Earlier this year I made a video at the Notting Hill Carnival. Here are some of the bits which I didn’t include in the final edit. You can see that I got a bit frustrated on this day…
There are some bits of useful language in this video. They are all explained below.
Vocabulary
The text captions contain some phrasal verbs and other expressions. Here are some of those useful bits of language:
The door was putting me off – ‘to put someone off’ = the door was distracting me and stopping me from concentrating properly
The chair was getting in my way – ‘to get in your way’ = the chair was in my personal space and stopping me from moving freely
I couldn’t string a sentence together – ‘to string a sentence together’ = to be able to speak properly
I was starting to get really pissed off – ‘to get pissed off’ = to get annoyed and angry (it’s a slightly rude expression)
I can’t be bothered to carry an umbrella – ‘can’t be bothered’ = I’m too lazy to do it. I don’t want to make the effort to do it.
I might get caught in the rain – ‘to get caught in the rain’ – to be surpised by rain, and get wet because you’re unprepared What the hell? = Who cares? It doesn’t matter! Live life on the edge = Live a risky life
I’m waiting for my mobile phone to charge up – ‘to charge up’ = to put electricity into a battery
To run out = the battery becomes empty
I was in a funny mood, perhaps because I was tired or a little fed up – ‘fed up’ = slightly bored or unhappy
That must get quite claustrophobic and awkward – ‘claustrophobic’ = frightening because it is a small space. ‘awkward’ = uncomfortable and embarrassing
This is a video with advice on how to use videos with transcripts to improve your English.
You can watch the video on YouTube here:
Transcript
This video has subtitles – you can listen to me and read at the same time.
That makes it nice and easy for you, doesn’t it?
However, I don’t think it’s a good idea to watch videos with subtitles every time.
There are no subtitles in my recent videos.
This probably makes it difficult for you to understand everything the native speakers say in their interviews.
But, I believe it is better for your English to survive without subtitles.
There are no subtitles when you talk to people in real life, right?
So it is better to practise your listening without relying on subtitles.
When you watch a video with subtitles (like now), you are not really listening like normal. You’re reading too.
If you always do that, you will find it difficult when you actually talk to people in English.
So, when you watch the video interviews on this site, don’t worry if you don’t understand everything.
If you want to understand every word in the video interviews, you can. You don’t need subtitles.
Here’s how:
1. Watch a video with interviews in it (e.g. London Video Interviews Pt.1)
Try to understand as much as possible, but don’t worry if you can’t understand everything.
These are native speakers, talking naturally, so it might be difficult.
2. Then, find the transcript to the video by going to http://teacherluke.podomatic.com
It’s a good idea to print the transcript if you can. You could highlight the text and then paste it into a Word document, then print it.
3. Next, read the transcript and listen to the video at the same time.
Underline words or phrases that you don’t understand.
Think about differences in the words in the transcript, and the way the speakers say them in the interview.
4. After that, study the words / phrases that you don’t understand.
Do this with a dictionary, or by googling the words.
Google is good because you can find lots of examples of a new word being used in other situations.
Remember that some phrases may be idiomatic – so you might have to guess what they mean.
Use your intelligence! Be a ‘text detective’.
5. After you’ve studied the transcripts, watch/listen to the interviews again but without the transcript.
Watch the speakers’ mouths when they speak and think about how they pronounce the words and sentences.
Now, you should be able to understand the interviews completely, at the same level as a native speaker.
6. Read the transcript out loud.
Actually say the words, and try to copy the way they are pronounced in the interviews.
Don’t just stop at listening and understanding – it’s really important to combine skills and convert listening comprehension and pronunciation awareness into speaking practice.
Have fun, but don’t make a fool of yourself by reading the sentences out loud in public!
7. Try to remember any words or phrases in the interviews which you think are useful.
8. Practise by recording yourself talking about good/bad things about your city, or about London.
Listen to the recording. Try not to be embarrassed by the sound of your own voice. This is natural. Just listen to yourself in order to get a better understanding of your speaking, so you can work on your weak points.
Don’t forget to feel good about what you do well too.
This is a much longer process than just watching a video with subtitles, but I think you will agree that in the long run it is much better for your English.
It is much better to learn to listen by actually listening and looking at the speaker’s face, not by reading subtitles.
Also, if you follow the steps above you can train yourself to listen well and learn about vocabulary, pronunciation and speaking too.
More interviews with native English speakers in London. Transcripts & definitions available below. This video was filmed in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Chinatown and Picadilly Circus in the centre of London.
Hello learners of English, here is the transcript for the second video with interviews in the centre of London.
Use these videos as an opportunity to practise listening to authentic English conversations in a natural context. It’s a good chance to get exposure to English by native speakers, especially if you don’t live in an English speaking country.
Transcript
Graphic design student: Hello
Luke: So, how long have you been in London?
Graphic design student: Two weeks
Luke: Really? What do you do?
Graphic design student: Err, graphic design. Camberwell, School of the Arts.
Luke: Ok. So, your first two weeks.
Graphic design student: First two weeks. It’s quite a big impact. Very big, lots of people, and it’s quite expensive as well.
Luke: Ok. What’s the best thing about it?
Graphic design student: Err, night life. Very good night life. It’s got, you know, erm… If you go to the right places… A lot of action, erm, you know, a lot of friendly people as well.
Luke: Excellent. What about the worst thing?
Graphic design student: Depends on where you go. I mean, there’s quite a lot of, err, muggers about, dodgy people looking at your weirdly. You want to just, turn, turn away from them
Luke: Ok yeah
Graphic design student: Apart from that, generally a lot of people are quite nice. I mean, there’s some people that shove about, but, you know, you’ve just got to deal with it.
Luke: Ok, thank you very much
Graphic design student: That’s ok
Luke: Cheers.
Luke: So, hello
Girl in red scarf: Hello
Luke: Where are you from?
Girl in red scarf: I live in Redhill, which is about half an hour away from London
Luke: Ok, erm, how long have you lived there?
Girl in red scarf: Two weeks!
Luke: Ok. Everyone’s been living in London for two weeks for some reason. So, what’s London really like then?
Girl in red scarf: London, well, London’s a really really massive place which can be quite overwhelming, but it’s not that scary after you’ve, you know, got stuck in there. Erm, London has everything you’d ever want, if you’re into theatres, art, education, night clubs, anything. Erm, I would say, just get stuck in there and go for it!
Luke: Ok, great, and what’s the worst thing about London?
Girl in red scarf: The worst thing… oooh the worst thing… err, I think the worst thing would have to be the pollution. It’s probably not as bad as some countries, but you always feel like you’ve got black fingernails.
Luke: Ok. Thank you very much.
Girl in red scarf: Thank you
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Hi!
Luke: So, are you from London too?
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Yes, I am
Luke: Ok, so how long have you lived here?
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Err, my whole life. Luke: Ok, so you’re a real Londoner
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Yes, a real Londoner
Luke: Ok, what’s it like then, living here?
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): What’s it really like? Erm, well I think it’s fantastic. It’s nice to live in such a cosmopolitan place with lots of things to do. You can never say that you’re bored or have nothing to do because then that’s all down to you, so…
Luke: What’s the best thing about it?
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Erm…
Luke: You might have just answered that
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Yes I think I have. Just the variety and everything you want to do. Lots of things for different age groups, there’s always something for someone to do. I would say the best thing is, like, the cultural little occasions that we have, like Chinese New Year and things like that, where you have big street parties. I would say that’s the best thing.
Luke: Ok, what about the worst thing?
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Oh… I don’t like to answer that question
The girl with the red scarf (off screen): Pigeons!
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Oh yeah! I hate pigeons! I hate pigeons! They’re just…
Luke: What’s wrong with them?
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): They’re diseased!
Luke: They’re diseased. Flying rats.
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Yes
Luke: Right?
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): Yeah. That’s the worst thing, I don’t dislike anything else.
Luke: Ok, thank you very much
Real Londoner girl (who hates pigeons): You’re welcome
Luke: Cheers
Smartly dressed couple: Hi
Luke: So, are you from London
Smartly dressed girl: Err, we’ve just moved here, yeah.
Luke: Just moved here, right, so err… How long have you been here?
Smartly dressed girl: Err… We’ve been here for a couple of weeks.
Luke: Ok. Everyone I’ve interviewed today has been in London for, like, two weeks. I don’t know why… So, what’s London really like then? What do you think?
Smartly dressed guy: Err, it’s a huge place. There must be about 10 million people living here. It’s got a lot of good things, bad things. It’s vibrant, it’s multicultural. It’s got fantastic places to eat, fantastic places to go out in the evening.
Smartly dressed girl: Fantastic theatre, fantastic restaurants. Fantastic museums, art galleries. Absolutely loads of stuff.
