Category Archives: Native Speaker

104. Brighton Fringe Festival #1 (with Alex, Paul & Moz)

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Part 1 of a trilogy of podcasts from the Brighton Fringe Festival. Join me and my friends in Brighton as we discuss various topics.

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Hello Listeners! This is the first of three podcast episodes recorded with comedians Alex Love, Paul Langton and Moz at the Brighton Fringe Festival last month. In this episode I introduce Alex, Paul and Moz and we discuss a number of topics including: British accents, experiences in foreign countries, comedy shows and a mysterious character called Luke Johnson. Listen to the episode to find out more, and please feel free to leave comments and questions below.

Every evening Alex, Paul and I performed a comedy show called Snigger Happy in a hot room above a friendly pub called The Temple. We had a great time performing the shows and enjoying ourselves in Brighton, which is a lovely town near the sea on the south coast of England. Also with us was another comedian called Moz, who was performing a solo show called Balloon. We performed 4 shows, with each of us doing 15-20 minutes of stand-up. I also managed to record three episodes with Alex, Paul and Moz. This is the first of those episodes.

Click here to visit Alex Love’s blog: www.alexlove.co.uk It’s all about his experiences performing comedy in venues all over London and the UK in general. Alex is a really good writer, and has written as a journalist for The Guardian newspaper.

103. The Queen and The Royal Family

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Opinions, facts and gossip about The Royal Family, as The Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this weekend.

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Listen to Luke have a conversation with English Robot 4000 about The Royal Family. We talk about everything you need to know about the Royals, including the shocking rumour about Prince Harry (listen to find out more).
Thanks for listening, and remember your donations make this podcast possible.
Luke

100. Going To The Pub (with James)

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This is your complete guide to how to go to the pub in the UK, including what to say, what to do, and how to get served at the bar.

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Contents

In this episode you’ll learn everything you need to know about going to the pub, including:
– what does a pub look like?
– types of pub
– are you welcome?
– opening times
– how to order
– where to stand
– how to get served
– the order of being served
– buying drinks for others
– tipping
– what to say to the barman
– making conversation with locals
– types of drink
– useful phrases
– what you will find in the pub
– places to sit
– things to do
– smoking
– food
– trouble
– locals
– banter
– football
– pub lunch
– after work drinks
– night out
– beer garden
– What NOT to do
– binge drinking
– getting drunk
– words for ‘drunk’
– the pub in British culture – films, tv shows
If you find the podcast useful, why not donate some money to help me pay for website costs, etc. It’s very simple to do and you can use your PayPal account for other things like online shopping. It’s completely safe and trustworthy.

The pub in English films and TV shows, and other videos:
*Comedy is difficult to understand sometimes, especially in another language. If you don’t find any of this funny, never mind!*
This is a scene from classic comedy show Only Fools and Horses. People describe this scene as “the bit when Del Boy falls through the bar”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63rcdLeXiU8&w=400&h=301]
This is a useful guide to the different kinds of pub you can find in London. Here’s a quick summary: Tourist Pubs – they’re bad because they’re really big, fake, the beer is flat, the food is stodgy. Old Man Pubs (often found in Soho or Mayfair, but anywhere in London really) are great because they’re quite small, authentic, have interesting interior design, friendly people (usually), cheaper, more relaxing, a good place to buy good ale, a good place for banter or intelligent conversation with locals. Hipster Hangouts (typical trendy pubs in East London) are where you find fashionable cutting-edge cool young people. Family Pubs can be found in quieter parts of London, e.g. the suburbs or areas near the river for example near Hammersmith Bridge, which is my neighbourhood. The Dove in Hammersmith that’s my local, and a great pub!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMrBcc5kdSE&w=560&h=315]
This is a home-made video. The commentator sounds like a cockney. See what happens when an American goes to a pub in the UK. He makes a few mistakes, the muppet. (‘Muppet’ is a cockney slang word meaning ‘idiot’ – it’s an affectionate insult)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XHyze2trng&w=420&h=315]
This is Al Murray The Pub Landlord. He is a comedy character based on the cliche of British pub landlords. He’s patriotic, small minded and ridiculous. He’s a horrible, stupid guy and that is the joke (yes, it’s weird British humour). One thing I should say – this character is a criticism of this kind of stupid character but also a kind of celebration too. It’s complicated.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyGgL_omNbI&w=420&h=315]
This clip is from a disgusting, rude and hilarious (in my opinion) BBC comedy called “Bottom”. The show is about two characters called Richie and Eddie. They are both sad lonely perverts who live in London. They are desperate to pick up some girls and ‘have it off’ with them, but they have absolutely no charm whatsoever. They have no luck with women. This is because they are stupid, sex-obsessed, completely unsophisticated and downright rude. In this episode they have bought some ‘sex spray’. This is a chemical which they believe will make them irresistibly attractive towards women. They go to the pub to try and pick up some ‘birds’. In fact, the spray doesn’t work at all. It only attracts dogs, which chase them through the street outside the pub. All their pathetic attempts to seduce the women fail miserably. Richie and Eddie are played by actors Rik Mayall and Ade Edmonson, who are two of the UK’s favourite TV comedy actors. Enjoy the clip, but watch out if you’re easily offended by very crass humour. It’s a rude show, but I love it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uVWlbh30HM&w=400&h=301]
A nostalgic and slightly sad documentary film about the decline of the pub in Britain.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ASxxiuCAcA&w=400&h=301]
Barack Obama drinks a pint of Guinness in a pub in Ireland (the best place to drink good Guinness). You might here them saying Slainte (pronounced Slanche), which what they say in Ireland before having a drink (like ‘cheers’ in the UK). Enjoy – and doesn’t it make you want a pint of Guinness?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5206QjFWmAk&w=400&h=233]

