are nice, cheerful and friendly to Nancy. Nancy is thrilled. Here we see the expression to be thrilled. To be thrilled means to be happy and excited. Nancy is happy and excited. Nancy is thrilled. She feels happy and excited. Nancy is thrilled.
Suddenly a huge, ugly and hungry shark appears.
Let me take a minute and explain to you the word ugly. Ugly means not attractive, not nice. Suddenly a huge – big, ugly – not good looking, not nice, not attractive and, of course, hungry shark appears.
The shark starts eating all the fishes. Nancy is trying to escape from the shark, but the shark follows her.
Our next word for today is to escape. To escape means to get away from a very unpleasant situation. Nancy is trying to get away from a very unpleasant situation. Nancy is trying to escape from the shark, but the shark follows her.
And of course, the next word is to follow. To follow means to go or come after someone in the same direction. It’s very easy, right? So the shark goes after Nancy. The shark comes after Nancy. The shark swims after Nancy. The shark follows Nancy.
Nancy is trying to hide in the seaweeds, but the shark finds her and attacks her.
You may know our next word which is to hide. But let me tell you about this word again. To hide. To hide means to go somewhere where no one can find you or see you. Nancy is trying to go somewhere where the shark cannot find her or cannot see her. Nancy is trying to go somewhere where the shark cannot find her. Nancy is trying to swim somewhere where the shark cannot see here. Nancy is trying to hide in the seaweeds, but the shark finds her and attacks her.
But because Nancy is a secret aikido master. What’s it mean? It means that no one knows that Nancy is an aikido master. Nancy keeps it a secret. It is her secret. The secret that she doesn’t reveal to anyone. She doesn’t tell anyone that she is an aikido master.
What is an aikido master? What is an aikido, first?
Aikido is something like, you know, like judo. Actually, aikido is a Japanese self-defense system where you can fight with your hands and with your feet.
So Nancy the fish is a secret aikido master. She knows how to defend herself. She is an aikido master. She is a secret aikido master.
Nancy beats the shark. The shark screams and swims away.
Okay, our next word is to beat. To beat means to hit someone many times. In our case, Nancy hits the shark many times. Nancy beats the shark.
The shark screams and swims away.
And our final word for today is to scream. To scream means to make a loud high cry. Usually because you are hurt, frightened or excited. So Nancy beats the shark. The shark makes a loud high cry, because she is hurt. Nancy hits her many times. The shark screams and swims away. And the shark swims away, because she is hurt.
All the fishes love Nancy. She becomes the queen of the coral reef. She becomes the sea queen of the coral reef. And of course, Nancy is very happy.
And this is the end of the vocabulary lesson for “A Secret”. Now you know what to do. You listen to the vocabulary lesson one or two times a day. It will help you to understand the story better. It will help you to see the words and use the words correctly. And it will certainly help you speak English better.
The next lesson is your bonus lesson. Go and get it!
Your Bonus Lesson
Hello my superstar English student! This is Alex and this is your bonus lesson. In this lesson I am going to tell you the exact same story, but in the past tense. We are going back. Imagine! See in your head it was 10 years ago. Don’t think about the rules. Just listen and enjoy the story!
Ten years ago there was a fish. Her name was Nancy. Nancy the fish had a secret. All the fishes wanted to know the secret. But Nancy didn’t reveal the secret to them.
One day all the fishes decided not to talk to Nancy any more.
The fishes refused to talk to her. The fishes pretended not to see her.
Nancy said, “I don’t care. I can do well without you” and she swam away.
Three weeks later Nancy was swimming towards a big, beautiful and fantastic coral reef. She had never been there before. As Nancy swam up to the big, beautiful and fantastic coral reef, she saw a lot of fishes of different kinds. They were nice, cheerful and friendly to her. Nancy was thrilled.
Suddenly a huge, ugly and hungry shark appeared. The shark started eating all the fishes. Nancy was trying to escape from the shark, but the shark followed her. Nancy was trying to hide in the seaweeds, but the shark found her and attacked her.
But because Nancy was a secret aikido master, she beat the shark. The shark screamed and swam away.
All the fishes loved Nancy. She became the queen of the coral reef. She became the sea queen of the coral reef.
Listen to the story many times. Listen and remember that it was ten years ago. It was in the past. Don’t think about these grammar rules. Just listen and enjoy. The next lesson is the mini-story lesson. See you there.
The Mini-Story Lesson
Hello, my superstar student. This is Alex – your English teacher. Welcome to our mini-story lesson for “A Secret”. Let’s get started immediately.
There was a fish. Her name was Nancy.
What was her name?
Nancy. Her name was Nancy.
What was Nancy? A crocodile?
A fish. Nancy was a fish. And she had a secret.
Who had a secret?
Nancy. Nancy the fish had a secret.
Did Nancy the fish have a car?
No, she didn’t have a car. Nancy the fish had a secret.
What did Nancy have?
A secret. Nancy the fish had a secret.
A piece of information she keeps from everyone.
Remember? All the fishes wanted to know the secret.
They
