In 2009 I did a solo travelling experience around Vietnam 🇻🇳 and I wrote a diary while I was there. In this episode, over 16 years later, I read out the diary, follow my descriptions of each part of my trip, explore how I was feeling at that time of my life, go off on some comedy and English teaching tangents, and take a journey into the past, across a very different country.
Here is an adorable episode with my adorable daughter. In this one, we discuss various absurd questions and end up improvising chats between odd socks, speculating about spaghetti hair, analysing the weaknesses of the human body, considering the importance of sleep, looking at the fear of long words, analysing completely mad nursery rhymes in English and French, speculating about societies run by ducks or cats, being painted by Leonardo DaVinci, and describing the dreams of dogs. All in a normal day spent chatting with my daughter.
This is a natural, funny and heart-warming English conversation full of real spoken English, perfect for English learners who want to improve their listening skills, vocabulary, pronunciation and fluency.
A funny conversation about food, cooking & eating habits, with my friend Martin. Why is British food a bit of a joke? Do French people have the right to criticise British cuisine? What is marmite, and why don’t Brits just throw it away? What did Luke eat for lunch every single day during secondary school? And, who would be Luke’s dream dinner party guests? All that and more, in a conversation full of tangents, recipes, rants and apologies, and a nice range of vocabulary expressions to spot. Enjoy! PDF Transcript available.
Martin’s previous appearance on LEP 👇
[984] English listening practice in the form of an authentic conversation about ghosts and the paranormal. Returning guest Anna Brooke returns to talk about her latest book “Death by Chocolate” which is inspired by various spooky and unexplained experiences she has had recently, including a suspected haunting of her apartment, poltergeist activity, cold and creepy atmospheres, sightings of spirits and more strange encounters. Anna describes these experiences and we have a discussion about the paranormal. A premium episode with vocabulary review is available for premium subscribers. PDF transcript also available.
Have you ever had a weird, creepy, frightening or unexplainable experience? Tell us about it! Send your description (email, comments section of this episode). Anna and I will judge the entries and choose the one we like the best. The winner will receive a copy of Anna’s new book. I will also read out descriptions on the podcast!
Practise your listening in English with a fascinating conversation with a writer of haiku poetry in English. John Stevenson is one of the world’s leading English language haiku poets, and in this episode I had the pleasure of talking to him for an hour. John taught me more about haiku and senryu poetry, revealed how he first became interested in haiku, and then was willing to discuss various haiku poems he has written over the years, giving details of what real events inspired them, what they mean and more about his process of writing haiku in English. I hope this episode is fascinating and inspiring. Keep listening because it becomes more and more revealing as it continues. John was a pleasure to talk to and I think this is the perfect conclusion to the trilogy of episodes I have done on this subject on the podcast recently.
In this episode I discuss optimism and pessimism, what forms our outlook on life, which is healthier, how we talk about optimism and pessimism in English and which perspective helps you learn English more effectively. Expect some discussion, science, vocabulary, advice for learning English and a few jokes thrown in for good measure. PDF available.
Get the episode PDF with all my notes and questions 👇
[980] Practise listening to British English conversation and enjoy some complaining, ranting and funny anecdotes in this episode based on the concept of a popular BBC TV chat show. My guest is Charlie Baxter from The British English Podcast. Charlie has chosen 3 things which he wants to be locked inside the mythical “Room 101” 🚪 an imaginary place where all the things you hate in the world are stored forever. What would Charlie like to remove from the world to be kept inside this room? And what is the shocking revelation about a certain popular British English YouTuber 👩🏫that could break the internet? 🤔
Following my chat with my mum last week, now it’s my dad’s turn! In this episode my plan was to ask my dad lots of questions about his life, and to listen to him talking about the various choices, moments and experiences he has had. The result is another deep chat about family history, and my dad’s life story. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it. Full transcript available.
Get the full episode transcript 👇
[977] Recently I visited my parents at their home, and while I was there I took the time to record conversations with them both. This first one is with my mum. I asked her questions about her life story, our family history, her memories of growing up and so many other things that I was curious about. The result is this recording. I hope you will find that it is not only good for your English listening practice, but also fascinating and absorbing as a piece of personal history. Full transcript available.
Get the PDF transcript here 👇
[974] In this episode I read out lots of haiku poems, explain their meaning, discuss what they make me think and feel, and use them to teach you some vocabulary. The haikus I read include some traditional Japanese ones translated into English, plus more modern ones written in English by writers from around the world. Some of these haikus are meditative, some are sad, some are funny and some find a way to capture feelings that are otherwise difficult to put into words.