98. Luke vs Oliver (Part 2) Comparing and describing things

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We continue our discussion of various ‘vs battles’ in this episode, in order to present some descriptive language. Listen, and add your comments below!

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VS Battles in this episode:
Analogue vs Digital (Vinyl vs Digital)
Clock Time vs Experiential Time (What a weird discussion!)
McDonald’s vs Burger King
Red Sauce vs Brown Sauce
Book vs Kindle
Prince William vs Prince Harry
Gibson vs Fender
Tea vs Coffee
Cats vs Dogs
Indiana Jones vs Lara Croft
Football vs Rugby
Individualism vs Collectivism (not discussed)
Jason Bourne vs James Bond
Cowboys vs Aliens
Bear vs Shark
Pirates vs Ninjas
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7227_ndqQ&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJTF8wA5u6c&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU61xJJ-fTs&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRVCv-lXVrw&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt2Luu08f70&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVtCR5UQgsk&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dugipeVZtE&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA5ThymLbKQ&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlZyQylOKv4&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiTnVX_IRt0&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmupNxobP0&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfs2FRgp-ow&w=400&h=301]

97. Luke vs Oliver (Part 1) Comparing and describing things

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Listen to Luke and Oli as they discuss, compare and describe a variety of different topics, ideas, themes and people. The idea behind this episode is to compare and contrast different pairs of things, not only to decide which is the best, but also to explore them in great depth.

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The idea behind this episode is to compare and contrast different pairs of things, not only to decide which is the best, but also to explore them in great depth.

Here is a list of the things we compare in this episode. Feel free to contribute a transcript if you wish. Part 2 of this episode will be uploaded soon. Add your comments below ;)

‘Vs Battles’ in this episode:
Star Wars vs Lord of the Rings
Early Birds vs Night Owls
Simile vs Metaphor
Sean Connery vs Roger Moore
Apple vs Microsoft
Al Pacino vs Robert DeNiro
John Lennon vs Paul McCartney
Innovation vs Imitation
Coke vs Pepsi
The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones


[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbeXERfshNc&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1c6zF9aJxs&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lea3Ynnklm4&w=400&h=301]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeSdeQRbhPs
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkP56x8kxnU&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fqVwJs9UaY&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMo6o0BtFG8&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVjkgNaqlWE&w=400&h=301]

93. Weird… or just different? (with James & Aaron)

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This episode is all about cultural differences. When you visit another country, you sometimes feel that the lifestyle there is strange, but is it really strange? In most cases, what we perceive as being weird, strange or bizarre about another culture is in fact totally normal from their point of view. So, we should remember to be open minded about other cultures and see the differences between us as fascinating and fun, rather than strange or wrong.

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In this episode I talk to my brother James and our friend Aaron about customs, culture and behaviour from around the world and discuss the question: Is it weird, or is it just different? Our conversation is inspired by a TED video I saw by Derek Sivers entitled “Weird… or just different?”. You can watch the video of his presentation and read the transcript below.

