Inglês Diário

Teacher Guilherme Alves
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Aprenda o inglês da vida real, sem complicação! 🎙️ Apresentado por Guilherme, o Inglês Online ensina idioms e expressões do dia a dia através de histórias reais, bate-papos descontraídos e situações com as quais você se identifica. Aprenda de um jeito humano e prático.

  1. 22h ago

    Devil Wears Prada and drawing the line

    Hi. How are you? This is Guilherme with a brand new episode of the Inglês Diário podcast. Hope you are all doing great today. We are already in late June, and I have to say, it's getting quite cold here in Sorocaba! Perfect weather for a hot cup of coffee while we practice some English. Today, we are going to use one of our new formats: the Pop Culture Scene! I love using movies to learn vocabulary because it creates an instant visual memory. I'm sure most of you have seen the movie The Devil Wears Prada—or in Portuguese, O Diabo Veste Prada. It’s an absolute classic. If you remember the story, the main character, Andy, gets a job as an assistant to Miranda Priestly. And Miranda is basically the worst boss in the world. She is rude, she calls Andy at all hours of the night, and she wants impossible things—like getting the new Harry Potter book for her daughters before it is even published! But Andy, our main character, really wants to be a journalist, and she knows this job is a great opportunity. So, she decides to put up with Miranda's terrible behavior. Again: she decides to put up with Miranda's terrible behavior. To put up with something. Put, P-U-T, up, with. When you put up with something, you tolerate a difficult, annoying, or unpleasant situation without complaining. You don't like it, but you accept it. If you live next to a busy street or avenue, you put up with the traffic noise. If you have an old computer that crashes all the time, but you can't buy a new one, you just put up with it. In the movie, Andy puts up with Miranda’s ridiculous demands because she hopes it will help her career. But as the story progresses, things get more and more toxic. Fast forward to the end of the movie: they are at a big fashion week in Paris and Miranda does something terrible: she betrays her most loyal colleague just to save her own job. When Andy sees this situation , she realizes she doesn't want to become a band, ruthless person like Miranda. That is her absolute limit. She finally draws the line. To draw the line. Imagine you have a piece of chalk (or “giz"), and you draw a straight line on the ground. You look at the situation and say, "You can come this far, but you cannot cross this line." To draw the line means to set a strict boundary or limit. It means you define exactly what is acceptable and what is absolutely unacceptable. Andy could put up with working late, but she drew the line at hurting other people. She threw her cell phone into a fountain in Paris, turned her back, and walked away. So, my question for you today is: Have you ever had a boss like Miranda Priestly? Maybe not as crazy, but maybe a little bit? What kind of crazy things did you have to put up with at your job? And at what point did you finally draw the line? Leave a comment. See you next time, bye!

    4 min

  2. 2d ago

    I dropped the ball

    Hi. How are you? This is Guilherme back with another episode of the Inglês Diário podcast. Hope you are all having a great week! Today, we are going to talk about what happens when we try to translate things from Portuguese to English from the top of our heads. Sometimes, it works. But other times... things get completely lost in translation.Let me give you a classic example. In Brazil, when someone makes a mistake, forgets an important favor, or disappoints a friend, we use a very famous expression. We say that the person "pisou na bola."Now, if you go to the United States or England and you look at your friend and say, "Hey man, I'm sorry, I stepped on the ball," they are going to look down at your feet! They will look around and say, "What ball? Are we playing soccer?" It makes absolutely no sense to them.So, how do we express this exact same feeling in English? Well, interestingly enough, the first expression I want to teach you today also uses a ball. But in English, you don't step on it. You drop it. The expression is to drop the ball.Drop the ball. D-R-O-P, the ball.Think about American football or baseball. If a player throws the ball to their teammate, and the teammate opens his hands but the ball falls to the ground... he dropped the ball. He made a mistake and lost the play.In everyday life, to drop the ball means to fail to do your job, to forget a responsibility, or to make a careless mistake. Let’s say I was responsible for bringing the birthday cake to a party. I get to the party, look at my empty hands, and realize I forgot the cake at home. I can say, "Oh my gosh, guys, I am so sorry. I really dropped the ball on this one." I made a mistake. I failed my responsibility.And when you drop the ball, there is usually a consequence, right? People get sad or disappointed. And that brings us to our second expression: to let someone down.To let someone down. Let, L-E-T, down, D-O-W-N.When you let someone down, you disappoint them. They were expecting something good from you, they trusted you, but you didn't deliver. You let their expectations fall down. Going back to our cake example: because I dropped the ball and forgot the birthday cake, I really let the birthday girl down. She was expecting a cake, and I disappointed her.These two go together perfectly. You drop the ball (you make the mistake), and because of that, you let someone down (you disappoint them). Next time you want to say "pisei na bola", remember: don't step on it! Drop it.So, my question for you today is: When was the last time you dropped the ball? Did you forget to pay a bill? Did you forget a friend's birthday? And did you let anyone down because of it?Leave a comment telling me your story. See you next time, bye!

