A particularly useful and interesting episode for you today – a conversation about English words which are very similar, but crucially, not the same. My guest Eli Burnstein is the author of “Dictionary of Fine Distinctions” – a book which aims to bring clarity to English words. Expect a funny discussion about subtle shades of meaning between words like poison & venom, accuracy & precision, envy & jealousy and many others. Eli is Canadian, now living in London and so he also shares some key features of Canadian English.
Improve your English and reduce stress with this unique ASMR-style episode ☁️ 🧘. Join me for a relaxing, meditative journey featuring calm background music, softly spoken English, vocabulary for peace and tranquillity, some grammar practice, and gentle humour. Designed to help you learn English naturally while calming your mind, this episode is ideal for listening in bed, during quiet study, or or on a peaceful walk. Includes ambient music by my brother Jim Thompson. ASMR English, learn English while relaxing, calming English podcast, mindfulness, ESL listening practice with humour. Episode transcript available.
Recently I was thinking about how podcasts must be good for your mental health, and how this could be connected to the tradition of collective oral communication, and how this has been central to human psychological and cultural development over the years. So, I made this podcast episode about it. Expect discussion of culture, history, psychology and communication, with plenty of vocabulary explained. Detailed PDF available.
Join me for a quiz about some curious stories from the news this year (2024). Stephen Devincenzi from the SEND7 Podcast is the quizmaster for the third year running, and has prepared questions that will test my knowledge of some of the slightly less serious global news stories this year. Can you beat me in the quiz? Listen to find out.
1. The world’s richest person – Elon Musk – has got a lot of companies. One of them is Neuralink. What does it do?
2. Before 2024, 4 countries had landed spacecrafts on the moon – The United States, The Soviet Union, China, and in 2023, India. Which country became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, in January 2024?
3. In June and July the Euro 2024 Football Tournament took place in Germany. Spain were the winners, and one of their players broke the record for being the youngest player to play in a Euros tournament, and score in a Euros tournament, when he scored against France in the semi-final, aged just 16. What was his name?
4. In July and August, the Olympics took place in Paris. Why was the Men’s Triathlon event delayed by one day?
5. Staying at the Olympics, in one event, these two participants were spoken about as being the ‘coolest’ Olympians.
The first person is Kim Yeji, from South Korea, and she is wearing a backwards baseball cap and some interesting technical eye gear over her eyes. Over her right eye there’s a black monocle, and over her right eye there’s just a square which would block her vision from that eye completely. And the second person is Yusuf Dikec from Turkey. He is just wearing normal glasses. What sport did they participate in?
6. In July, millions of windows computers crashed around the world. This affected all types of businesses, most notably government services, airports and hospitals, and is believed to have cost the world $10 billion dollars. What caused the problem?
(a) A faulty security update (b) a cyber attack (c) Broken undersea cables (d) A fire at an important server
7. One animal, which is considered vulnerable to extinction has seen some positive trends over the last 25 years. Before the growing number of humans, there were probably over 25 million of this animal, however today there are only just over 400,000. The good news is that this population seems to have stabilised and even grown a little bit over the last 25 years, mostly because of conservation efforts. What animal am I talking about?
8. A baby hippopotamus went viral this year a few months after being born in Thailand, and caused a massive surge in visitors to the Khao Kheow Zoo. She is called ‘Moo Deng’. What does Moo Deng mean? (A) Dirty cat (B) Bouncy pork (C ) Sticky chicken (D) Spicy pigeon
9. The price of chocolate has risen dramatically in the last two years all around the world, because of a rising cocoa bean prices. The price of cocoa beans has doubled over the last year, so, unfortunately, the price that we all pay for chocolate is probably going to keep on rising. Heavy rain and other poor conditions have made bad cocoa harvest in the two countries in west Africa that produce most of the world’s cocoa. Can you name one of these two countries?
10. The world’s biggest cruise ship, the Icon of the Seas, launched this year, and made its maiden voyage, after being christened by Lionel Messi. How big is the Icon of the Seas?
A – 160 metres long with a capacity for 4,000 people (about a quarter are crew) B – 260 metres long with a capacity for 7,000 people C – 360 metres long with a capacity for 10,000 people D – 460 metres long with a capacity for 15,000 people
11. Donald Trump became the first President in over a hundred years to win a non-consecutive term as president, after winning in 2016 and losing in 2020. By what percentage of votes did Trump beat Kamala Harris?
A) 1.5% B) 3% C) 4.5% D) He didn’t – She got more votes than him, but he won the presidency anyway because of the electoral college system.
12. Sticking to elections, around half of the world’s population lives in countries that voted in 2024. Can you name 5 countries that held elections in 2024? I’ll allow you to name 6 so that you can get one wrong if necessary.
13. Which European country legalized cannabis this year?
14. In The United States and Canada throughout 2024 two rappers have been involved in what has been called the biggest rap battle since the feud between Biggie and Tupac in the 1990s. Can you name either of the two rappers involved in this rap feud of 2024?
15. In October, Claudia Sheinbaum became the first female President of which country?
16. To which Caribbean country has Kenya sent its police force, to try to to help fight against gang violence?
17. What record high price did bitcoin pass on December 4th?
18. Taylor Swift finished her Eras Tour a few weeks ago, after performing 149 shows, over 21 months, in 5 continents. The Eras tour is the highest-earning tour of any musician ever. How much money did it make? The answer is a 2 with a certain number of zeros.
19. In November, Australia’s parliament voted to make Australia the first country to make which limit to social media? The new law will come into effect next year.
20. In November, a piece of art called “Comedian” by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan was sold for $6.2 million dollars. Can you describe the artwork?
Talking to author Anna Brooke about her book Monster Stink, the sequel to Monster Bogey (Chicken House publishing). Anna is a travel writer and author of books for children. She is a great storyteller, and in this episode she talks about her fun new book for kids, which involves dangerous gas. This leads to a new topic for the podcast; farting! We teach you the most important vocabulary for this tricky subject, and then Anna tells some chilling stories about real supernatural encounters she has had. Not farts, but similar – ghosts!
How about some English rambling at Christmas time? ChatGPT (who can speak now) helps me with some questions and ideas, and I ramble about Christmas plans, traditions, post-gift melancholy, upcoming episodes, how to do a King Charles impression, and more…
In this episode you will be able to listen to a conversation with Cara Leopold all about films.
If you are a long-term listener to this podcast, then you will know Cara. She’s been on this show a few times before.
Just in case you need a reminder, Cara is an English teacher from the UK, currently living in France, and she loves films and uses them to help people learn English. In fact she is the creator of the Leo Listening Movie Club, where she helps advanced, film-loving English learners understand and discuss iconic movies together in order to master conversational English.
Cara Loves films. I love films too, who doesn’t? We all love films, don’t we? And it’s very common to talk about films we’ve seen.
Are you able to do that in English?
I want you to think about what is involved in having a conversation about films in English.
When we talk about films, we do a number of things, including:
Summarising the plot or story of the film
Describing the main characters
Talking about actors and their performances,
Talking about directors and they way films are directed, edited, locations, effects and music.
Giving our opinions about films, including the things we like and don’t like
Discussing the meaning of films, and any social, historical or personal issues which are connected to them.
How do we do those things in English? Are you familiar with the language of cinema and the language of talking about films?
What I want to do with this episode is let you listen to a natural conversation (one that isn’t scripted in advance) about films in order to let you hear all those things being done.
So that’s what this is!
You can use this episode in several ways.
1) Just listen for enjoyment, listen to what we have to say about various different films, and just try to follow the conversation, and practice your general listening skills in the process.
2) Focus on noticing the specific vocabulary or grammar that we use to do all the things I mentioned before. Listen out for the ways we describe, summarise, give opinions and generally share our thoughts about films.
We mention lots of different films in this conversation and one thing which I’m thinking about is that those films might have different titles in your language. I hope you are able to identify the films.
You can see a list of the names of the films we mention on the page for this episode on my website. If you want to check out those movie titles, and perhaps google them to find out what they are called in your language, just go to the episode page on my website and you’ll see all the titles listed there, plus various other links to things which we mention or which you might find useful.
Right then. It’s now time to listen to my conversation with Cara.
I will talk to you again briefly at the end of this but now, let’s get started.
Ending Transcript
Thanks again to Cara.
You can check out her work.
On her website you can see details of the different courses and resources I mentioned before, which involve improving your English with films.
Episode 129 (parts 1 & 2) of Daniel Goodson’s podcast “My Fluent Podcast” in which Daniel and Cara discuss Groundhog Day
And a list of all the names of the films Cara and I mentioned in this conversation, in case you wanted to google them to find out what they are called in your language.
Here are a few questions which you could answer in the comment section if you like:
Have you seen any good films recently?
Do you prefer films or TV series? Why?
What films have helped you learn English? How did they help you?
Films we mentioned in this conversation
Pétaouchnok (The French film starring Philippe Rebbot, who Cara saw at a cafe recently)
Films which Cara has watched in her film club recently
Discussing meditation, meditation techniques, how it can help in our lives and improve us as language learners. Antony Rotunno is my guest and listen out for stories, advice, tangents and maybe one or two revelations.
This episode is called Meditation & Learning English, and as the title suggests, this is about the topic of meditation and how it can help us in our lives in various ways, including with our learning of languages.