You can find a list of the things we talk about below. Feel free to add your comments below. You can share your thoughts, ask questions or tell us what things you find interesting and different about other cultures. You don’t need to sign in to add comments.

I was not sure if I should upload this episode. This is because I felt the conversation was quite chaotic and I feel embarrassed about interrupting James and Aaron so much. Normally I don’t interrupt my friends so much, but in this episode I was trying to reach conclusions and I was trying to manage the conversation. I’ve decided to upload it anyway because I still believe it is interesting and good for your English!

James, Aaron and I are good friends and here (particularly in the middle) we talk quite fast and often talk over each other. In fact, interrupting other people in conversation is another interesting cultural trait. In some cultures people interrupt each other a lot, and conversations tend to be very noisy and chaotic. Other cultures tend to have less interruption as people wait for each other to stop talking before they start. Here in the UK we are somewhere in the middle, although close friends will often talk over each other and interrupt a lot, like in this conversation. Your challenge in this episode is to try to keep up! Imagine you are in the room and you’re trying to follow the conversation. You probably won’t catch everything. My advice is – don’t give up! Don’t worry about the bits that you can’t hear or can’t catch. Just move on and stay with the conversation. In the end, it will be more rewarding for you. In real life too, you don’t always understand everything – we just have to survive in a conversation by focussing on the parts we DO understand, and guess the rest. Enjoy the episode, feel free to leave comments below and make a donation if you would like to. Thanks.

Cultural behaviour we mention in this episode:
1. Kissing or hugging people when you meet them
2. Having two taps in the bathroom (I’m obsessed with this subject!)
3. Wearing school uniform
4. Having milk in tea
5. Having advertising which features nudity
6. Publicly criticising the government
7. Girls wearing mini-skirts in the middle of winter (e.g. in a queue for a night club)
8. Eating scorpions / spiders / toads / frogs
9. Hawking / spitting in the street
10. Smacking children
11. Killing animals before you eat them / Having animals killed as part of an industrialised food production process
There are many more things which we didn’t discuss in this podcast, so I must do a follow up episode in the future.

Derek Sivers’ TED Talk + transcript:
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
So, imagine you’re standing on a street anywhere in America and a Japanese man comes up to you and says,

“Excuse me, what is the name of this block?”

And you say, “I’m sorry, well, this is Oak Street, that’s Elm Street. This is 26th, that’s 27th.”

He says, “OK, but what is the name of that block?”

You say, “Well, blocks don’t have names. Streets have names; blocks are just the unnamed spaces in between streets.”

He leaves, a little confused and disappointed.

So, now imagine you’re standing on a street, anywhere in Japan, you turn to a person next to you and say,

“Excuse me, what is the name of this street?”

They say, “Oh, well that’s Block 17 and this is Block 16.”

And you say, “OK, but what is the name of this street?”

And they say, “Well, streets don’t have names. Blocks have names. Just look at Google Maps here. There’s Block 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. All of these blocks have names, and the streets are just the unnamed spaces in between the blocks.

And you say then, “OK, then how do you know your home address?”

He said, “Well, easy, this is District Eight. There’s Block 17, house number one.”

You say, “OK, but walking around the neighborhood, I noticed that the house numbers don’t go in order.”

He says, “Of course they do. They go in the order in which they were built. The first house ever built on a block is house number one. The second house ever built is house number two. Third is house number three. It’s easy. It’s obvious.”

So, I love that sometimes we need to go to the opposite side of the world to realize assumptions we didn’t even know we had, and realize that the opposite of them may also be true.

So, for example, there are doctors in China who believe that it’s their job to keep you healthy. So, any month you are healthy you pay them, and when you’re sick you don’t have to pay them because they failed at their job. They get rich when you’re healthy, not sick. (Applause)

In most music, we think of the “one” as the downbeat, the beginning of the musical phrase: one, two, three, four. But in West African music, the “one” is thought of as the end of the phrase, like the period at the end of a sentence. So, you can hear it not just in the phrasing, but the way they count off their music: two, three, four, one.

And this map is also accurate. (Laughter)

There’s a saying that whatever true thing you can say about India, the opposite is also true. So, let’s never forget, whether at TED, or anywhere else, that whatever brilliant ideas you have or hear, that the opposite may also be true. Domo arigato gozaimashita.

91. The A to Z of Random Thoughts (A Rambling Episode)

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This is probably the most random episode of the podcast so far, and certainly the longest. It’s about the same length as a football match, in fact, why not listen to this while watching an actual football match? It might make it more interesting.

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In this one, I didn’t have time to prepare very much because I am going on holiday tomorrow and I have to pack. However, I wanted to publish something tonight so I decided to go through the alphabet from A to Z and just think of words randomly, and then make a few comments about those words. You can see the words I mention below in a long list.

Please feel free to add your comments to this podcast episode. I’d really like you to contribute your thoughts.

I also give you an update to the competition I launched in the last episode. I have received a few mp3s but not as many as I expected. So, I’ve decided the change the rules of the competition. You can now send me emails with your responses to podcast episodes. Write no more than about 200 words in response to an episode. Please write the word ‘competition’ in the email so I know it is a competition entry. I will read out your emails on a podcast in the near future and then listeners can vote for their favourite mp3 or email response. The winner will get the Phrasal Verbs dictionary.

Here’s the A to Z list I talk about in this episode. There are also some videos at the bottom for you to check out. Have fun, and please donate some money (even a small amount helps) so I don’t lose out by doing this podcast. Your donations make this podcast possible. If you’d like to donate, click the button below. It’s easy and PayPal is a very safe and secure way of transferring money online (you can use it for eBay and other stuff too)…

A to Z
Remember that I just wrote these words down randomly in a couple of minutes. In the podcast I talk about these things. There’s no overall theme. It’s just a random collection of ideas, all improvised into the microphone.
Action
Ambition
Business
Batman
Comedy
Destruction
Deserve
Dogs
Elephants
Eggs
Easter
French
Germany
Greece
Gravy
Hamburgers
Health
Hicks (Bill Hicks)
Holidays
Ice-cream
Igloo
iPad
James
Jimi Hendrix
Jazz
Jogging
Jobs (Steve)
Keith Richards
Keith Moon
Kissing
Luke/luck/look
Luck
Lazy
Lemon and Lime
Lennon (John)
Mum
Maths
Monopoly
Nose
Orange Juice
Obstacles
Opportunities
Police (crime fighters)/ The Police (rock band)
Pressure
The Queen (monarch) / Queen (rock band)
Qualifications
Questions
Respect
Remember/Remind
<b>Random</b>
Stones (Rolling)
Stone (in your shoe)
Stupid
Sorry
Trailers
Trees
Underwear
Underground
Violence
Women’s day
Wookie
Why?
Xylophone
X-Men / ex-men
X-Box
Yesterday
Yes
Yellow
Zebra
Zoo
Zen

Batman’s night out in Toronto
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLOps4qA5rM&w=400&h=233]

89. A Day In The Life (The vocabulary of everyday routines)

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A vocabulary episode in which I explain all the actions in a normal day.

Right-click here to download this episode.

Introduction
I got an email today from a woman in Russia. She said it can be easy to talk about big topics like politics but what’s hard is explaining simple actions in detail. So I’m going to describe a typical day in my life, in great detail.

There will be lots of vocabulary, but this episode is not planned. Vocabulary will come up and the context should make it clear what I’m talking about. I will also write many things I say on this page, below. That’s just an example of how much work goes into an episode of Luke’s English Podcast. I have to have the idea, record it, edit it, upload it, listen again and note down vocab, post it, promote it. It might take the whole evening. Bear in mind I’ve got to eat, speak to my girlfriend, do the laundry.

It’s hard to please everybody. I get messages all the time with comments and requests. Some typical comments are generally positive. People seem to love the podcast. Some people still have comments though, and say episodes are too long. That’s normally teachers who want to use parts of the podcast in class. I’d recommend you check out my mini podcasts on Audioboo. You can click the link on the top right hand corner of my homepage http://teacherluke.podomatic.com .

Some people say the podcasts are not long enough and they want more! Some like it when I don’t plan and just let it happen naturally. Others prefer structure and focus. Some don’t like it if I repeat explanations too much because it’s unnecessary and sometimes the explanations are more complex than the words I’m explaining! I think you have to explain vocabulary sometimes. Others really appreciate my descriptions and definitions. Some people really need a transcript and others don’t seem to even look at the page.

