Disability in music and theater (EISODE 240321 / 21 MAR 2024)

Disability in music and theatr (ISODE 240321 / 21 MAR 2024)

Introduction

The UK's Equality Act of 2010 guaranteed the rights of disabled people to equal access to education, employment, and services, including music, theatre and the arts. Despite this, it's still difficult for disabled musicians and music fans to perform and see live music. Neil and Georgie introduce you to some ways people are trying to change this, while teaching you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question

A study by disabled musicians’ group, Attitude is Everything, found that one third of music venues provided no disabled access information at all. But which London music venue was recently given a Gold award for accessibility for disabled musicians and audiences? Was it:

a) The Royal Albert Hall?

b) The Southbank Centre? or,

c) Brixton Academy?

Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Vocabulary

lived experience - 

the things that someone has directly experienced themselves, especially when these give the person understanding that people who have only heard about such experiences do not have

accessible - 

enabling a person with a disability to engage in the same interactions, acquire the same information, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability;

mass-produce - 

produce a lot of the same product cheaply in a factory;

bespoke - 

made specially for one person in particular;

dyslexic - 

having dyslexia, a condition which makes it difficult for someone to spell, read or write;

colour-coded - 

using different colours to represent different parts or functions of something;

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Neil:

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Georgie:

And I’m Georgie. Many people love watching movies at the cinema or going to the theatre to see a play. But have you ever imagined what an art gallery would be like if you were blind, or how a deaf person might feel at a music concert?

Neil:

In the UK, The Equality Act of 2010 guaranteed the rights of disabled people to equal access to education, employment, and services, including music, theatre and the arts. Since then, the Disability Rights movement has worked hard to break down barriers for disabled artists and performers, and their audiences.

Georgie:

In this programme, we’ll be hearing from a musical composer whose work using ‘new instruments’ allows disabled musicians to express their lived experience through music. The phrase lived experience emphasises the unique experience of disabled people, plus the fact that this gives them knowledge and understanding that others do not have. And, as usual, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Neil:

Great. But first I have a question for you, Georgie. Despite 2010’s Equality Act, it’s still difficult for disabled musicians and music fans in the UK to perform and see live music. A study by disabled musicians’ group, Attitude is Everything, found that one third of music venues provided no disabled access information at all. But which London music venue was recently given a Gold award for accessibility for disabled musicians and audiences? Was it:

a) The Royal Albert Hall?

b) The Southbank Centre? or,

c) Brixton Academy?

Georgie:

Hmmm, I’ll guess it was The Royal Albert Hall.

Neil:

OK, Georgie, I’ll reveal the answer later in the programme. Megan Steinberg is a music composer at Royal Northern College of Music, where she collaborates with Drake Music, a leading national organisation working in music disability and technology. Megan composes music to be played by ‘new instruments’. Here she explains what a ‘new instrument’ is, to BBC Radio 3 programme, Arts & Ideas:

Megan Steinberg:

So, they may have been mass-produced, or semi mass-produced, or they may have been designed and built by the musician themselves, just like a bespoke instrument for themselves. And they’re designed to be accessible to maybe just that one individual performer, or maybe also to lots of different performers with disabilities or differences.

Georgie:

Megan’s new instruments are designed to be accessible, to be used by someone with a disability. More generally,the word accessible means enabling someone with a disability the opportunity to engage in the same interactions and enjoy the same experiences as people without a disability.

Neil:

New instruments are both electronic and acoustic. They might be mass-produced, that’s when a factory makes a lot of the same thing, or bespoke, made specially for one person in particular. So, what are these new instruments like? Listen as Megan introduces the Rainbow Harp, a new instrument which was designed for harpist, Morwenna Louttit-Vermaat, to BBC Radio Programme, Arts & Ideas:

Megan Steinberg:

And the Rainbow Harp is a harp that has colour-coded strings, and each string colour corresponds to a different pitch. So, Morwenna is dyslexic, and she really found that traditional black and white musical notation was quite an obstacle for her in learning and teaching music, so she and her husband made these harps and they're, like, really colourful, as she uses colour in music…

Georgie:

Morwenna is dyslexic. She has dyslexia, a condition which makes it difficult for her to spell, read and write. So, when Morwenna’s harp teacher wanted her to play from written down sheet music, her brain froze. And that’s how the Rainbow Harp was invented.

