Talking to my dad about the EU election results, Theresa May resigning as Prime Minister, Brexit and English football teams in Europe. Notes, transcripts and videos available.
My Dad is back on the podcast today to talk about recent things happening in the news, including political things, especially Brexit.
We call these episodes, the Rick Thompson Report.
The last one of these was a few months ago when Theresa May was attempting to get support from all the MPs in Parliament for the Brexit deal she had managed to negotiate with EU leaders, but each time she asked Parliament to accept her deal, they voted against it, mainly due to the complications with the Northern Irish backstop.
The date for Brexit was pushed back to 31 October, Halloween, subject to an agreement with the EU that the UK would take part in the EU elections – to choose Members of the European Parliament. That election happened last week across Europe and the results are now in.
Also, you must have seen in the news that Theresa May resigned as Prime Minister last week too, to be replaced by a new PM in July.
So, what’s going on – what were the results of the election, why did May step down, who might replace her and what does this all mean for the future of the UK and Europe.
This is what we’re going to talk about – no pressure Dad!
My dad is with me now, on Facetime.
Theresa May resigns
Liverpool come back to beat Barcelona 4-0 (switch on the subtitles!)
Facebook link here https://www.facebook.com/events/429311391196900/
Transcript
This short episode is a quick announcement about the episode 600 YouTube live stream, just to make sure everyone knows the details. I’m also going to talk briefly about some other little bits of news and things, including an upcoming LEP meetup.
This isn’t a full episode of the podcast. It’s just some news and announcements.
Episode 600 is approaching… It’s quite a big milestone for the podcast.
As you may know, I’m going to do a YouTube live stream while recording it. The aim of the live stream will be just to have some interaction with you while recording the episode, to let you ask me some questions, and to just celebrate 10 years and 600 episodes of the podcast.
I’ve already said this to you but I just want to make sure everyone knows the specifics.
The live stream is going to happen on my channel on YouTube on 7 June at 3PM Paris time (CET).
That’s…
6AM on the west coast of the USA
8AM in Mexico City
9AM in New York
10AM in Rio de Janeiro
2PM in London
4pm in Moscow
4pm in Ankara
6.30pm in New Delhi
9pm in Shanghai
10pm in Tokyo
11pm in Sydney
1AM on the Saturday morning in Auckland
So there you go, if you’d like to join me, you can!
I know that some of you won’t be able to join me for various reasons (time zone issues, work, sleep) but you will be able to watch the video later – it’ll stay on YouTube (and hopefully I’ll put it in the LEP App too) and of course the audio of the whole thing will be published as episode 600.
The theme of the live stream and the episode is Ask Me Anything, so perhaps you can think of some questions you’d like to ask me, and it can be anything at all – questions about English or questions about anything else in particular. Obviously I reserve the right not to answer depending on the question!
I have no idea how many people will be attending the live stream – it could be a few, it could be a lot, but hopefully it’s going to be a fun way to celebrate 600 episodes and 10 years of Luke’s English Podcast.
How do you find the video?
The YouTube link is in the show notes for this episode, you’ll also find it pinned to the top of the comment section on my website, if you subscribe to my YouTube channel you’ll get a notification (my channel is Luke’s English Podcast on YouTube) and I’ll send you an email with the link nearer the time (you’ll need to be subscribed to the email mailing list on my website for that).
In other news…
LEPsters in or near Prague – LEPSTER MEETUP IN PRAGUE ON 7 JUNE AT 5PM
Zdenek Lukas is hosting a LEPster Meetup on 7 June (same day as the live stream) at 5pm in Bohemian Boards and Brews – that super cool looking board game cafe.
The plan is to get togehter with other LEPsters (non LEPsters are also welcome of course), speak English together, drink some beers or juice or tea or coffee or whatever you like, and have fun playing board games with like minded people.
If you’re in the area, why not join them? Maybe you could watch the live stream and afterwards, head down to the board game cafe to take part in the meetup.
All you need to do is mark on Facebook that you are going to the event. If you don’t have FB just send Zdenek an email at teacherzdenek@gmail.com and simply say “Hi Zdenek, my name is xxx and I am coming to the meetup on 7 June!”
You’ll find the link for the event in the show notes for this episode, or just find the Prague LEPster Meetups page on Facebook by searching for (you guessed it) Prague LEPster Meetups!
https://www.facebook.com/events/429311391196900/
If you want to set up a similar meetup in your area, I recommend that you find a suitable location, try to book it if you can, then let me know and I can announce it (hopefully). I won’t announce it unless you have specific information for me to announce – like a date, time and location of course!
Final bits of podcast news before we end this brief episode
I’ve got two free episodes of LEP to upload in the next week or so.
Today I’m talking to my Dad for another episode of The Rick Thompson report. I expect we’re going to talk about the usual topic of politics, and there’s quite a lot to talk about because the UK prime minister resigned last week, and we had the European elections – the results are in today showing big wins for the Brexit party – so what does this all mean for the future of the UK? I’m talking to my Dad about all of that later, and I’ll edit it together and upload it as soon as possible for episode 598.
Then episode 599 is going to come after that, obviously, because as we all know that is how numbers work.
Then, except for episode 600, my focus will be on producing and publishing a whole bunch of LEP Premium episodes, so the free podcast will probably be a bit quiet in June.
