Category Archives: Family

Crazy Questions with my daughter [989]

Here is an adorable episode with my adorable daughter. In this one, we discuss various absurd questions and end up improvising chats between odd socks, speculating about spaghetti hair, analysing the weaknesses of the human body, considering the importance of sleep, looking at the fear of long words, analysing completely mad nursery rhymes in English and French, speculating about societies run by ducks or cats, being painted by Leonardo DaVinci, and describing the dreams of dogs. All in a normal day spent chatting with my daughter.

This is a natural, funny and heart-warming English conversation full of real spoken English, perfect for English learners who want to improve their listening skills, vocabulary, pronunciation and fluency.

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https://youtu.be/yZUEf6KheGI?si=0fPP8EU1iu3Jehs-

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The Questions

  1. If your socks could talk, what would they complain about?
  2. If you woke up tomorrow and your hair had turned into spaghetti, what would you do?
  3. If you could change one thing about the human body, what would you change?
  4. Would you rather sleep in a skip for a week or skip a week’s sleep?
  5. Would you rather suffer from arachibutyrophobia (fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) or hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words)?
  6. Would you rather be one of the three bears or one of the three blind mice?
  7. If you had to eat only one food forever, what would you choose?
  8. If pizza could have absolutely any topping, even crazy ones, what would you put on it?
  9. What if gravity stopped working for five minutes?
  10. What if everyone in the world suddenly started speaking like a duck?
  11. What if cats suddenly became the rulers of the world?
  12. If you were going to be in a race, would you rather be a tortoise or a hare?
    I know in the story the tortoise won, but how likely is that to happen again?
  13. Would you rather be able to fly, turn invisible, or talk to animals?
  14. If you were the boss of the world for a day, what new rules would you make?
  15. If you could shrink to the size of an ant for a day, what would you do?
  16. Would you rather play footgolf or basketballoon?
  17. Would you rather be painted by Leonardo da Vinci or have a song written about you by Paul McCartney?
  18. Would you rather discover the bones of an unknown species of dinosaur that would be named after you, or discover buried treasure?
  19. Would you rather be locked down or locked up?
  20. Would you rather have one marshmallow now or wait until tomorrow for a whole bag of marshmallows? 
  21. What do you think dogs dream about?

10 Questions about Food with Martin [985]

A funny conversation about food, cooking & eating habits, with my friend Martin. Why is British food a bit of a joke? Do French people have the right to criticise British cuisine? What is marmite, and why don’t Brits just throw it away? What did Luke eat for lunch every single day during secondary school? And, who would be Luke’s dream dinner party guests? All that and more, in a conversation full of tangents, recipes, rants and apologies, and a nice range of vocabulary expressions to spot. Enjoy! PDF Transcript available.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/uEZkemBkRPU?si=d2CTn2X56_zD0JL8

Get the PDF transcript 👇

Join LEP Premium and listen to the vocabulary quiz episode with my wife, and learn 30+ vocabulary items from this episode. Start here 👇 it’s episode P79.


Martin’s previous appearance on LEP 👇

My Dad talks about his life [978]

Following my chat with my mum last week, now it’s my dad’s turn! In this episode my plan was to ask my dad lots of questions about his life, and to listen to him talking about the various choices, moments and experiences he has had. The result is another deep chat about family history, and my dad’s life story. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it. Full transcript available.

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Get the full episode transcript 👇


My Mum talks about her life [977]

[977] Recently I visited my parents at their home, and while I was there I took the time to record conversations with them both. This first one is with my mum. I asked her questions about her life story, our family history, her memories of growing up and so many other things that I was curious about. The result is this recording. I hope you will find that it is not only good for your English listening practice, but also fascinating and absorbing as a piece of personal history. Full transcript available.

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Get the PDF transcript here 👇


The Ramble Before Christmas [966] Listen & Learn English with Luke

Here is a super-long seasonal rambling episode to listen to while wrapping presents, finishing some last-minute gift shopping, or (if you don’t celebrate Christmas) just doing whatever you normally do in December. It’s long, but the more you listen, the more it will help your English 💪🎅.