Neil:

The strings of a Rainbow Harp are colour-coded: different colours are used to represent and separate out different strings and to produce different notes. It’s a great idea, and an inclusive way for disabled musicians to share their talent with music fans across the UK. Which reminds me of my question, Georgie…

Georgie:

Right, you asked me which London music venue was awarded top marks for making music accessible for disabled musicians and audiences. I guessed it was The Royal Albert Hall. So, was I right?

Neil:

Good guess, Georgie, but that was… the wrong answer, I’m afraid. The good news for all music fans living in London is that The Southbank Centre is accessible, ready and waiting! OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this programme starting with lived experience, the things that someone has experienced personally for themselves, rather than heard or read about.

Georgie:

If something is accessible, it enables everyone to have equal opportunities and experiences, regardless of their abilities.

Neil:

To mass-produce something means to make many copies of it cheaply in a factory, whereas a bespoke product has been made specially for one person in particular.

Georgie:

A dyslexic person has dyslexia, a condition making it difficult for them to spell, read or write.

Neil:

And finally, things which are colour-coded use different colours to represent different parts or functions. Once again, our six minutes are up, but remember to join us again next time, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Georgie:

Bye!

Why everyone loves the underdog (EPISODE 240328 / 28 MAR 2024)

Introduction

Could being the underdog help you succeed? Neil and Georgie discuss this and teach you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question:

Which club overcame odds of 5000-1 to be beat top clubs to win the 2015-16 English Premier League title. Was it:

a) Charlton Athletic?

b) Leicester City? or,

c) Crystal Palace?

Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Vocabulary

underdog - 

person or team in a competition or situation who seems least likely to win;

look down your nose at (someone) - 

think you are better than or superior to (someone);

choking - 

failure of a sports player or team to perform their best due to psychological pressure or social expectation;

top dog - 

(informal) most successful, powerful or authoritative person in a group;

on the flip side - 

the opposite, less positive, or less popular side of something;

underperform - 

perform worse than expected;

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Neil:

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Georgie:

And I’m Georgie. Whether it’s Cinderella, David and Goliath, or the Rocky movies, we all love an underdog story. The underdog in a situation is the person who seems least likely to win. Nevertheless, with some luck and plenty of hard work, the underdog sometimes ends up the winner.

Neil:

Sport is full of underdog stories, minor teams and sportspeople who play with courage and end up beating the superstars and multi-million pound clubs. But if you were given a choice between your team being the favourite to win or being the underdog, it’s pretty obvious you’d want to be the favourite, right?

Georgie:

Well yes, being the favourite gives a team confidence. But maybe the fact that no-one expects the underdog to win is actually an advantage which could help them to a surprise victory. In this programme, we’ll be hearing about an underdog football club doing just that, and, as usual, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.

Neil:

Great. But first I have a question for you, Georgie. One of the biggest underdog stories in sports history happened in the 2015-16 English football season when a little known club beat top clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool, overcoming odds of 5000-1 to win the Premier League. But which club? Was it? 

a) Charlton Athletic?

b) Leicester City? or,

c) Crystal Palace?

Georgie:

I’ll guess it was Crystal Palace.

Neil:

OK, Georgie, I’ll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme. The English football Premier League is a good place to find underdogs. Each season the three best clubs in the second league are promoted up, while the three weakest Premier clubs are relegated down. One club that knows all about relegation is Luton Town FC.

Georgie:

In 2009, Luton Town were relegated entirely from the English League. Slowly their fortunes improved however, and they've now become the first English team to progress from non-league to the Premier League. Here’s Luton fan, Alex, talking about his team’s chances to BBC Radio programme, Mental Muscle:

Alex:

…But some of these elite Premier League clubs will look down their nose at us and just think we shouldn't be there, and we are there on merit and we’ve just gotta prove it this season. So we are the underdog, certainly financially, but on the pitch I don't think we will be.