So, for the premium subscribers – brace yourselves, the next batch of premium episodes is coming, focusing on teaching you the English language in all its glory.
Obviously, you’ll need to be a premium subscriber to access all that content and you can get started by going to teacherluke.co.uk/premium and follow the instructions that you see there.
In the meantime, I hope you like the next couple of episodes I publish and then you can join me for the episode 600 live stream. Think of some questions you can ask me and let’s have some fun celebrating episode 600.
In this conversation Paul and I get a bit deep & meaningful and talk about where Paul is in his life at this point, including our thoughts about becoming a father, getting older and growing up.
Rambling about my birthday… My daughter is a toddler now. She toddles around.
Thank you so much for the lovely birthday messages that you sent to me.
I’d like to give a shout out to students in my class today who surprised me with presents, delicious cake and champagne – at 10.30 this morning!
We all drank champagne during the class, in the morning. It seems that champagne is the only alcohol that you can drink in the morning and it’s acceptable. You can’t really drink whiskey, wine, beer, vodka (although I’m sure in some places that a breakfast drink) – where I’m from, it’s not acceptable to drink those things in the morning and if you do you’re an alcoholic, but champagne – go for it!
It was pretty interesting for me to teach English after having drunk champagne, which was great.
Anyway, I am another year older, which I am fine with as I said in a recent episode.
But that brings me to this episode, which is a conversation with one of the pod-pals, Paul Taylor, and the conversation is all about growing up, getting older and becoming a father.
As you will know if you heard the previous episode, Paul is about to become a Dad for the first time. His wife is pregnant and the due date is at the end of June. Congrats to the two of them, on behalf of all the LEPsters! It’s a girl. Hopefully she’ll grow up to be friends with my daughter and the other kids from our circle of friends. We don’t know what the name will be yet. We’re all hoping that the rest of the pregnancy goes well, and the birth too.
Having a child can be a bit of a turning point in your life. I don’t know if you have children.
So, in this conversation Paul and I get a bit deep & meaningful and talk about where Paul is in his life at this point, including our thoughts about becoming a father, getting older and growing up.
All I have by way of an introduction at this stage, are some questions for you to consider in order to prepare you a bit for what you’re going to hear.
Questions to consider before you listen to the conversation
As you get older, does your perception of other people change?
For example, if you see a group of 18 year olds, how do you feel?
If you see people who are in their retirement, elderly people, how do you feel?
How do you feel about the passage of time and getting older?
How does life change as you move from being a teenager into a young adult and then into being middle-aged and retirement age and old age?
What do you think of the way society views old people? Are they looked after, represented or respected fully in your society?
What about having children? Does it change your life? How? Is it a change for the better? In what ways?
What about your lifestyle?
Are you good at looking after yourself?
Do you keep yourself fit and do enough exercise? If not, why not?
Have you managed to find a sport or exercise routine that suits you and that you enjoy?
How about your diet and eating habits? Do you manage your diet well? Do you make sure you’re staying healthy and eating the right things?
Daily routine
Do you manage to get enough stuff done in your average day?
What’s your daily routine? Could you improve it in any way? How much discipline do you have in your life?
How motivated and disciplined are you about doing things that don’t bring you instant results?
Do you think you need to change your lifestyle as you get older? Is that an easy thing to do?
What influence did your parents have on your life? Do you ever judge the way your parents brought you up?
Do you ever compare yourself to your parents? Do you ever feel like you can’t live up to their expectations or the example they set for you?
Were either of your parents often not there when you were growing up? Maybe one of them or both of them worked a lot and wasn’t always there. How do you feel about that?
At what age do people leave home and become independent, in your country?
What kind of time should you spend with your child? Should you always be there, or is it ok to be absent sometimes as long as you are working hard and making money to help support them?
If you have kids or are planning to have kids, what kind of example should you show to your children? What aspects of your personality do you want them to inherit from you? Which aspects would you rather they didn’t learn?
Do you need to say “yes” more in your life? Or do you need to learn how to say “no” more?
As you get older do you feel that you are becoming more open-minded, or less open-minded? Are you still happy to meet and get to know new people and see new places in your life as you get older?
And, is Paul ready to be a Dad? Is he looking forward to it? Is he in the right stage of his life for parenthood?
These are the sorts of questions we are talking about in this episode.
So without any further ado, here is my conversation with Paul.
Ending
Congrats again to Paul and his wife Adi. Best of luck for the birth. We’re all looking forward to meeting the new Taylor when she arrives.
You heard us mention a book there.
“Yes Man” by Danny Wallace – a great, interesting and funny book written in modern plain English.
I know my listeners are always interested in finding new books to read. This one was very popular when it came out and I think it is not too difficult to read and should be full of the right kind of English. Everyday English in a plain and modern style.
There is an audiobook version which you might want to listen to. It’s available on Audible.
That’s almost it.
Podcast News / Admin
I have two more free episodes to publish before things go a bit quiet while I work on premium content.
Those next two episodes are also conversations with guests. Earlier this week I spoke to Oliver Gee, the Australian journalist and he told me lots of interesting stories about things like the recent fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, meeting some famous people while working as a journalist and also his experiences of learning Swedish and French.
