Returning guest Kate Billington suddenly decided to move to the other side of the world, to Taipei in beautiful Taiwan. In this episode we talk about meeting LEPsters in Taipei, her decision to move there, and how everything is going, with the usual conversational tangents along the way.
Here is another conversation episode, and it’ll be the last one I’m doing for a little while. You’ll get some more solo episodes from me over the next few weeks, including a short story episode and more.
But this is another conversation, and it’s with Kate Billington who is a returning guest and a popular guest – this is her 5th time on the show.
Over the last few episodes I’ve done fairly long introductions to explain certain things before the conversation begins, but I don’t think it’s necessary this time. I think the title of the episode explains what you’re going to get. Kate Billington moved to Taiwan. Yes, Kate just decided to move to the other side of the world, and then she did it! Why? How? What’s she doing? How’s it going? That’s what we’re going to talk about, and as you might expect there are a few conversational tangents along the way.
It’s great to have Kate back on the podcast, even if we were not in the same room as each other this time. I hope you enjoy it. I’ll come back and chat to you a little bit at the end (in the audio version), but for now, let’s get started and here we go.
Here’s a bonus episode, and it’s for fans of my brother’s music. James’ new album is out now and so we decided to record this episode in order to promote it and also to talk generally about music, including a chat about favourite albums, first albums we ever bought, albums we discovered in our parents’ record collection and more.
An episode about two (unconnected) situations, 1) the very recent earthquake in Turkey & Syria which has left many people in urgent need of help, 2) the humanitarian crisis in Iran. During the episode I read from various articles and explain some vocabulary.
0:55:58 Vocabulary from BBC article + more reading
Episode Transcript
Hello,
Welcome to the podcast. I hope you’re doing well today and that you’ve been enjoying my recent episodes.
Here is another new one, published very soon after the last one.
Just in case you don’t know, this is a podcast for learners of English and it is here to provide some regular listening practice and generally to help improve my listeners’ English in various ways.
I have a fairly large audience around the world, which I have built up over the nearly 14 years I have been doing this podcast and in my episodes I talk about pretty much anything.
Often it’s funny stuff. Sometimes I tell short stories. I do episodes about British life and culture. I talk to guests. I teach vocabulary, grammar & pronunciation, give general advice and motivation for learning English, and every now and then I talk about what’s going on in the news including some serious stories which I just feel compelled to talk about.
I usually stick to events related to the UK, but there are times when I talk about other places too, and this episode is one of those times.
As you can see, the episode is called Turkey & Syria Earthquake Appeal / What is happening in Iran? (Articles & Vocabulary).
Basically, this episode is about those two situations.
I want to say that I’m doing this to provide information in order to give support to ordinary people who are suffering as a result of what has happened, and what is happening, in both situations.
The basic details of these two, separate, situations are these:
Early on Monday morning (Monday 6 February 2023) an area near the border between Turkey and Syria was hit by several massive earthquakes. Buildings have been turned to rubble, at present nearly 12,000 people have been killed and many more have been left homeless and are having to survive without infrastructure, without a great deal of resources and in very cold conditions.
Another situation, completely separate from that is that in Iran, for months and months now, there have been huge struggles between protesters and the government / police. The protesters have been demonstrating in order to stand up for their human rights and freedoms, especially the rights of women. The response of the government has been to crack down on those protests using a great deal of force and to try to control information around the situation, including putting restrictions on internet use. Women in particular are fighting to maintain their basic human rights, and their efforts to defend them have been met with strict and crushing treatment from the authorities. What I just said is based on a few reports I’ve read and also quite a lot of emails which I’ve received from podcast listeners in Iran.
I’ll say again that these two situations are not connected, but I am going to talk about them both in this episode. The earthquake in the first half and then the situation in Iran in the second half.
The first situation – the earthquake, is the result of a natural disaster of course, but there are political elements to it too, which I might not go into.
The second situation, in Iran, is clearly more political and therefore potentially more problematic for me to talk about but in any case I am just going to report what other people are saying about this situation, and I am doing that mainly because I have been asked, a lot of times, to do so by my listeners in Iran.
I don’t always respond to requests like that, because, well, I might talk about that later in the episode. So I don’t necessarily respond to requests to talk about such serious issues in other places, but for this episode I am deciding to do it.
This doesn’t mean I will always talk about things like this, or that I will always respond to other similar requests, or change the overall focus of my podcast towards these kinds of issues.
But here it is, I am going to talk about it here and I want to show support to my listeners. I’m not completely sure, honestly, what I can do regarding the situation in Iran (although I will mention some things later), but I can at least raise awareness and I suppose that can help, and if my moral support gives anyone even a small boost, then good.
In the case of the earthquake, there are more direct things we can do, chiefly in terms of donating money to charities who can provide direct aid and assistance. I’ll mention those specific charities in a bit.
So I’m talking about two situations in this long episode. I do hope you listen to the whole thing.
I realise that for most of you, learning English is the goal. Of course, this whole episode is presented in English and there is a transcript for most of what I am saying here so you can check that transcript and use it for practising your English in the usual ways. Perhaps you can notice the specific language I am using to to talk about and describe these serious events and issues here.
Also, I will be going into some specific vocabulary explanations in the second part of this episode – when I read through some articles.
OK, so I hope you keep listening and stick around for the whole thing, but it’s up to you of course.
Forgive me for all my talking here before getting to the main points. I mean – forgive me for not jumping straight to the real substance of this episode, and for going on a bit here at the start.
I hope you understand my reasons for saying all this stuff at the beginning. I feel it’s a little tricky to just jump from my normal episodes (which are about things like toilets, music, or language learning) to topics as serious, specific and current as these.
A certain amount of let’s say “tonal reframing” is necessary here, in order to make the transition from my normal content to these serious topics a bit more palatable, I suppose. So please forgive what you might consider to be padding, rambling or waffling here, in the form of yet another long introduction.
Originally this episode was only supposed to be about the situation in Iran. I started planning to talk about Iran ages ago – in December actually, during the Christmas holidays and I was finally about to record and publish it very soon, but then the terrible earthquake in Turkey/Syria happened just a few days ago (I am recording this on 9 February 2023 and the earthquake struck on Monday 6 February) and I feel like I also had to talk about that, but I didn’t want to put off talking about Iran any longer so I just decided to talk about both situations in this one single episode. As I said, I hope you listen to the entire thing.
I feel that it wouldn’t be right to make an episode like this, talking about a humanitarian crisis and just skip over the earthquake without mentioning it.
I have quite a big backlog of episodes in a queue, including ones which I recorded weeks ago and I really want to get them published, but I’m putting them on hold at this moment in order to publish this episode.
One of my aims here is to use this opportunity to ask you to consider giving to charities which can provide aid to the people affected by the earthquakes, first of all. I’ll mention some charities who we can donate to in a few moments.
OK. So, first some details about the earthquake, and then a couple of articles about the situation in Iran, with vocabulary explanations.
