Another fun chat with my friends Amber Minogue & Paul Taylor. This one was recorded in early January and we talk about running & fitness 🏃, falling out of bed 🛏️, my phone’s battery issues 🪫, our Christmas meals 🍗, Amber’s family bingo game 😅, Paul’s horrendous Christmas rat story & some rat facts 🐀, insights into the lives of urban pigeons and country cats 🐈, handheld microphone technique 🎤 and Paul’s lovely new jumper (or is it a sweater, or a pullover?)
No homework and no PDF this time. Just enjoy keeping up with this conversation and catching up with Amber & Paul once again.
This is a free sample of LEP Premium. The episode contains clips from my recent premium series: P64, in which I told a couple of anecdotes about catching a cold and travelling to England with my two young children. You will also hear me teaching a lot of the words, phrases and expressions that I used in my stories. The entire premium series will be available for premium subscribers this week, but here is a free sample for subscribers of the free version of my podcast. Links below for more information about my premium podcast series.
LEP Premium is my paid podcast series, in which I teach vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. There are 200+ episodes, video versions & PDF worksheets. It is designed to be used via a podcast app on your phone.
By popular demand I have chosen to publish this episode! In 2002 I ended up stuck in a Japanese hospital feeling very ill and confused. I ended up staying there for about two weeks. During my stay I wrote a diary nearly every day. In this episode I read from my diaries, share my personal experience with you and explain a few bits of vocabulary.
Join me as I take a walk along the embankment of the river Seine from Louvre to Pont Marie in the centre of Paris. This time the topic is health and diet. Watch out for the phrasal verbs I use during my ramble!
Do you do exercise or work out in the gym to stay healthy?
Can you share some tips on how to cut down on unhealthy food in your diet?
Have you ever tried giving up a certain kind of food? What was it and how did you manage it?
What are some effective ways to burn off extra calories without going to the gym?
Do you always manage to stick to a healthy eating routine when dining out with friends?
Have you ever experienced a situation where you had to cut back on certain foods for health reasons? Have you decided to cut anything out completely from your diet?
What strategies do you use to fight off cravings for unhealthy foods?
What role do you think is played by genetics our overall health and well-being?
Did the pandemic change your daily routines and affect your health in any way?
Can you share any tips on how to squeeze in forms of exercise during a busy day?
How do you deal with stress, and does it impact your eating habits?
Have you ever had to give in to a food craving and then regretted it later?
Do you have a pet? Does it help to reduce your stress levels, or just make them worse?
Do you manage to get enough sleep? Do you have any tips for getting a good night’s sleep? How do you wind down before bedtime to promote a good night’s sleep?
Have you ever tried cutting back on caffeine intake to improve your sleep quality?
How do you balance out work responsibilities with personal activities for a healthier work-life balance?
Living in (or near) Paris do you often manage to get outside and into nature very often?
Have you ever considered going vegan?
Do you do any brain training exercises or puzzles to keep your mind sharp? How do you fit them into your daily routine?
How’s your screen time? Do you think you have to cut down on screen time before bedtime to improve sleep quality?
How does it feel to have a visual impairment? How do blind people navigate the world? How do other people treat you, if you are blind? And, how do we talk about blindness and other forms of disability in English? This episode is inspired by a listener called Hafid, who contacted me recently. I talk about the subject of blindness and disability in general, read an article written by a partially sighted person, and explain a list of words and phrases we should use when describing different forms of disability. Also includes various medical vocabulary such as the different parts of the eye and other related topics.
Bed bugs in Paris & London, Mosquito hunting in the middle of the night, a home invasion by fleas and the terrors of cockroaches – listen to some anecdotes about encounters with insects with Zdenek who has recently relocated to Vietnam. Also watch out for various insect idioms which appear during the conversation.
Here are the idioms which popped up during this conversation.
1. **To have a Bee in Your Bonnet** This idiom means that someone has an idea or a thought that’s constantly on their mind, often an obsession.
2. **To have Ants in Your Pants** If someone has “ants in their pants,” it means they are restless or fidgety, unable to sit still.
3. **To be as Busy as a Bee** This idiom describes someone who is extremely busy and productive, like a hardworking bee in a hive.
4. **To have Butterflies in Your Stomach** When you’re nervous or anxious, you might say you have “butterflies in your stomach.”
5. **To be The Bee’s Knees** This expression is used to describe something excellent or outstanding.
6. **To Make a Beeline for** If you “make a beeline for” something or someone, you head directly towards it, just like a bee flying straight to a flower.
7. **Like a Moth to a Flame** If someone is drawn to something or someone despite the potential dangers, they are said to be like a moth to a flame.
8. **To bug someone** To annoy someone
Also, to bug a place means to hide recording equipment in a place in order to spy on the people living there. Zdenek believes his apartment is not bugged, thankfully.
Join me for an unplanned rambling episode about various things including: hump day, bed bugs in Paris 🐞, fashion trends I followed when I was younger 👟👖, CDs 💿 vs cassettes 📼 vs vinyl 🎵, the most relaxing place in the world 🛏, Japanese zen gardens ⛩, Hunter S Thompson 🚬, the most disgusting job I ever had 🤮, and more…
Talking to my wife (and daughter) about the birth of our son, who came into the world just a few weeks ago. We describe what happened, and explain how it feels to become parents for the second time. This is a very personal, first-hand account of childbirth and the experience of bringing a child into the world. Watch out for the language of childbirth and children which has previously been explained in episodes 162, 491, 492 and 814.
Since recording part 1 of this conversation, Antony caught COVID-19 and lost a bit of weight, but he managed to talk for about 100 minutes here about more topics he has previously covered in episodes of his podcast “Life & Life Only”. Here we discuss diverse things, including the extraordinary feats of endurance by David Blaine 🕴🏻, food and dieting 🍔, Stanley Kubrik’s film “The Shining” 🪓, the term “conspiracy theory” 🤫, the ways that comedy shows can reveal the truth 🎭, and the complex art of happiness 🙂.
Antony is an English teacher, podcaster, life-coach and writer and he returns to LEP today for a conversation about topics which he has discussed in episodes of his podcast called “Life & Life Only”. Listen to us chat about why cats are good for your health 🐱, what the Titanic disaster tells us about social class 🚢, how losing his backpack while travelling taught Antony a valuable life lesson 🎒, how psychology is involved in English teaching 🧠 and more.
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