And the other conversation hasn’t been recorded yet, but it’s going to be with my Dad. We’re going to talk on Monday next week and the idea is to somehow describe the recent situation in UK politics and some other things like a recent conference that my Dad moderated about climate change, and hopefully we’ll have time to talk a bit more about football, because my Dad follows UK football very closely. That one isn’t recorded yet, but if all goes according to plan I’ll do the recording next week and publish it quickly afterwards, then the Oliver Gee episode should go up.
After that – things will go quiet for a while and there will be no free episodes probably for a couple of weeks, but I will be working hard on new premium content which should arrive steadily during that period.
Don’t forget also that Paul’s live 1hr stand up show is now available on YouTube. Search for Paul Taylor Franglais. The bits which are in French have English subtitles. It’s about 50% English and 50% French. You can check out Paul’s excellent French skills. It’s impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am_WjjAnzvw
Episode 600 – YouTube Live Stream – I’ve chosen a date and time!!
It’s going to be Friday 7 June at 3pm CET (Paris time)
That’s…
6AM on the west coast of the USA
9AM in New York
8AM in Mexico City
10AM in Rio, Brazil
2PM in London
4pm in Moscow
4pm in Ankara, Turkey
6.30pm in New Delhi
9pm in Shanghai
10pm in Tokyo
11pm in Sydney
1AM on the Saturday morning in Auckland, NZ
If it’s not at the perfect time for you, then I am sorry! There’s not much I can do about that I’m afraid. Whatever time I do it, there will be some people who won’t be able to attend.
Also, this is just when I’m free!
I will be announcing this again on the podcast, but here it is – 3PM Paris time on Friday 7 June.
I’ll also create a YouTube link for the live stream which I’ll share on my website and on social media. That’s how you’ll access the live stream.
All about the subject of SLEEP, with Amber & Paul. Listen to hear us comparing our sleeping habits, talking about insomnia, sleepwalking, talking in your sleep, snoring, falling asleep on public transport, snoring cats, Paul learning Arabic in his sleep and more, including some slightly disgusting stories, which is nice!
Hello folks, how are you? Amber and Paul are on the podcast again today in this episode and before we jump into our conversation I would like to do a little introduction, which I promise to keep as brief as possible.
Premium Episodes are coming…
I’m uploading quite a lot of free episodes at the moment (including this one) but, I have also been working on several Premium series, which means quite a lot of premium episodes coming soon. So if you’re a premium subscriber and you’re wondering when the next premium episodes are going to arrive – they’re coming soon.
I have a bit of a backlog of free episodes which I have to publish first and I’ll be publishing them over the next couple of weeks. Mainly those free ones are conversations with people that I organised recently when suddenly everyone became available. Sometimes that’s the way it works. Suddenly, lots of people became available around the same time, so I set up interviews with them and this is why I’ve got a bit of a backlog. I would hold onto the conversations and publish them later, but often they are time-sensitive, I mean, we talk about things which are a bit relevant to what’s going on now. So, I think I’ll publish a few free episodes maybe up until episode 599, and then the free episodes will pause for a bit while I record and publish some premium content.
So, June will probably be a month of LEP Premium mainly, meaning lots of premium content but the free podcast will be a bit quiet.
Sign up to LEP Premium at teacherluke.co.uk/premium
Episode 600 Live Stream
Episode 600 is coming up and I’m going to record it while live streaming on YouTube. I still don’t have a date for the YouTube live stream yet, but when I know more I will let you know. It’ll probably be a weekday, maybe a Friday, probably at about 3pm CET, probably at the end of June or the beginning of July. Can’t say more at this time because I don’t know.
SLEEP with Amber & Paul
The plan in this episode was to discuss the topic of sleep with Amber & Paul and we did that as you will hear, but there is about 15 minutes of chat at the beginning before we actually get to the topic!
We talk about a few differences between British and American English including expressions like “I couldn’t care less” and “I can’t be arsed”, and the way Brits and Americans say the word “Duty”.
Then there is some showbiz news from the three of us.
London LEPsters and Amberfans, please pay attention to an announcement from Amber – it’s an opportunity to see her and Sarah on stage in Islington, London on Thursday 23rd May.
LEPsters who use YouTube – listen out for some news from Paul regarding his one man stand up show #Franglais.
Also there is some pretty big personal news from Paul, not about stand up shows or anything – it’s more personal than that – and I think this is the first time he’s announcing this publicly, so this is a bit of a scoop for the podcast. So, watch out for Paul’s personal announcement.
Then we eventually do get to the subject of sleep and the rest of the episode is all about us comparing our sleeping habits, and talking about things like insomnia, sleepwalking, talking in your sleep, snoring, falling asleep on public transport, snoring cats, Paul learning Arabic in his sleep and more, including some slightly disgusting stories, which is nice.
Sleep is a very rich area for English vocabulary. So look out for the variety of ways that we talk about this subject and watch out also for a premium episode devoted to vocabulary on this topic coming in the future at some point.
That’s it then. Let’s get started. Here we go.
Amber & Sarah’s Show in London
Rosemary Branch Theatre, Islington, Thurs 23 May, 7.30. Details below.
Paul Taylor’s FULL stand up show #FRANGLAIS – now available on YouTube. Watch it here!