    4 min

  3. Jun 17

    In the World Cup spirit

    Hi. How are you? This is Guilherme back with a brand new episode of the Inglês Diário podcast. Hope you are all doing great today. So, guys... the World Cup has already started, and I couldn't be more excited. Are you watching the matches? I already bought my snacks, I've got my Brazil's jersey ready... I am completely in the World Cup spirit. Since we are all breathing soccer right now, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to teach you two expressions that come straight from the soccer field, but that native speakers use all the time in everyday life and, especially, at work. So, think about the very first second of a soccer match. The referee blows the whistle, and a player hits the ball to officially start the game, right? That action is called the kick off. Kick off. In soccer, it literally means the start of the match. But in everyday English, we use "kick off" as a phrasal verb to talk about starting absolutely anything. If you have a meeting at work, your boss might sit down and say, "Alright everyone, let's kick off the meeting." It simply means, let's start the meeting. If you are throwing a birthday party, you can say, "We are going to kick off the party at 8 PM." You can kick off a new project, kick off a marketing campaign, or kick off a weekend trip. It just means to begin something, usually an event or a collaborative effort. Now, once the game kicks off, the ball is finally moving on the grass, right? The players are passing it around, the action is happening. That brings us to our second expression: get the ball rolling. Imagine a heavy ball just sitting there on the ground. It takes a little bit of energy to push it and make it start moving. But once it starts rolling, it’s much easier to keep it going. That's exactly the idea here. To get the ball rolling means to do something to begin a process or a project. It’s that initial push you need to start making progress. Let's say you and your friends want to plan a trip to the beach for the end of the year. Everyone thinks it's a great idea, but nobody is actually doing anything about it. You could say, "Guys, we need to rent a house soon. I'm going to create a WhatsApp group to get the ball rolling." You are taking the very first practical step to make the plan happen. Or at work, you might say, "I'll send an email to the client today just to get the ball rolling." So, the World Cup is kicking off tomorrow, and all the teams are finally ready to get the ball rolling! My question for you today is: What is something in your life right now that you need to get the ball rolling on? Do you need to get the ball rolling on your English studies? On planning your next vacation? Or maybe on starting a new diet? Leave a comment. Enjoy the World Cup games, and I'll see you next time. Bye! Key vocabulary Kick off: começar algo Get the ball rolling: fazer a coisa andar, dar início