This will probably end up being really long. If you’re watching on YouTube you will see some chapter markers to help you navigate the episode. If you’re listening to the audio podcast, those chapter timecodes will be included in the show notes and on my website.
Earthquake in Turkey/Syria
First let’s talk about the earthquake which happened in Turkey and Syria just a few days ago.
The very basic facts are that several devastating earthquakes have killed thousands of people in Turkey and Syria. Hundreds of buildings have been destroyed. Survivors are facing freezing conditions and need urgent aid.
The epicentre of the earthquake was in an area more or less on the border between Turkey and Syria and so that’s the worst affected place, but also this earthquake has affected other neighbouring areas and countries too.
If you’re interested in helping out those people in need by supporting charities, a good place to go for more information is the Disasters Emergency Committe https://www.dec.org.uk/
Sometimes it’s difficult to know who to trust when it comes to giving to a charity but the established ones with experience of providing aid on the ground are usually the better ones.
This organisation, The Disasters Emergency Committe is an association of 15 genuine, registered and experienced charities that can help people suffering in situations like the aftermath of this earthquake. You can find them at https://www.dec.org.uk/ and it is possible to donate to them there.
The D.E.C. are also involved in raising money and providing resources and help for people affected by crises in various places. On their website they list the Turkey/Syria earthquake, but also the terrible floods in Pakistan which have left millions of people in urgent need of help to survive, and the humanitarian crisis which has happened due to the conflict in Ukraine – the focus there is on helping millions of people who are left to survive in freezing temperatures without heating or electricity.
There will be other crises in other places too (notably there is the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen), and UNICEF have an appeal to help refugees affected by that on their website as well. Link here.
Back to the emergency in Turkey and Syria, here is what the Disasters Emergency Committe website says about that, and this is a chance to look at the situation in a little bit more detail.
Again, consider donating to https://www.dec.org.uk/ if you would like to offer your support.
The Situation in Iran
I don’t know if you are aware but there there is a humanitarian crisis happening in Iran. According to Amnesty International, “Hundreds of protesters are being killed, tortured, and ill-treated for peacefully protesting for women’s rights.”
For months and months, people have been asking me to use my podcast as a platform to talk about this situation.
I did mention it a couple of times on the podcast last year, at the end of a couple of episodes in the audio versions when I often will ramble a bit at the end of episodes and just give my thoughts on what I’ve been doing, and perhaps respond to some comments from listeners.
That’s what I often do at the end of my audio episodes, but not everyone listens to the end of my audio episodes and so I suppose not a lot of people heard those comments (they were mainly just words of support for people in Iran and other places where things are tough).
Now I’m going to talk about it in more detail, read from some articles and explain some related vocabulary.
My aim for this is just to talk about what’s going on in order to give support to people who are struggling and also just to raise awareness of the situation.
Criticism
I find that whenever I talk about something serious like this, especially when it involves another country (not my own) it seems to invite criticism from people.
Obviously this is a very serious story. I should say that I have not been to Iran and I have not seen things first-hand, but my impression is, from what I have read and from emails which I have received from listeners in Iran (and quite a few people have got in touch with me in various ways), my understanding is that this situation is horrendous and people are suffering.
In this part of this episode, in a moment, I’m just going to read a couple of online articles about the situation. These are things reported by people who, as far as I know, have done their best to find out what’s actually happening, and I’ll use those articles as texts for learning English.
I’ll read them to you and then highlight some vocabulary for you.
Before we do that, let me give just a few more of my personal comments about doing this episode. This will just be a couple of minutes. Then we’ll read the articles and look at vocabulary.
This episode is a bit late
These protests and clashes have been going on for months and months and of course there is a lot of history here. I am a bit late to the topic. I’m recording this in February 2023.
I did try, several times, to record an episode about this last year but I stopped myself. I just ended up feeling a bit crushed by the seriousness of the situation. Sorry. I’m no expert and I wouldn’t want to get anything wrong. Some people might not understand how I feel. Imagine standing up in front of a big crowd full of thousands and thousands of people from all around the world and talking about this to them, publicly. How would you feel? You might feel a bit nervous about it. Me too.
However, my personal doubts and reservations about doing this are relatively small concerns really, especially compared to the seriousness of this situation and what other people are experiencing just because they want to live their lives with a bit of freedom.
If you disagree with what I’m saying or doing in this episode for whatever reason, please do write a comment under this episode in polite language, in a diplomatic way and back it up with some evidence of some kind, or at least develop your argument coherently and clearly rather than just expressing an opinion very quickly.
Honestly, I don’t know who will disagree with what I am doing. In my experience when I talk about serious things in other countries there are always some people who take offense to it for one reason or another. I want to say that I am not criticising another country – rather, I am showing support. I am not making any statements about religion and I am not making a statement about what needs to be done here, on an international diplomatic level, by other countries or anything.
This is a very sensitive situation, both within the country and in terms of international relations.
But anyway, if you disagree with this for whatever reason and you suddenly feel compelled to write something in response, please take a moment to stop and consider carefully what you are writing before you do it.
It’s easy to be triggered and write something quickly, but I would like people to give considered, reasonable and respectful responses only please.
If you feel I have missed something, put it in the comment section. If you feel I’m not getting the full picture, put it in the comment section. Also, if you agree with the way I’m describing things and you want to add other comments, feel free.
Let me now try to put my personal doubts to one side and focus instead on just showing support for LEPsters (and non-LEPsters of course) in Iran who are suffering, and to give a bit of podcast-time to what is happening.
Articles & Vocabulary
I have found several articles about what’s happening. The first is from the BBC (and I do want to show that this situation is being reported by the BBC – maybe not on their prime time evening news TV show, but they are reporting it on their website), another article is from Al-Jazeera and there are some threads I found on Reddit too, with some video footage probably recorded on mobile phones, which I will not be showing by the way.
I’ll read each article, maybe give some comments, and then I’ll summarise a selection of vocabulary from each one.
BBC summary (Iran: A Really Simple Guide to the Protests)
I know the BBC gets criticised by everyone on all sides, often for different reasons, but let’s just read this and see what it says.
People have been protesting across Iran for almost six weeks, defying a deadly crackdown by security forces.
To defy = to refuse to obey
A crackdown = when police/government use a lot of force to punish people who are breaking the law
a 22-year-old woman [was] arrested by morality police in Tehran on 13 September for allegedlyviolating Iran’s strict rules requiring women to cover their hair
Allegedly = people say this is true but it hasn’t been proven in court yet
To violate rules = to break rules
[They] beat her head with a baton (beat – beat – beaten)
A baton = a weapon used by police, like a stick
the protests have swelled, with demandsfrom more freedoms to an overthrow of the state.
To swell = to get larger
Demands = what people want
An overthrow = when the government are/is removed by force
Videos have shown them defiantly setting their headscarves on fire and cutting their hair
Defiantly = strongly showing that they will not obey
To set something on fire = to make something burn with fire
In an unprecedented show of support, schoolgirls have also been demonstrating in playgrounds and on the streets.
Unprecedented = never happened before
Men and teenage boys have also participated in large numbers and backed the women’s demands.
To back someone/something = to support someone/something
Pronunciation One woman
Some women /wimin/
Authorities have played down the protests and tried to suppress them with force.
To play something down = to say that they’re not as serious as people think
To suppress something = to control it and keep it down, prevent it from rising
Force = physical actions, violence
Ayatollah Khamenei has accused the United States and Israel, Iran’s arch-enemies, of orchestrating “riots” – dismissed by critics as fabricated.
To orchestrate something = to make something happen, to plan it and to control it (like a conductor with an orchestra)
Dismiss = to say something is not important or not true
Fabricated = made up, not true, not real, created, lies
The BBC and other independent media are barred from reporting from inside Iran, making it difficult to verify what is claimed by state media
Barred from = blocked, not allowed to do something
To verify something = to check if it is true/real
To claim = to say that something is true
State media = media (TV stations, websites, papers, radio) which is owned or controlled by the state (the government)
authorities have disrupted internet and phone services.
Authorities = the police, other agencies working for the state, which have power given by the state
Security forces have denied killing peaceful demonstrators, but they have been filmed firing live ammunition on the streets.
To deny doing something = to say that they didn’t do it
To fire live ammunition = to shoot real bullets from guns
Some vocabulary related to guns and bullets
Live ammunition / live rounds
Live = real bullets (not blanks, not rubber bullets)
A cartridge / cartridges / a round / rounds = the metal cylinder which contains the projectile (bullet), propellant substance (gunpowder) an ignition device and casing (the bit that holds it all together and which might fall to the floor as it is ejected from the gun)
A magazine = a cartridge full of rounds
13. In 2009, millions of people took to the streets after a disputed presidential election
To take to the streets = to go into the streets probably to protest
14. However, the unrest was limited to major cities and was led by the middle class.
Unrest = when people go into a public place to demonstrate or riot and everyone is angry in the street
15. Economichardshiptriggerednationwideprotests in 2017 and 2019
Economic hardship = difficulty, hard times To trigger = to cause something to happen Nationwide protests = across the whole nation/country
16. Now though, for the first time, protests involve people from all sections of society and age groups, and have spread across dozens of cities and towns.
Involve = include
Dozens = many, a lot of (a dozen = 12 but “dozens” just means “a lot / a large number”)
A Post on Reddit (Warning – some of the links here contain videos with graphic and violent content)
As you may know, Reddit is a website where website users can have discussions about almost anything. This is user-generated content and there is some citizen journalism here – including direct video evidence from people who, it seems, were actually there (as far as I can tell).
I’m going to read a response from a user called zedlx to a question in the subreddit r/OutOfTheLoop asking what is happening in Iran.
There are links in the text for some of these things. Clicking the links takes us to other bits of media, including some shocking video footage of women being beaten by “police” (although a lot of them seem to be in plain clothes so we don’t really know who these people are), protesters fighting with police and even footage of police shooting live rounds (that’s real bullets) into crowds of protesters. I won’t be showing those videos because they’re far too sensitive, but a quick look at reddit, will show them. Please only do that at your own discretion and your own risk.
That comment on reddit by zedlx in response to the question “What is happening in Iran?”
A woman died in police custody after she was arrested for not wearing a hijab (head scarf) properly. Many Iranians went on protest by taking off their hijabs and burning them and cutting their hair [Luke: Taking huge risks because they could be arrested and possibly beaten or worse]. The government responded by sending out the riot police to break up protests.
Now the government is enacting a communications blackout to prevent videos of the protests from being broadcast. The people have a limited workaround using VPNs and Tor which is how they spread the news and videos of the protests.
Celebrating episode 800 and responding to lots of questions sent in on social media. Expect questions about my ill-fated music career, grammar, favourite authors, my daughter, life as an English teaching podcaster and plenty more. Video version available.
Here we are. It’s episode 800. It’s a big occasion but the emphasis is on chill in this episode. We’re just going to chill together and celebrate episode 800. So let’s sit back, relax and enjoy podcasting together.
This episode might take absolutely ages – I don’t know how long this is going to be, but we’re not going to worry about that, or anything else in this episode. No concerns, no worries.
For this one I thought I would answer some questions from listeners on social media, YouTube and my website. I recently asked for questions and I got loads. Billions. I got billions of questions.
I’m going to try and answer them almost all of them in this episode.
That might be seriously over ambitious and this could end up being the longest episode ever, we’ll see. If I have to divide it into parts, so be it. We’ve had episode 300 part 1 and 2, as well as several episode 666s, we can have episode 800 in a few parts. But in fact that does prove that I’ve already done more than 800 episodes. In fact I reckon it’s over 1000 if you include premium ones, bonus ones, app-only ones, phrasal verb ones.
In any case, I’m going to go through the questions and try to answer as many as possible. This is bound to take bloody ages. I mean, hours.
I’ve chosen nearly all the questions which came to me, except for world cup ones because I’ll talk about that in another episode.
They’re presented here in no particular order, from various social media platforms.
And I’m going to correct errors if and when I find them.
So this will be a sort of error correction episode too, I expect.
We will start in a minute, but first I just want to take this moment to celebrate getting to 800 episodes!
What does this really mean to me?
A long term professional project which has been a success and continues to be. No mean feat!
It’s a nice big number
800 is a large amount of anything – name a thing and imagine 800 of it. It’s always a lot!
Satisfying to reach a milestone, but I have my sights on 1000 now.
No need to dwell on it too long…
Thank you for continuing to listen to this podcast, allowing me to keep doing this all these years.
Recently the podcast hit 100,000,000 downloads since it started.
I love doing this podcast and I hope you love listening to it too.
I love the fact that I can do this – spend most of my working time on making content for learners of English, doing it my own way, being my own boss. It’s all thanks to the podcast, which means it’s all thanks to you, and the way it works is that those people who can afford it can become premium subscribers, which keeps the show completely free for those people who can’t afford it, and I get to keep making the episodes.
Let’s get on with the listener questions.
By the way, I’ve removed all World Cup questions because I think I’m going to talk about that in a separate episode.
Hi Luke, thanks for this mini episode :) Congratulations on the 800 episodes. My question is if you are considering doing more rambling episodes because they are fun and I think it is an excellent way to learn how to speak naturally and talk about daily life. Looking forward to seeing more rambling episodes.
Hi Luke! It’s Mary from Italy writing..I was just wondering…who is your favourite contemporary English novelist and why? Thanks in advance for your reply…
800 is a long way, congratulations Tr Luke. I would like to suggest that it would be great if you could upload one story telling episode per week (is it too much?) because as a lazy learner, your story telling can carry me to the end of the episode.
Hey Luuuke! I really like what you do and I’m a fan of your sense humor. I was wondering as a kid at school were you this type of guy who bravely says a joke loudly so that the whole class hears and giggles afterwards?
And do you feel that via humor you make the atmosphere (any place: job, school, family pre Christmas hassle, etc.) more amicable and lighthearted?
Hey Luke, what’s cracking!?Thanks for your fantastic podcast, IMHO for the time being it’s one of the most fascinating podcasts in terms of immersing in British English/humor (or at least I would like to think like that) that I’ve come across. My question is, do you consider moving to somewhere from Paris in particular and from France in general? Cheers.
In your opinion, approximately how many words do you need to have in your vocabulary to be able to speak like you do in your ramble episodes? and is there an efficient method for determining the amount of vocabulary for a non-native speaker?
https://manylex.com/
How does it work? Read the text on the website.
Native speakers know 20,000 – 30,000 words.
I got about 25,000.
Learners of English who get 10,000 can be near-native.
Hello Luke. I really enjoyed your podcasts about comedy TV series, like Alan Partridge. However, I asked you (very politely) quite a long time ago about the possibility of doing an episode (likely more then one) about Peep show. I believe that we could all learn from Peep show loads of useful British expressions/phrases which never occur in textbooks for students. Is there any chance that some comedy episodes are in the pipeline? Respect and best wishes from Poland 🇵🇱️
Hi, Luke! I’m really into your podcasts and watch every single episode no matter what length it is. My favorite videos are about detective and horror quizzes/stories. Are you planning to make a podcast on this topic? If so, I’m looking forward to seeing new episodes soon.
Hi Luke, how is it going? First of all, thank you for teaching us. My question is : is it possible to speak like you, if I only listen to your podcast, I mean your intonation and your pronunciation. You speak very clearly. I like your speech that is why I usually listen to your podcast
My name is Berdiyev Azamat from Khiva in Uzbekistan
Hi, Luke! Thank you for teaching us. My question is: I don’t have problems to understand you but why is so difficult for me to understand an American talking?
Comparing British and American English vocabulary with a fun online quiz. My guest today is American comedian Sarah Donnelly. Video version (of the conversation) available.
Video Version (images and text on scree, but no intro or ending comments & summary)
Introduction Transcript
Hello dear listeners,
Hello to all LEPsters in LEPland,
How’s your summer going? OK? I’m on holiday at the moment, but I recorded this earlier and I’ve managed to publish it now. That’s clever, isn’t it? Anyway, I hope your summer is going well and if it’s not summer where you are, I hope that your not-summer is also going well.
Welcome back to LEP.
In this episode, Sarah Donnelly is back on the podcast again.
You might remember Sarah from the other times she’s been on the show, if you are a long-term listener.
Sarah Donnelly is from the circle of friends I have here in Paris who all met each other doing stand up comedy, and that includes Amber and Paul, Sebastian Marx, Fred Eyangoh, Molly Martinez, Sarah Toporoff the Paris Quiz Mistress and plenty of others, many of whom have made appearances on this podcast over the years.
Sarah is originally from North Carolina in the USA. She’s been living in Paris exactly the same length of time as me. We both moved here in September 2012 – by coincidence I mean – we didn’t move here together. But when we did meet, we realised we had both moved here at exactly the same time, which is something we have in common.
The return of Sarah on this podcast is long overdue. As a theme for this episode I thought we could explore the topic of American and British English and so you’ll hear us discussing some of the vocabulary differences while doing a fun online quiz.
We start our conversation by referring to the fact that in my podcastle (the building here where I have my pod-room) there are lots of stairs, because I am on the top floor and also there is a shared toilet in the corridor, which is an old fashioned toilet, meaning it is basically a hole in the ground, rather than a thing you sit on. It’s not a sit down toilet, it’s more of a squatting toilet. That’s probably too much information for you, but there it is. I don’t know if it helps for you to know what kind of toilet we have here at the podcastle. Does that help, to know that? Does that help with your English? I’m telling you that to give you context at the start, so you don’t feel lost.
Anyway, it’s fine. The toilet, I mean. It works. It’s ok. But Sarah calls it a Turkish toilet for some reason (maybe that’s an American thing) whereas in the UK we’re more likely to call that kind of toilet a “French campsite toilet”. Anyway, I thought I’d just clarify that before you listen and wonder what’s going on.
After a bit of rambling about toilets, recording podcasts while sitting on the toilet, different types of toilet, old fashioned toilets and so on. After that toilet talk, Sarah and I get into that online quiz about British and American English.
So the main thing here is to compare some vocabulary differences between British and American English. You can learn some different vocab, and also just listen and compare these two varieties of English.
Listen carefully to hear our specific comments and to learn the subtleties of these differences. You’ll know some of them already, because some of these differences are very well known, but I bet there will also be some new things for you to pick up too.
I’ll sum up at the end of the conversation by the way – I’ll quickly summarise the vocab and the differences, and I will also give some comments about whether you should learn British or American English (which variety to choose). You will find notes and a transcript for the intro part and parts of the ending on the page for this episode on my website. You’re welcome.
I don’t need to say much more here, except that there is a video version of this on YouTube with the quiz questions shown on the screen. You could watch that too, but of course on YouTube you don’t get this wonderful introduction that you’re hearing now, or the bit where I ramble at the end. So there. That’s the advantage of being an audio LEPster in audioland (which is the most populated region of LEPland by the way). You get more.
Now, I will let you listen to my conversation with Sarah Donnelly, let you compare some American and British English and I will talk to you again a bit on the other side of this conversation, with a summary and some more comments.
But now, let’s get started…
The BuzzFeed quiz we did in this episode, focusing on British and American English
“I’m 99% Positive We Can Guess If You’re American Or British Based On This Word Test”
But I think a cookie and a biscuit are slightly different. A cookie is bigger and often has chocolate chips in it. Typically American. A biscuit is often smaller and a bit harder or with more crunch to it, and they are usually sold in a tube. Biscuits like that are very popular in the UK and we like to eat them as a snack with a cup of tea or coffee. Popular biscuits are things like the digestive biscuit or rich tea biscuit. In some parts of the USA a biscuit is something else entirely, and is larger and more like a scone (or scone) and is a savoury food eaten with gravy. We don’t have those kinds of biscuit in the UK.
Basically – a cookie is larger and a bit softer and very common in the USA. We have cookies in the UK too, but biscuits are more common.
UK: Petrol
USA: Gas / gasoline
The fuel that we put in our cars. In the UK we call it petrol. In the USA they commonly call it gas or gasoline. They’re wrong. Haha.
UK: Crisps
USA: (Potato) chips
Those snacks made from thin slices of potato which have been roasted and are sold in bags. Those are crisps in the UK and chips in the USA.
But, confusingly, chips in the UK are more like American french fries, but not the same because chips (like with fish and chips) are thicker and chunkier. We have fries in the UK too, but they are thin and the sort of thing you get with a burger at a McDonald’s or something.
Fun fact, french fries originally came from Belgium, so really we should all call them Belgian fries. As far as I know, that is true, but for some reason my spider sense is telling me that right at this moment Jean-Pierre is blowing the dust off his fingers in order to correct me. French people, if I’m wrong about that, feel free to correct me. I’m pretty sure it’s right though.
UK: Flat
USA: Apartment
Generally speaking in the UK we do refer to a home which is part of a larger building, as a flat, although we often use the word apartment too.
The building itself might be a block of flats (especially if it is more modern and contains lots of flats) or a tenement (I think more common in American English and perhaps associated with poorer communities) a condominium is a fairly common word in American English and refers to a block of flats but probably a more expensive one. We also might just say an apartment building.
Of course a house is one single property which has one owner or tenant. A house in the UK can be detached (on its own) semi-detached (with another house attached to it) or terraced (part of a terrace of attached houses in one long row, sometimes the whole street).
The word “home” is just used to refer to a place where someone lives. Anything can be your home – an apartment, a house, a cave, a hole in the ground, a boat, etc…
UK: Sweets
USA: Candy
One thing to note here is that the word “sweets” is plural and countable. So you can have a sweet or some sweets, or “how many sweets?” whereas candy is both countable and uncountable. So you can say “How much candy do you want?” and also “I want some candy” and “Do you want a candy?”.
UK: “The city centre”, the “town centre” or “the centre of town”
USA: Downtown
Downtown can be an adjective “A downtown address” or “in downtown Los Angeles” or an adverb (so you can do something downtown) “I’m going downtown” “An incident happened downtown yesterday”.
Also, that TV show about posh people living in a big house in England with their servants 100 years ago – that’s Downton Abbey and not Downtown Abbey.
UK: The greengrocers / the shop / the local shop
USA: The grocery store
The greengrocers in the UK is a small shop that just sells fruit and vegetables.
For a generic shop that sells lots of things including some fruit and veg maybe, but certainly drinks, snacks, milk, beer, bread etc, a kind of convenience store, we might just call it “the shop” or “the corner shop” or “a convenience store” or a “newsagent” (although that mainly sells newspapers and magazines) or “the local shop”.
A supermarket is a place that sells all kinds of food, including fruit and veg.
UK: Swimming costume
USA: Swimsuit
The clothes you wear when you go swimming. I think British people might also say swimsuit.
Those things that float in the water, probably attached to a rope or cable under the water – perhaps a large plastic ball – that’s a buoy, pronounced “boy” in British English and just pronounced all wrong and weird in American English like “boooeeee”, like David Booooeeee or something.
Bed sheets and stuff
It seems we use more or less the same words for this.
From floor to the top, here are the things on a bed:
The bed frame
The mattress
A fitted sheet which goes over the mattress
You
The top sheet which goes between you and
The duvet, which has a duvet cover on it
Also: a pillow and a pillow case
A blanket might be made of thick wool and could be added on the top to give an extra layer of warmth in the winter or something.
According to Sarah, a comforter in the USA is a kind of duvet that doesn’t have a cover on it.
That’s all I’ll say for that.
UK: a fringe
USA: bangs
In the UK the word fringe is singular. “I was thinking about getting a fringe. Shall I get a fringe? I think I’ll get a fringe.” In the USA “bangs” is a plural word. “I was thinking about getting bangs. Shall I get bangs? I think I’ll get bangs”.
UK: Peppers (red, green, yellow, orange)
USA: Bell peppers
Other vegetable names which are different:
UK: Courgette
USA: Zucchini
UK: Aubergine
USA: Egg plant (again they’re completely wrong on this. Eggs don’t have plants. What are they thinking? Egg plant. Eggs don’t grow on plants, they come out of chickens’ bums.)
UK: Trousers
USA: Pants
This is a well-known one, and I’ve talked about it plenty of times before.
It’s hilarious, isn’t it, because in the UK pants are our underwear. So funny. 😐
UK: The pavement
USA: The sidewalk
This is the place next to the road where pedestrians walk, and where those people on electric scooters endanger everyone’s lives.
Which version of English should I choose? British or American?
To be honest British and American English are not massively different. It’s mainly just little differences that might seem big when you get into very specific situations – especially if you are a British English speaker who goes to live in the USA or vice versa. So, first of all, don’t worry about it too much because the two versions of the language are mostly the same.
But there are differences – certain vocabulary (hopefully episodes like this can help), but also some spelling and grammar differences. There’s another episode for another time – although I did cover some of the pronunciation differences in an early episode 14. English Mania / British and American English
Also, pronunciation. The accents are fairly different and also certain words can be quite different (like buoy, aluminium, and so on).
The more you listen to spoken English from different places, the more you get a sense of the different sounds.
Feel free to choose whichever one that you like.
If you’re going to live in the USA, learning American English would make sense.
If you’re going to most other places where English is spoken including Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, India and other places – British English spelling and grammar standards are used.
But, American English is probably more widespread than British English because there are just more American people in the world (300,000,000 of them) and because the popular culture is everywhere too – films, TV series, music etc.
So, I suppose it’s up to you.
But at the end of the day – the answer is. Learn British English, it’s just better.
Luke reads extracts from The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. This is a classic bit of science fiction writing from the Victorian era, with some thrilling passages and scary descriptions. It’s one of my favourite books of all time and I hope you enjoy it too and learn some English from it. Full transcript available and YouTube version too.
It’s story time in this episode because I’m going to tell you a classic English science fiction story.
The story is called War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells the classic storyteller who also wrote The Invisible Man and The Time Machine, and you have probably heard of War Of The Worlds because it is definitely one of the most famous and most influential science fiction stories ever written.
Now, I know that science fiction is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do hope you stick around and listen to this story because I think this is just particularly good writing and the story is very exciting, immersive and memorable so it should be a really enjoyable way to pick up some more English.
I won’t be reading the whole book of course but I will be reading some selected extracts and giving you a summary of the key details in the first part of the story.
The aims of this episode
To entertain you with a really engaging story in English. Stories are a great way to get more English into your head and if they are exciting and immersive, then that’s even better.
To show you a slightly old-fashioned version of English, which is really rich in descriptive language and more formal in style than today’s English. It’s good to be exposed to diverse versions of the language. Old fashioned English is much more like modern formal English, so it’s a good lesson in style. This can really strengthen your English in various ways.
To help you notice some nice bits of vocabulary along the way. Having a broad range of vocabulary is essential in achieving truly advanced English. This story is very rich in descriptive language.
To inspire you perhaps to read the rest of the book. Reading is such an important thing to do for your English, and maybe you’re looking for interesting books to read. You could consider this one. It’s not too long.
This is also available as a video episode on YouTube and if you watch you can see me recording the podcast with the text on the screen next to my face. So you can listen and read at the same time and see me telling the story.
You can read the entire text I am reading from on the page for this episode at teacherluke.co.uk.
Context of the story and the writing style
War of the Worlds has been adapted lots of times – in films (most famously the 2005 Stephen Spielberg film with Tom Cruise – which you might have seen) and another film version in the 1950s set in Los Angeles, an audiobook musical version read by Richard Burton and an infamous dramatised radio series by Orson Welles.
This is the original alien invasion story. This book was one of the very first stories to ever explore these themes and to describe these kinds of things in such a realistic way.
This is the one that has inspired so many others and in my opinion, none of the other versions of this story or copies of this story can compare to this original version from 1897.
The writing is very realistic and journalistic in style, written from the first person perspective of a guy just experiencing the events as they happened and describing everything in great detail.
A note about the language and the writing style
The language is pretty old fashioned (1897) but it’s really well written and it should be interesting for you and useful for your English to explore another version of this language. Exposure to different types of English makes your English stronger I think.
As we go through this I will point out particular words or phrases as we go and perhaps compare this to normal modern plain English.
Comparing the styles of languages actually gives you more perspective on normal modern English and how formal written English today still retains some aspects of old fashioned language.
There is quite a lot of language you might find in legal documents or other very formal situations.
Words like therein, hereby, forthwith and things like that are quite common, as well as certain structures, longer sentences and choices of words which mark this out in a particular style.
This is very descriptive literary language from over 100 years ago. It’s more complex than today’s English, more formal than today’s English and very specific in its descriptions.
This will probably be a challenge for you but I’m here to help and I will explain things as we go.
This is quite scary stuff
I have to add actually, that having re-read some of this story in preparation for this episode, I hadn’t realised just how terrifying this story is.
Personally I really enjoy the thrills you get from a story like this, but if you are feeling a bit force-sensitive today you might want to get a pillow or hide behind the sofa or something.
Useful Links & Sources
Here are a couple of links I have found useful in making this episode.
Project Gutenberg I have several paperback copies of this book, but I also found it on www.gutenberg.org – a website which shares stories and books which are now in the public domain.
Link to War of the Worlds html version https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36/36-h/36-h.htm
CourseHero Study Notes Also there’s a website called coursehero.com which has useful summaries of the story and other useful information. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-War-of-the-Worlds/
Summarising the opening chapters
These are the opening paragraphs of the book, which set the scene in which the events take place. Note the sombre tone and specific choice of language.
Main Character
The story is told by an unnamed narrator.
He is a middle-class educated man who writes philosophical papers and is interested in science. That’s all we know. The story is written in the past tense, as if he is looking back on those events and has written a full account of what happened.
I. THE EVE OF THE WAR.
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. [one sentence!]
With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same.
No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable.
It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most, terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise.
Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.
Summary of the story up until Chapter 4: The Cylinder Opens
That opening chapter describes how a species of intelligent creatures on Mars had been observing us for many years before the events of this story. The opening chapter goes on to explain that the Martians were planning to invade earth because their home planet was steadily getting cooler year after year due to the fact that it is further from the sun than the earth. They faced extinction on their own planet, and so they set their sights on their nearest neighbour – Earth – with its warmer atmosphere and closer position to the sun, and with their superior mathematical knowledge and technology they decided they would colonise earth in order to survive. They spent years observing us and planning the invasion.
Note: I am using present tenses from now on to describe this story. This is a normal way to retell the plot of a book, film, or play. It’s because the events of the story are permanent because they never change, they are written that way. So we can use present tenses to summarise the story of a book or film.
Ogilvy the Astronomer
The narrator has a friend called Ogilvy who is a respected astronomer. He has a telescope and uses it to observe the night sky, including the surface of Mars, our nearest neighbour.
So Ogilvy is our friend and he’s an astronomer.
6 years before the main events of the story Ogilvy invites the narrator to an observatory to study Mars after another astronomer reported a dramatic explosion of gas on the surface of the planet, which seems to be directed toward Earth. The narrator observes a similar explosion as he watches through the telescope.
Ogilvy doubts the existence of life on Mars and speculates the phenomenon may be related to meteorites or volcanoes. Many other people witness the phenomenon, which repeats itself at midnight over a total of 10 days.
Nobody at the time is concerned or worried about the explosions on Mars.
6 years later some people see a falling star – a meteorite which flies through the night sky with a bright green flash and lands nearby on Horsell Common – a large area of grass, meadows and trees. Again, nobody assumes there is anything weird going on. Ogilvy the astronomer is interested in the meteorite and finds it on the common.
As it has landed it has formed a large crater of sand. So the object is lying at the bottom of a kind of large sand pit in the middle of an open area of grassland surrounded by buildings and trees.
The meteorite that he finds is quite odd. It’s in a cylindrical shape – like a long can of coke, but he thinks its made of rock as it is covered in a kind of crusty layer. It’s also extremely hot and he can’t get near it, but he notices there are weird sounds coming from inside it. He assumes these are noises caused by the object cooling, but as he continues to observe it he realises that something funny is going on.
The crusty layer is slowly falling off as the object cools, revealing a kind of metallic surface underneath, and even weirder than that, the end of the cylinder appears to be turning, as if it is unscrewing very slowly. Ogilvy suddenly assumes that the cylinder has people inside it and decides to get help, but nobody believes him.
Eventually he finds a journalist who is willing to check the cylinder. A crowd of people begins to gather as word spreads about “men from space stuck inside a cylinder on the common”. People don’t quite realise what’s going on but they are incredibly curious. Normal life continues, with people stopping by to have a look at the object in the sand pit, before continuing their normal routines.
The narrator goes down to Horsell Common to check out what’s going on. A larger crowd has gathered there. He manages to squeeze through the crowd which is getting more and more excited and agitated. A small group of scientists, including the narrator’s friend Ogilvy are in the pit attempting to work out what is happening.
The narrator observes what is going on and comments on how most people are not really educated about this kind of thing and they haven’t worked out what’s going on, but he assumes that the cylinder must be extra-terrestrial. He observes the end of the cylinder moving and as it turns it’s revealing a kind of shining metal thread.
The next chapter describes what happens when the end of the cylinder finally drops off, revealing what is inside.
Reading chapters 4 and 5 with comments and explanations
The narrator approaches the pit containing the cylinder. Crowds of people are all around the pit, trying to see what’s happening. They’re pushing each other a bit, and things are quite tense. (You know, when a large crowd forms, people start pushing and shoving and it’s stressful) Ogilvy and some other scientists are in the pit.
IV. THE CYLINDER OPENS. The crowd about the pit had increased, and stood out black against the lemon yellow of the sky—a couple of hundred people, perhaps. There were raised voices, and some sort of struggle appeared to be going on about the pit. Strange imaginings passed through my mind. As I drew nearer I heard Stent’s voice: “Keep back! Keep back!” A boy came running towards me. “It’s a-movin’,” he said to me as he passed; “a-screwin’ and a-screwin’ out. I don’t like it. I’m a-goin’ ’ome, I am.” I went on to the crowd. There were really, I should think, two or three hundred people elbowing and jostling one another, the one or two ladies there being by no means the least active. “He’s fallen in the pit!” cried some one. “Keep back!” said several. The crowd swayed a little, and I elbowed my way through. Every one seemed greatly excited. I heard a peculiar humming sound from the pit. “I say!” said Ogilvy; “help keep these idiots back. We don’t know what’s in the confounded thing, you know!” I saw a young man, a shop assistant in Woking I believe he was, standing on the cylinder and trying to scramble out of the hole again. The crowd had pushed him in. The end of the cylinder was being screwed out from within. Nearly two feet of shining screw projected. Somebody blundered against me, and I narrowly missed being pitched onto the top of the screw. I turned, and as I did so the screw must have come out, for the lid of the cylinder fell upon the gravel with a ringing concussion. I stuck my elbow into the person behind me, and turned my head towards the Thing again. For a moment that circular cavity seemed perfectly black. I had the sunset in my eyes. I think everyone expected to see a man emerge—possibly something a little unlike us terrestrial men, but in all essentials a man. I know I did. But, looking, I presently saw something stirring within the shadow: greyish billowy movements, one above another, and then two luminous disks—like eyes. Then something resembling a little grey snake, about the thickness of a walking stick, coiled up out of the writhing middle, and wriggled in the air towards me—and then another. A sudden chill came over me. There was a loud shriek from a woman behind. I half turned, keeping my eyes fixed upon the cylinder still, from which other tentacles were now projecting, and began pushing my way back from the edge of the pit. I saw astonishment giving place to horror on the faces of the people about me. I heard inarticulate exclamations on all sides. There was a general movement backwards. I saw the shopman struggling still on the edge of the pit. I found myself alone, and saw the people on the other side of the pit running off, Stent among them. I looked again at the cylinder, and ungovernable terror gripped me. I stood petrified and staring. A big greyish rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear, was rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder. As it bulged up and caught the light, it glistened like wet leather. Two large dark-coloured eyes were regarding me steadfastly. The mass that framed them, the head of the thing, was rounded, and had, one might say, a face. There was a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of which quivered and panted, and dropped saliva. The whole creature heaved and pulsated convulsively. A lank tentacular appendage gripped the edge of the cylinder, another swayed in the air. Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, the tumultuous breathing of the lungs in a strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and painfulness of movement due to the greater gravitational energy of the earth—above all, the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes—were at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous. There was something fungoid in the oily brown skin, something in the clumsy deliberation of the tedious movements unspeakably nasty. Even at this first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and dread. [It’s a bit like if you spend any length of time staring at a nasty looking insect, or even just staring at a picture of one] Suddenly the monster vanished. It had toppled over the brim of the cylinder and fallen into the pit, with a thud like the fall of a great mass of leather. I heard it give a peculiar thick cry, and forthwith another of these creatures appeared darkly in the deep shadow of the aperture. I turned and, running madly, made for the first group of trees, perhaps a hundred yards away; but I ran slantingly and stumbling, for I could not avert my face from these things. There, among some young pine trees and furze bushes, I stopped, panting, and waited further developments. The common round the sand-pits was dotted with people, standing like myself in a half-fascinated terror, staring at these creatures, or rather at the heaped gravel at the edge of the pit in which they lay. And then, with a renewed horror, I saw a round, black object bobbing up and down on the edge of the pit. It was the head of the shopman who had fallen in, but showing as a little black object against the hot western sun. Now he got his shoulder and knee up, and again he seemed to slip back until only his head was visible. Suddenly he vanished, and I could have fancied a faint shriek had reached me. I had a momentary impulse to go back and help him that my fears overruled. Everything was then quite invisible, hidden by the deep pit and the heap of sand that the fall of the cylinder had made. Anyone coming along the road from Chobham or Woking would have been amazed at the sight—a dwindling multitude of perhaps a hundred people or more standing in a great irregular circle, in ditches, behind bushes, behind gates and hedges, saying little to one another in short, excited shouts, and staring, staring hard at a few heaps of sand. A barrow of ginger beer stood, a queer derelict, black against the burning sky, and in the sand-pits was a row of deserted vehicles with their horses feeding out of nosebags or pawing the ground.
Summary of Chapter 4
As the sun sets, the narrator returns to the pit, where a few hundred people have gathered. A boy warns the narrator that the end of the cylinder has unscrewed itself, and the narrator forces his way to the front of the crowd to get a better view. Ogilvy warns the people to stay away and reminds them of its unknown contents. One man is pushed into the pit by the jostling of the crowd. The end of the cylinder comes off and falls into the pit. The narrator and the crowd are horrified by the grotesque octopus-like appearance of an alien who slowly and painstakingly emerges from the cylinder. They seem heavy and struggling to breathe in the atmosphere. The narrator and the crowd run away from the pit, but many, including the narrator, stop to watch the aliens from the nearby tree line. The sun sets, leaving enough light to just see the silhouette of the shopkeeper as he tries and fails to get out of the pit alive.
Learn English with The Beatles as we explore lyrics from Beatles songs and pick out some idioms, descriptive language and other vocabulary for you to learn. Featuring Antony Rotunno from the Glass Onion: On John Lennon podcast.
In this episode you can learn English with The Beatles as we look at specific bits of English which appear in the lyrics of their songs.
I’m joined again by Antony Rotunno from the Glass Onion on John Lennon Podcast. Antony is also an English teacher and something of a John Lennon expert. He is also a musician, and a lot of the credit for this episode goes to him, because he did most of the preparation, going through lyrics of Beatles songs and picking out specific use of English, including certain phrases and idioms.
This is like a quiz actually. Can you name the songs when Antony plays them?
Can you beat me?
Can you name the songs from the lyrics and from the music?
There are a few references to The Rutles and Neil Innes of course, but for us those songs are all part of The Beatles extended universe.
I’ll chat to you again at the end of the episode and will sum up some of the bits of language that come up, but now let’s get started.
Phrases / Vocabualry
Using lots of pronouns, me, you, us, I etc
Using more imagery in the lyrics
I’m going to love her until the cows come home
A chip on my shoulder
My heart went boom when I crossed that room
Buzz, hum, boom (Onomatopoeia)
It won’t be long ‘til I belong to you
I don’t know why she’s riding so high
To be on your high horse
I’ll make a point of taking her away from you
I sat on her rug biding my time, drinking her wine
This bird has flown
Please don’t spoil my day, I’m miles away, and after all, I’m only sleeping
If she’s gone I can’t go on, feeling two foot small
Feeling 10 foot tall
Ouch, you’re breaking my heart
To upset the applecart
Where there’s a will there’s a way
He was like a wolf in sheep’s clothing
Or an iron hand in a velvet glove
Working like a dog
Sleeping like a log
Sleeping like a baby
If you need a shoulder to cry on
To give someone a shoulder to cry on
To open up the doors
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
It was anotherstring to their bow
Colours
There is a place, where I can go, when I feel low, when I feel blue
To feel blue
Everybody’s green because I’m the one who won your love
Green = 1. Jealous 2. inexperienced
Oh dear what can I do, baby’s in black and I’m feeling blue
Imagery
When the sun shines they slip into the shade, and sip their lemonade
With tangerinetrees and marmaladeskies, cellophane flowers of yellow and green
No-one I think is in my tree
Nobody is on my wavelength
Semolina pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower
The clouds will be a daisy chain, so let me see you smile again
Her hair of floating sky is shimmering, glimmering, in the sun
My mother was of the sky, my father was of the earth but I am of the universe and you know what it’s worth
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy
Don’t need a gun to blow your mind
No longer riding on the merry go round, I just had to let it go
Hello listeners, here is an episode about English Tests like TOEFL and the Duolingo English Test which I hope will still be an interesting episode even for those who have no plans to take one of these tests. I’m joined by online English teacher Josh MacPherson. I guess you have heard of TOEFL, and the Duolingo English Test is a test made by Duolingo, that company which helps you learn languages on your phone, and which seems to be managed by a green cartoon owl, who is some kind of master of learning English. They make a test now, and it’s getting really big.
