Rambling on my own about getting stuck in a time-loop 🔁, protests and strikes in Paris 🔥, the arrival of child 2 👶, and more.
820. A Springtime Ramble 🌷🌸 Learn English with LEP
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815. A River Avon Year: The Wildlife & History of Shakespeare’s Avon, by Rick Thompson (Dad’s New Book!)
My dad has written a new book and he’s come on the podcast to tell us about it. The book follows the path of the river Avon as it flows through the middle of England, telling stories of key moments in British history, nature and the current condition of Britain’s rivers.
A River Avon Year: The Wildlife and History of Shakespeare’s Avon by Rick Thompson is available now! 👇
📖 Amazon
📖 Book Depository
📖 Goodreads
814. The Language of Children & Parenting (with Anna Tyrie / English Like a Native)
A conversation with Anna Tyrie from English Like a Native (YouTube, Podcast) about children, the way we talk to children, and vocabulary relating to children and childcare, and some special news from the Thompson family…!
👉 Anna interviews Luke on her podcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2038858/12353084
Introduction Transcript
Hello, welcome back to LEP.
Here is another episode with more English listening practice for you to get stuck into, and I have another guest on the show today.
This time it is Anna Tyrie from English Like a Native, the channel on YouTube. You might also know her from Instagram and TikTok.
Anna has recently set up a podcast too, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts. It’s called the English Like a Native Podcast.
In fact, on the same day we recorded the conversation for this episode of my show, Anna also interviewed me for her podcast and we had a good long conversation about all sorts of things. It was very nice to be interviewed by her. You should be able to find that episode on her show now. So if you enjoy this one, go ahead and listen to the one on Anna’s podcast too. You will find a link in the description 👆.
In this conversation: Get to know Anna a bit and talk a bit about her podcast and youtube channel and what the name really means.
The main subject – talking about children. We decided that we could talk about a particular topic for this episode and that topic ended up being children. I’ve had requests from listeners in the past for more on the subject of children and the English language, including the way we talk to children, the way we talk about children and the specific words for lots of things related to children.
We talk about our own kids, and specifically about how we communicate with them, typical things we say to them (in English of course), how we should be careful about the things we say to our kids, the ways adults adapt their English when talking to little children, including examples of so-called “baby talk” or “parentese” and then there is a sort of quiz at the end with questions about specific English words for lots of the different objects, toys and bits of useful equipment that we use with babies and little kids.
As you know I have a daughter and she is 5 so a lot of that baby stuff almost seems like a distant memory now, but, well, it’s high time I remembered all of that vocab again now because – drum roll… yes, my wife is pregnant again and we going to have another baby!
Yes we are delighted.
Thank you – because at this moment of course you are now saying…
“Wow, that’s fantastic! Congratulations! I’m so happy for you!” and then all the typical questions will come to mind, including:
- Can I ask when the baby is due?
- Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl? Would you like to know?
- Are you ready?
- Do you have any ideas for names?
- How’s your wife doing, is she ok?
- How does your little daughter feel about it? Is she excited?
Etc.
I’m sure I’ll talk about it again in another podcast, but I thought I would let you know now.
Of course the child hasn’t even been born yet, so there’s a long way to go.
But all being well, in July there will be a new Thompson arriving 😊
I don’t know how that will affect the podcast.
Of course it’s probably going to disrupt things to some extent as I will be busy at home, with my wife, looking after the baby, helping my wife with anything if she needs it, taking care of our daughter, trying to keep things ship shape and under control and generally just being at home focusing on the family.
So I won’t be able to do much podcasting around the time of the birth and in the weeks after. Who knows, maybe I’ll disappear completely for July and August, or maybe I’ll find a way to keep podcasting.
Maybe, if I’m organised and industrious enough, by the time the baby arrives I will have recorded lots of episodes beforehand, which I will be able to publish over the summer, or maybe I’ll dig into my archives for some unpublished or lesser-known material, which a lot of people haven’t heard – like app-only episodes from the LEP App (which is now defunct by the way).
In any case, there might be some kind of disruption to the show. Thank you for your understanding and your patience and your lovely messages of congratulations and support, which you are welcome to write to me.
Obviously, I’ve just said thank you for a thing you haven’t even done yet, which is kind of against the rules, but anyway. There it is. We’re very happy. We’re hoping everything goes well. I’ll probably talk about it a bit more in another episode later on.
So, now let’s get back down to earth here because this is a conversation with Anna from English Like a Native, getting to know Anna a bit and then talking about the English which we use with kids, about kids and for all the bits and pieces involved in looking after kids.
By the way, this conversation was recorded in January, which is why I say “It’s January” at the start. I probably didn’t need to say this, did I? You probably have the deductive skills to work out that when I say to Anna “it’s January” it’s because we recorded that in January. But just in case you were worried that I don’t know what month it is, don’t worry, I do know what month it is, what year it is and generally where I am and what’s going on. OK, fine.
I will speak to you a bit again at the end, but now let’s get started with the interview right now.
Ending Transcript / Notes
Thanks again to Anna.
You can find a vocabulary list and notes on the page for this episode on my website if you want to check specific words.
A reminder – after recording this, Anna interviewed me on her podcast and as I said earlier we had a good long conversation about lots of things, with little stories and jokes and stuff. A long conversation. I think it was even longer than the one you just listened to. I’m wondering how Anna is going to deal with that, but you can find out for yourself by listening to that episode on Anna’s podcast- English Like a Native, which is available wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks for listening everyone.
Have a lovely day, morning, evening or night etc. Goodbye!
Vocabulary Lists
Baby-talk in English
Examples of baby talk in English
- Cutie-pie
- Sweetie-pie
- Munchkin
- Cheeky-monkey
- Wee / Wee-wee / pee / pee-pee
- Poo / poo-poo
- Potty
- Dog / doggy
- Cat / kitty
- Jim-jams
- Beddy-byes
- Nighty-night
- Sleepy-time
- Nap-time (do-do)
- Blankie
- Din-dins
- Ickle (little)
- Icky – disgusting
- Bedtime stories / Story time
- Tummy / Belly
- Oopsy-daisy
- Mama
- Mummy / Daddy
- Uncle Jamie
- Grannie / Grandad
- Yuk / yukky
Common words and phrases relating to babies/children/childcare
This list includes words and phrases which came up in the quiz.
- Activity arch / baby arch / arch toy
- Baby bouncer (like a small deck chair)
- Baby carrier / sling
- Baby jumper
- Baby fence / play-pen / baby-gate
- Baby monitor
- Baby-grow (a one-piece outfit that babies wear)
- Bib (to catch or protect against food that falls while they eat)
- Blanket (a lot of children have a special blanket that they use as a comforter)
- Bottle (for milk)
- Breast pump (a device which allows the mother to pump her milk into a bottle)
- Changing mat (where you change the baby’s nappy)
- Cot (where the baby sleeps – a bed with high sides so the baby doesn’t crawl out of bed)
- Drool bib (to absorb drool which comes out of the baby’s mouth when teething)
- Dummy / pacifier (what the baby sucks while sleeping)
- Flannel (an absorbant cloth)
- High-chair (what the baby sits in while eating)
- Mobile (the thing that hangs above the bed and gives the baby something to look at)
- Nappy (US English: diaper)
- Powdered milk
- Pram / pushchair (UK) buggy / stroller (US)
- Pyjamas
- Rattle (a toy that the baby can shake to make a rattling noise)
- Talcum powder / talc (powder which can be put on the baby’s bum to keep it dry)
- Teddy bear / stuffed toy
- Teether / Teething toy(for teething babies) (something the baby can chew while the teeth come through)
- Thermometer (to check the baby’s temperature)
- Wipes (to wipe up the… mess)
800. [PART 3] EPISODE 800 RAMBLE (Final Part)
A quick ramble about why this is the final part of episode 800, why there was a delay between part 2 and part 3, some comments about having flu, and about World Cup 2022.
800. [PART 1] EPISODE 800 RAMBLE / LEPSTER Q&A
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.
Intro Script & Questions for Part 1
Hello listeners, welcome to episode 800.
Fireworks! BOOM! 🎆🎆🎆
Welcome to episode 800.
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.
QUESTIONS
FROM LEPSTERS
YouTube
Cyril Alexander
Hello! Thank you for this lux podcast!
I saw you like playing guitar and maybe you have your own compositions and maybe you have some thoughts about your own rock band.
Luke, did you ever dream of being a rock star?