I chat to you about LEPster listening habits in 2025 (Spotify Wrapped) 🎧, funny messages and emails from listeners📧, bits of grammar & vocab teaching ✍️, ChatGPT’s questionable teaching skills 🤖🤔, AI hallucinations, dreaming in English, responses to recent episodes, twelve jokes in the Comedy Corner, more funny comments from my daughter 👧, and another dramatic Hollywood-style action movie screenplay 🎥 Plus it all finishes with a vocabulary quiz covering the whole episode. Think of this as a Christmas stocking full of English practice, complete with cosy log-fire sounds 🔥 in the background.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/cZITWG6fgaU

Get the PDF with all my notes, the vocabualry quiz and vocabulary list 👇

LEP Premium – 20% off this December and January 👇


Luke on Other People’s Podcasts recently 👇

A Cosy Rambling Episode at Home [964] / Walk & Talk: Mission in Montmartre

[964] You get double content this week as the audio and video episodes are different. In the audio episode you can join me at home, as I stay cosy, lie on the floor in a shaft of warm sunlight, and ramble about robberies, the Louvre and plenty more. In the video episode, it is time for another walk and talk. This time I am on a mission in one of Paris’s loveliest neighbourhoods, with a range of mission objectives to keep things exciting. Get both audio and video episodes here.

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Transcript for the audio episode 👇

Luke on some other people’s podcasts recently 👇

LEP PREMIUM HOLIDAY DEAL 🎅 Ho! Ho! Ho!

  • 20% off LEP Premium for 12 months 🎉
  • Give LEP Premium as a gift an get 20% off 🎉


The Door in the Wall (Learn English with a Short Story) [962]

[962] Time for another short story on LEP. This one is about a man who has a wondrous experience as a child, which then haunts him for the rest of his adult life. Listen as I read the story to you, and then ramble about its meaning, interpretations and how it evoked some strong memories and strange feelings in me. Then there is a vocabulary review which will continue in an upcoming premium series.

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Get the PDF with story script, notes and vocabulary list 👇


Thompson Originals (A Chat with My Brother) [956]

My brother James joins me again on the podcast for a rambling chat about diverse topics such as: trousers 👖 sandwiches 🥪 gangster films 🍿 the work of Edgar Allan Poe 📖 vinyl and cassettes 🎵 memories of living together 🎮 annoying behaviour 😤 and English words and grammar that irritate people 😠 plus James has a new vinyl EP out now on Ooz records. Transcript available 📄.

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Video (no beautiful faces, but subtitles available) 👇

Get the PDF transcript 👇

Get OOZ004 – James’ new vinyl EP 👇

https://oozrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ooz004

Listen to the tracks on YouTube 👇


Holiday Hell, Serious Sandcastles & AI Inbreeding (with Amber & Paul) [954] Catching Up #15

The Pod-Pals are back on the podcast for another catching up session! Recorded just after the summer holidays, there is talk of Paul’s hatred of the beach 🏖️, the English tradition of building epic sandcastles 🏰, other famous people with our names (including an “evil” teacherluke 👿) and what AI gets completely wrong about us 🤦. PDF transcript available. (a.k.a Catching Up with Amber & Paul #15)

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/HhEP_a2Hses?si=Ue5oUiZtTQ1opsWE

Get the PDF transcript here 👇


A game of “Would You Rather?” with my daughter [953]

My 7-year-old daughter joins me again as co-host in this fun episode. We play “Would you rather?”, a conversation game in which we ask each other ridiculous questions about various hypothetical situations. Enjoy listening to another cute and funny chat with my daughter, which covers topics such as food, world peace, wealth, fame, success and Inspector Gadget.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/TLWyWwDqhSc?si=kqCPuITaYmnUxurp

Get the PDF transcript here 👇