Luke: Ok
Smartly dressed guy: It’s a fast paced place. People seem to be moving around a lot faster than in the rest of the country
Smartly dressed girl: Sometimes that can get quite a bit much, you know. People sort of rushing everywhere all the time
Smartly dressed guy: But it’s interesting, but there’s also negatives to living here
Smartly dressed girl: It’s very congested, it’s very expensive. Err, extremely expensive, public transport is expensive. It’s hard… it can take a long time to get anywhere
Smartly dressed guy: And there’s also a lot of pollution, and crime as well. So, if you come to live here I think it’s about finding the right enclave…
Smartly dressed girl: Yeah, the right neighbourhood to live in, definitely…
Smartly dressed guy: And having friends. Set up your own community of friends, rather than knowing your next door neighbour.
Luke: Yeah. Ok, thank you very much
Smartly dressed guy: No worries
Luke: Cheers, bye bye
Smartly dressed girl: Cheers, bye
Vocabulary definitions
Here are some definitions of some of the vocabulary in the video.
night life – social life at night, for example clubs and bars
a lot of action – lots of exciting things happening, and lots of nice girls to meet
muggers – criminals who might steal things from you in public (e.g. attack you and steal your bag)
dodgy people – people who are strange and can’t be trusted
looking at your weirdly – looking at you in a strange way
turn away from them – look/turn in the other direction
shove about – push people when in a large crowd (e.g. pushing people when getting on or off a crowded train)
you’ve just got to deal with it – you have to just learn to live with it. You can’t let it make you unhappy.
massive
overwhelming – having such a great effect on you that you feel confused and do not know how to react
if you’re into theatres, art, education, night clubs, anything – ‘to be into something’ means to be interested in it, or to enjoy it
just get stuck in there – get involved without hesitation or fear
and go for it – just do it!
pollution – dirty air caused by cars, bad air conditioners etc
a cosmopolitan place – a place with lots of people from all over the world (positive adjective)
Pigeons – very common birds which you find in the city (see the video at about 3:33)
vibrant – full of energy and activity in an exciting way
multicultural – involving people from many different cultures
fast paced – with a quick lifestyle (e.g. people rushing about everywhere, walking very quickly, in a hurry)
get quite a bit (too) much – be stressful and annoying
congested – full of traffic, lots of traffic jams
the right enclave – a small area within the city in which you live and feel comfortable
neighbourhood – part of town in which you live
Here is the first of a series of video podcasts featuring interviews with people I met in the centre of London recently. I went into London on a Tuesday morning and politely asked members of the public if they would like to do a short interview for people around the world who are learning English and who are interested in listening to native speakers, and finding out about life in London. Some people didn’t want to be interviewed, and ignored me! But most people I asked were very friendly and happy to talk to me for a few minutes. This is the first video, and includes interviews with people outside Buckingham Palace (home of The Queen), in St. James’s Park and on The Mall (the road towards Buckingham Palace). I hope you enjoy them, and find them useful. There are more videos coming soon, featuring interviews in different parts of central London.
Watch the video and try to understand their comments.
Then use the transcript to help you understand what they said.
Try to guess the meaning of any expressions you don’t know.
You can find some definitions of vocabulary and expressions at the bottom of the transcript.
The people in the interviews come from different places. Listen carefully and see if you can identify differences in the accents they have.
TRANSCRIPT
London! Capital of Great Britain. Home to over 7 million people, including: The Queen, The Prime Minister, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond and Mr Bean. Considered by some to be the home of the English language, it’s also one of the biggest and more important financial and cultural centres in the world. It has a rich cultural history, a diverse population and loads of cool stuff to do at the weekends.
But what is London really like for the people who live there?
Hi, well, I’ve got a video camera, I’ve got an Oyster card and I’ve got the day off, so I’m going to go into the centre of London, meet some real Londoners and ask them, “what’s London really like?” Why don’t you join me? Come on, let’s go shall we?
Buckingham Palace:
This man is from somewhere in the south of England, possibly in London or near London. He has a southern English accent. Luke: So, um, what do you think of London? What’s it really like? Man: London’s a very nice place to be, yeah. Luke: Yeah? Man: Yeah. Luke: What’s the best thing about it? Man: The best thing is the architecture, the old stuff… Luke: Yeah, yeah. Like Buckingham Palace Man: Like Buckingham Palace, yeah Luke: What about… Man: Anything else, yeah? Luke: What about the worst thing? Man: The worst thing is… all the rest, I’m afraid. Luke: Everything else? Man: Everything else, gone to the dogs. Luke: Really, it’s all gone to the dogs? Man: With the country. Luke: Ok. Alright, thank you very much. Cheers. Man: Thank you.