Neil:

Alex thinks some of the rich Premier League clubs look down their noses at Luton. If you look down your nose at someone, you think you’re better than them. But underdogs, Luton, have done better than expected, even beating some of the big clubs like Newcastle United.

Georgie:

The question is how? Is there something about being the underdog that improves a team’s chances of winning? To answer that, sports psychologist, Gillian Cook, spoke to BBC Radio programme, Mental Muscle:

Gillian Cook:

So, you can find that when the newly promoted team comes up they've got high confidence 'cause they just come from a season of winning - so they've got the belief that they can do it. But on the flip side it's just as important to look at the top dog’s performance who… everyone expects them to win, they’re playing the newly promoted team. So we might think of Man City who might be about to come up against Luton Town… So what we can see from that is what in psychology literature is known as choking, and that's when pressure gets to an individual or a team and they underperform.

Neil:

Clubs newly promoted to the Premier League are used to winning and start the season confidently. On the flip side, they have to play much stronger teams than before. The phrase, on the flip side, is used to show the opposite, less positive side of something.

Georgie:

Of course it’s not just the underdog playing, there are also top dogs, the most successful or powerful person or team. No-one expects underdogs to win and this gives them freedom to relax and play naturally. Top dogs, on the other hand, experience a lot of expectation, and this sometimes leads to choking, a sports term which describes the failure of a player to perform their best because of psychological pressure or social expectation.

Neil:

Choking causes teams and players to underperform, to perform worse than expected. It’s also true that neutral fans - people watching a match when their team isn’t playing - tend to support the underdog as well. In football, it’s tough at the top!

Georgie:

I think it’s time you reveal the answer to your question, Neil. You asked me about the famous Premier League winning underdogs of the 2015-16 football season, and I guessed it was Crystal Palace…

Neil:

Which was… the wrong answer, I’m afraid, Georgie. In fact it was Leicester City, nicknamed the Foxes, who became the unexpected champions of the Premier League. OK, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned from this programme about the underdog, the person in a competition or situation who seems least likely to win.

Georgie:

If you look down your nose at someone, you think you are superior to them.

Neil:

The phrase, on the flip side, is used to show the opposite, less positive, or less popular side of something.

Georgie:

The top dog is an informal way of saying the most successful or powerful person in a group.

Neil:

In sports, choking happens when a player or team fail to perform their best because of psychological pressure or social expectation.

Georgie:

And finally, the verb to underperform means to perform worse than expected. Once again, our six minutes are up! Remember to join us again next time for more topical discussion and useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Neil:

Bye!

Why sitting is bad for health (EPISODE 240328 / 04 APR 2024)

Could sitting be damaging to our health?

Introduction

Could sitting be damaging to our health? Phil and Georgie discuss this and teach you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question

On average, how many hours a day do British adults spend sitting down? Is it: 

a) 7 hours?

b) 9 hours? or,

c) 12 hours?

Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Vocabulary:

engineer (something) out - 

design or plan in such a way that something is not required;

this/so much - 

in such large amounts;

blood circulation - 

the flow of blood through the heart and blood vessels which carries oxygen around the body;

geared around - 

organised and prepared towards a certain activity or purpose;

swim against the tide - 

not follow what most people are doing; do the opposite of most people;

drive (someone) towards - 

push someone towards accepting a new condition or situation;

TRANSCRIPT.

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Phil:

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Phil.

Georgie:

And I’m Georgie. We all know how important exercise is to stay fit and reduce the risk of heart disease. Do you exercise much, Phil?

Phil:

I try to. I ride my bike at the weekend. But to be honest I do spend a lot of time sitting down.

Georgie:

Sitting too much is becoming an increasing problem in the modern world. Maybe you take the bus or train to work, then sit at a desk all day, then go home feeling tired and just sit in front of the television all evening as well. Added together, that’s hours of sitting every single day.

Phil:

In this programme, we’ll be finding out exactly how much sitting is too much. And, of course, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary.