Some people love the range of different accents you can hear in the interviews that I’ve used, and some people prefer to just listen to my voice because they like the accent I have. Some people like me to interrupt the recordings with explanations, and others prefer to just listen to it uninterrupted. Some people like it when I’m joined by my brother or cousin and other people just like to hear me on my own.

Basically, I’m going to do it my way! It might not always be perfect, but true perfection is almost impossible. So, IT’S MY WAY OR THE HIGH WAY!

Trust me, I do know what I’m doing – more than anyone else – I know what I’m doing and I’m in charge! So, that’s that.

The podcast used to be a little hobby on the side for me but now it’s a genuinely fruitful way to teach. There are limitations, like I can’t see you or hear you, there are no pictures and no whiteboard for me to write on but I always dreamed of having my own radio show and now I’m doing it.

I got over 4,000 downloads in just one day recently. I keep meeting students who already know me through the podcast. This is fun.

VOCABULARY
So now, let me take you through a typical day. The following passages are just NOTES which I’ve written which cover many of the new expressions and vocabulary I use. It’s not a complete transcript. I recommend that you use a dictionary such as the Cambridge Online Advanced Learners Dictionary http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ or the Macmillan Dictionary http://www.macmillandictionary.com/ to check new words.

I will wake up and I get woken up by my alarm clock. It comes on at 6.30 in the morning. I’d lean over and put it on sleep. I put it on sleep again and I go back to sleep. I’ve had enough I’m going to get up. I pull back the duvet and get out of bed and I’m usually like a zombie, I’m yawning, staggering through the living room to get to the toilet.

Open the door by turning the handle. Grip the handle and turn it. Pull the door. I turn on the tap and I drink loads of water directly from the tap. I pull the curtain across and I let the shower run for a few minutes to let the water heat up. I give myself a wash. Get some soap to create a lather. I clean behind my ears. Squeezing out some shampoo and then rubbing that in my hair. Rinse my hair. Use a towel to dry myself off. I normally have to iron a shirt first. It’s one of my pet hates. Lay the shirt across the ironing board. Move it forwards and backwards and that irons out all the creases. Iron the sleeves and the collars and you can look a bit RESPECTABLE. Sometimes I tuck my shirt in.

I do like cereal. My favourite thing is to make a cereal cocktail. Let the cereal absorb some of the milk. One thing that always surprises me is that at the bottom of the bowl there’s always more milk than there is cereal at the end. I put my shoes on. Tying up the laces with a loop or a double loop. I press the button to call the lift. It can be a little bit awkward. You don’t really want to make conversation because it’s really awkward. Moving one foot first and then putting your body weight onto it and you keep going forwards in that kind of motion until you get to your destination. We’ve got some kind of balance perception in your ear.

While I’m walking I love to listen to music. I put it on random. I put the audio jack into the mp3 player. I lean against a lamp post while I wait for the bus to arrive. I might go on twitter or something. First I have to unlock the phone. Press the button in the top left hand corner. Move the control pad to move the cursor around until you get to the application you want to launch. Click the button to launch the application. Scroll through all the messages.

I get my oyster card. I beep the oyster card onto a sensor and that automatically deducts about £1 from my account. Make sure I keep my hand on the hand rail. Sit there and daydream. I have to go onto my teaching mode. I’m in a bit of a rush and the stress starts. Looking in my material bank. Lots of lesson materials, I must have hundreds of different lessons in there. Photocopying double sided with a staple in the top left corner and punching holes on the document with a hole punch.

I write down a list of things I’m going to do step by step. The first item on the list is ‘hello’. I like to test the students a little bit by engaging them in some natural conversation. If Sungin is on the ball he’ll say “i’m doing fine”. Then I get the ball rolling. That will bring up different things like error correction. Then you go through it and that helps you to deal with bits of grammar. You then have a whole white board full of lexis and you then start rubbing out little words. Can they come up with some examples?

I queue up and get my lunch. I sit down with my colleagues. You kind of spike a potato with a fork and hold it in place and use a knife to cut the potato in half. You start to chew. YOu really mash up the food. I wolf my food down. I need food because I’ve got a high metabolism and I digest food really quickly.

Get home, get into my apartment, slide the key into the lock and turn it. One of the first things I might do is make myslelf a cup of tea. I probably surf youtube or something. Check out all the different pages I’m on. I probably cook something. Probably some pasta. Spaghetti bolognese. I’d have to have some minced beef in the fridge. I’d get the pan out and chop up some garlic, chop it up fine with a knife. Dice the onion. Slice it up and chop up all the slices into cubes. Fry the onions and the garlic until the onions go green and transparent. Simmer the onions on the hotplate. Allow it to cook a bit until it’s clear or see-through. Cook it until the meat is just about going brown or grey, so you’ve seared most of the meat. Then you can add tomatoes and you mash them up. Tomato puree. Squeeze it into the beef, and you let that simmer, you can add a dash of red wine, let it simmer and reduce. Stick it on the hotplate and allow it to boil. Maybe add a pinch of salt. Get your spaghetti, put it into the pan and push it into the water. Leave that until it’s boiled. Fish out a length of spaghetti with a fork. You don’t want to burn your mouth. Pull the spaghetti out. If it sticks to the wall, it’s edible. You fish it out and you drain all the water out. Stick your fork in and start turning the fork with a spoon and that allows you to wrap all the spaghetti on the fork.

Sometimes I’ll lie in bed and I’ll read a book. I drift off into a dream. I like to daydream. I completely fall asleep and drift off into deep sleep.

87. Six Idioms and Six Phrasal Verbs (with Oli)

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I chat to Oli about the news and teach you 6 idioms and 6 phrasal verbs. For a list of the phrasal verbs and idioms see below. Thanks for downloading!

Small Donate ButtonRight-click here to download.

I still haven’t received the Macmillan Phrasal Verb Dictionary by the way. When I receive it I will let you know.

The 6 Phrasal Verbs
(Luke’s phrasal verbs all begin with the letter L)
To lapse into something “I lapsed into a dream” -to go down into a different state
To let up “The snow just doesn’t let up” -to stop
To lust after something “They always lust after a big news story in the paper” -to really want something in a sexual way
To lash out at something “They lash out at criticism” -to react aggressively to something
To leaf through something “It’s nice to have a cup of tea and leaf through the paper” -to slowly turn the pages of a book or paper
To laugh something off “They just laugh off the criticism” -to deal with criticism by just laughing about it

The 6 Idioms
(Oli’s begin with the letter M)
To be no match for someone/something “This boxer is no match for Mike Tyson” -he’s not as good as Mike Tyson
To take matters into your own hands “He took matters into his own hands” -to take control of a situation yourself
To get a dose of your own medicine “He’s going to get a dose of his own medicine tonight” -to experience for yourself bad things which you normally do to others”
To take a trip down memory lane “Looking at those old photos made me take a trip down memory lane” -to make you remember something
To make a mental note “When you have an iPhone you don’t need to make a mental note” -to remember something
To take the mickey out of someone “They kept taking the mickey out of me for my new haircut” -to make fun of someone, to tease someone

84. Luke’s English Braincast (with James)

1 Reply

Why is it called Luke’s English Braincast? Listen to the episode until the end to find out.

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Contents
What’s been going on? What’s been happening? In this episode, Luke and James talk about recent news stories and current affairs including:
– The London Olympic Games
– The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
– The Superbowl
– Charles Dickens 200th Anniversary
– The Oscars 2012
– Women drivers
and a number of other fascinating topics! You will find a list of some vocabulary used in the show below. Just scroll down the page, listen to the episode and learning will occur!

You can also hear Luke’s award acceptance speech. I’m now going to shut up about the award!

DICTIONARY UPDATE
Fans of my Facebook page have voted for The Macmillan Phrasal Verbs Dictionary as their prize. So, I will let Macmillan know and then they will send me that dictionary. When I have received it, I will organise some kind of competition so that YOU have a chance to win it from me.

VOCABULARY
Are you a learner of English? Do you like natural English vocabulary? Do you like games? Do you think the world would be a better place if we all stopped taking ourselves so seriously all the time? Well, here’s a great new game you can play to improve your English. It’s called VOCAB HUNTER (in 3D). It’s not actually in 3D but that sounds better than just VOCAB HUNTER! Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking – how do I play this fascinating game which is called VOCAB HUNTER (in 3D)? Well, simply look at the list of vocab + definitions below while you listen to this episode of Luke’s English Podcast. Whenever you hear a piece of vocab being used by Luke or his brother James, just SHOOT that item (mentally if you don’t have a laser gun or you don’t want to damage your computer) and move on to the next piece of vocab. That’s it. Could you be the best vocab hunter in the world? Can you identify and SHOOT (please don’t actually do any real shooting – just look at the vocab on the screen and say “OK” or “got it” or something) each piece of vocab as you see it? Are you ready to become the world’s greatest VOCAB HUNTER??? There’s only one way to find out, so listen to the conversation between Luke & James, and identify the vocab in this list: (please try to contain your excitement)

This list contains extracts from this podcast. I have typed these bits because I think they contain some phrases, expressions or words that I think you might not know. Use an online dictionary like the Macmillan Online Dictionary or The Cambridge Online Dictionary to get definitions.

James: You shouldn’t be so humble about these things
Luke: Sarcasm

Luke: I won a dictionary
James: We get that. Not that I’m putting that down, it’s a great achievement.

James: I think I’ve heard enough about the dictionary now. That’s all I’m saying. You might have milked that one a bit too much.
Luke: I might have over-egged the pudding

Luke: Which film did you see?
James: I saw ‘Young Adult’
Luke: ‘Young Adult’ – it sounds dodgy

James: Let’s talk about the news. That’s what I’m here for. To cast my expert eye over the week’s events across the media.
Luke: OK what have you come across? What news stories have you come across?

Luke: …the Olympic bid…

Luke: On one hand…  all the countries in the world take part and it’s an amazing celebration, but on the other hand London is such a crowded place that it could become an absolute nightmare.

James: Also, during what’s becoming a recession, isn’t it just a massive waste of money? When there’s people having their benefits taken away from them, councils have less and less money to spend on basic services, and the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer, do you really need this pointless festival of sport?

Luke: Ooh let’s see who can run the fastest! In a way, that question is now redundant because we’ve got cars and bicycles.

James: If we had money coming out of our ears and we were very very rich and there was no problems with poverty in this country, which is never going to happen, but if we were living in a sort of utopia, then great, have a festival of sport, but otherwise I just think it’s a complete waste of money.

James: And also I thought the Olympics were supposed to be a very non-commercial event.

Luke: …they are promoting sport by making kids fat, allegedly.

Luke: …but it’s all revenue though isn’t it? It’s all revenue to the government.

James: There has been a lot of regeneration of East London because they want the area to look nice for international visitors, to show off to make London look nice. And in some ways that’s good, and they talk about the legacy, that’s kind of a catchphrase… …it’s not just about the event it’s about the legacy.

James: …a lone wolf terrorist…

James: Let’s move on to the next topic. We’ve cleared that one up.
Luke: We’ve done the Olympics.

James: The best one is when they get on the tube with a massive rucksack on and the tube doors close on their rucksack and they’re basically pinned to the door, trapped like a sort of scared animal and it’s very very funny. Tourists, keep doing that because it really brightens up my day.

Luke: I saw it the other day I saw a Japanese family dithering by the doors of a crowded underground train.

Luke: He was probably pleased because he probably thought “now I can go and get pissed” or something

Luke: Anyway let’s not be too down on the tourists because … we welcome tourists in London.

James: I found myself taking a photo of a van, just an ordinary van

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

James: I’d want to stay in bed. I wouldn’t relish that thought.

James: No wonder she’s such a heavy drinker. It’s a well known fact. She hits the sherry by about half eleven most days, by midday she’s onto her second or third. By ,idnight she is hammered.

James: Queen Victoria used to take it.
Luke: She had period pains and arthritis pains

James: I just made that up. I’m lying.

Luke: Mick Jagger is Sir Mick Jagger. He’s a Knight of the Realm.
James: What, for ‘services to paedophilia’?
Luke: Woa there! Where are all these allegations coming from?
James: Sorry I’m just a bit bored today. I’m just trying to liven it up.

The Queen’s Honours; e.g. OBE, CBE, Knighthood

James: cheering on a bunch of knuckleheaded…
Luke: …knuckleheaded sportsmen in armour

James: All you need to play American football is a bloody massive pitch, these weird upside-down goal things
Luke: You can play American football in a park
James: Yeah but not the full game. Not the full contact sport game, because you’d break your neck wouldn’t you. They need all that padding just in order to have a little kick around. You can play touch football I suppose but that’s not the actual game.

James: I used to get into them in the 80s. They used to show them on channel 4.

James: It’s just quite easy to take the mick out of really isn’t it.
Luke: We like making fun
James: Mocking people
Luke: Mocking Americans

James: It’s the screaming and the pointlessness of it all, and the crushing depression
Luke: You’re really negative today. You need to lighten up. Be more positive.