These girls are from Hull, which is in Yorkshire in the north of England. They’re in London on holiday. They have Yorkshire accents. Luke: Hello Girls: Hi! Luke: So, where are you from? Girls: Erm, Hull. Luke: Hull? Ok, so how long have you been in London? Blonde girl: We came yesterday Luke: Ok, what do you think? What’s London like? Redhead girl: Really good! Blonde girl: It’s a bit busy Brunette girl: busy Luke: Right, okay. What’s, err, what’s the best thing about it? Redhead girl: The weather, the last couple of days Blonde girl: Yeah, it’s been hotter than it is back home Redhead girl: It’s been really nice, yeah. Luke: So it’s better here than it is in Hull, is it? Redhead girl: It is Blonde girl: Yeah, but we couldn’t live here all the time Redhead girl: The worst thing about it is the tube, the underground Luke: Why? What’s wrong with the tube? Redhead girl: It’s too stressful Brunette girl: It’s too hot and busy Redhead girl: and grimy Luke: Busy, grimy, stressful… ok. Anything else to say to the people of the world? Blonde girl: Come to London! Redhead girl: Hiiii! Come to Hull to go out with us Blonde girl: Come to Hull Redhead girl: We’ll have lots of fun Luke: Great, thank you very much
This couple is from New York City in USA. They have New York accents. Luke: Hello. So, where are you from? American man: We’re from the good old USA, the biggest city in the world, New York… Luke: Oh, amazing American man: …which cannot compare to London. Luke: Really? USA man: I wanna just express our love for England, the people, and especially the British Airway[s] that brought us here. They were so polite and extended themselves to the best airline that I travelled [on] all over the world. Luke: Great USA Man: Now coming to England, we stayed at the Holiday Inn, and the people and the experience at the Holiday Inn was super. Luke: Excellent USA Man: We just came from the Holiday Inn to see the Buckingham Palace and now we’re going to from here to Picadilly Square [Circus]. Yeah, great. Luke: Great! USA man: Thank you USA woman: A wonderful experience USA man: A wonderful experience Luke: I’m very glad, that’s great. USA man: And where is this going? Luke: This is going on a website for people who are learning English as a foreign language, so it’s just going to be on, err… I work for this school, The London School of English and also I’m going to put it on a kind of podcast website for people all over the world, so, that’s great. USA man: Now, what is that over there? (pointing at the Queen Victoria Memorial) Luke: That? Err, I’m not sure to be honest. Err, it’s… USA woman: It’s a nice statue. Luke: It’s a lovely statue, covered in gold. USA man: Uh huh, okay Luke: Err, it… I don’t really know who all these people are, to be honest with you. USA man: Well, I’m gonna take a picture Luke: Exactly. It’s big and it’s shiny, so just take a picture of it.
St. James’s Park:
The man is from Middlesex, which is to the west of London. He has quite a posh accent. The woman is from the German/Danish border and has a German sounding accent. Luke: So, where are you from? First of all. Man: Well, I’m from Pinner, in Middlesex, which is near enough London, and we just come up once a week. It’s a long time ago now, I’m talking about before the war, and during the war, yes. A long time. And madam… Woman: I’m from Schleswig-Holstein [on the German/Danish border] but I love London. Love it. My son lives here and I need to go from time to time, because… it’s such a life city isn’t it? Luke: it is Man: Recharge your batteries Woman: Yes, yes. And, so green too! All these lovely parks, you know? And I think it’s the most beautiful city in the world. Man: Sounds as though she’s selling it Luke: Is she… it does! Yes. What do you think, I mean, we, err, you think it’s the most beautiful city in the world, but, is there a, what about bad things? What’s the worst thing about London? Man: Well, I used to work just down there in Victoria… Victoria Station House. Erm, no, I… it tends to be a little dirty, a lot of rubbish around. I have the impression that’s got a bit better lately. I don’t know whether that’s true. Luke: Right. Woman: I was in Rome, and I told them all that London was much more beautiful and they all shouted me down, so… Luke: Oh really… Woman: But when the sun shines, you know… and all these green places, and nothing drives me mad because you expect a bit of dirt and… don’t you? Luke: Yes, in the city Woman: Yes , yes. And it has good communication, I mean you can go everywhere, and I love it Man: You’ll never stop her, but I must Woman: So, shall we go now? Luke: Great, thank you very much Man: Not at all Luke: Have a lovely day Woman: You have a lovely day Luke: Thank you Man: Don’t you sell that Luke: I’m not selling it, don’t worry. Alright, cheers.