Georgie:

But first, are you sitting comfortably, Phil? Because I have a question for you. On average, how many hours a day do British adults spend sitting down? Is it: 

a) 7 hours?

b) 9 hours? or,

c) 12 hours?

Phil:

I’ll guess it’s 7 hours.

Georgie:

OK, Phil, I’ll reveal the correct answer later. Charlotte Edwardson is a professor of health and behaviour studies who has investigated the link between sitting and health problems in her lab at Leicester University. Here, she talks to BBC Radio 4 programme, Inside Health:

Professor Charlotte Edwardson

If we think about our daily activities, a lot of activities are done sitting down. Movement in our everyday lives has really been engineered out with advances in technology, and our bodies just weren't designed to sit this much, so it's going to cause problems with our health.

[...]

So when you sit down you're not using the largest muscles in your body. So, these are the ones in your legs and your bum. So, that means that your muscle activity goes down. When your muscle activity goes down, your blood circulation reduces.

Georgie:

Throughout history, humans have always walked and moved their bodies. Now, modern technologies like motorised vehicles and office jobs, mean we spend more and more time sitting. Modern life has engineered out the need for us to move. When you engineer something out, you design things in such a way that it is no longer required. For example, CD drives have been engineered out of laptops because downloads are more popular.

Phil:

Charlotte says humans are not used to sitting this much. Here, the words this much mean in such large amounts. It’s a negative thing, one negative being the harm to blood circulation, the flow of blood through the heart and blood vessels which carries oxygen around the body.

Georgie:

When we sit, we stop using important muscles. This reduces blood circulation and causes a range of other effects like increased levels of glucose and fat, and decreased energy levels. The body uses 20% more energy when simply standing than when sitting down, and walking uses 92% more energy. And that’s not to mention the damage sitting too much causes to muscle movement and blood pressure.

Phil:

But the hard truth is that sitting is a big part of modern life. Everything is geared around sitting, it’s organised towards that particular activity, and that makes it hard to stop. Here’s Professor Edwardson again, talking with James Gallagher, presenter of BBC Radio 4 programme, Inside Health:

James Gallagher:

How much do you feel like you're just swimming against the tide with all of this? Like the whole of society is like driving us more and more towards, you know, sitting down all the time, and you're like, ‘please don't!’

Professor Charlotte Edwardson

Sitting is so much part of our everyday activities. You know, you go into a meeting and someone’s, ‘Come and take a seat’, you're going to your GP surgery, ‘Come and take a seat’. Everything's geared around sitting, and as technology advances and it tries to make our life easier, it then leads to us sitting even more.

Georgie:

James asks if Charlotte is swimming against the tide of modern life. If you’re swimming against the tide, you’re doing the opposite of what most people are doing. He also says that society is driving us towards sitting more. To drive someone towards something means pushing them to accept a new situation, even when the situation isn’t so good.

Phil:

Luckily, there’s some simple advice to help. Break up periods of sitting 30 minutes or more with a few minutes of walking or moving your arms. Also try to spend less than half of your waking hours sitting down. Good to know. Now how about your question, Georgie.

Georgie:

Right, my question was how long does the average British adult spend sitting each day. Phil guessed it was 7 hours which was…close, but not right, I’m afraid. In fact, on average we spend 9 hours per day sitting down, that’s about 60% of our waking life. So, remember to take regular breaks, even just a minute or two.

Phil:

OK, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned, starting with, to engineer something out, meaning to design or plan in such a way that something is no longer needed.

Georgie:

The phrase this much or so much means in such large amounts.

Phil:

Blood circulation is the movement of blood through the heart and blood vessels which carries oxygen around the body.

Georgie:

If things are geared around a certain activity or purpose, they’re organised to support it.

Phil:

The idiom to swim against the tide means to not follow what most people are doing.

Georgie:

And finally, to drive someone towards a new situation means to push them towards accepting it. Once again, our six minutes are up! Remember to join us again next time for more topical discussion and useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Phil:

Bye!

Nudges: The secrets of persuasion (EPISODE 240411 / 11 APR 2024)

Are nudges good or bad?

Introduction.

