TOP 178: Learn English with Nina Simone ‘Feeling Good’

Hey there! This is TOP episode 178. Learn English with Nina Simone ‘Feeling Good’

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.

Join a free challenge to start speaking English. The link is in the description or visit powiedzcos.pl to sign up.

Visit my website for full transcripts and worksheets to each episode. Visit my shop at teacherola.com and enjoy your journey to fluency! Happy learning!

Hello! Thank you for joining me today. Me and Nina Simone and the song ‘Feeling Good’. We’re going to talk about some grammar, some pronunciation and naturally, vocabulary.

Before we jump in, please let me remind you, you should join my challenge! It’s completely free but if you sign up and complete the first task you’ll get my feedback and in total there are 5 tasks for you. Join us and start speaking English fluently. Go to powiedzcos.pl.

Also, join me on Thursday at 11:00 live on Instagram! Thursday at 11 am we have a short, 20-30 min English live class.

Get your worksheet sets, have them all in place and use them with pleasure. Find them at teachrola.com. Thank’s for your patience and let’s get back to the episode.

Listen to the lyrics of the song ‘Feeling Good’ and repeat each line out loud. Easy! Let’s start right away:

Birds flying high, you know how I feel

Sun in the sky, you know how I feel

Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel

Birds – let’s begin with the pronunciation. Listen and repeat birds, birds. The sentences:

The birds migrate in September.

Birds were singing in the trees.

If you want to practice this particular sound find episode 53. Teacher Ola Podcast, episode 53.

In the sky – notice the preposition, in, in the sky. That’s the correct preposition. It’s not ‘on the sky’ like in Polish, right, na niebie, but ‘in the sky’. Listen to more examples.

There are no clouds in the sky.

The moon is low in the sky tonight.

Breeze – this word has two meanings. The first is a light wind, like in this example:

I felt the breeze on my face.

The second meaning of the word ‘breeze’ is a thing that is easy to do. Piece of cake or child’s play. For instance:

I thought that test was a breeze, but I did study a lot for it.

Let’s move on to the chorus. Listen and repeat:

It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

It’s a new life for me, yeah

It’s a new dawn – dawn is the time of day when light first appears. Daybreak. Notice the pronunciation: ‘dawn’ /dɔːn/. For example:

They start work at dawn.

He works from dawn till dusk.

Dusk is the opposite in a way, it’s the time of day when the light has almost gone, but it is not yet dark.

Ok, let’s go on to the next verse. You know what to do. Listen and repeat.

Fish in the sea, you know how I feel

River running free, you know how I feel

Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel

Fish – focus on pronunciation. Fish, fish. Hear these sentences:

They caught several fish.

Never fry a fish till it’s caught.

For more practice on this sound visit teacherola.com/29.

River running free – Can rivers run? Well, yes because the verb ‘run’ has so many meanings! You gotta tune in to episode 169: 10 Ways to Use the Word ‘RUN’. River running free, you know how I feel, the river runs which means the river flows. That works with all liquids, for example:

Blood was running all over the floor.

Blossom on the tree – blossom is a flower or a mass of flowers, especially on a fruit tree or bush. It can also be a verb ‘to blossom’. That means to produce blossom. For instance:

The apple trees blossomed early this year.

Another meaning of the verb ‘to blossom’ is to become more healthy, confident or successful. Listen to these example sentences:

She has blossomed over the last few weeks.

Why do some people take longer than others to blossom?

You are doing great, let’s continue with another verse:

Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don’t you know?

Butterflies all havin’ fun, you know what I mean

Sleep in peace when day is done, that’s what I mean

And this old world is a new world

And a bold world, for me

You know what I mean, don’t you? – What we have here is a tag question. Tag that changes an affirmative sentence into a question. A positive, affirmative sentence plus a negative question at the end. Like here:

It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?

You speak English, don’t you?

Having fun – to have fun means to enjoy yourself, to have a good time. It’s possible to use the verb ‘have’ with the -ing ending in this case. An example:

I’m having fun.

A bold world – bold stands for brave, courageous, fearless. Hear these examples:

That’s a bold plan!

Adam wants to show his parents that he is a bold boy.

Time for the bridge. Listen and repeat out loud:

Stars when you shine, you know how I feel

Scent of the pine, you know how I feel

Oh, freedom is mine

And I know how I feel

Scent of the pine – scent. When you look at this word, for instance in the transcript of this episode you see there’s a hidden letter ‘c’ but you don’t hear it nor pronounce it. It’s a silent letter. Scent. This word has several meanings, but the main one is this: the pleasant smell that something has. Great! Now, the examples:

The flower has a wonderful scent.

The air was filled with the scent of roses.

Listen, now it’s time for you to practice. It’s very important, don’t underestimate the power of speaking a given foreign language out loud. These are the 10 sentences for you to repeat out loud. Hear your own voice, it’s a deal. Here we go: