Category Archives: News

864. A Winter Ramble ❄️ Learn English with LEP

Join me as I talk without a script about lovely cold weather ❄️ being too lazy to wash my cups 🍵 feeling exhausted because my son won’t sleep 👶😮‍💨 New Year’s Eve celebrations 🛋 performing stand up comedy to 4200 people 🎤 a recommended YouTube channel about adventurous missions in the UK countryside 🥾 and recent horror films I’ve seen 🙀.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]


GeoWizard’s Mission Across Wales #1 👇

862. WORLD NEWS QUIZ 2023 Part 2 (with Stephen from SEND7 Podcast)

[2/2] Stephen from the Simple English News Daily podcast asks me questions about news events from this year. This is part 2 of a 2-part episode.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

*Edits – On reflection, I decided to remove questions 11 and 12 because they were about the war in Ukraine and I think the tone of our conversation was not appropriate considering the solemnity of the situation. I regret not expressing my sincere condolences for the victims of the war. Question 11 was about Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and question 12 was about the % of land in Ukraine occupied by Russian forces at the end of 2023 (20%).

851. Rambling about The Beatles “Now and Then” 🎸

A listener left a comment on my website asking for my thoughts on the new Beatles song which was released last week, and I was happy to ramble about it for 45 mins. Listen to hear me give my thoughts and tell several stories related to what is being described as “the last Beatles song”. First I talk for about 10 minutes about burning down my apartment and my thoughts on the content I make for this podcast, and then I start talking about The Beatles until the end of the episode. To skip straight to the Beatles bit, go forward to about 12 minutes into the episode.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/HodVrx34ihQ

847. RANDOM TOPIC GENERATOR (A 1-Hour Rambling Episode)

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…

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

Random Topic Generator 👉 https://capitalizemytitle.com/random-topic-generator/

845. Using ChatGPT as a Language Teaching Tool 🤖 with JOE DALE, EdTech Guru, ChatGPT Enthusiast

TECH TALK! A conversation with Joe Dale (modern foreign language teaching consultant, EdTech guru) about the use of ChatGPT in English teaching and learning. Lots of recommendations, tips and tricks for saving time and combining ChatGPT with other software including Google Chrome extensions.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/ulHD3aI-Cts

Links, etc

Online Communities that Joe mentioned

Google Chrome Extentions

  • Magical – a tool which helps you to write text without having to write it out each time. Useful if you tend to write the same thing a lot, over and over. 
  • Canned Replies – similar to Magical 
  • Voice Control for ChatGPT – Speech to text, text to speech. This basically adds a microphone input option for ChatGPT and also converts ChatGPT’s responses into spoken word.
  • Use Immersive Reader on Websites – this can read out a text for you in spoken word
  • YouTube Summary with ChatGPT & Claude – summarises YouTube videos (but I question its ability to do this well enough – it doesn’t always realise which things are part of an introduction, which things are side points, and which things are the main points)
  • EdPuzzle – quickly turn YouTube videos into comprehension exercises (convenient for teachers)

Other useful software

  • ClozeIt – a Google Docs extension which creates gap-fills from texts
  • Wheel of Names – wheelofnames.com – a spinning wheel which randomly chooses items from a list
  • Microsoft Lens (part of Microsoft Tools) – allows you to scan text from a photo, and then export the text to other software
  • Reading Coach (in Immersive Reader in Microsoft Tools in Microsoft Office 365) – reads (out loud) to text you have scanned, listens to you speaking and then gives you feedback on your pronunciation/speaking and you can compare your speaking with the model speech
  • AudioPen.ai – allows you to record quick voice notes, which it then transcribes and neatly summarises for you

My previous episodes about ChatGPT

842. A Pre-Baby Summertime Ramble ☀️👶

Hang out with me for an unscripted and unedited ramble about things like engaging moments while English teaching, how it feels to be about to become a father again, a funny new recording of my daughter speaking English, some recent films I’ve seen, and a recording of me doing stand-up comedy in front of an audience recently.

Small Donate Button[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/bskYld1hlTs

How are you? 🙂 Leave a comment below👇


The films I mentioned in this episode 🎬 🎬 🎬

  • Guardians of the Galaxy 3
  • The VVitch
  • Hereditary
  • Spiderman Across the Spiderverse
  • Mission Impossible 3 – 6
  • Top Gun Maverick
  • Sorcerer

My conversation with Antony Rotunno about the film Sorcerer

838. A 3-Hour Mega-Ramble / Reflecting on a Wonderful Spring Day in Paris

This is the longest episode of LEP so far, and it’s a solo ramble. Relax, follow my words, hang out with me for 3 hours, get stranded on a desert island of the imagination, and then get rescued. Includes a haircut, a sleep and a t-shirt change during the episode.

Small Donate Button[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

PDF Script / Notes for this episode 👇

824. The Coronation of King Charles III (with Mum & Dad) The Rick & Gill Thompson Report

Talking to my parents about the coronation ceremony of King Charles III which happened in Westminster, London on Saturday 6 May. Includes descriptions of the ceremony and discussion of some of the issues related to it, plus a few dodgy jokes along the way 👑.

Small Donate Button[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

Listen to the audio version for 15+ minutes extra rambling from Luke at the end! ☝️

820. A Springtime Ramble 🌷🌸 Learn English with LEP

Rambling on my own about getting stuck in a time-loop 🔁, protests and strikes in Paris 🔥, the arrival of child 2 👶, and more.

Small Donate Button[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/Kx7ZQme7_L8

Tony Kaizen interviews Luke on his podcast

Michael McIntyre talks about having children