or police officers wear to protect their bodies. There are two interesting idioms with the word ‘armour’ so let’s have a glance.
A knight in shining armour – a man who arrives to help you when you are in trouble or danger.
No man can be your knight in shining armor. You need to be the one who takes care of yourself first and foremost.
A chink in someone’s armour – If someone or something has a chink in their armour, they have a weakness that people can take advantage of, although they seem very strong and successful. A chink is a small hole or opening. A chink in someone’s armour is a weak point that can be used in an attack.
I’m unstoppable – I’m the one who cannot be stopped, extremely forceful. A sentence:
The progress of science is unstoppable.
I’m a Porsche with no brakes – a brake is a device for slowing or stopping a vehicle. So if a Porsche has no brakes it’s not gonna stop. She’s like that car, she’s unstoppable. By the way, don’t pronounce this word as ‘porsch’, say ‘Porsche’. It’s a German word, not Italian. It’s got two syllables. Porshe.
It’s a really common mistake so don’t beat yourself up. Most British would also say ‘Porsch’, but hey, life’s long learning.
I’m invincible – too strong to be defeated or changed. Unconquerable. You can be invincible, feel invincible, look invincible, seem invincible or become invincible. These are common collocations. For instance:
He has an invincible lead over the other runners.
The second part of the chorus. Listen and repeat out loud.
I’m so powerful
I don’t need batteries to play
I’m so confident
Yeah, I’m unstoppable today
I don’t need batteries – Pretty self-explanatory. I am so powerful, I don’t need batteries. Let me remind you of one idiom, we’ve talked about some time ago, in episode 42: Rest and Relaxation. The idiom is to recharge your batteries, to get back your strength and energy by resting for a while.
Next verse. Listen and repeat:
Break down, only alone I will cry on out
You’ll never see what’s hiding out
Hiding out deep down
I know, I’ve heard that to let your feelings go
Is the only way to make friendships grow
But I’m too afraid now
Break down – this phrasal verbs has a fewmeaning, not surprised, at all! Here, it means to lose control of your feelings and start crying. Listen to this sentence:
Suddenly she broke down in tears and revealed her secret.
I will cry on out – don’t worry about this ‘on’ in the middle. It’s there for rhythym, or maybe she wanted to highlight the fact it’s happend repeatedly. Neverthe less, the prhasal verb to learn from this line is to cry out. To make a loud sound without words because you are hurt, afraid, or surprised. For example:
He bit his lip, not to cry out in pain.
Hiding out – the whole line goes: You’ll never see what’s hiding out. To hide out means to be in hiding. So you’ll never see what is in hiding. You’ll never see what I’m hiding from you. For instance:
The police is persuing the murderer but hi’s hiding out in a remote cabin.
Let your feelings go – to let go is to release, at least here in this particular context. So release your feelings. You can also release someone, like in this sentence:
Let go of me!
The whole line goes:
I know, I’ve heard that to let your feelings go
Is the only way to make friendships grow
But I’m too afraid now
So, she admits she’s afraid to let her feeling go, she is hiding out a lot. She’s too afraid to make friendships grownow. That leads me to the last expression from the song:
To make friendships grow – to make something grow is to develop something, build something. To help something become greater, better, stronger. To make friendships grow, to develop strong bonds with others.
Bear in mind that in marriage you should help your love grow.
That’s the last phrase I picked from ‘Unstoppable’ by Sia. Don’t forget to do the worksheet, play the music loud and complete the gaps. Cheers! And now, time to practice so listen to those sentences yet again but this time please say them out loud.
Tears one moment all smiles the next.
I’ll do whatever it takes to be a dancer.
Don’t take off your shoes! Leave them on!
She shed no tears when she heard he was going to leave her.
No man can be your knight in shining armor. You need to be the one who takes care of yourself first and foremost.
The progress of science is unstoppable.
He has an invincible lead over the other runners.
Suddenly she broke down in tears and revealed her secret.
He bit his lip, not to cry out in pain.
The police is persuing the murderer but hi’s hiding out in a remote cabin.
Let go of me!
Bear in mind that in marriage you should help your love grow.
Good job! But bit finished! So go to your inbox and get the worksheet to test yourself.If you aren’t a member of TOPeople download the worksheet from teacherola.com/166.
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