My guest this time is podcaster and English teacher Antony Rotunno. Antony is back on the podcast after being on the podcast a few times last year when we did a series of episodes about John Lennon.
Antony has a few podcasts of his own and you might remember that recently I said that I’d listened to a couple of Antony’s episodes which were all about meditation.
They were called “The Joys and Wonders of Meditation”
I listened to them late last year, during quite a stressful period when we were having work done on our new flat, and I really felt like they helped me to find ways to keep my stress under control and get a bit of mental clarity during all of that chaos.
I definitely recommend those episodes to everyone.
That’s Episodes 4 & 5 of “Life & Life Only”. You will find links on the page for this episode.
While listening to those two episodes I immediately thought I should invite Antony back onto my podcast for an interview, this time about meditation.
I think there’s a lot of stuff to learn from them, a lot of benefits to gain from it all and some interesting ideas to consider about learning English.
Antony Rotunno
As I said just a moment ago, Antony was on my podcast a few times last year talking about John Lennon and he’s always an insightful, articulate and thoughtful guest so it’s nice to have him back.
Just a reminder – Antony is an English teacher like me, he’s from England, he is a musician and also a podcaster. He has three podcasts in fact. You might want to check them out if you’re looking for more stuff to listen to.
“Life & Life Only” in which he explores themes of self-development, philosophy and the search for inner and outer truth. This is the one with the episodes about meditation.
“Glass Onion: On John Lennon” in which Antony goes into fascinating depth about many aspects of John Lennon’s life and related topics.
“Film Gold”, which is basically a chance for Antony to discuss some of his favourite films with different guests. I was a guest in a recent episode of Film Gold in fact. We talked about one of our favourite British comedy films of all time – Monty Python and the Holy Grail. If you want to listen to Antony and me chatting about that film, then check out Film Gold episode 15.
Those are Antony’s podcasts and they are available wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll also find links in the description and on the page for this episode on my website.
There you go, lots of other things for you to listen to there! But you might be thinking “Hold on Luke, I’m already listening to this episode about mediation!”
Ok, well, when you’ve finished this, if you’re still hungry for more, you could listen to Antony and me talking about Monty Python in episode 15 of Film Gold or Antony’s original meditation episodes from Life & Life Only, or anything else that takes your fancy.
But now let’s get back to this episode that you are listening to right now and the topic of meditation.
Meditation
What is it, exactly?
How does it work?
How do you do it?
Is it just the same as relaxation?
What can the benefits be?
What can Antony tell us about his experiences of finding out about it and doing it, including going on several silent meditation retreats?
What are some simple meditation techniques that you can apply to your daily life?
And can meditation help you to be a better learner of English?
Those are the talking points. There are some tangents of course as we end up talking about some other bits and pieces along the way and there are also a few quick meditation exercises, or spot meditations, which you can do while you listen, if you like.
In fact, to give you an idea of what that means – what a spot meditation is – let’s do a very quick spot meditation exercise right now just before the interview starts, to help you focus.
I’m making this one up myself of course and I’m not a meditation instructor but I’m willing to give it a shot.
A quick meditation before listening – to help you focus
Just follow my instructions for a moment and it might put you in the right frame of mind to really concentrate on our conversation.
First – consider your body position while you are listening to this.
Just take a moment to be aware of your body and any feelings of tension that you might have.
Are your shoulders tense? Are you sitting upright or are you perhaps slumped in some way? Are you tied up in a knot? Are you standing unevenly on one leg or leaning to one side? Is your jaw clenched?
Take a moment to find those tensions in your body and release them. Just let them relax.
Take a few deep breaths from your diaphragm and feel the sensation of the air going in and coming out, and your stomach going up and down.
Now focus on my voice.
Focus on the shape of the words, the different kinds of sounds that are included in each syllable of each word.
Notice the rhythm of the sentences I’m saying – where the stresses are, where the pauses are, and any times my voice goes up or down.
Just try to follow it very carefully without letting your mind get distracted by other things.
If you feel your mind wandering off, if you get distracted or if you feel like saying “Come on Luke stop rambling, we don’t want another 15 minute introduction, just get on with it please” or something – if you feel your mind wandering at all, then just guide it back and as you listen to this conversation between Antony and me, keep going with that approach.
So that was just a very brief spot meditation to help you focus your attention a bit.
OK, so now let’s start the episode properly and here we go.
Meditation and Learning English with Antony Rotunno.
Luke & Antony Discuss Monty Python & The Holy Grail
In this episode I’m going to talk about what’s going on in Ukraine.
I have LEPsters in both Ukraine and in Russia.
The main thing I want to say is that I just hope that my listeners are able to stay safe – although that sounds hollow because of course some of them won’t be able to stay safe, and many people are being forced to choose not to stay safe.
I know it’s not simple, and there are various factions with different motivations. It’s not completely black and white but most people just want to be able to live their lives and live the best they can, but this war is making that impossible, and for what exactly?
In any case, I’m thinking of my listeners in Ukraine right now, and it seems that a lot of the rest of the world is also thinking of Ukraine at the moment, and sending their messages of support – and I’m talking about ordinary people here, right? Not the leaders or the regimes.
But I also want to say that I am also thinking of my Russian listeners too because it’s not just as simple as the Ukranians being the good guys and the Russians being the bad guys.
Russian people are facing their own difficulties at this moment too, because plenty of Russian people are not in favour of a war in Ukraine – a war which could only make things worse for everyone. There are no winners in war.
So, I’ve decided that I am going to talk about the situation in Ukraine.
So, just to be clear I am talking about it because:
a) I want to show some support for my listeners who are directly involved in this and to echo the message of millions of others around the world right now that this is not what we want.
b) I want to just talk about the situation from our perspective here in the UK.
Some will say “You’re not getting the full story. Putin is just responding to NATO aggression.” Or “Putin is defending the rights of groups within Ukraine who want independence and who are being repressed”. That’s certainly the way he’s trying to justify this.
Some might say “Why don’t you speak about other acts of violence in the world, or times when other nations violate the sovereignty of other nation states?”
Some people might say “What about the UK’s aggression against other countries, including invasions which were dressed up as peacekeeping missions?” Don’t assume that because I’m British I support the actions of my government.
We should also not assume that Russian people automatically support the actions of their government.
The people of a country and the governments or regimes in control of that country are not one and the same thing.
LEP merch is now available, including t-shirts, mugs and more featuring special LEP designs made by James Thompson. Luke and James discuss the new designs and launch a new design competition to give you the chance to get your design in my merch store and a cash prize of £80.
Hello listeners, it’s nice to be talking to you on this fine morning. I’m also joined by James, my brother.
If you’ve seen me on YouTube in a t-shirt with a magnificent LEP logo on the front of it, or drinking tea from a lovely looking mug with an LEP logo on it, or perhaps writing something down on my special LEP notepad, then you might be thinking…
Where can I get one of those t-shirts? Where can I get one of those mugs?
Where do I get one of those amazing pads?
Or even: How can I get one of my designs on some LEP Merch?
Your questions are finally being answered today, because the LEP merch store is back open, and I am launching a design competition to give you the chance to get your design on an LEP t-shirt, and a special cash prize of £80!
The merch store is now open. That’s where you can get t-shirts, sweaters, mugs, stickers and loads of other things with the LEP logo on, but also there are various other new designs which you should love if you are a LEPster.
I suspect that you’re going to want more than just one of the things on offer for you today – In fact I’ve already ordered some and I am wearing one now.
In this episode I’m going to talk a little bit about the different merchandise available just to make sure it’s clear and that you understand everything.
Also in this episode I am launching a design competition – this is your chance to have your design on an official LEP t-shirt. Not only that, but there are cash prizes available too for the winners. I will explain more later.
My brother James is the one who did all the design work to produce the various images which are available across a range of products, so he is joining me for this one.
We’re going to talk about each design one by one, I’ll give you a little tour of the store to make sure you can use it properly, I will give you the full details of the LEP Design competition and then we’re going to open things out to have a larger conversation about merchandising and stories related to that.
I opened this store so Chinese & Russian LEPsters could buy merch too. The website is simple enough. It shows t-shirts in the thumbnail pictures, but check the list on the left to see all available products.
Various types of t-shirt are available.
RedBubble doesn’t do double sided t-shirts.
Avoid buying dark designs on a dark colour t-shirt (although personally I think an LEP Ninja design on a black tri-blend t-shirt looks really cool)
Let me know what other ideas or changes you’d like to make to the store, and I will see what I can do. So, if you have any other design ideas, or suggestions for things you’d like to see in the store, or changes you’d like to make – let me know. luketeacher@hotmail.com
LEP DESIGN COMPETITION 2021
We are looking for cool t-shirt designs by LEPsters, for the LEP Merch Store.
Think of a t-shirt that LEPsters would want to wear
PRIZE: The winning design will be put on t-shirts, mugs and other merch, and the winner will also win £80!
SPECS: A high-resolution transparent .PNG at 150dpi. Minimum dimensions of at least 1500px by 1995px (not including outer transparent pixels).
CLOSING DATE: 22 October 2021
Send your t-shirt designs to podcastcomp@gmail.com
James and I will consider all designs which are sent to me, and a selection of designs will be displayed on the website so you can leave your comments. James and I will also discuss them in a podcast episode.
Ultimately, James and I are the judges and we make the final choice on the winner(s).
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