Would you be able to carry the rock star burden?
Played drums in lots of bands
Made music on computer (real instruments)
Made music on synths (Korg)
Play guitar (other people’s songs) and piano (not any more)
Play bass on other people’s songs
Bands
The bold ones were the serious ones
- Grandpa Knuckles
- Skellington
- Flat Badger
- Hypersound
- Orson
- Yoot Club https://soundcloud.com/yootclub
- The Jake Bullit Band https://soundcloud.com/jakebullit
- Kilimanjaro / Lure https://soundcloud.com/luke-thompson-20/sets/lure-bizarre-happiness-2003
- Luke / Yusuke Project https://soundcloud.com/luke-thompson-20/sets/luke-yusuke-nemoto-demos
- Radicals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZORC-CbV19A&t=107s&ab_channel=Lukulele
- Salvo https://soundcloud.com/salvoanthology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HCrRJIzxFQ&t=5s&ab_channel=Lukulele
- The School Band
- Sick Rock
Engshan (English with Zeeshan)
Hey Luke my name is M Zeeshan i am from Pakistan i’m your big fan so could you explain the difference between these sentences ?
“We had to stay until we had finished our podcast.”,
“We had to stay until we finished our podcast.”
Which one is correct?
Sera Bende • 2 hours ago (edited)
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.
Mariagrazia Fornarotto
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…
Maria
Hello, Luke! Thank you for your podcast Tell us, please, what stories do you tell your daughter? What are they about? Which ones are her favourite?
Oishi
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.
Janya Markevich
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?
Thank you in advance!))
Maria C
Hey Luke! Congratulations on the 800 episodes
My question is if Jerry Seinfeld is one of your favorite comedians and if it was him or another one who inspired you.
Steve Martin
Jerry Seinfeld
Bill Hicks
Eddie Izzard
Bill Bailey
Serg Boorow
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.
Living Italian style with Nina
Hi Luke, thank you for your amazing job on your podcast. My question is: when will you release another episode of the Rick Thompsom Report?
Antin Kuntin
Hi Luke.
First of all: you are doing a really great job!
My question is: are you talking normally like in your daily life or slower and clearer than usual so that we can understand?
Thanks in advance for your answer
Vafa Guliyeva
Hi, Luke! I got 3 questions for you .
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?
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.
Aster L.H.
Bravo Luke! Looking forward to your next podcast talking about The FIFA World Cup.
A question to Luke. How many Asian countries have you been to?
Jakub
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 🇵🇱️
Teacher Zdenek
My questions for you: “What’s the hardest thing about doing the podcast?”
Shaping an idea into the finished product.
Дмитрий Обухов Dmitry Obukhov
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.
Cristiano Ronaldo
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
德高望重respected
Hi Luke, I wonder what makes you an English teacher? I am a new listener since maybe 3 months ago, and I enjoy your style a lot. Thanks anyway.
Cecília de Melo
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?
- Familiarity
- Are you watching TV/Films?
- Maybe British English is just better
vvaskey
Hi Luke:)
My first question is what is the best moment in your childhood?)
My second question is a bit personal, but anyway how old is your daughter? How is she doing?)
796. Language & Local British Identity with MARK STEEL
Special Guest Mark Steel joins me to discuss cultural and linguistic differences between the UK and France, plus accents in the UK and a little tour of some places in the UK that you don’t know about. Also includes a discussion of swearing and rude language in Britain. What is the R word which you should never say in a specific part of the UK? Listen on to find out. Video version available.
Video Version (shorter, with automatic subtitles)
791. ADJECTIVE + PREPOSITION with Amber & Paul (A+P with A&P on LEP)
Amber and Paul join me in my pod room again for a rambling discussion about everything! Includes a language point about adjective + preposition collocations. Notice the phrases and try to find examples of them in context. Video version available.
Video Version (Automatic subtitles available)
Check out the premium series which accompanies this episode (P39 parts 1-3) 👇
Sign up to LEP Premium to get the 3-part series of episodes (audio, video, PDFs) about the language point in this episode.
- P39 Part 1 – All about the grammar of prepositions and how they fit into sentences, including plenty of vocabulary and a quick pronunciation exercise at the end
- P39 Part 2 – Let’s go through my list of adjective + preposition phrases from the conversation with Amber & Paul. I’ll test your memory and help you notice the target language, while clarifying some of the adjectives. Also includes discussion questions for free practise.