Nudges are something that governments and other companies use to persuade us and influence our behaviour, but are they good or bad? Beth and Neil discuss this and teach you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question:

In 2011, what did the local authority in Woolwich, London decide to paint pictures of on shop windows to stop antisocial behaviour? 

a) cute kittens?

b) babies’ faces? or,

c) barking dogs?

Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Vocabulary

profitable - 

making (or likely to make) a profit; money-making

manky - 

(slang) dirty; filthy; unattractive; used up;

in (someone’s) best interests - 

the most advantageous, helpful and beneficial thing for someone

;

paternalistic - 

making decisions for other people, rather than letting them take responsibility for their own lives;

infantilize - 

treat someone as if they were a child;

autonomy - 

the ability to make your own decisions about what to do, rather than being influenced by someone else or told what to do;

TRANSCRIPT.

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Neil:

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Beth:

And I’m Beth.

Neil:

Have you ever been sent a text reminding you about a doctor’s appointment? Or impulsively bought something on the internet because there was “only one left”? If any of these have happened to you, then you’ve been nudged.

Beth:

A nudge is a subtle way of altering human behaviour. It’s a powerful way for governments, advertisers and social media companies to encourage, or nudge, people into making choices that benefit themselves and society as a whole.

Neil:

Imagine the government want people to eat better. It might encourage supermarkets to put healthy snacks in easy-to-reach shelves near the checkout, and hide the chocolate bars out of sight on the top shelf. Shoppers are being nudged to eat better.

Beth:

Well… that’s the idea, anyway. But often nudging is used less to benefit society, and more to make money for big business. And it happens more often than people realise. So in this programme, we’ll be asking whether the idea behind nudging - to influence human behaviour for good - is still true today. And, as usual, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Neil:

But first I have a question for you, Beth. Another example of nudging happened in Woolwich, an area of London which in 2011 had a problem with anti-social behaviour, and particularly with shop windows being smashed. The local authority decided to use nudging to fix the problem by painting pictures on the shop windows, but what did they paint? Was it:

a) cute kittens?

b) babies’ faces? or,

c) barking dogs?

Beth:

I guess barking dogs would keep the window breakers away.

Neil:

OK, Beth, I’ll reveal the correct answer later in the programme. Nudging started in 2008 with the publication of a book by Nobel Prize winning economist, Professor Richard Thaler.

Beth:

Professor Thaler’s ideas about how to gently persuade people into making good decisions became known as ‘nudge theory’. Advertising executive, Rory Sutherland, introduced nudge theory to his agency, Ogilvy. Here’s Rory explaining more to BBC Radio 4 programme, Analysis:

Rory Sutherland:

Let's say you make the profitable option button green and highly attractive, the less profitable option, you make it kind of grey, and kind of manky looking, okay… That would be an example of something which is, you know, a nudge not necessarily used in the best interests of the consumer.

Neil:

Advertisers use colours to nudge customers towards the profitable option, the one which is most likely to make money. These appear brightly coloured and attractive on the screen, whereas less profitable options are made to look manky, a slang word meaning dirty and unattractive.

Beth:

Here, nudging isn’t being used for the public good. These ‘dark nudges’, also called ‘sludge’, make money for a company, but are not always in the best interests of the consumer. If something is in your best interests, it’s the most advantageous and beneficial thing for you to do.

Neil:

Dark nudges have caused many to question the morality of nudging, including Neil Levy, professor of ethics at Oxford University, speaking here to BBC Radio 4 programme, Analysis:

Professor Neil Levy:

The big one, the one people have concentrated on, is that it's paternalistic - that is that nudge might be in our interests but we want to make our own decisions. People worry that nudges infantilize us, it’s undermining our autonomy.

Beth:

Critics of nudging call it paternalistic, meaning it wants to make decisions for people, rather than letting them take responsibility for themselves. They also claim nudging infantilizes people, it treats them like children, and, as a result, people lose autonomy, the ability to make your own decisions about what to do, rather than being told by someone else.

Neil:

I guess nudging itself is neither good nor bad, it just depends how you use it.

Beth:

Well, let’s look on the positive side by revealing the answer to your question, Neil.