The bits in French have English subtitles 👍
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am_WjjAnzvw
Ending Transcript
Thank you for listening. Keep it up folks, it’s good for your English on a long-term basis, I promise. Obviously it helps if you just enjoy it, and I hope that you enjoyed another chat today with the pod-pals.
A little heads-up about what you can expect from the free episodes which are coming.
The next one should be a conversation with Paul in which we talk about getting older, growing up, having children, what it means to be a good father and things like that. It’s actually a really good conversation I think – it gets quite deep and meaningful. If all goes according to plan, that should be the next episode.
Then, there will be more conversations with other guests coming soon, including Australian journalist Oliver Gee (and hopefully we’re going to talk about loads of things, including the recent fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, and other stories) and also a chat with my Dad about some recent news, no doubt including the latest Brexit update, the European elections and hopefully some football chat too.
So, as long as my computer doesn’t completely break down or something, that should be the plan for the next few episodes, taking us up to episode 600. And there will be a whole load of premium episodes arriving too.
Get the Luke’s English Podcast App on your phone for all the episodes, access to the premium content, and loads of bonus stuff including app-only episodes, loads of jingles I’ve made in the past, videos and more things of that nature.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks again to Amber & Paul for their contribution.
Bye!
THERE IS BONUS AUDIO FOR THIS EPISODE IN THE LEP APP 😉👍
Asking Andy questions from a speaking task in the English File Intermediate course book and chatting about eating habits, TV series, Liverpool & Tottenham in the European Champions’ League and music we’ve been listening to recently including some stories about Steely Dan and The Beatles. Intro & ending transcripts + Videos available below.
Hello and welcome back to the podcast. How are you? You’re doing alright?
How’s the weather? Not too rainy I hope. Sunny? Bit cloudy? Windy?
OK, that’s the small talk, the chit chat out of the way. But enough of this idle banter, let me introduce the episode.
This is part 2 of a conversation I had with Andy Johnson. You should probably listen to part 1 first, if you haven’t already done so.
In this part I ask Andy some questions from a speaking exercise from English File Intermediate 3rd Edition, a book I’ve been using with some intermediate classes I’ve been teaching at the British Council.
I’ve been helping my students practise their grammar, pronunciation and speaking using this book and I thought it would be interesting to ask Andy some questions that my students have been discussing with the aim of practising “used to” and other ways of talking about habitual behaviour in the past or present.
So, what you’re going to hear is us using “used to” and some other bits of grammar and then rambling on in a natural way, answering these questions designed to help learners of English develop their fluency.
The topics of the questions include stuff about our eating habits, TV series we used to be addicted to (Andy gives a nice summary of The Wire and we talk a bit about how neither of us have ever watched Game of Thrones – shock horror!) and then we go on to talk about music we’ve been listening to on Spotify recently – the latest Vampire Weekend album in Andy’s case and a classic album by Steely Dan in my case. If you’re a fan of Steely Dan, then listen all the way to the end for a bit of Steely Dan chat. I’ve been listening to their stuff on repeat recently and I’ve become slightly obsessed by a couple of their songs.
We also end up talking about football at some point, specifically the dramatic and unbelievable recent events in the European Champions’ League. Barcelona and Ajax fans, I expect you’re currently feeling a bit wounded by what happened last week, but I think it’s fair to say that football fans around the world were stunned at how both Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur managed to win their semi-finals against all odds, beating Barcelona and Ajax respectively. Basically, it looked like Liverpool and Spurs were both definitely going to be knocked out as they were both behind by quite a few goals each, but they both managed to come back in spectacular fashion, winning their games and going through to the final. That description doesn’t quite do it justice. Those of you who saw the games will know that they were somehow two of the most astonishing moments of football in recent memory, certainly for us Europeans.
Right then, so now you’re prepped for the rest of the conversation, let’s get started.
Check the page for this episode on the website and you’ll see a script for this introduction and some more bits and pieces including a load of recommended YouTube videos relating to the music we talk about. Oh and one more thing – bonus points for anyone who manages to notice the sound of a hoover in the background during this conversation. You might hear a hoover (a vacuum cleaner) at one point and you might think “Where’s that coming from? Is that someone hoovering in my house or something? I SAY! WHO’S HOOVERING?” Well, it was our cleaner who comes round once a week and was doing some hoovering outside my room while I was recording this. Hopefully you won’t notice, but just in case – there you go. So, extra bonus points for anyone who notices the sound of my flat being cleaned in the background.
All right then, let’s go!
Ending Transcript
Thanks again to Andy for being a great guest on the podcast as usual, and also a special thanks to my cleaner for doing the hoovering in the background.
Any comments you have – leave them on the page for this episode and Andy might well reply to you. He quite often does that when he’s been on the podcast.
Before we finish, I would like to just clarify something I said near the end of the conversation about drummer Bernard Purdie. It just seems important somehow.
Bernard Purdie & The Beatles
At the end there you heard us talking about a drummer called Bernard Purdie who played drums on some Steely Dan songs back in the 70s. I said that Purdie was a compulsive liar who claimed to have played on some Beatle records. This is actually a bit of a legendary story in the world of music, especially for Beatle fanatics like me.
I’d like to just fact check this or clarify this a bit, because I don’t want to spread misinformation and I would like to be fair to Bernard Purdie. He’s one of my drumming heroes. Long term listeners might remember that he appeared in episode 88 of this podcast, which was called How to play the drums. He wasn’t a guest on the show, unfortunately. I mean, I just played some audio of him talking about one of his drumming techniques. Episode 88 is in the archive of course.
So here’s the story of Bernard Purdie and The Beatles.
The facts as far as I know are that Purdie once said that he’d played drums on 21 Beatle songs (we’re not sure which ones exactly) and that the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein was in the studio when he did it. We think he means he overdubbed drums on some of the songs, but he’s never been 100% clear about it. in fact his story changed quite a lot over the years, which makes it seem like he’s lying.
He also said that there were 4 drummers who played in the Beatles, and Ringo wasn’t one of them.
For any Beatle fans, those are slightly outrageous claims to make.
Which 21 songs is he talking about?
Ringo didn’t play the drums in the Beatles?
What’s he talking about?
Also, this isn’t just some nutter with no credentials. Purdie was a bona fide legend of the drumming world. His drumming was amazing. One of the best funk, soul & RnB drummers ever. His work was outstanding, he was recognised for it and was highly respected as a session musician.
Also, looking at interviews and drum tutorial videos he did, he seems to be a jovial, friendly, big hearted person.
So I was a bit unfair when I said he was a compulsive liar.
He might have misremembered events from his life, or perhaps made a mistake that he just didn’t repair over the years. Perhaps he was just saying something outrageous in order to give himself a bit of publicity as a drummer, which worked because, well people are still talking about it.
The truth of the matter is that he did overdub drums on some recordings featuring John, Paul and George, but they weren’t recorded under the Beatle name, and they were songs the boys recorded while living in Hamburg, Germany in 1961.
Beatle fans will know those songs as the Tony Sheridan recordings, the most famous one being “My Bonnie” which was a minor hit at the time. The Beatles – John, Paul, George and Pete Best played as the backing band to Tony Sheridan who was a singer working in Germany at the time. They recorded 7 songs. This is before the Beatles were famous and before Ringo replaced Pete Best in the group. Before Brian Epstein turned round to him one day and said “I don’t know how to turn round and tell you this Pete, but the boys have turned round and told me they don’t want you to be in the group any more”, or something along those lines. I digress…
Later on, when the Beatles (with Ringo installed on drums) had become a massive sensation, the Tony Sheridan recordings were acquired by a record company in the USA and they wanted to re-release them under the Beatle name, but the drums didn’t sound good enough in their opinion.
They were too quiet in the mix and there was no bass drum sound. So they got a studio drummer to record drum tracks over the top of the 7 Tony Sheridan songs. That studio drummer was Bernard Purdie. So, he did overdub drums on some songs, but not the 21 songs he claimed before, and they weren’t really Beatle songs, they were Tony Sheridan songs, with the Beatles playing in the background.
And, the thing about the Beatles having 4 drummers but Ringo wasn’t one of them… God knows what he meant. Maybe he was alluding to the fact that Ringo wasn’t the drummer on the Sheridan tapes, and also the fact that there are a few other Beatle songs in which Ringo isn’t the drummer. Some of the tracks on the White Album feature Paul as the drummer, and there’s a version of Love Me Do, the Beatles’ first single, which has a session musician called Andy White playing the drums, because producer George Martin wasn’t convinced by Ringo at the time.
So, just a bit of fact checking there, for the record and for the music fans listening.
Purdie wasn’t really a compulsive liar, but he didn’t exactly tell the truth either. But what is certain is that he was a brilliant drummer.
I have to give credit to a YouTube video by FabFourArchivist which I watched and which gave me those facts. If you’re interested in music and these sorts of stories, you might enjoy it. The video is on the page for this episode.
Going back to Steely Dan, that band that we talked about before. I have a few other videos to recommend to you if you’re a fan of theirs or if you’re interested in stories about how songs are made and recorded.
First, I’ll put a video of the song Deacon Blues with lyrics so you can check it out, listen to the song and try to work out what the lyrics all mean.
Then there’s a brilliant video essay by a YouTuber called Nerdwriter1 which is all about how Steely Dan wrote and recorded the song Deacon Blues and what it all means. It’s a very well made video and is fascinating.
And you heard me talking about the Steely Dan Classic Albums documentary which is on YouTube. Here it is for your viewing pleasure, including the scenes with drumming legend Bernard Purdie.
I’d like to thank Andy for coming back on the podcast. He’s always a great guest.
That’s it for this episode. Let me just give you a gentle reminder that you might want to become a premium subscriber. I’ve got premium episodes in the pipeline for this month that include some explorations into vocabulary that has turned up in episodes of the podcast. That means you’ll get audio English lessons teaching you real, natural vocabulary, with all the usual things like PDF worksheets with tests, pronunciation drills and all that good good stuff. And of course, when you become a premium subscriber you get instant access to the entire back catalogue of premium episodes, which is ever growing. I put a lot of work and time into my premium content, and it’s available at what I consider to be a very competitive price! Just like buying me a nice cup of coffee every month from my local coffee place, maybe with a nice bit of carrot cake too if I fancy it, and why not? www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium
Thanks for listening and I will speak to you again on the podcast soon.
I look forward to reading your comments in the comment section.
For now though, it’s just time to say bye bye bye bye bye…
Ajax fans turn from celebration to devastation as they watch their team get knocked out of the Champion’s League.
