Learn English vocabulary through authentic American English conversation, using news about the lifeguard shortage in the US as our training material.
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Video Transcript:
I’m feeling the heat this summer – and I will say it really helps to hit the pool or the beach. Today we’re going to study English with a story about a lifeguard shortage in the US. You’ll learn some more advanced vocabulary as well as phrasal verbs and idioms, and we’ll also break down some grammar. Click here or in the video description to get my free cheat sheet, the sounds of American English, an illustrated guide to all the sounds. It’s a great reference tool and even I use it quite a bit.
This clip is from the morning show Good Morning America, and I’ll link to the full news story in the video description.
Now with a new warning as America heads back to beaches and pools this summer, there’s a nation-wide lifeguard shortage.
“Nation-wide” simply means across the nation, the whole nation. You may have also heard city-wide, school-wide, or company-wide. The changes to the dress code are school-wide. That means every child, in every grade, has to follow the new dress code.
Why the hyphen here? This means it’s a compound adjective. Both words go together to describe the noun, which in this case is ‘shortage’. It’s not a nation shortage, it’s not a wide shortage, it’s a nation-wide shortage. Since the two go together to describe the noun, you want a hyphen and not a comma. Some other phrases with hyphenated compound adjectives:
an ice-cold drink
deep-fried onion rings
A tight-knit community
Now with a new warning as America heads back to beaches and pools this summer, there’s a nation-wide lifeguard shortage.
A shortage is something that there’s not enough of. Right now in the US, there’s a big staffing shortage. A lot of companies can’t fill open positions; there aren’t enough workers. At the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of people bought a bunch of toilet paper, so that meant for everyone else, there was a toilet paper shortage.
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Now with a new warning as America heads back to beaches and pools this summer, there’s a nation-wide lifeguard shortage.
When talking about not having enough of something, you might also hear the phrase to “run short on” – this means that the number has decreased to very few and is almost zero. I’m running short on cash. I’m running short on time today; I don’t have any free time. You might also see ‘run low on’. The store asked if I could pay with credit card because they were running low on change.
Let’s continue.
There are 36 of these lifeguard stations up and down beautiful Miami beach, manned by nearly twice as many lifeguards during the day.
“Up and down.” You’ve probably heard this as a reference to vertical space. Up and down the stairs. Up and down the elevator. But we also use it to describe horizontal space. Up and down the beach. Along the coast. Up and down the aisle. Usually, it describes a shape of land or space that is long and narrow. Up and down the highway.
He says the beach’s lifeguard stands are “manned” by lifeguards. If something is manned, that means there are humans present, usually it means working there. In other words, staffed. Manned does not mean only men – women too. An unmanned space mission would be when something is sent into space without a human crew. In this case, the stations are manned by lifeguards.
Manned is the same thing as staffed, and earlier, I said there is a staffing shortage. Staff has a couple different meanings, like in sheet music, the staff is the structure that the notes are on, and it’s also a long stick used for walking, or even as a weapon. But the most common meaning is how we’re using it here: the people employed by an organization. The staff meeting is at 8. The faculty and staff have the week off. Faculty would be professors at a college, and the staff would be the people who support the university in offices. All the staff needs to be available the week of Christmas: the dishwashers, servers, managers, line cooks, and so on. All the restaurant’s staff.
There are 36 of these lifeguard stations up and down beautiful Miami beach, manned by nearly twice as many lifeguards during the day.
Thirty-six stands manned by nearly twice as many lifeguards. Do the math. He means the beach has almost 72 lifeguards on duty. Nearly twice as many. Other ways to say ‘twice as many’: double; twice the number of; or two times as many.
There are 36 of these lifeguard stations up and down beautiful Miami beach, manned by nearly twice as many lifeguards during the day.
This summer, swim at your own risk. That’s the urgent message from several beaches and pools across the country that are left unguarded because of a critical lack of lifeguards.
Urgent. What a great adjective! Let’s look at some synonyms that could be used in this context:
vital; serious; pressing; crucial; important. Urgent carries the idea that something is time-sensitive. You get an urgent phone call from a family member. You should answer the call because something needs your attention right away. Alternatively, you send an email request to a coworker, but write “not urgent” in the subject line because the issue can wait a few days.
That’s the urgent message from several beaches and pools across the country that are left unguarded because of a critical lack of lifeguards.
Unguarded. Adding the prefix -un to the beginning of a word is one of the most common ways to negate the meaning of a word, the opposite. Usual–unusual. Interesting–uninteresting. Important–unimportant. So, unguarded tells us that these areas are not protected by lifeguards. I also hear the word “unguarded” used to describe whether someone shares something private or personal. When I first started dating my husband, I was pretty guarded. It takes me a while to get comfortable with people and start sharing more of myself, it takes time for me to become more unguarded. To be unguarded means that you are candid; accessible; direct, you share a lot about yourself.
And before we move on from this segment, did you catch a synonym for “shortage” here?
That’s the urgent message from several beaches and pools across the country that are left unguarded because of a critical lack of lifeguards.
A lack of something is a shortage, absence, or scarcity of something. There’s a lack of motivation among students at the end of the semester. They don’t feel like doing anything–especially studying. He lacks confidence. He doesn’t feel like he can do it.
The adjective here, critical, is really interesting, it can be used in a lot of different ways. One meaning is when someone is quick to judge or find fault in something. Parents who are too critical can make their children anxious. Critical thinking is a skill I wish we’d teach more of in schools. That’s when you learn how to judge the truth or merit of an idea, critical thinking. A different meaning, which is the one used in this news story, indicates a threatening or grave outcome. A critical shortage of lifeguards. There aren’t enough lifeguards, so swimmers face potential danger. You might also hear the phrase ‘critical acclaim’. This means critics have praised the work. For example, a movie, play, or restaurant can have critical acclaim. Critics are people who work for an organization, like a newspaper, who judge how good something is. For example, a restaurant critic would work for a newspaper, visit various restaurants throughout the city to rate them and write articles about certain dishes, and so on. A critic.
There’s no substitute for safety. And the lifeguards are a part of the safety chain.
If there’s no substitute for something, that means there’s no backup, no replacement, no stand-in. Nothing else that works to the same goal. Either we’re practicing safety or we’re not. I often hear this usage of substitute as a motivator:
There’s no substitute for hardwork. This means there’s no other way to success. You have to put in the time and hard work.
There’s no substitute for experience.
There’s no substitute for safety. And the lifeguards are a part of the safety chain.
Safety chain. He’s using the image of a chain metaphorically. Each link or piece of a chain holds onto the other. Lifeguards are part of the chain–along with EMS workers, police, other medical professionals, and even the general public. We all need to make smart decisions when it comes to swimming. You’ll hear the word “chain” used in other ways too:
the food chain
the supply chain
They all reference several steps or parts that make up the flow of a process.
There’s no substitute for safety. And the lifeguards are a part of the safety chain.
Areas are not able to hire and certify lifeguards fast enough–just as more Americans are flocking to water-front destinations.
Hire and certify. Hire is to be offered a job for pay. The process of someone becoming employed by you. If you hire someone, they become staff. Certified includes all the training, licensing, and approval you need to do a specialized job or task. I’m pretty good at excel, but I haven’t been certified.
Some jobs might require some certifications.
For example, to work at the daycare, she needed to be certified in CPR. So, she took a class to become CPR certified: watched videos, took tests, and demonstrated skills on a dummy and so on. She’ll need to renew her certification every two years.
Areas are not able to hire and certify lifeguards fast enough–just as more Americans are flocking to water-front destinations.
Flocking. I love this use of “flock!” It’s a verb or noun we typically associate with birds. A group of birds is a flock. And “flocking” describes their movement as a group. My neighbor throws peanuts on the street and the birds flock to it. So, if people are “flocking to water-front destinations,” that means large numbers are going there. Everyone wants it, kind of like hungry birds for peanuts.
Areas are not able to hire and certify lifeguards fast enough–just as more Americans are flocking to water-front destinations. No fun in the sun at this pool in Lackawanna State Park in Pennsylvania. It closed due to staffing shortages.
There’s our noun again–shortages. This time it’s “staffing shortages.” Not enough staff, not enough workers to safely open.
No fun in the sun at this pool in Lackawanna State Park in Pennsylvania. It closed due to staffing shortages.
In Ohio, notices like these on Facebook turning away eager pool-goers.
What’s the Facebook notice doing?
In Ohio, notices like these on Facebook turning away eager pool-goers.
Turning away. A phrasal verb. In this case, to turn away means to refuse to let anyone enter. The notice turned people away.
In Ohio, notices like these on Facebook turning away eager pool-goers.
Someone who is eager wants to do or have something very much. Someone who is eager to learn really wants to learn. An eager pool-goer really wants to go to the pool.
In Ohio, notices like these on Facebook turning away eager pool-goers.
And in Austin, they’re struggling to stay afloat. Just 250 lifeguards this summer compared to 750 in a typical year.
Struggling to stay afloat. He’s using a play on words here. We think afloat, we think water, and think lifeguards, we think water. Afloat means floating in water, not sinking. But actually, we can use ‘afloat’ with situations that have nothing to do with water. It’s used a lot with businesses that aren’t doing well, that may have to close. We would say ‘they’re struggling to stay afloat.” They’re struggling to make their business model work. During the pandemic, a lot of restaurants and local shops couldn’t stay afloat, they permanently closed.