They start talking about the performance at superbowl this year with Madonna and MIA.

James: (About MIA) Her Dad used to be a Tamil Tiger.
Luke: She’s a musician from Sri Lanka

James: “and halfway through the performance she flipped the bird”

James: Not that shocking you might think but apparently people are upset about it… pre-watershed, Christians and that…

James: We’re being a bit mean
Luke: …a bit crazy today
James: a bit crass

James: Co)incidentally her new single’s out today… it’s a publicity stunt… we’re clever enough to say “we don’t care” “we don’t give a toss”.

James: it was okay. Out of ten I’d give it a five.
Luke: She sampled The Clash in that song. That’s the best bit of the song.
James: Mmm, they should have just not sampled the clash and just played The Clash.
Luke: I can play a bit of that song
James: Let’s not bother
Luke: If you’re listening, it’s called “Paper Planes” by MIA

Dickens’ 200th Anniversary

Luke: He was quite a good person
James: He was quite into social reform

James: People talk about things being ‘Dickensian’

Luke: The cliche that London is very old, dark, grey, foggy, smokey, and with lots of gap-toothed urchins, chimney sweeps, basically Charles Dickens…
James: Put that into the popular consciousness

The Oscars:
Luke: The ladies love George (Clooney). He’s often voted the sexiest man in the world, even though he is going grey, he’s got a few grey hairs going on but the ladies still seem to think he’s wonderful. My girlfriend for example, rather annoyingly, still loves George Clooney
James: Bit of jealousy there

Luke: Basically, The Oscars is Hollywood’s way of promoting its assets (itself).

“George Clooney always looks like he’s in an advert for George Clooney” Geoff Dyer in The Times

James: Oh that reminds me, have you seen the trailer for the new Tom Hanks film?

Luke: We don’t really like that kind of cheese in England
James: I hate that kind of really over the top, sentimentality

James: We like understatement. Not everyone, I can’t speak for the whole bloody country
Luke: We do like understatement though, and we prefer it when people aren’t so earnest like that, “well gee Dad I sure love you!”, instead in England it’s a bit like ” you know Dad, you’re alright”
James: Yeah; we’d prefer that. I’d well up at that

Luke: We tend to hide behind jokes. We’re diseased, we’ve got a disease, it’s called a sense of humour. We use it to cover up our awkwardness

James: It’s like Ricky Gervais (said), you’ve got to do a movie about the holocaust,
Luke: A movie about an idiot or a movie about the holocaust is the best way to win an oscar
James: Play a disabled or a jew
Luke: Woa there!!!
James: That’s his words, not mine

Women Drivers
Luke: Women just use a car to go from A to B… They don’t value driving as a way of proving themselves

Luke: The cliche is that women can’t park a car… Surveillance of car parks around Britain, CCTV surveillance around Britain in car parks has revealed that while women take longer than men to get their cars into small spaces, they do it more skillfully. They actually do it more successfully. So all these security cameras all over the country have…
James: Well, the ones that are left and haven’t been crashed into by women
Luke: Ha ha very funny. These security cameras have revealed that women may park more slowly but they do it more successfully.

The stupidest thief
James: There are some very deranged people out there, very disturbed people out there. You should probably say you read that from The Week didn’t you.

Cold weather
James: What disturbed me is, the night of the cold snap, I can’t remember what country it was, like 40 homeless people died, or more, like loads and loads of homeless people died. It’s just such a horrible thought that people haven’t got a home to go to and when it gets that cold you just die.
That’s all I have time to do at the moment. Listeners – if you have some time to kill then please transcribe the last 10mins of this episode and send it to me at luketeacher@hotmail.com
For now, it’s good night.

Now it’s time to say good night
Good night Sleep tight
Now the sun turns out his light
Good night Sleep tight
Dream sweet dreams for me
Dream sweet dreams for you.
Close your eyes and I’ll close mine
Good night Sleep tight
Now the moon begins to shine
Good night Sleep tight
Dream sweet dreams for me
Dream sweet dreams for you.
Close your eyes and I’ll close mine
Good night Sleep tight
Now the sun turns out his light
Good night Sleep tight
Dream sweet dreams for me
Dream sweet dreams for you.
Good night Good night Everybody
Everybody everywhere
Good night.