    4 min

  4. Jun 11

    Caught between a rock and a hard place

    Hi. How are you? This is Guilherme with another episode of the Inglês Diário podcast. Hope you are having a fantastic week. We are only one day away from the World Cup, and I’m pretty excited about it! How are you feeling about the World Cup so close? Today we are going to do something a little bit different. Instead of telling you a story about something that happened to me, I want you to use your imagination. I want to put you in a tricky situation, and I want to see what you would do. Are you ready? Picture this: You just got a new job. It’s a great company, it pays really well, and you want to make a good impression. You’ve been working there for about six months. Then, your boss calls you into his office and says, “Hey, this Saturday we are having a mandatory team-building event. Everyone from the department has to be there, no exceptions. The CEO is flying in.” But here is the problem. This exact same Saturday is your absolute best friend’s wedding. And you are not just a guest... you are the best man, or the maid of honor. You have to be there. In this scenario, my friend, you are caught between a rock and a hard place. Caught between a rock and a hard place. Imagine you are standing in a narrow space. On your left side, there is a giant, heavy rock. On your right side, there is a hard, solid wall. You can't move left, and you can't move right. You are stuck. When we say someone is between a rock and a hard place, it means they have to choose between two very bad options. If you go to the work event, your best friend will never forgive you. If you go to the wedding, your boss might fire you. There is no easy way out. You are stuck between a rock and a hard place. But, you know... you can't just disappear. You can't be in two places at once. Eventually, you have to make a decision, even if it hurts. You are just going to have to bite the bullet. To bite the bullet. Bite, B-I-T-E, the bullet, B-U-L-L-E-T. This expression has a really interesting history. Back in the old days, hundreds of years ago, before doctors had anesthesia to block pain, if a soldier got injured on the battlefield and needed surgery, the doctor would give him a literal bullet to bite down on. Biting the bullet helped the soldier endure the extreme pain. Today, obviously, we don't use it for surgery. But we use it when you have to force yourself to do something very difficult, unpleasant, or scary that you can no longer avoid. You accept the bad situation, you bite the bullet, and you just do it. So, in our scenario, you have to bite the bullet and make the painful phone call—either to your boss to say you won't be at the event, or to your best friend to say you are missing the wedding. So, my question for you today is: What would you do in this scenario? Which bullet would you bite? Would you choose the job or the wedding? And more importantly, have you ever been caught between a rock and a hard place in real life? Leave a comment. See you next time, bye! Key expressions: Bit the bullet: tomar coragem e fazer algo Between a rock and a hard place: ter duas opções que são ruins

    4 min

  5. Jun 8

    I'm having second thoughts

    Hi. How are you? This is Guilherme with a new episode of the Inglês Diário Podcast. Hope everything is going great with you. It’s been a pretty busy week for me here, but I always love taking this time to sit down and record a new episode for you guys. Today I want to share a story about a friend of mine, and it perfectly illustrates two expressions that we use all the time in English when we are talking about making decisions. So, here is what happened. I have this friend, let's call him Mark. Mark decided he wanted to get really fit, so he signed up for this intense, super difficult 5:00 AM boot camp at the gym. He paid the money, bought new sneakers, and was super excited. That was his first thought: "This is a great idea." But then, the night before the first class, it’s raining, it’s cold, and he starts thinking... "Wait, do I really want to wake up at 4:30 in the morning? Is this actually a good idea?" He started to have second thoughts. To have second thoughts. When you make a decision, that is your first thought. But then, as time passes, you start doubting yourself. You start questioning if you made the right choice. You are having second thoughts. You can have second thoughts about buying a really expensive car, or maybe you say yes to a party, but then Saturday comes and you have second thoughts because you just want to sleep. You start regretting the commitment a little bit. So, Mark is in bed, having second thoughts. But he sets his alarm anyway. Then, 4:30 AM arrives. The alarm rings. It is freezing outside. He looks at his sneakers, looks at the rain out the window, and he completely loses his courage. He turns off the alarm and goes back to sleep. He got cold feet. To get cold feet. Think about the physical sensation. Imagine you are about to jump into a pool, and you put your foot in, and the water is freezing cold. Your body's natural reaction is to pull your foot back and not jump. That’s what getting cold feet means in a figurative way. It means you suddenly become too frightened or nervous to do something you had planned to do, usually right before you have to do it. We use this a lot for big events. For example, it's very common to use this when someone is about to get married. If the bride or the groom gets too scared to go through with the wedding at the very last minute, people say "they got cold feet." But it works for smaller things too, like my friend Mark who got cold feet and missed his gym class. He lost his courage at the last minute. So, my question for you is: Have you ever gotten cold feet? What was the situation? Maybe you agreed to give a big presentation at work, and you had second thoughts the day before... and then right before stepping on stage, you got cold feet? Let me know. Go to the blog, leave a comment telling me your story, and I'll see you next time. Bye! Key Expressions: Have second thoughts: to change your opinion about something Get cold feet: give up at the last minute