- P39 Part 3 – Pronunciation, pronunciation, pronunciation, pronunciation, pronunciation. The 5 Ps. There’s a focus on weak forms of prepositions, -ed endings of adjectives and 40 sentences to repeat after me.
Sign up for LEP Premium here and then add LEP Premium episodes to an app on your phone.
Some vocabulary in the episode
Here are a few words and phrases that you will hear us saying at the start of the episode.
- Let’s do a wager. How long do you think it’s going to be?
- I think he’s probably written a short introduction. The problem is he gets waylaid.
- To go down a rabbit hole.
- There is room for random rambling and tangents. I have factored that into the exercise. That’s all been factored in.
- If I’d been left to my own devices I think I would have cracked that in about 2 minutes, but because I kept getting interrupted by you two, it took longer!
- Zero rigour. I’m not rigorous enough.
790. Chatting in the Garden with Mum (Listener Q&A)
My mum returns to the podcast to answer some questions from listeners about books, cooking, her relationship with Luke and her granddaughter, the war in Ukraine, the song Imagine by John Lennon, family games, the time she fell off a horse & more…
[DOWNLOAD]
Introduction Transcript & Notes
Hello listeners!
Welcome back to the podcast.
Today I am joined by my mum and we’re going to spend the episode chatting about this and that, and responding to some questions from LEPsters on Twitter.
I hope you enjoy the episode everyone, Stick with us, and as usual you’ll find that the more you listen, the better it is for your English.
Hi Mum, how are you today?
Where are we?
It’s been ages since you’ve been on the podcast, with your own episode (April 2021 – 717. Gill’s Book Club).
We were doing Gill’s Book Club (we did 3 or 4 of those) and every now and then we talk about doing another one, but we have found it a bit tricky to choose books that
- Most other people probably have read
- That I have read too
- That would appeal to enough people
- That we remember clearly
Plus you somehow got out of the habit of reading every day.
Anyway, it’s nice to be able to have you on the podcast again.
My aim for this is mainly to let people just listen to your voice, listen to your words and it sort of doesn’t matter too much what we talk about, as long as we just let the conversation flow and let the English happen naturally. We decided not to limit ourselves to any one specific topic here, preferring instead to cast our net quite wide in terms of things to talk about.
Yesterday evening, I Tweeted this:
It got about 26 replies.
I have a selection of questions from listeners on Twitter which we can explore. That’s probably a good starting point.
Book Recommendations
Kristýna Waicová @Elvea_Puff – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Not a very original one but a classic: what book(s) did she enjoyed recently? I’m looking forward to listening to you two, it’s always such a treat. Please give your mum my best and as always, thanks for the podcast!
Aritz @aritz_js – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Yes! Any books recommendations? I read The Five and A Month in the Country. Thanks.
Kam @ErkamUK – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Could you please recommend us some books? and what do you think about Harry Potter?
Beniamino Bianco @Mire12374275 – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Yes! What book dedicated to Winston Churchill can you recommend? Thanks from Ilario.
👇A list of books about Churchill → Skip to number 10 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/apr/11/top10s.churchill
En-quête de culture @EmmaB2944 – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
So happy so hear for your mother ! I would like to know what is she currently reading of course. And if she thought you would become a journalist like your father ? When I listen to the Rick reports, I realise that journalism is not so far from your podcast… Many thanks !
Relationship with Luke
James Harris @JamesHarrisNow – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
No questions, but please compliment your mum on raising a fine boy.
Kam @ErkamUK
How does it feel to give birth to a famous podcaster?
Romário Alexandre @Lawter_ – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
How does it feel to know that people from many parts of the world know a little bit about your relationship with your son?
Kam @ErkamUK – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Why did you name your son Luke?why not Dave?
Jinti Neog @JintiNeog
Why Thompson why not Rickson?
eslam @eslamaoao – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Did you see signs of luke when he was a child that points to his currently career field?
Relationship with Granddaughter
teresa peltz @teresa_peltz – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Yes.I’ve one maybe too personal. So you couldn’t take in account. How she feels as a Brit nanny ? Any special food for her niece as a British grandmother?
Gupse Uzun @uzun_gupse – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
So that she can see her grandchild more often, does she ever prefer that you with your family live in england?
Edier Rosa @RosaEdier Replying to @EnglishPodcast
I use both English and Portuguese when talking to my niece. I speak Portuguese, she answers in English and vice-versa. I wonder if she fears not being able to have a fluent comprehensible conversation with her granddaughter in future. That was my main motivation to study English.
Cooking
Jay Jia @JayJia1982 Replying to @EnglishPodcast
How is her cooking? What is her signature dish? Any secret family recipes?
Is it true that English people in general are not good cook? Gordon Ramsay is a great chef but he usually cook Asian food, his restaurant in London is Asian restaurant.
Luke: Ramsay has 53 restaurants (according to the list on his website, and they serve a variety of things – French fine dining, rustic English food, burgers, pizza, asian food and more…)
Other Topics
Денис Леонтьєв @xxxpdenis Replying to @EnglishPodcast
What does She think about war in Ukraine? By the way,if You like the question,like it in order to see if you have chosen it.
albee @archdeaconsnz – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Could her tell us about some good memories about her childhood or teenage years?
Znad – @znad9821 Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Why is your son obsessed with Betels?
Alex Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Yes, why after half a century the world still doesn’t understand the meaning of the song Imagine. Tnx
Paragraph about Imagine from https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-lennon-imagine-real-meaning-communism/
In an interview with David Sheff for Playboy Magazine, shortly before his death in December 1980, Lennon shared that Dick Gregory had given him and Ono a Christian Prayer-book which had inspired him to write the track. “The concept of positive prayer…If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion – not without religion but without this my God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing – then it can be true.”
The Beatle continued, “The World Church called me once and asked, “Can we use the lyrics to ‘Imagine’ and just change it to ‘Imagine one religion’?” That showed [me] they didn’t understand it at all. It would defeat the whole purpose of the song, the whole idea.”
Kristýna Waicová – @Elvea_Puff Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Does she play any word games? Or some other games? :)
Rei da Salsicha de Chicago @jam0rreu Replying to @EnglishPodcast
Ask her to talk about the horse story (You and James told us she fell off a horse when you were a kid).
The One Who Knocks @JaderLelis27 Replying to @EnglishPodcast
How does she feel about Margaret Thatcher
Sorry, we didn’t get time to answer this question! 👇
Alper @tdurdendi – Replying to @EnglishPodcast
I wonder who is her favourite British and/or non-British film director.
Since I haven’t listened to all episodes, I apologize if she had already spoken of it.
Books & things discussed in the conversation
- Car Park Life “A Portrait of Britain’s Unexplored Urban Wildernesses” by Gareth E. Rees https://www.amazon.com/Car-Park-Life-Gareth-Rees/dp/1910312355
- Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
- Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs (and other stories)
- Winston Churchill Books https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/apr/11/top10s.churchill
- The Hopkins Manuscript by R.C. Sheriff (the one about the moon)
- 413. With The Family (Part 1) Mum’s Cooking + Vocabulary (with Uncle Nic)
- 328. Cooking with Luke – Verbs and Expressions in the Kitchen
Pre-ending
Well then listeners, that was my mum in her own episode again, but hold on, we’re not done yet, there’s more.
As you just heard at the end, my wife and daughter just came back from the market so we thought we should stop recording and get ready to have lunch with everyone.
But then my daughter did come into the garden and she picked up the microphone, so here is a little interview with her. So you get 3 generations of the family in one episode. A cross generational podcast for you.
So, I asked my daughter to describe what she had done at the market and before I managed to press record on my recorder, she started talking about how they had gone into the local museum in the town square, where they have various items including a large stuffed bear (a real one, stuffed – it’s quite odd and quite interesting), as well as other things, and I asked if she found the bear frightening or if she’d been traumatised by the bear, and then I asked her about the word traumatised, and she ended up describing how she’d been traumatised by a loud automatic hand dryer in a public toilet once (you know those hand dryers which you get on the wall in public toilets?), and that is where this 10 minute clip begins.
So here we go with a bonus bit of chat with youngest member of the Thompson family.
Ending
There you go listeners.
A bit of wisdom there from the voice of the future.
- Don’t fight.
- You have to love each other.
- You have to love le world.
- Be excellent to each other.
- Party on.
- And sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ for ad-free content and of course many many extra episodes in which I help you with your vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation 😅
Well, I hope you agree listeners, that that was a real treat, especially if you listened all the way until the end.
I really enjoyed that – being able to ask my mum those questions and get her responses, while sitting in the very nice surroundings of her garden, and I hope you enjoyed it too.
I must say I love making these recordings – in order to publish them for your listening pleasure and for your English listening practice (hopefully both) but also just as a record of family life – the voices of my family and my friends, stories, thoughts, memories, opinions and so on. How nice.
I’m very grateful to my mum for this episode and generally for all my guests who contribute so much.
Send us your comments. It’s nice to read them and to get some human responses to our words.
Sorry if you weren’t able to send in a question. I put up the request on Twitter without much notice. I do that sometimes, in order to get opinions or podcast questions from my audience.
If you want to follow me on Twitter, please go ahead. @EnglishPodcast
I’m also on Instagram but I hardly ever use it. In fact, at the moment I only use it to help me book and promote stand up comedy shows (because some of the comedy nights use Instagram to communicate with comedians), but I am there @lukesenglish
Thank you again for listening and for supporting the podcast.
Do me a favour:
- Like and subscribe
- Leave a positive review on Apple Podcasts
- Tell you friends
- Support the show by becoming a premium lepster (and oh you’ll get all the premium content too and no ads) www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium
I will speak to you again soon. I have loads of episode ideas and so many things I want to record, but I mustn’t overwhelm you.
Time to focus on some premium content now.
Until next time, good bye bye bye!
763. Rambling in the new Pod-Room / Choose The Adverb / Deal or No Deal
This is a chance for me to just let loose and have a ramble while inviting you to this kind of housewarming party (or perhaps just the first part of the party) in my new pod-room. In this one I am going to welcome you into the new room and do a ramble challenge in which I am restricted to only talking about things inside the room, plus reading from some random books on my shelves. Grammar rules, adverbial collocations and a game show story.
[DOWNLOAD]
Episode Notes
Private Lessons with British Council English Score Tutors https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/english Episode page
LEP Premium https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premiuminfo
LEP T-Shirts & Merch https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/merch
Rules of the Ramble
- Welcome everyone to the pod-room.
- Give a tour.
- I’m restricted to only talking about things inside the room.
- Maybe describe some of the items on the walls and pictures.
- Include some descriptive language.
- Pick up a book and do a random exercise from it.
- Keep talking without pausing or saying “errr”.
Contents
- 00:00:00 Hello
- 00:00:52 Promo
- 00:02:30 Introduction
- 00:03:44 Ramble Rules
- 00:05:26 Welcome to the new pod-room
- 00:05:42 The Electricity & Internet Situation
- 00:10:37 Sound Recording Setup
- 00:17:01 Let me show you around the room
- 00:22:32 The desk
- 00:24:30 A Book from the `Bookshelf
- 00:25:17 English Grammar in Use by Ramond Murphy
- 00:25:38 Present Perfect Simple vs Continuous
- 00:27:04 Build Your Vocabulary 3
- 00:27:31 Choose The Adverb
- 00:47:23 Lighting
- 00:49:25 Random Book: Jon Ronson – Lost At Sea
- 00:51:01 Deal or No Deal story
- 01:00:48 Ending
759. Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans
Join me as I walk around my local streets in Paris, go to the laundrette and ramble about what’s going on in LEPland at the moment.
[DOWNLOAD]
Other podcast recommendations
Some other things you could listen to while waiting for new episodes of LEP.
Film Gold: Monty Python & The Holy Grail
I was invited by Antony Rotunno onto one of his podcasts last week to discuss this British comedy classic.
My appearances on ZEP and RNR English at the end of last year
Episode 759 – Notes
I thought I would quickly record an episode to let you know that I’m still alive, LEP still exists, and I just want to give you a bit of an update on what’s going on and have a bit of a ramble.
I have other episodes in the pipeline and I was hoping to upload one of them this week, but for one reason or another, that’s not going to be possible so I’ve decided to record this one quickly and upload it quickly.
Again, I’m just recording this on my handheld recorder but I’m not at home because I can’t record at home, so I’m just in the street, reading some notes from my phone.
Why aren’t you recording this at home Luke?
