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Speaker 1: It's the end of August, and you know what that means, right,

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It's back to school season here in the US. The

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school schedule and education in general is handled by each state,

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but basically the school year starts around the beginning of September. Today,

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let's check out some back to school idioms.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: Alrighty, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here

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from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven forty five,

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Back to School. For today's podcast English Lesson, We're going

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to have a look at some common idioms that relate

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to school and learning. Let's start off with this short

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conversation between Laura and Susan, two moms getting their kids

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ready to go back to school.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Susan, can you believe school starts next week? Emma's

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so excited, but I'm a little nervous for her. Hi, Laura, Yes,

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it's coming up fast. I'm excited too, but also a

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bit anxious. Jake's been hitting the books hard this summer

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to get ready for his new classes. That's great, Emma's

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always been BookSmart, but I hope she can handle the

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new challenges this year. I heard the teacher's pet from

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her class last year is now in her new class too.

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Oh really, it sounds like Emma's going to have to

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adjust to that. Jake's been trying to learn the ropes

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of his advanced classes, so I hope he'll pass with

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flying colors. I'm sure he will. And I'm hoping Emma

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doesn't cut class to hang out with her friends. It's

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such a temptation at that age. Absolutely, I've reminded Jake

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to stay focused and not get distracted. He needs to

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hit the ground running if he wants to keep up

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with the curriculum. I'm sure they will do well.

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Speaker 1: Fingers crossed, I'm sure those kids will do well too.

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And now let's have a look at the idioms from

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this conversation. In a number of idioms in English, the

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verb hit can be used to mean start doing that thing.

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When you hit the books, you start studying seriously and

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with your effort. Here are some examples. I need to

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hit the books if I want to do well on

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the next TOIC exam before the big history test, and

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hit the books and reviewed all her notes. Adam decided

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to hit the books over the weekend to prepare for school.

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When you hit the ground running, you start working hard

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with your full attention and energy. For example, Betty hit

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the ground running on her first day at the new

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job by completing several tasks. My work team needs to

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hit the ground running to meet the tight deadline. Benny

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said he's ready to hit the ground running with his

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new coffee shop business. Next, we have book smart. A

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person who is BookSmart has a lot of knowledge from

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studying and reading, but they don't have knowledge or experience

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in real world situations. In other words, someone who is

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BookSmart may not have a lot of common sense. Let's

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look at some examples. Chris is BookSmart, but he sometimes

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needs help with everyday problems. Kathy is very BookSmart, but

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she doesn't even know how to do laundry. Being books

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smart art is important, but practical experience is also valuable.

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The next one is the teacher's pet. Now, when I

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say the teacher's pet, I'm not talking about cats or

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dogs in school. The teacher's pet is a student in

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a class who is favored by their teacher and quite

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often treated in a special way or even better than

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other students. For example, everyone knew John was the teacher's

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pet because he always got special attention. The teacher's pet

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always had the first choice for group projects. Eddie was

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the teacher's pet, but that didn't help him make friends

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among the other students. When someone is the teacher's pet,

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they probably don't cut class cut class. When someone cuts class,

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they are ill legally absent from school, in other words,

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absent without permission. Here are some examples. Frank and his

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friends often cut class to hang out in the park.

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Gras and Karen decided to cut class and go to

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the movies instead. Cutting class frequently can lead to falling

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behind in your studies. On a ship, especially a sailing ship,

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there are a lot of ropes which are used to

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control the ship. New sailors need to learn how to

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use these ropes before learning anything else. This is the

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basic operation of the ship, and in a similar way

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on the land. When you learn the ropes, you learn

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the basics of how something is done. Let's look at

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some examples. It took Greg a while to learn the

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ropes of the new software system. The training session is

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designed to help new employees learn the ropes. Once you

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learn the ropes, you'll find the job much easier to handle.

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The last idiom for today is to pass with flying colors.

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When you have an exam or an interview and you

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pass with flying colors, you get a high score or

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great success. For example, Melissa passed her final exams with

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flying colors. Mark was thrilled to pass his driving test

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with flying colors. I passed my job interview last week

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with flying colors. Keep in mind, the best way to

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remember this and any other word or phrase in English

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is to take that word or phrase, write it in

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a sentence that's true for you or true in your world,

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and then memorize your sentences. Hey, did you know that

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you can get the chance to practice this kind of

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English with me directly? You can get more practice using

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your English when you join my podcast Learner's Study Group.

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There you can make new friends, join us for live

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group lessons every week where we practice these podcast lessons together.

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Plus you get access to the PDF transcript and audio

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download for every Happy English podcast in the past and

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in the future. And on top of that, each episode

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has exercises where you can practice this English point with

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speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, just

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visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson seven

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forty five. Remember, learning another language is not easy, but

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it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on

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your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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