TOP 200: Learn English with Shakira ‘Try Everything’

Hey there! This is TOP episode 200. Learn English with Shakira ‘Try Everything’

My name’s Ola and I’ve been teaching English for over a decade. I believe you can eliminate your language blockade, I’ve done that so you can too! You can speak English with more confidence, slay that fear and enjoy communication.

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 there! Thank you for choosing this episode! It’s episode 200. It gives me the chills. I’m super proud of myself for doing this continuously for so long and I’m not thinking about putting an end to it any time soon. In fact, I still have ideas for next two hundred episodes. I just want to thank you for being here, for listening, for practicing. It’s all about you, about your confidence and your fluency. Thank you.

So today it’s going to be a song. It’s perfect because learning English with music is my favourite. I guess that about 50% of all I know comes from song lyrics. It’s always been my go to method, so my favourite way of learnirg. I do the same with Spanish and I’m so happy I can share this here with you.

Secondly I’m a huge fan of Shakira, so yeah, I’m happy to celebrate 200 episodes with her song. Thirdly I love the message and I really want you to embed this message. Making mistakes is in fact learning. Make mistakes. Make many mistakes. I’ve recorded 200 episodes of this podcast, I have received dozends of emails from the listeners. Noone has ever pointed out any mistake I made in this podcast even thoug I know I made a few to say the least. See? Mistakes do not matter!

Today I picked 10 phrases from the song ‘Try Everything’ by Shakira, let’s go through all of them. After that you’ll get a chance to speak to yourself out loud. Repeat the sentences out loud. Oh, and by the way, the song won grammy award and it comes from ‘Zootopia’ which is one of my favourite animated movies. Ok, let’s begin. 10 phrases from the song.

One. I messed up tonight, I lost another fight. To mess up means to fail at something, to do it badly. I messed up tonight. I lost another fight, I failed, I made a mistake and it resulted in another loss. Listen again:

I messed up tonight, I lost another fight.

Two. I keep falling down, I keep on hitting the ground. To keep doing something or to keep on doing something means to do it repeatedly and it happens frequently. As if I didn’t learn much. I just keep on making the same mistakes. How silly, right? NO! It’s ok to make the same mistakes. Especially when learning languages. Keep on making mistakes.

I keep on making the same mistakes.

Three. Birds don’t just fly, they fall down and get up. They aren’t born with the skill, they are born with the ability but the skill has to be learned, practiced. Another angle might be this. Birds don’t only fly effortlessly; they also experience falling down but then gather the strength to rise again. It’s happening repeatedly everythime they fly. Flying is falling down and getting up at the same time. I like that.

Birds don’t just fly, they fall down and get up.

Four. Nobody learns without gettin’ it wrong. It is impossible to acquire knowledge or understanding without making mistakes along the way. Nobody can do that. First you have to get it wrong. With practice you learn how to actually do this. Like grammar. Nobody can hear the theory behind the grammatical rule and just like that start using it. No way.

Nobody learns without gettin’ it wrong.

Five. I won’t give up, no, I won’t give in. “Won’t” is the contraction of “will not”, we talked about this previously but it’s important to revise, so the pronunciation of this contracted “will not” is “won’t”. I won’t give up, I won’t give in. I am determined in not surrendering or yielding to challenges or hardships. There’s a slight difference between Give up and give in. Give up means to stop trying to do something while to give in means to admit that you have been defeated by somebody or something.

I won’t give up.

Six. ‘Til I reach the end, and then I’ll start again. “‘Til” is a contraction of “until.” I will persist and continue striving until I achieve my goal, and once that is accomplished, I will start again. It gives me the chills. I find it quite encouraging really! Do you?

I won’t give in till I reach the end.

Seven. I wanna try even though I could fail. “Wanna” is a colloquial contraction of “want to.” “Could” is the modal verb indicating possibility. So despite the potential for failure, I desire to make an attempt or give it a try. I’m not afraid of failure. You only live once.

I wanna try even though I could fail.

Eight. Look how far you’ve come, you filled your heart with love. Take a moment to observe and appreciate the progress you’ve made. We never do this. But hey, look back, look how far you’ve come. Present perfect.

You have come so far!

Nine. Don’t beat yourself up, no need to run so fast. To beat yourself up, to o blame yourself too much for something. Stop doing that, there’s no need to run so fast. on’t compare yourself to others who run faster. Who cares. Look at youyrself, at your own way. Avoid criticizing or punishing yourself, it’s waste of energy; there is no necessity to rush or move too quickly.

Don’t beat yourself up, no need to run so fast.

Ten. Sometimes we come last, but we did our best. It’s a message of resilience, determination, and personal satisfaction. It acknowledges that there are situations when we may not achieve the highest position or a win, but it emphasizes the importance of giving your best. The statement recognizes that success is not solely defined by being the first or winning, but rather by knowing that we have given our all and can take pride in our efforts. It encourages a positive mindset, it emphasizes personal growth, perseverance, and the fulfillment that comes from knowing we have tried our hardest. Always try the best you can, because at the end of the day this is what matters the most.

Sometimes we come last, but we did our best.

Time to practice! Listen, retain and repeat out loud: