Daily Archives: August 2, 2017

I’m going on holiday – back in a few weeks !

I’m going on holiday until the end of the month, so I’m going to disappear for a while.

Listen to this message because it has a few announcements about what’s happening with the podcast while I’m gone. Transcript available below.


[DOWNLOAD]

LEPster Meetup Events – Links

Alicante Spain meetup link on FB (6 August)
https://www.facebook.com/events/132540147345936/

Saint Petersburg LEP group (6 August)
https://www.facebook.com/spbenglishLEPclub/

Moscow LEP group (6 August)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/734996946664425/

Tokyo Meetup FB link (19 August)
https://www.facebook.com/events/874795806006891/

Andromeda Proofreading Team

Email Antonio at ptholome@me.com

Transcript collaboration page https://teacherluke.co.uk/episodes-with-transcripts/transcripts/

Episode Transcript

Here’s a message for you with some announcements that will explain what’s going to be happening with the podcast over the next few weeks, so listen up!

I’m currently sitting in my brother’s flat in South London.

I’m just visiting London for a couple of days to see my brother, to visit LSE, attend to a bit of business and to sort some other things out here.

I was at London School of English the other day, to meet Andy Johnson and to see some of my former colleagues.

But now I’ve got a little bit of time before I head back to Paris on the Eurostar.

So, I’m taking a moment to record this message for you. I’ve got a few things to tell you so listen up!

  1. I’m going away for a while. I’m leaving…

…on holiday for a couple of weeks.

Don’t worry – I will be back of course! The podcast will return.

But, I’m going to be away on holiday until the end of August.

What this means is that I won’t be doing the podcast while I’m away and I probably won’t be on social media a lot either so I might not be able to respond to questions or comments by email, in the comment section and so on because I’ll be taking time off, getting away from it all and just relaxing with my wife on holiday.

You might be thinking – will there be no podcasts until September Luke? When will the podcast return?

There should be some episodes and some website content arriving while I’m on holiday.

2. While I’m away

I’ve recorded a few things recently – including a couple of things here in the UK, and before I go away I’m going to edit them, make them into audio files and then set them to automatically publish while I am away. So, keep an eye on your podcast app, the website, your email inbox if you are subscribed to the mailing list.

Some new content should arrive while I am away, including:
Something I recorded with my Dad at the weekend – not about politics this time
A couple of things with Andy Johnson – recorded at London School of English the other day.
And maybe something else if I have time.

It depends how much I can get done before I leave.

As well as that, there should be one or two website-only episodes too. These will be episodes which won’t appear on the podcast, but which you will be able to listen to on the website – probably a couple of things I’ve done with James – something movie related and something music related.

So, watch out – some podcast episodes will arrive while I’m gone, and there will be a couple of website-only episodes too.

The best way to keep up with both the podcast episodes and the website-only content is to join the mailing list.

If you join the mailing list on the website you’ll receive an email when I upload new stuff.
The “website only” stuff will have a link saying something like “WEBSITE ONLY”.

Less than 5% of my podcast audience actually visits the website. I’m not sure why, considering the amount of content that’s there for you, including all the notes, transcriptions, videos and stuff for each episode, not to mention the episode archive which contains some stuff you will never have discovered if you just listen to podcast episodes through an app on your phone or on iTunes or something.

I know the site is blocked in some places, so there’s not much you can do.

But if you can, check out the website – it doesn’t work very well on a phone, I know, it’s best on a computer.

Have a look in the episode archive for some content that you won’t have seen if you only listen to the podcast.

Anyway, check the website, join the mailing list – confirm the email and then watch out for new podcast episodes and also some website-only content.

3. A WHOLE BUNCH OF LEPSTER MEETUPS

Spain (Alicante)
Japan (Tokyo)
Russia (Moscow and SPB)
London (already occurred)

ALICANTE LEPsters meetup

Attention all LEPsters in ALICANTE Spain!
A meetup is happening there on 6 August with a Rushin’ listener called Alex (from the Moscow meetup group)
Details here https://www.facebook.com/events/132540147345936/
6 August at 6pm.
Queen Victoria pub/bar/cafe
Calle Mar, 03189 Orihuela (Alicante), España

3 reasons why it’s a good idea for you to go:

  • You can do lots of speaking practice and this is really good for your English. We all know this. You have to take advantage of any opportunities to speak English. This is one of those opportunities.
  • Alex, who is hosting the meetup, is a really nice, friendly guy and an interesting person to talk to. He’s been involved in almost all the Moscow LEPsters meetings, he’s got lots of experience of doing these things, and he’s very interested in meeting up with any LEPsters who are in the area. He’s especially keen to meet podcast listeners from different countries – so this is a cool Russian/Spanish crossover.
  • You can meet friendly people and just have a good time. In my experience LEPsters are nice, interesting people who share a similar outlook on life. It’s definitely worth meeting up with each other because you’ll make friends and you’ll have a good experience meeting like-minded, chatty people.

I heartily encourage you to take part.
Alexander Suvorov is the host.
I expect you will be able to find him there – he won’t be hiding, but perhaps you could ask at the bar if they know where the LEP Meeting is happening.

If you like you can do it discreetly, like you’re a secret agent, but that’s not really necessary.

Saint Petersburg
6 August
Kazanskaya 7, meeting point “Kazanskaya, 7”, 2nd floor of the Cafeteria
6pm – 8pm
https://www.facebook.com/spbenglishLEPclub/

Moscow
Also on Sunday 6 August, but I’m not sure where! Details should arrive on their FB and VK pages v soon.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/734996946664425/

Tokyo
Hello Luke, what have you been up to?

Today I have some exciting news!
A LEPster from Russia is coming to Tokyo! He contacted us on facebook
and we decided to have a meet up with him.

https://www.facebook.com/events/874795806006891/

This is a kind of first joint meet up for us. So I’m very excited.
We are going to have it on 19th of August.
Could you please, by any chance, announce our new meet up on your
podcast or your web site?

Thank you as always.
Cheers
Hideki

They’re getting together in an Izakaya in Shinbashi – they haven’t chosen the exact location yet, but check out the FB page for the event and you’ll see where they decide to do it.

Tokyo Meetup FB link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/874795806006891/

4. Recent London Meetup

It was organised at quite late notice and I announced it just a few days before it happened, so there wasn’t a big turnout.

In fact, to be honest, only 5 people turned up.

One of them was Zdenek Lukas who was officially hosting it at The Fitzroy Tavern.
The second person was me – yes, I was there! I didn’t mention that I would be coming because when I announced it I wasn’t sure if I could make it, but I was in the UK visiting my parents and I came to London a bit earlier than expected and decided to drop in on the meetup.

The third, fourth and fifth people, it seems, were there but Zdenek and I didn’t see them. One of them was Tomasz – (based on his comment on the FB page it looks like Tomasz turned up at the pub with a couple of friends but couldn’t find anyone!)

We were standing outside the pub drinking and talking – both Zdenek and I were there from 7 to 8.30 – just outside the door on the Charlotte Street side. I’m really sorry you missed us!

Anyway – London LEPsters – and I know there are lots of you out there, you missed out because Zdenek and I had a very nice evening, a couple of drinks, we did a lot of talking and also Zdenek recorded a 30 minute episode of his podcast with the two of us, as he likes to do in situations like that. I expect he’ll be uploading that quite soon – and I’ll probably post the episode on my website if it gets published before I go on holiday.

5. Well done to the Orion Team – they transcribed 100 episodes.

Orion Transcription Team reach 100 episodes
I want to give some respect to all the people who joined the Orion team and did the 100 episodes.
This was done by the Orion team, some ninjas, and a few people working alone.
Check out the huge list of Orion Team members in the comment under Transcript Collaboration page.

TRANSCRIPT COLLABORATION – Write a transcript

So the situation is this

Transcribing and proofreading is a collaborative project done by listeners at a variety of levels, working together for mutual benefit.

The Orion Team is dedicated to transcribing episodes of the podcast, by dividing each episode into 3 minute sections – each member transcribes a section and the transcription is made like that. It’s all done on Google documents.
100 episodes finished.

The next step is proofreading.
This job is for more advanced listeners.

There is now a new team, dedicated to proofreading transcriptions written by the Orion team. This proofreading team is called The Andromeda Team – another group of stars.

Andromeda team use their more advanced skills to check the transcriptions done by the Orion team, and proofread them.

At this stage the Andromeda Proofreading Team is quite small, so I’m making a request for new members.

Calling all listeners with a high level of English. We need you for the Andromeda proofreading team. What you can do is read a finished transcript, and make any changes or corrections which you think are necessary.

On the transcript collaboration page on my website you will see blue boxes (scroll down a bit) including one blue box that says “Finished Transcripts – please help to correct them” – those are the ones that need to be proofread.

You could get into that folder and pick an episode to proofread.

I recommend that you listen to the episode that you’re proofreading.
You can turn any text that you’ve proofread blue, so you and everyone knows what’s been done.
Fully proofread documents will then be moved into the Andromeda Team folder to show that they’ve been proofread.

Transcribing and proofreading – they’re both very good ways to work on your English more intensively and turn listening input into intake. It’s good training that allows you to focus on specific language, specific pronunciation, spelling, grammar and many other things. It’s a great exercise.

It helps me because it means I have more transcripts to offer my listeners.
It helps other listeners because they can read the words they are hearing in episodes.
So, everyone’s a winner.

The best way to get started is to go to the Transcript Collaboration page on my website, and leave a comment saying “I want to join the Andromeda Team” or “I want to do some proofreading!” – Someone should reply to you and then they’ll tell you what to do next.

Or you can send an email to Antonio at ptholome@me.com and say “Hi Antonio, I’d like to join the Andromeda Team – what shall I do?”

It’s all done on Google documents that are shared online.

That’s it then…

So to sum up – I’ll be going away on holiday in a few days and then i’ll disappear for a few weeks, but watch out for some content in the form of a few podcast episodes and some website-only content which should be arriving while I’m away.

Over the coming few weeks I hope you continue to practise your English. Just listening to new episodes is good, or you could check out old ones again because that helps you pick up language more effectively.

Have a lovely August and I’ll be back properly at the end of the month.
All the best,
Luke