[988] Authentic English listening practice in the form of a conversation with my brother James about the current state of Artificial Intelligence. In this episode of Luke’s English Podcast, Luke and James discuss artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, the AI bubble, generative AI, AGI, automation, job displacement, tech startups, Silicon Valley culture, deep fakes, AI hallucinations, cryptocurrency, Blade Runner, and the future of work. This is a long-form British English conversation designed to help learners improve listening comprehension, vocabulary and fluency while exploring the hype, risks and promises surrounding AI technology.

Are the massive predictions about AI and the future real, or just hype? Why does the tech industry push frightening narratives about AI and its effects on society? Will tech companies ever make a profit from the huge $$$ investments they have made in AI? How are ordinary people reacting to AI at the moment? How useful is it for Luke in his job? Do people really like or want what is produced by AI? Will AI ever reach super-intelligence? Is Harrison Ford actually a robot in the film Blade Runner? What disgusting thing did James eat for breakfast today? All these questions answered and discussed in rambling style by The Low Tech Bros – James and Luke. PDF transcript available with vocabulary glossary.

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Give me your mind! Tell me your thoughts! Write down your human thoughts from your human brain, using your fleshy human fingers in this comment section below 👇

[987] British English listening practice at a natural speed with surprising facts and lots of humour. Pod-pals Amber & Paul join me for an outlandish and outrageous “true or false” quiz 📝. Can Amber and Paul decide if these facts are true, or just total bulls#*t (or maybe that should be b*llocks?) The episode is long, the English is fast, but the jokes come regularly and I promise that you will learn something new. ⚠️Warning: some topics are a bit disgusting, graphic or explicit and not for the kids👧🙅.

Includes talk of satanic cats 🐈‍⬛, animal accents 🐐, unsexy corn flakes 🥣, wolverine toads 🐸, blood-shooting lizards🦎🩸, suicide sex-bees 🐝, British tank tea 🫖, astro pee 🛰️, urine mouthwash 😬, ancient dogs 🐕, 23-hour dinosaurs 🦕 and a lot more. Listen all the way to the end as things get incredible in the 2nd half. Transcript available.

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Credit for the facts, and inspiration for this episode goes to the book “True Facts That Sound Like Bulls#*t” by Shane Carley. Get your copy here 👇

True Facts That Sound Like Bull$#*t: 500 Insane-But-True Facts That Will Shock and Impress Your Friends

Another short story on LEP to entertain you and help you learn some more English words and expressions. This one is a creepy tale about a room in a house with a strange, fatal attraction. People can’t stop themselves going through the door, but then what happens to them? Follow along with me and try to understand the final, crucial line at the end. I will explain everything, analyse the vocabulary line by line and teach you plenty of useful phrases. PDF available as usual!

This story was originally told by the great Irish comedian and storyteller Dave Allen on his TV show in the 1980s (or maybe the 90s). He told the story much better than I ever could.

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https://youtu.be/TbzAapLncd0?si=8LidZ9EZ8v3RUECl

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Dave Allen was a great comedian and a master storyteller, and he told this story much better than I ever could.

If you like my teaching style, then consider signing up to LEP Premium for more episodes dedicated to expanding your vocabulary & more 👇

Haiku poems communicate a lot of ideas, thoughts and feelings into just a few simple words. They can be moving, humourous or meditative, and reading haiku in English allows you to learn vocabulary in a very interesting way. In part 1 I talked about the form and history of haiku, and read out various short poems in English from both Japanese writers and modern English ones. In part 2 here I finish reading my haiku selection, including many written by English-language haiku master John Stevenson. Listen to each one, consider the different meanings and interpretations and also learn specific words and phrases to expand your English vocabulary.

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[963] Emma Camara Ortega and I worked together as English teachers years ago, but since then Emma has become a licensed counsellor and therapist – helping people with their mental health. In this episode, Emma talks to me about what is involved in counselling, and we discuss some everyday habits to promote good mental health. This should be full of interesting insights and helpful tips for mental wellbeing, which is so vital for our general lives but also to help us learn as effectively as possible. Full transcript and vocabulary list available.

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Click here for Emma’s listing in the UK Counselling Directory

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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. 

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https://youtu.be/xJb6WiyfWXM?si=YyRNqMgr1G1pKMiC

Get the book

• Click here to buy Eli’s book in the UK
• Click here for the publisher’s page & other buying options
• Also on Amazon if you prefer. Here is the UK listing but you might want to check your local Amazon.

Get the PDF transcript here 👇

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.

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https://youtu.be/leUAFSN2418?si=R9JQ0ABo3648-dV9

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Music Credits for this episode

• Sleep Music No. 1 by Chris Haugen
• Chilled Slow by Jim Thompson
• Slow Emotion by Jim Thompson(Ambient Anthology)
• Amber by VYEN
• Somnia Variation 3 by Reed Mathis
• Underwater Exploration by God Mode
• Ambisoft by Jim Thompson
• am-Padnice by Jim Thompson

For more ambient music by Jim Thompson, click here to check out his album “Ambient Anthology” on Bandcamp. Available as a digital download or on CD. 

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.

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https://youtu.be/L2gqpP3erJA?si=CDfvjdxDmXrlbyb7

Get the PDF transcript including vocabulary lists 👇

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.

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https://youtu.be/jrGZCWD47-s?si=COCFbYRXQe5pE0M6

🎧 Listen to SEND7 Podcast here 👉 https://pod.link/1505603790

⛑️ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Consider donating to help people in need of medical aid this year https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

📋 The Quiz Questions (listen for the answers)

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 4^th?

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?