Neil:

Right, I asked you how authorities in Woolwich, in south-east London, nudged anti-social window breakers to behave nicely.

Beth:

I guessed it was by painting pictures of scary barking dogs on the windows…

Neil:

Which was… the wrong answer, I’m afraid, Beth! In fact, Woolwich council hired graffiti artists to paint pictures of local babies' faces onto the window shutters. Not even the most hard-hearted criminal smashed those windows, and anti-social behaviour fell by 18% in one year! OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this programme about nudging, ways of gently persuading or encouraging someone to take decisions.

Beth:

Something which is profitable makes a profit, or is likely to make money.

Neil:

Manky is slang for dirty and unattractive.

Beth:

If something is in your best interests, it’s the most advantageous, beneficial thing for you to do.

Neil:

A paternalistic person prefers making decisions for other people, rather than letting them take responsibility for their own lives.

Beth:

To infantilize someone means to treat them as if they were a child.

Neil:

And finally, autonomy is the ability to make your own decisions about what to do, rather than being told by someone else. Once again our six minutes are up! Remember to join us again next time for more topical discussion and useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Beth:

Bye!

Dancing for the brain (EPISODE 240418 / 18 APR 2024)

Do you love to dance?

Introduction.

Not a dancer? You might change your mind once you hear the benefits! Beth and Neil discuss this and teach you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question:

What is the name of a traditional English folk dance where performers wear black hats and colourful waistcoats and hit sticks together while moving in patterns?

a) The Highland fling?

b) Flamenco? or,

c) Morris dancing?

Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Vocabulary:

boogie / strut your stuff / throw shapes / hit the dance floor - 

(modern idioms) to dance;

like nobody's business - 

(idiom) very well, or very quickly, or in very large amounts;

a release - 

a process of freeing emotions, feelings or tension from the body;

at all costs - 

whatever happens used to emphasise that something must (not) be done, even if this requires a lot of effort, time, money etc.

sit on the fence - 

(idiom) delay making a decision; avoid deciding in favour of one action over another;

twitch - 

sudden small jerky movement or spasm in a part of your body;

TRANSCRIPT:

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Neil:

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Beth:

And I’m Beth.

Neil:

Do you love to boogie on down, strut your stuff and throw shapes, Beth? What I mean is: do you like dancing?

Beth:

Yes! I love to dance, just listening to the music and letting it move my body. What about you, Neil, do you often hit the dance floor?

Neil:

Sometimes, but I’m not a great dancer. To be honest, I get a bit embarrassed. But maybe I shouldn’t, because it’s been proved that dancing has many physical and mental health benefits, including releasing stress, boosting your mood, or just enjoying a fun night out.

Beth:

In this programme, we’ll be hearing how dancing can benefit our brains and emotions at every stage of life. And, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Neil:

Of course, another great thing about dance is that there are so many different styles, from ballet and ballroom dancing to tap, hip hop and jazz. But my question is about a very unusual style, a traditional English folk dance where performers wearing black hats and colourful waistcoats hit sticks together while moving in patterns. But do you know the name of this unusual dance, Beth? Is it:

a) The Highland fling?

b) Flamenco? or,

c) Morris dancing?

Beth:

I think the answer is Morris dancing.

Neil:

OK, we’ll find out later in the programme. Besides Beth, someone else who loves to dance is Julia Ravey, presenter of BBC Radio programme, Mental Muscle. Here, Julia tells us exactly why she loves dancing so much:

Julia Ravey:

I love nothing more than a night or a day out where I can just dance like no one's business. To me, it's just such a release and it's something that I definitely rely on to get the stress out of my body. And I now absolutely love to move. Any chance I get, I'll dance. Now, I know everyone is not a fan, 'cause some people can find dancing to be awkward or uncomfortable… and I've seen people who just avoid the dance floor at all costs, but dancing is so good for us and potentially our brains.

Beth:

Julia can dance like nobody’s business, an idiom meaning very well, or very quickly. For her, dancing is a release, a way of freeing emotions, feelings or tension from her body.