Some time is spent describing the tests but we don’t just spend an hour describing TOEFL. Most of the time we are doing samples from the test, commenting on my performance in a TOEFL speaking task, discussing testing methods in general and giving comments on ways to perform well, particularly in the speaking parts of a test like TOEFL and IELTS.
Also, tests should be reliable and having genuinely good English skills should (of course) cause you to get decent results, so a lot of the tips relating to getting a better score are also generally good tips for improving your level of English, so even if you’re not planning to take one of these tests, the tips and advice here should be applicable to your English anyway.
There is a video version of this episode on YouTube and you can see Josh’s screen and can observe our conversation as if you are taking part in a Zoom call with us. You can find the video on the page for this episode or on my YouTube channel.
Again, the audio is not tip top this time round and that was caused by things like microphone echo, which I have managed to fix, but in any case I think you can still hear everything clearly.
That’s it, I hope you enjoy it and you will find all the links you need on the page for this episode on my website.
Let’s get started
I am joined today by Josh MacPherson from TSTPrep.com and the TST Prep YouTube channel.
Josh is an English teacher who specialises in helping learners of English prepare for English tests, particularly TOEFL and also the fairly new DuoLingo English Test.
I thought I’d interview Josh to find out more about these tests and to get some tips from him about how to get the best result that you can.
Also, we’re going to do some test questions during this interview, so we can see how well I perform in these tests too.
How to think or reasons for your opinion document – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NpEhd9BLNVKOuOO08LpJ6lA2NSLOZgJO/view?usp=sharing
Duolingo English practice test – https://englishtest.duolingo.com/home
Duolingo English test list of institutions – https://englishtest.duolingo.com/institutions
Duolingo Research articles – https://englishtest.duolingo.com/research
Ending Transcript
Thanks again to Josh for his contribution to this episode.
Don’t forget, links are available on the page for this episode for all the things Josh mentioned there including test practice, sample answers, tips and videos.
Thank you as ever for listening all the way up to this point.
There’s not much more for me to add here. I haven’t played the guitar on the podcast lately, but I will be coming back to that soon, but for now I will just wish you a fond farewell and until next time, good bye bye bye bye bye
My guest today is Rob from English with Rob (podcast/YouTube). Rob is an English teacher, musician from England, and my former colleague. This episode includes lots of musical fun, some chatting about how we make our podcasts, fun word games and much more. Video version also available on YouTube.
In this episode I’m talking to Robert Dylan Walker, aka Rob from English with Rob – the podcast and YouTube channel.
Rob and I already know each other in fact as we used to be colleagues at the British Council, until Rob moved to Germany.
Basically – Rob is an English teacher, a YouTuber and a podcaster. He’s also a musician who likes to make music for his podcast, a photographer and video maker, who likes to use various special effects in his videos, and he’s into jokes and films and things like that, so he’s an ideal guest for me to talk to on this podcast.
The plan is to have a bit of a ramble chat, focusing on things like how we both make our podcasts, especially how we include bits of music in our episodes – and later in this episode we will be playing some of our podcast jingles, breaking them down a bit, explaining how we made them, and we had homework for this episode – to record jingles for each other’s podcasts, but I think that we both ended up recording songs rather than jingles.
So stick around to hear some of our music and generally to get to know Rob a bit, and find out about his podcast and YouTube channel, which you might want to check out as a good resource to help you in your continuing journey to improve your English.
Ending
That was an epic one. Thanks again to Rob for his contribution. Don’t forget to check out English with Rob wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
I hope you enjoyed the bits about music and making jingles and that you didn’t get too exhausted by the length. Hopefully you just got carried away and enjoyed getting a nice big dose of English listening into your week.
If you’re interested in more stuff about jingles, then check out the Luke’s English Podcast App – free in the app store. It has a category called Jingles where you can hear most of the jingles I’ve made for the podcast, like the Amber & Paul jingle and more. There’s also that full app-only episode in which I break down every single sample from the LEP Jingle Megamix.
And on the subject of music, you can check out my recent tunes, like the English with Rob song that I did for this podcast and some other little bits of music I’ve been making recently – you can check them out on my soundcloud page.
The last one is a link to the music page on my website where you can find all the Korg Kaossilator tunes I’ve ever made, and also old music mixes I’ve made with my brother and a few comedy tracks too with James.
So, plenty of music stuff to get into.
I hope you enjoyed this episode. I will speak to you again on the podcast soon, but for now it’s time to say good bye…
Learn useful adjectives for describing personality traits with John Lennon as a case study. Episode 3/5 in my Beatles series, with returning guest Antony Rotunno from the podcast “Glass Onion: On John Lennon”.
Here is the next episode in my Beatles season, and this is where we look at some language too.
In this episode I’m joined again by Antony Rotunno who is a podcaster and English teacher from England. Antony’s main podcast is called Glass Onion: On John Lennon and as the title suggests it is all about John Lennon, particularly his psychology and his life story. Antony’s other podcasts are called Film Gold, a film review series and Life & Life Only which is about personal development and psychology, so Antony knows a thing or two about psychology and John Lennon, and of course as an English teacher he’s well experienced in helping learners to conquer this language of English.
In this one we’re going through a big list of adjectives which I prepared earlier. All the adjectives are words you could use to describe someone’s personality. We have loads of these adjectives, so Antony and I made a list of words which could be used to describe John Lennon. It’s an ABC in fact. Now we didn’t manage to talk about every single adjective in the list, but we certainly had a good go at them, and what you’re going to get in this episode is a sort of English lesson with John Lennon as a case study.
Here are the adjectives (I’m going to read them out)
I’ll let you discover which ones we actually talk about in detail in this episode. The rest of the list will come up in the next part.
Also, I’ve collected a set of other expressions from this conversation, not using adjectives of personality, but just useful expressions and examples of language you could use, and I’m planning to use that set in an upcoming premium episode.
teacherluke.co.uk/premiuminfo if you want to sign up to LEP Premium to get all the premium content unlocked.
Now, let’s consider John Lennon’s personality, things he did and said in his life and try to work out what kind of person he was, with a few useful adjectives in the process.
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