More Bernard “Pretty” Purdie Videos (because this is what life is all about)
Cory Henry jams with one of Bernard Purdie’s drum tutorial videos
Bernard talks about The Purdie Shuffle – “I’m gonna SPLAIN ya!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1j1_aeK6WA
Bernard Talks about his “Ghost Notes” (previously heard in episode 88)
Chatting to friend of the podcast Andy Johnson about moving house, comparisons between London and Canterbury and different approaches to teaching English. Intro & outtro transcripts available. Part 2 coming soon.
Hello dear listeners and welcome to this brand new episode of the podcast, presented to you for your listening pleasure and for the general development of your English.
What have I got lined up for you in this episode?
Well, just the other day I spoke again to Andy Johnson, friend of the podcast and my former colleague from the days when I worked at the London School of English. Andy has been on the podcast lots of times before as many of you will know, but the last time was about a year ago actually (in episode 529), so it’s good to have him back again.
The idea in this episode is just to catch up with Andy, find out what he’s been up to since we last spoke on the podcast and just see where the conversation takes us.
Just before I play you the first part of our conversation (because this episode is in two parts) here’s an overview of the topics you are about to hear us talking about. You can expect to hear vocabulary relating to these things.
Moving house from London to Canterbury
Andy and his family recently moved out of London to a much smaller city in the south east of England called Canterbury. Some of you might know it as it is a bit of a tourist destination because of its magnificent cathedral and its significant cultural history.
Andy tells us about his experience of moving, how living in Canterbury is different to living in London, some details of things like the rental costs & lifestyle differences in both cities, what it’s like for the kids, and some interesting facts and history about Canterbury itself.
English teaching
We chat about this year’s IATEFL conference where Andy did a talk about online learning, and he tells us about one interesting presentation that he saw which was all about using escape rooms to help people learn English.
Do you know what escape rooms are? Are they popular in your country? Escape rooms are fun experiences in which you go into a locked room with some friends and have to solve some puzzles and complete tasks in order to escape from the room. They’re a lot of fun, but how could they be used in learning English?
This leads to a bit of discussion about how we approach the teaching of English in classrooms these days, focusing on how to create the right context for practising specific target language naturally. As an example I talk a bit about how I’ve been teaching “used to” to my intermediate classes at school recently.
Andy’s job
We then talk a bit about Andy’s job at London School Online, delivering online English training to companies, and what that involves. If you are interested in providing an online course for the staff in your company you can get more information about that and contact Andy through his website, which is www.londonschool.com/lso
Finally, we do talk a bit about Andy’s running (because some of you will be curious about that) – how his running routines have changed since moving to a smaller city and whether or not he did the London Marathon this year.
So, for all the vocab hunters out there, watch out for bits of language relating to all those things.
So now, without further ado I will let you enjoy listening to another chat with Andy Johnson on Luke’s English Podcast and here we go.
Ending Transcript
That is it for part one, but this will continue in part 2 in which our conversation turns to other topics including food, TV series, football, and music.
Thanks again to Andy for being on the podcast.
If you want to get in touch with Andy, perhaps because you’re interested in the online learning programs he offers, you can find him on LinkedIn, on Twitter @andybjohnson and the London School Online website is https://www.londonschool.com/lso/
Allow me to remind you, at this point, to sign up for LEP premium. I’ve got new episodes in the pipeline that involve teaching you some nice, chunky bits of natural English vocabulary along with all the usual bits and pieces, including PDF worksheets, tests & exercises and pronunciation drills, and of course becoming a premium subscriber gives you access to the ever growing library of premium content which you can listen to in the LEP app or online from your computer and it will all cost you just the price of a coffee a month from. Keep me caffeinated and become an LEP premium subscriber today! GO to www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium to get started.
I look forward to reading your comments in the comment section.
Part 2 should be available very soon, but for now it’s just time to say good bye!!!
Listen to me reading out some pages from a diary which I wrote when I was 16 years old. Join me as I take a trip down memory lane and find out what I was doing, thinking and feeling 25 years ago. Some language is explained along the way. Vocabularynotes available below.
In this episode you’re going to hear me reading out some pages from an old diary I wrote 25 years ago, when I was 16 years old.
In the UK a diary can mean two things. Either it’s a plan, timetable or schedule for the future in which you write appointments and stuff, like “Let me check my diary – yes, I’m free that day to have coffee with you David Beckham”, but also a diary can be a sort of notebook in which you write a record of things you’ve done and all your thoughts and feelings every day.
It’s where you write all your most personal and private things. So, in this episode you’ll hear me going through an old diary that I wrote when I was 16.
I recorded this episode quite spontaneously actually. The idea just came to me and I quickly started recording. I didn’t use a script or notes at all, except for the things I was reading from the diary.
It’s a bit self-indulgent to read your own diary like this, and I don’t think that my teenage years have any particular significance or anything, no more than anyone else’s, but I found it strangely fascinating to look back on my life 25 years ago, reading out my thoughts and remembering what was important to me then and how I was growing up in various ways.
Imagine meeting your 16-year-old self. What would you say to that person? What would you think of their lifestyle and thoughts? What kind of advice would you like to give to them? That’s kind of what happens in this episode.