    4 min

  6. Jun 6

    Taxes and down to the wire

    Hi. How are you? This is Guilherme, back with a new episode of the Inglês Diário podcast. Hope you are all doing well. Happy Saturday! It’s a pretty nice morning here in Sorocaba where I am. I’m actually recording this while having my first cup of coffee of the day, just relaxing a bit. Today, I want to talk about something that is… I think almost everyone struggles with or has difficulties with. I'm talking about procrastination. You know, when you have something important to do, but you decide to watch just one more episode on Netflix instead? Let me tell you about my week. I have to do my income taxes (which in Portuguese is imposto de renda). Now, I don't know about you, but I absolutely hate doing taxes. Looking at receipts, filling out forms... it’s just so boring. So, I knew I had to do it on Monday. But Monday came, and I thought, “Well, I’m kind of tired today. I’ll do it tomorrow.” I decided to put it off. To put off doing something. Put off. P-U-T, and then O-F-F. When you put something off, you delay it. You leave it for later. You know you have a responsibility, but you just push it to the future. I put off doing my taxes on Monday. Then Tuesday came, and my friend called to go get a burger. So, I put it off again. You can put off going to the dentist, you can put off studying for an exam, or, I mean, you can put off cleaning your house. So, fast forward to today. The deadline to send my taxes to the accountant is tomorrow morning. I kept putting it off, and now, the situation has gone right down to the wire. Down to the wire. Let's break this one down, because I really love the visual here. Imagine a race, let's say, a horse race or a track and field race. In the old days, they used to stretch a literal physical wire right across the finish line. If a race was super competitive, the runners would be neck and neck (very close to one another) , and you wouldn't know who the winner was until the very last second when someone touched that wire. So, when we say a situation goes down to the wire, it means it is happening at the very last possible minute. There is no time left. Because I kept putting off my taxes, I am now rushing to finish them down to the wire. If I have a big project at work and I finish it five minutes before the presentation, that project went down to the wire. It’s stressful, you know? But for some reason, we all do it. So, here is my question for you today: Are you a procrastinator? What is a task that you always put off doing? Do you put off cleaning your room? Do you put off doing your homework? And does it usually go down to the wire, where you are rushing at the last minute? Let me know. Go to the blog, leave a comment, and I'll see you next time. Bye!

