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Speaker 1: I really hope this podcast English lesson catches on. It

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took me a while to write it because well, sports

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aren't really my thing, but I stepped up to the

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plate and did it. And the inspiration for this lesson, well,

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it came from left field. Let's check it out.

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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: All right, thank you, John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight forty eight.

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American Summer Sports. Hello and welcome. Thank you for joining

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me for another episode of the Happy English Podcast. I'm

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your English teacher Michael, and I'm so glad you're spending

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part of your summer with me. It's week six of

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our American Culture Summer series, and today we're talking about

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summer sports, you know, the kinds of things that make

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you sweat, smile, and maybe fall on your face a little.

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We're talking about baseball, skateboarding, surfing, and beach volleyball. Let's

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dive right in no pun intended. So first up, baseball.

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Did you know that, in its modern form, the start

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of baseball in America happened in the mid nineteenth century. Nowadays,

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baseball is often called America's past time, and during the summer,

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you'll find games going on just about everywhere, from major

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league stadiums with fifty thousand fans to local parks where

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kids and adults both play in the heat. Baseball is

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a big part of American summer culture. And here's a

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fun idiom that comes from baseball. Step up to the plate.

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In baseball, the plate is where the batter stands, so

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when you step up to the plate, you're getting ready

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to swing the bat. But in conversational English, step up

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to the plate means to take responsible or take action.

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Like say your coworkers out sick and someone needs to

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run the meeting. You step up to the plate and

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you run the meeting, so you become responsible for that.

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Or your friend forgets to bring snacks to the beach,

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so you grab some at the store. Boom, you stepped

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up to the plate. It's all about showing up, being

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responsible and taking charge. Next up, let's roll into something

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that's a little more modern, skateboarding. Skateboarding really caught on

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in the US back in the eighties and nineties and

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it's still super popular today, especially with teens. A lot

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of towns have skate parks and you'll see kids practicing

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their tricks all summer long. Speaking of which, let's talk

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about that phrasal verb catch on, which works perfectly here.

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When something catches on, it becomes popular. So we can

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say that skateboarding first caught on in California and then

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spread across the country, and now it's even an Olympic sport,

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so it's caught on all over the world. We use

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catch on for trans ideas slang, anything that spreads and

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becomes popular, like that dance move from TikTok really caught on,

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or yoga caught on in the US in the early

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two thousands. See how that works. Has anything caught on

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where you live these days? And next? What's summer without

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a little surfing. Surf culture is huge in places like

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California and Hawaii. There's something super cool about waking up early,

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grabbing your board, and heading out to catch some waves.

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There was even a whole generation of pop culture based

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on surfing the nineteen sixties. Surfing and the surf culture

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inspired everything from the surf music of the Beach Boys

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to surf movies like Beach Blanket Bingo. Of course, surfing

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isn't easy, and if you've ever tried it, you probably

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know what it means to wipe out. That's when you

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fall off the board and crash into the water. But hey,

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even pro surfers wipe out sometimes, and guess what we

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use wiped out when we're really tired. And you can

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be wiped out or get wiped out, like after walking

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the dog in the heat, I was totally wiped out,

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or I stayed up all night playing Minecraft and I

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got totally wiped out. To be wiped out, it's a

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great way to say that you're completely exhausted. And last,

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but not least, there's beach volleyball. Now that's a summer classic.

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You'll find people playing beach volleyball on beaches all over

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the country in California, Florida, and even at the Jersey Shore.

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It's fun, fast paced, and you can play beach volleyball

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with friends even if you're not a pro athlete. Sometimes

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when you're watching a game, someone will come out of

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nowhere and make an amazing save. When that happens, you

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can say that they came out of left field. This

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idiom also comes from baseball, but we use it for

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anything that's surprising or unexpected, like Mandy quit her job

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and moved to Alaska that totally came out of left field,

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or the question that the boss asked me in the

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meeting really came out of left field. I had no

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idea how to answer it. Something that comes out of

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left field is something surprising you didn't expect to happen. So,

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whether you're surfing, skating, or just catching a baseball game

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this summer, sports are a big part of American culture,

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and so are the idioms and phrases from this lesson.

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Let's do a quick recap. When you step up to

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the plate, you take action or responsibility. When something catches

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on it becomes popular. When you are or get wiped out,

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you feel totally exhausted. And when something comes out of

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left field, it's something surprising or unexpected. All right, that's

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it for today's episode. Thanks for hanging out with me

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and whatever summer sport you are into. I hope you

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stay safe, cool, and keep learning and keep in mind

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the best way to remember English like this in any

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other word or phrase in English is to take that

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word or phrase write it in a sentence that's true

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for you or true in your world, and then memorize

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your sentences. And remember I set up my new AI tutor.

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It's a great way to practice your English, get answers

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to your English learning questions and more twenty four to

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seven and it's all free. There's a link in the

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description where you are listening to this podcast right now,

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so check it out and if you like it, leave

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me your thumbs up there. And if you really want

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to get more practice using your English, you should join

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my podcast Learner's study group. There you can make new friends,

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join us for live group lessons every week where we

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practice these podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to

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the pdf, transcript and audio download for every Happy English

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podcast in the past and in the future. And on

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top of that, each episode has exercises where you can

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practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me.

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To learn more, just visit Myhappy English dot com and

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choose podcast lesson eight forty eight. Remember, learning another language

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is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here

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to help you on your journey.

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

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