2026-08-08 Would You Travel Back in Time or Forward?

Session Overview

The session opened with the idiom ’take the reins’ and its literal roots in horsemanship, before moving into a wide-ranging discussion on time travel — whether to revisit the past or leap into the future, and which moments participants would change or simply witness. Learners shared personal reflections on career choices, childhood memories, advances in medicine, and the value of living in the present. The hour ended with a lively round of the card game Apples to Apples, which brought in fresh vocabulary such as ‘frazzled,’ ‘pathetic,’ and ‘casual.’

💬 Idioms

“take the reins”

to assume full control or authority over something, stepping into a leadership role

• The new manager is taking the reins next week, so expect some changes.
• When the founder retired, her deputy took the reins and modernized the entire operation.

“think outside the box”

to approach a problem in a creative or unconventional way, going beyond the most obvious solutions

• The engineering team was encouraged to think outside the box when the standard approach kept failing.
• Sometimes winning a word game means you have to think outside the box and make a surprising choice.

“body is acting up”

a part of your body (or a machine) is misbehaving or causing unexpected trouble

• My knee has been acting up since I started running every morning.
• The photocopier was acting up all afternoon — it kept jamming mid-print.

“pull on someone’s heartstrings”

to cause a strong feeling of sympathy, tenderness, or sadness in someone

• Reading her grandmother’s old handwritten recipes really pulled on her heartstrings.
• That documentary about elderly residents living alone pulled on everyone’s heartstrings.

📚 Vocabulary to Remember

• lifespan — the length of time a person, animal, or thing is expected to live or remain in use
  • Advances in medicine have significantly increased the average human lifespan over the past century.
• frazzled — completely exhausted and stressed, usually from too much work or worry
  • After back-to-back meetings all week, she arrived home looking completely frazzled.
• pathetic — deserving pity or contempt; very poor in quality or effort
  • The team’s performance in the second half was pathetic — they barely touched the ball.
• holistic — dealing with the whole of something rather than only its individual parts
  • The new curriculum takes a holistic approach, combining physical activity with academic learning.
• pivotal — of crucial importance; a turning point that strongly influences what comes next
  • Choosing a field of study was a pivotal decision that shaped the rest of her career.
• hoarding — collecting or keeping large amounts of something, often selfishly, instead of sharing or using it
  • Some people responded to the shortage by hoarding supplies they did not immediately need.
• casual — relaxed and unconcerned; also used for informal clothing or a laid-back attitude
  • The office has a casual dress code on Fridays, so most people wear jeans.
• childbirth — the process and experience of giving birth to a baby
  • Modern medical care has made childbirth much safer than it was a century ago.

🔧 Say It Better

1. ❌ It’s good to me. ✅ It’s good for me. 💡 Use ‘for’ — not ’to’ — when describing something that benefits you: good for me, useful for me, helpful for me.
2. ❌ Every king will get take the reins for their political philosophy. ✅ Every king would take the reins with their own political philosophy. 💡 Don’t add ‘get’ before a plain infinitive here; also use ‘would’ for hypothetical or habitual past statements.
3. ❌ Nice meet. ✅ Nice to meet you. 💡 This fixed greeting requires the infinitive ’to meet’ plus the object ‘you’ — it is a set phrase and cannot be shortened.
4. ❌ If I back to my younger period, I would like to study medicine. ✅ If I went back to my younger period, I would like to study medicine. 💡 In an unreal conditional, the if-clause needs a past-tense verb: ‘if I went back,’ not ‘if I back.’
5. ❌ The experience has teached me that many things don’t happen. ✅ Experience has taught me that most of the things I worried about never happen. 💡 ‘Teach’ is irregular — the past participle is ’taught,’ not ’teached.’
6. ❌ Future is so scared time. ✅ The future is such a scary time. 💡 Use ‘scary’ (describes the thing that causes fear) not ‘scared’ (describes how a person feels); also add the article ’the’ and use ‘such a’ for emphasis.
7. ❌ Right span is more longer. ✅ Lifespan is getting longer. 💡 Never use ‘more’ with a one-syllable comparative — say ’longer,’ not ‘more longer.’ The correct word is also ’lifespan,’ not ‘right span.’
8. ❌ Instead of worry, you have to occupy. ✅ Instead of worrying, you have to keep yourself occupied. 💡 After ‘instead of,’ use a gerund (-ing form); the natural phrase for staying productive is ‘keep yourself occupied.’
9. ❌ I had the opportunity to discovered all the technologies. ✅ I had the opportunity to discover all the technologies. 💡 After ‘opportunity to,’ use the base infinitive form of the verb, not the past participle.
10. ❌ I think this come from England. ✅ I think this came from England. 💡 The simple past of ‘come’ is ‘came’ — use the past tense when talking about something that happened in history.

✅ Check Yourself

Q1. After three weeks of back-to-back deadlines, the project manager arrived at the meeting looking completely ____.

• frazzled
• pathetic
• casual

Q2. When the lead developer left the company, a junior team member ____ and delivered the product on schedule.

• took the reins
• thought outside the box
• hoarding

Q3. Reading her late grandfather’s letters for the first time really ____ and she found herself in tears.

• pulled on her heartstrings
• lifespan
• pivotal

Q4. Scientists believe that better nutrition and medical breakthroughs will extend the average human ____ well beyond 100 years.

• lifespan
• childbirth
• hoarding

Q5. The standard approach wasn’t working, so the designer decided to ____ and came up with a completely unexpected solution.

• think outside the box
• body’s acting up
• holistic

Q6. The clinic takes a ____ approach to patient care, treating the mind, body, and lifestyle together rather than just the symptoms.

• holistic
• pivotal
• frazzled

✍️ Mini Diary

Today I finally dragged myself to an evening language class at the community library, even though I was completely frazzled after an exhausting week. The instructor introduced the idiom ’take the reins,’ and before long we were deep in a discussion about time travel — whether we would go back to change a decision or leap into the future in search of better health and a longer lifespan. One participant quietly insisted that the present moment is the only one truly worth living, and I found that idea unexpectedly moving — it really pulled on my heartstrings. For me, the whole conversation was a pivotal reminder that real language learning happens through genuine exchange, not just textbook exercises. I walked home slowly, still turning over the question of where — or when — I would go if I ever got the chance.