Neil:

Not everyone is the same as Julia though, and if, like me, the thought of dancing makes you uncomfortable, you might avoid the dance floor at all costs, no matter what happens.

Beth:

That’s a pity, Neil, because the benefits of dancing are huge – just ask Dr Peter Lovatt, also known as, Dr Dance. Over four decades he’s studied how dancing helps improve brain function in everyone from children and adults to older people living with diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Dr Lovatt’s dance therapy involves spontaneous movements, closing your eyes and letting the music move you. It promotes divergent thinking leading to happier, more creative brains.

Neil:

So how can we get more people dancing? That’s exactly what Julia Ravey asked Dr Lovatt for BBC Radio programme, Mental Muscle:

Julia Ravey:

What would you say to the person listening who maybe doesn't dance at all right now, maybe would like to dance a bit more, maybe for them they're still a little bit on the fence about whether they want to dance? How can everyone get a little bit more movement into their daily life?

Dr Lovatt:

OK, so the very first thing to do, I would suggest, is to lay on your bed with your eyes closed, and to find a piece of music that you like… close your eyes and then just hear the beat and feel the rhythm, so think about where in your body do you feel a twitch?

Neil:

Julia mentions people who are sitting on the fence, who still haven’t decided if they will do something or not, in this case, dance. Dr Lovatt’s advice is simple – get comfortable, close your eyes and listen to some music. Soon, you’ll feel a twitch, a small sudden and involuntary movement somewhere in your body. From there, it’s only a few steps to dancing!

Beth:

It seems a dance a day keeps the doctor away! So what do you reckon, Neil, are you ready to give it a go.

Neil:

Hmm, maybe after I’ve revealed the answer to my question.

Beth:

Right. You asked for the name of the traditional English folk dance where dancers wear colourful waistcoats and hit sticks, and I guessed it was Morris dancing…

Neil:

Well, that was… the correct answer, Beth! Morris dancing is the name of the unusual English folk dance, not flamenco which of course is Spanish, or the Highland fling which comes from Scotland. OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned starting with boogie, strut your stuff, throw shapes and hit the dance floor, all modern idioms meaning to dance.

Beth:

If you do something like nobody's business, you do it very well, or very quickly.

Neil:

A release is the act of freeing emotions, feelings or tension from the body.

Beth:

If something must be done at all costs, it must be done whatever happens, even if it involves a lot of difficulty, time or effort.

Neil:

Someone who sits on the fence, delays making a decision or choosing one course of action over another.

Beth:

And finally, a twitch is a sudden jerky movement or spasm in your body, often involuntary. Once again our six minutes are up! Join us again soon for more trending topics and useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Neil:

Bye!

Eating for two. (EPISODE 240425 / 25 APR 2024)

Is it OK to eat unhealthy food during pregnancy?

Introduction.

Mums-to-be often feel guilty about the food they crave in pregnancy. Georgie and Phil discuss this and teach you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question.

According to NHS recommendations, which of these foods should pregnant women NOT eat? Is it:

a) chips?

b) oily fish? or,

c) smoked salmon?

Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Vocabulary:

(to be) eating for two-

(idiom) to be pregnant;

go haywire-

stop working properly;

could count (something) on one hand-

used to emphasise that something does not happen very often, or that there are only a few such things;

binge-

occasion when you do something to excess, for example eat, drink, or spend money;

cat-o’-nine-tails -

(in the past) a whip made of nine strings used to punish prisoners (now) means by which someone criticises themselves as a form of self-punishment or because they feel guilty;

give (yourself) a hard time-

treat (yourself) badly by criticising or blaming yourself;

TRANSCRIPT:

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Phil:

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Phil.

Georgie:

And I’m Georgie.

Phil:

If you ask a woman, ‘Are you eating for two?’, the phrase has a very specific meaning. You’re asking, ‘Are you pregnant?’ And like many of the idioms we commonly use in English, this phrase contains a little bit of truth. A pregnant woman really is eating for two – herself and the baby growing inside her.