Or we could use it with ourselves: I’m working 45 hours this week and have two exams; I’m just struggling to stay afloat this week.
And in Austin, they’re struggling to stay afloat. Just 250 lifeguards this summer compared to 750 in a typical year.
We just don’t have the time to get the lifeguards trained and on payroll for this summer.
Payroll is a list of a company’s employees and the amount of money they are to be paid. We often use the preposition “on” with this noun. The school has 150 teachers and staff on payroll.
We just don’t have the time to get the lifeguards trained and on payroll for this summer.
We’re seeing dangerous rescues and even fatal encounters in areas normally covered by lifeguards. Like along Lake Michigan, where over the weekend a 14-year-old girl had to be airlifted to the hospital in critical condition. It sounds like a wave struck them, and they ended up going into some deeper water and getting into problems. There were no lifeguards on duty. Instead, these towers stand empty.
Let’s look at the grammar here. The voiceover said “a 14 year-old girl had to be airlifted to the hospital.” Then the person interviewed said “It sounds like a wave struck them, and they ended up going into some deeper water.” Them, they. ‘Them’ traditionally has been used to refer to a group, more than one person, but more and more it’s being used to refer to a single person if you don’t know the gender. For example, take this conversation:
“I talked with someone at the insurance agency.”
“What did they say?”
At first I said someone, someone, a single person at the insurance agency. But in this conversation the person I’m talking to has no idea who that person is. Knows nothing about that person, so using ‘they’ would be very natural here. “They” for a single person, for one person can also be used if you want to use a more general term or don’t want to make assumptions about someone, and also, some people chose ‘they’ as their pronoun. In this case, the conservation officer may not have known the details of the person who was airlifted, or he may have simply chosen to use a more general term.
It sounds like a wave struck them, and they ended up going into some deeper water and getting into problems.
Earlier in that segment, we heard the word ‘critical’ again. Remember it has a couple definitions: it can mean the potential to become dangerous or disastrous, and it can mean judging disapprovingly. Which one is it here?
Like along Lake Michigan, where over the weekend a 14-year-old girl had to be airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.
- The girl was in a threatening or grave condition. She had almost drowned. The conservation officer said a “wave struck them.” “Struck” is the past tense of “strike.” A strong force that pushes against something. Some synonyms for this could be:
it crashed over them
it knocked them down, it knocked them over
it pummeled them
it clobbered them
It sounds like a wave struck them, and they ended up going into some deeper water and getting into problems.
There were no lifeguards on duty. Instead, these towers stand empty.
On duty: On the job, on the clock, at work, present at work.
When you have a job to do, particularly a job where you’re responsible for taking care of other people or the security of something, you can say, “I’m on duty.” Or, “I’m off duty.” Actually, my husband and I use this to talk about which one of us is responsible for taking care of our kids. For example, “I’d like to go for a walk. Will you be on-duty?”
Ok, let’s go to our final segment.
People that think they don’t need lifeguards–that they’re probably overestimating their abilities.
Our drone, now showing you the vantage point from one of those lifeguard stands. They have a better perspective because they’re elevated. And in many places, they’re now using drones in life-saving situations.
Overestimating their abilities. Estimate is one of the academic words we studied in my “LEARN 105 ENGLISH VOCABULARY WORDS” series. Click here for that playlist.
When you overestimate your abilities, you think you can do more than you can. You have more confidence than actual skill. That can be very dangerous when you’re swimming in the ocean.
He also uses the word “drone.” You probably know this word as an unmanned aircraft or a flying robot, used to get aerial video footage as well as other tasks. Notice: unmanned, that is, without a human present, in the aircraft. A human might be operating it from a different location, but the drone itself is unmanned. The news crew has a camera attached to a remote-controlled drone that they’re using to get these aerial shots. But drone has a few other meanings too. A drone is also a stingless male bee. Maybe that’s why they decided to name this thing a drone.
But it also means a tone, a sound, a buzzing, kind of like a bee makes! The drone of the A/C is ruining my audio track. Or you might hear someone talk about the drone of traffic in the distance. Continuous, low, humming sound. Now, if someone who is speaking is using sort of a flat, monotone, or talking for a long time about something very boring, you could say “He’s droning on about his stamp collection again.”
Our drone, now showing you the vantage point from one of those lifeguard stands.
Vantage point. This is a position from which you can see or consider something. Similar to perspective, point of view, or angle.
In recent years, scientists have gained a new vantage point on Mars.
Your vantage point is going to be completely different after you live abroad.
Our drone, now showing you the vantage point from one of those lifeguard stands.
Thanks for studying with me. If you want to go beyond learning and move into training your American voice, check out my online courses at RachelsEnglishAcademy.com. Keep your learning going now with this video, and don’t forget to subscribe with notifications on on YouTube and Facebook. I love being your English teacher. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
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