There are guys working on the flat above ours now.
We are now experiencing what our downstairs neighbours experienced when we did work on our place.
Our flat and the flat upstairs were sold at the same time.
etc…
You can just imaging you are hanging out with me (in the streets of Paris) while I’m recording this. I’m just going walk around the neighbourhood while recording, trying to avoid noise, and trying to avoid the weird stares I might get from people in the street.
It’s been more than 3 weeks since I uploaded an episode and this is only the 4th episode in about 2 months I think.
I told you that the podcast would be delayed and disrupted, right? So it shouldn’t be a surprise.
Why haven’t there been any episodes for almost a month?
Time flies!
Time races by.
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” (John Lennon)
I always wondered what John Lennon meant by that.
I guess he is expressing a kind of paradox that many of us live with.
While making plans for the future, real life just happens in the meantime, day by day, moment by moment.
We aim for the future, we set our sights on things we would like to achieve, and make plans for those things.
But the fact is, life is really lived in the present, and while we are making plans, life just continues to happen to us in the present moment.
I guess he is saying that we mustn’t forget to live in the moment and enjoy the moment.
I suppose for me at the moment, I mean that while making plans for this podcast, mainly the space in which I’m going to record it, real life has just been happening day by day.
In fact, real life and the day to day tasks and challenges of it have been dominating my time recently, preventing me from being able to actually get to do the things I have been planning.
I’ve had a goal in mind for ages – sitting in my new podcast room which is more or less ready, with all my stuff arranged in a fairly tidy way (things on shelves, in drawers, guitars on walls, pictures or posters on the walls, a working internet connection, a decent desk, a comfy chair (which I might spend most of my life sitting on) the right kind of lights, a kettle, a backdrop for videos that looks pleasing to the eye, a computer which actually works and which allows me to record and edit audio and video properly, and so on and so forth, a kettle and cups of tea, another chair or two for guests… you know) but that goal or vision just keeps getting put back and put back.
Why? I can’t really even explain it – just general stuff has been getting in the way. I think a lot of people manage to move house and get back to their normal lives quite quickly, but this just seems to be taking ages and it’s because of lots of little things.
Here are some reasons why things are taking so long.
My daughter got sick with covid and I had to stay at home to look after her. My wife was also sick at the same time (not covid, mysteriously) and so I was off work looking after them. That was a week.
Teaching at the BC three mornings a week.
Wednesday afternoons with my daughter.
Not a massive amount of time. Normally it’s enough – in normal conditions, but these aren’t normal conditions.
I got sick – a couple of times actually. The first was a virus (not covid-19 – maybe covid-18 or one of the other covids). The second was a really bad back which caused loads of discomfort and a migraine. I couldn’t move, basically! Probably because of general stress but also the fact that I hadn’t sat on a comfortable chair for weeks. No sofa.
Washing machine delivered, but then broken – laundrette
Meeting with guy to fit radiators
Meeting with guy to get quotes for lots of other stuff at home, like making fitted shelves (beyond my skills) and other bits of carpentry
Meeting a guy for a quote for electricity at my office
Meeting guy who came to connect internet
Many other deliveries and things
The list goes on!
Now it’s the school holidays and we’re travelling tomorrow to the UK.
I might be able to record an RT Report or a Gill’s Book Club or something with my brother, but equally, I might not. Maybe we’ll just want to relax and have a holiday. I don’t know. I will see.
Oh, and there are guys working on the flat upstairs, and guys working on the building opposite us. It’s like the entire city is under construction at the moment.
This is just what is going on in my small corner of the universe.
I am not complaining at all. I have a nice life and I’m very happy. But I’m feeling quite impatient and a bit frustrated at not being able to do the things I would like to do, and the fact that my goal keeps slipping further away from me. I will get there eventually! It’s like being in a car and using GPS, and the arrival time keeps changing and getting later and later as the GPS recalculates your route with delays and traffic and so on.
So, basically:
Bear with me
Hold on
If you’re impatient – hang in there
It’s a bit interminable – all this waiting around
But good things come to those who wait.
The podcast will be back again, properly, and I will be recording, producing and publishing audio & video episodes and premium episodes at the usual rhythm soon.
Maybe this is a good chance to catch up on episodes, or listen to episodes from the archive…
Speak to you on the podcast soon!