Georgie:

The female human body is amazing. During pregnancy, it protects the growing baby by allowing it to take whatever nutrients it needs from the mother. This means it’s the mum-to-be, not the baby, who experiences any nutritional problems. It’s also the reason why it’s so important that pregnant women eat well.

Phil:

In this programme, we’ll be finding out how a woman’s relationship to food changes during pregnancy. And, as usual, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.

Georgie:

But first I have a question for you, Phil. For some pregnant women, finding reliable information on what food to eat can be hard. Finding out about harmful foods to avoid, on the other hand, is much easier. So, according to NHS recommendations, which of these foods should pregnant women NOT eat:

a) chips?

b) oily fish? or,

c) smoked salmon?

Phil:

I think the answer is c) smoked salmon.

Georgie:

OK, Phil. We’ll find out the correct answer at the end of the programme. Although eating healthy and nutritious food is important for mums and babies, the story gets complicated because of the changes a woman’s body goes through during pregnancy. Here’s Jaega Wise, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s, The Food Programme, reporting on her experience of pregnancy:

Jaega Wise:

I feel like throughout this pregnancy my body has just gone a bit haywire, and there are things that my body is doing [laughs] that are frankly weird… Nosebleeds is a really good example. I can count the amount of nosebleeds prepregnancy I’ve had on one hand and now I seem to get them all the time.

Phil:

Jaega says that during pregnancy, her body went haywire – it stopped working properly. For example, she had lots of nosebleeds whereas before being pregnant, she could count the number of nosebleeds she had on one hand. The idiom to count the number of something on one hand emphasises that this does not happen very often, or that there’s a small number of something – after all, you can only count to five on one hand!

Georgie:

Many pregnant women experience cravings, the strong desire for some particular food, anything from ice cream to sardines. When these cravings are for food that’s not so healthy, some women feel guilty, thinking “I know I should be eating healthily, but all I want is chips!” Here’s Jaega Wise again speaking with nutritional therapist, Henrietta Wilson, on the best way to deal with guilty feelings:

Jaega Wise:

How guilty should you feel…is more the question for that late night chocolate binge when your body is telling you, ‘I need cake!’

Henrietta Norton:

Listen, I think the most important thing is to not get out the cat-o’-nine-tails, is to absolutely be kind to yourself, particularly that first trimester. It is a very critical window, but at the same time it can be the time when all you want to do is to eat chips because your body is going through what it perceives to be physiological stress. So it's doing the best that you can, and it's absolutely not about giving yourself a hard time.

Phil:

Jaega’s food cravings led to a chocolate binge. A binge is an occasion when you do something in an extreme way, like eating or drinking too much.

Georgie:

Henrietta’s advice is to not use the cat-o’-nine-tails. In the past, the cat-o’-ninetails was a whip made of nine strings which was used to punish prisoners. Nowadays when someone talks about the cat-o’-nine-tails, they are probably talking about the ways people sometimes use to punish themselves if they feel guilty.

Phil:

But, says Henrietta, pregnancy isn’t about giving yourself a hard time, treating yourself badly or criticising yourself. Pregnancy is a special time of life, and all a baby can ask is that mum does her best. And, of course, avoids some foods, which reminds me of your question, Georgie – which food does the NHS recommend pregnant woman do not eat? I guessed it was smoked salmon…

Georgie:

Which was… the correct answer! Smoked salmon is best avoided because of the risk of bacteria, but oily fish is good, and even a bowl of chips now and then are  fine. Right, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in the programme, starting with the idiom eating for two which means to be pregnant.

Phil:

If something goes haywire it stops working properly or becomes difficult to control.

Georgie:

If you say you could count something on one hand, you’re emphasising that something does not happen very often, or that there are only a few of those things.

Phil:

A binge is an occasion when you do something to excess, for example eat, drink, or spend money.

Georgie:

In the past, the cat-o’-nine-tails was a whip used to punish prisoners, but nowadays it usually refers to the ways in which someone criticises themselves as a form of self-punishment.

Phil:

And finally, to give yourself a hard time means to treat yourself badly by criticising or blaming yourself. Once again our six minutes are up! Remember to join us again next time for more topical discussion and useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Georgie:

Bye!