    4 min

  7. Jun 5

    We got our wires crossed

    Hi. How are you? This is Guilherme, back with a new episode of the Inglês Diário Podcast. It’s been a little while, hasn't it? I took a bit of a break, but I'm really happy to be back recording for you guys. Hope all is well. What’s the weather like where you are? I'm recording here in Sorocaba today, and it's actually getting a bit chilly, you know, winter is sort of creeping up on us. Anyway, today I want to talk about a funny situation that happened to me last weekend. I was supposed to meet a really good friend of mine for coffee. We had texted the night before, and we agreed to meet at 3 PM at this coffee shop that we usually go to. So, I get there at about ten to three, grab a nice table, sit down, and wait. Ten minutes go by, twenty minutes go by... and nothing. I'm looking at my phone, I mean, he's never usually this late. So, I text him: "Hey, where are you?" And he replies almost immediately: "What do you mean? I've been sitting here for twenty minutes! Where are YOU?" It turns out, the coffee shop had just opened a second location on the other side of town. I was at the old one, and he went to the new one to check it out. We completely got our wires crossed. To get your wires crossed... Imagine old telephones, you know, the ones that actually had physical wires. If the telephone operator plugged the wires into the wrong places, they would literally get mixed up, and you’d end up talking to the wrong person. It's a misunderstanding. One person thinks one thing, the other person thinks something else entirely. We got our wires crossed because he assumed we were going to the new cafe (actually, that’s what he said told us we should do, but I didn’t see this specific message), and I assumed we were going to the old one. So, what should we have done to prevent this? Well, we should have made sure that we were on the same page. To be on the same page. Think about reading a book with someone. If I'm reading page ten, and you're reading page five... we are looking at totally different parts of the story, right? We're not seeing the same thing. But if we are on the same page, we share the exact same understanding of a situation. If I had just texted him the night before and said, "Hey, just to make sure we are on the same page, we are meeting at the old coffee shop downtown, right?"... then we wouldn't have gotten our wires crossed. We would have saved ourselves half an hour of waiting around! People use this a lot at work, too. A boss might say, "Let's have a quick meeting just to make sure everyone is on the same page before we start this project." So, my question for you today is: When was the last time you got your wires crossed with someone? Did you show up on the wrong day? Did you completely misunderstand a text message? And what do you usually do to guarantee or ensure you're on the same page with your friends or coworkers? Let me know in the comments. See you next time, bye! Key Expressions: - Get our wires crossed (ter um mal-entendido ou entender algo errado) - Be on the same page ("estar alinhado" ou "estar de acordo")

    4 min

  8. 01/14/2025

    She's on my case!

    Hi everyone, how are you? I’m Guilherme Alves, and welcome to another episode of Inglês Diário. It’s really, really good to have you here. So, let me ask you something. Has anyone ever been on your case? I’m going to explain this expression, like someone being on your case, with a little story, alright? This happened to me a couple of years ago at work. I had been working on this big report for a project, one of those tasks that, like, takes forever because it involves a lot of research and double-checking every little detail. My boss, though, was super focused on deadlines, and every day she would check in with me about the report. It started with an email. Hey, how’s the report coming along? I thought, okay, no problem, she’s just, like, checking in. So I replied, still working on it, but it’s coming along. The next day, she stopped by my desk, and she said, How’s the report? Do you think it’ll be done by Friday? I just assured her that everything was on track, but honestly, I was starting to feel a little pressure. By Wednesday, it was non-stop. She sent me another email, just a quick reminder about the report. Then, during our team meeting, she brought it up again. She said, let’s make sure the report is ready by the end of the week. I could feel the entire team’s eyes on me. At this point, it was clear. She was on my case about this report. I knew it was important, but, wow, the constant reminders were making it hard to focus. What about you? Have you ever had a boss, a parent, or maybe a friend on your case about something? Maybe they just wanted to help, or maybe it was their way of showing their care, or maybe it was just plain annoying. Let me know the story. I’d love to hear about it. And there’s another expression that you can also use, which is the verb nag. You can say someone is nagging you. This one honestly has a tone that’s a little more negative, but it means that someone is also annoying you because they’re constantly criticizing or maybe charging you. So if you have, for example, a friend who’s always trying to tell you what you have to do, what you shouldn’t do, you can say this person is nagging you. Come on, man, you’re nagging me. You can also say that a person is on your back. So when someone is, again, always criticizing or always charging you, you can say the person is on your back. So just to remember the expressions that we have seen so far, we can say that a person is on your case, which is like, pegando-nos-so-bem.You can also say that the person is nagging you, like constantly annoying, charging. And also you can say that the person is on your back, which is pretty similar to the expression nagging. So thank you for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed learning these super useful expressions. Don’t forget to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Talk to you next time. Bye for now.

    4 min
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About

Aprenda o inglês da vida real, sem complicação! 🎙️ Apresentado por Guilherme, o Inglês Online ensina idioms e expressões do dia a dia através de histórias reais, bate-papos descontraídos e situações com as quais você se identifica. Aprenda de um jeito humano e prático.

Information

  • Creator
    Teacher Guilherme Alves
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Teacher Guilherme Alves
  • Show Website
    Inglês Diário