Things get a bit rude as I talk about girls and also drinking – underage drinking in fact – and there is some strong language, meaning swearing. All that stuff – drinking, swearing and snogging girls, that’s all quite normal for young people in the UK. I point that out because there’s bound to be some people listening to this who are slightly shocked about what I was doing aged 16 and 17, just because of cultural differences, but really, for the context of the UK, my late-teenage years were actually very normal.
Also, as I continue to read pages, things get a little bit dark in some places. But it’s not too serious or anything, just normal teenage angst I think.
I’ll let you find out more as you listen and I will be explaining various bits of language as I go.
Right then, so this is me, grabbing an old diary and going through its pages while rambling away into my microphone.
Vocabulary Notes
Imagine meeting your 16-year-old self. What would you say to that person? What would you think of their lifestyle and thoughts? (Using “they” or “them” as a non-gendered pronoun – very common)
Teenage angst
Went to the arcade and got really far (made progress) on “bass” Navel gazing Self-indulgent Self-involved
It’s a little glimpse into what I was like at the time
I wanted a snog from Sarah
I could of (could have!!) easily got off with Sarah’s friend who fancies me
At 16 my grammar was pretty atrocious
As long as you hand in all your assignments, you don’t have to attend every class
I took that as a green light not to go to any classes Pocket money from your parents or an allowance
When you get a bit older your parents give you an allowance
I’d turn up at college and I’d be borrowing money from my mates, scrounging things from my mates
I just want to take £10 into college and spend it all on people who have crashed me things
“Can you crash me a fag?”
“Can I bum a fag off you?”
When it really comes down to it, it’s most important to have mates who like you and that you like. Without that, you’re pretty fucked.
The lyrics really struck a chord with me. They really meant a lot to me.
As a teenager you start to get more profound feelings
You start feeling a deep sense of mystery or profundity about life
You’re carrying around all this baggage with you in terms of all the experiences you’ve had, and the people you’ve met and it just builds up and up and up, and you carry it with you every day
Constantly your body is repairing itself and rejuvenating itself
Does your body really replace itself every 7 years?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/does-body-replace-itself-seven-years/ It turns out that each body part has its own very distinct lifespan. The lining of the stomach, constantly under assault by digestive acid, is renewed every few days. But bones are refreshed once a decade. And there are a few parts of you that stay with you from birth to death. (NPR, care of Snopes.com, link above)
I couldn’t grasp why it was so important, it just felt very significant
Beastie Boys – Namaste (Lyrics) https://genius.com/Beastie-boys-namaste-annotated
More vocabulary notes
It’s quite cathartic to write your thoughts and feelings down
I spilt beer all over myself when I put my pint on the hand dryer and it slipped off
Jake, Ed and Mouse nearly bought it in a car crash.
Ed’s car is wrecked
Jake had a fracture in his arm
They all looked really shaken
Really good down-tempo atmospheric trip hop
I feel like things are slipping away Get a grip, take control
Loads of people I know have turned into stuck up super-confident idiots. I felt like people were becoming arrogant.
I’ve got so much potential but I get stuck in a rut and I can’t lift myself out.
If I fail the DELTA it could be a big blow to me. I would like to just break away and drop out.
It did a world of good for my confidence, passing the DELTA.
The podcast has given me some purpose and a project to focus my creativity and energy on.
“Hearing those sounds again, it’s so evocative.”
Maybe a bit of oversharing going on here.
You shouldn’t wallow in the past.
To wallow in mud, wallow in misery, wallow in grief.
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.”
― Bill Keane
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
Some tracks from one of my mix tapes (this is the kind of thing I was listening to in 1994)
An unedited ramble about motivation for language learning, dealing with challenges, getting started on a task, getting work done and my process for making episodes of the podcast. There’s also some news, some OPP and a couple of songs on the guitar at the end. Vocabulary notes, links, videos and song lyrics are available below. [DOWNLOAD]
Vocabulary Notes & Other Information
Let’s get this show on the road.
Let’s get started.
Let’s get this whole thing underway.
Things I’m saying to myself to get myself going.
I’m on my feet in order to try and get the energy going.
It helps me toget into the right mood.
I’ve been sitting here messing around for ages.
I’ve been fiddling around. Plugging and unplugging (microphones)
Lots of messing around, farting about and faffing around.
You become very productive and you’re in the zone.
Sometimes you’re not in the right frame of mind and it feels like everything’s a bit of a struggle.
Once I get going it’s fine, but there are some days when I find myself unable to begin the episode..
Attempting to follow my own train of thought while talking.
You can probably hear handling noise (the noise of handling the microphone).
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ~ Nelson Mandela
Anything can seem impossible and that includes personal challenges (like recording a podcast in the window of time that I’ve got) that we have to face as individuals, and global challenges that we all face together.
“I can’t handle this. I can’t do it. It’s too overwhelming. There’s no way I can do it.”
Sometimes it seems a bit impossible, at the beginning of an episode.
I want episodes to be fun, engaging to listen to, relevant, personal, motivating, useful, natural and funny. (fun vs funny?)
What is the world coming to? I don’t know.
Fun = enjoyable (like a theme park) Funny = it makes you laugh (like a great comedy show)
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
Sometimes it’s dead easy. I have loads of ideas just waiting to come out and I can’t wait to switch on the record button and get started. (switch on the recording device and then press the record button)
With Amber & Paul I sometimes have to abandon the stuff I’ve planned and just go with the flow.
Other times it seems like having to climb a mini mountain and I feel like I just can’t do it that particular day. Getting started is the most difficult part.
Sometimes, when I’m doing the podcast, I start, get something slightly wrong or go off on a weird tangent, getting away from the main point of the episode and I stop the recording and start again. That can happen over and over!
It’s a bit of a catch 22 situation. I want it to be natural and not over-prepared, but I also want to be disciplined and to get to the point quite quickly. It’s a weird balance between being prepared and being spontaneous and sometimes it’s a bit difficult to walk that line.
But that’s just me. I think anyone attempting to do anything will feel the same. It also applies to learning a language. The challenge can feel a bit overwhelming but we know that it always seems impossible until it’s done.
Hopefully this can give you some motivation.
OPP: The Joe Rogan Experience
I was listening to the Joe Rogan Podcast (The Joe Rogan Experience) http://podcasts.joerogan.net/
Last week Joe Rogan interviewed Eddie Izzard. He’s a stand up comedy hero of mine.
Eddie Izzard’s unbelievable marathon running
Eddie Izzard ran 43 marathons in 51 days! (in 2012 in the UK)
Then (a few years later) he ran 27 marathons in 27 days (including 2 marathons in one day on the final day) in South Africa.
He did it all for charity and to commemorate the life of Nelson Mandela.
It’s a stunning achievement and almost unbelievable really.
43 marathons in 51 days 27 marathons in 27 days
Eddie Izzard must have felt so daunted before doing his 27 marathons.
The whole thing is mind over matter, being determined and not giving up.
I think it’s a mental battle. The best thing is to just get your head down and get moving, get a rhythm going and just don’t stop!
Keep going, keep going, keep going, and eventually it will be done and it won’t seem so impossible any more, because you will have done it.
Comments from Listeners on teacherluke.co.uk
Some comments with interesting and motivating things to say about learning English
Farshid One of the most important things that learning the English language teaches you is you’ll learn to have to carry on without getting any outcomes for a long time, literally working but getting nothing. That does require you to be tremendously patient, that’s a skill that you’ll develop overtime by learning English.
Sometimes you don’t notice your progress until a certain specific moment, then you realise that the work you’ve put in, or should I say the time (because it shouldn’t feel like work) has paid off.
Marta Hi Luke, I just wanted to stop by to leave a short message – I was at a concert yesterday (British singer Passenger), it was amazing and you know what? He talked quite a lot between the songs and I was able to understand 99 % of what he was saying. Those are such special moments when I’m so very much thankful for discovering your podcast because this is definitely one of the rewards. Thanks!!
All that time listening to the podcast has paid off.
Agnes Hi Luke, I just want to share my accomplishment with you that I got C1 in CAE Cambridge Exam which I took at the beginning of April :-) I want to thank you for appealing episodes keeping me motivated and hooked on English every single day :-) Obviously, I don’t want to stop doing my daily learning routine. Even though I’ve passed this exam, I treat it as a start into deep advanced side of the language, I’m totally hooked which means that English is my life! I feel terribly bad when I miss one day without English. I’m really proud of myself because I have only been learning on my own, without classrooms, courses etc. As I always say my learning process is based on listening and undoubtedly that made me person who loves learning as a whole. Once again, thank you, because of you I love British English :-) best Agnes
OPP: Other People’s Podcasts
English TVLive Podcast
I was interviewed by Jacob Teacher on the English TVLive Podcast.
Jacob featured me in an episode of his Advanced Vocabulary series
You can listen to it here.
The Earful Tower with Oliver Gee (walking tour video)
I was on an Earful Tower video walking tour of Batignolle Park with Oliver Gee.
Become a Patreon supporter of the Earful Tower to unlock the full 30-minute video https://www.patreon.com/theearfultower
The Earful Tower episode about the Notre Dame fire (not featuring me, but interesting if you’d like to know more about the recent fire at Notre Dame cathedral)
I did a spoiler-filled Avengers Endgame episode, only available in the app, with Fred. We go through the whole plot of the film and talk to about each point in full depth.
https://teacherluke.co.uk/how-to-download/get-the-lep-app/
A correction from episode 591…
I got various comments about Schleswig-Holstein, including one from Cat.
I said, quickly, that it was a city near the German/Danish border.
It’s not a city.
I hate getting anything wrong!
It is in fact the northernmost state of Germany – a whole area, a bit like an English county.
It’s really large (similar in size to Northern Ireland) and is a historic place and geographically interesting. It’s northern border is the border between Germany and Denmark. To the west it has a coastline on the North Sea and to the east a coastline on the Baltic sea.
I’ve never explored that area of the world (which is no excuse for not knowing about it) but I would really like to go there and visit.
This episode is unedited. I’ve decided to publish it as it is, warts and all.
2 Songs on guitar
If you don’t like music, you can check out now. (Check out here means to leave, like when you check out of a hotel)
Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Neil Young – Lyrics & Chords
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/neil_young/only_love_can_break_your_heart_chords_865950
Fade Away by Oasis – Lyrics & Chords
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/oasis/fade_away_chords_36372
Thanks for listening!
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