The Mall:
Girl 1 is from Blackpool, which is in Lancashire in the North West of England. She has a Lancashire accent. Girl 2 is from Reading which is about 30 mins or 1 hour west of London. She has a fairly typical southern English accent. Girl 1: Hello Luke: Where are you from? Girl 1: I’m from Blackpool, which is up north Girl 2: I’m from just near Reading, just near London Luke: Ok. So, how long have you been here? Girl 1: I’ve lived in London for about 2 weeks so far Girl 2: And I’ve lived in London for probably the last 4 years Luke: OK, right so what’s London like then? Girl 1: So far London’s quite exciting. I’ve been surprised by how many things are going on all the time, sort of, day and night. There’s always something to do, always something free to do, and so far it’s not rained! Luke: Eyy! Great. Err, yourself? Girl 2: Err, yeah the same, like, it’s been a good place to live. I don’t know, because I’ve been here for so long, I probably don’t really take as much advantage of it as I should do. Luke: Yep, what’s the worst thing about London? Girl 2: Erm… Traffic, commuting, going around, I think… Price. Luke: Yeah, it’s very expensive. Have you discovered a worst thing yet? Girl 1: Erm, honestly, the worst thing is it’s quite difficult to meet people, and because a lot of people live so far away, it’s quite difficult to get to them, it’s quite hard to see your friends, so it can sometimes be quite lonely. Luke: Ok, thank you very much. Cheers.
Definitions of some vocabulary and expressions
What’s London really like?
This question: “What is it like?” means “tell me about it” or “how is it?”. It does not mean: “What do you like about London?”
e.g. What is London like? – it’s busy
What do you like about it? – I like the theatres
It’s gone to the dogs = everything is much worse now than it was before
grimy = dirty
recharge your batteries = to give yourself some energy, by doing something pleasant and stimulating
to shout someone down = to disagree with someone loudly in order to stop them talking
to take advantage of something = to use something good which is available to you
commuting = travelling from home to work every day
Transcript for my video “1 Introduction part 2” on Youtube: Click here to visit Luke’s English Podcast page.
You’re still listening to Luke’s English Podcast. If you’d like some more information visit teacherluke.podomatic.com.
Now, let me tell you about the podcast. Now obviously this is the fist podcast so it’s slightly different from podcasts in the future, but really what is so fantastic about this podcast is that the whole thing will be real, natural British English so that means that if you are interested in having a good listening experience, practising your listening but also finding something that will be interesting and entertaining and fun then this is the podcast for you. Like I said, it will all be totally natural British English, so the sort of English that I speak with my friends for example, the kind of real English that people in Britain speak all the time. I record the podcast here in my apartment in London. At the moment I’m sitting on my sofa and it’s a Saturday morning. So I record the podcast at home in my free time and a typical podcast will have three parts: the first part will be a little bit of conversation with me. So I might talk about something that’s happening at the moment. So possibly a news story or what’s been going on recently and I will also answer your questions and I will read out your comments that you send to me via the email address that I read out earlier on.
That’s the first part, the second part of the podcast will be a feature. So that means that it will be probably an interview with someone, so I might interview one of my friends or interview a member of my family and so you’ll be able to listen to a natural conversation between native speakers for example. It will be like you are spending time with some native English speakers. I know it’s difficult to find native English speakers to meet and talk to but if you listen to this podcast you’ll be able to listen to me talking to some of my friends or family, so again, a really good chance for you to listen to natural British English being spoken. So, like I said, the second part will be a feature, maybe an interview with someone. I might for example go into London and interview people on the street or I’ll interview people I meet in the pub, for example and we’ll talk about lots of interesting topics.
Then the third part of the podcast I will look at some of the language that I’ve used in part one and part two and I’ll actually teach you some really useful vocabulary and really useful expressions, the kind of natural language that normal British people speak when they talk to each other.
So this podcast is a really good chance for you to try and push your level of English up and if you start using some of the vocabulary that you hear on this podcast you can really start to push your level up to an advanced level of English. Another good thing about the podcast is that you can download it from the internet. You can put it on to your ipod or your mp3 player and then you can listen to it anywhere you like, I mean, you can listen to this on the bus on the way to work, or on your way to school. You can listen to it maybe when you are in the gym doing your exercise. I mean you can listen to it anywhere you like, I mean, you can listen to it on the toilet for example or maybe when you’re having a bath! I suppose that might be a bit weird or a bit strange if you’re listening to me while you are having a bath or when you are on the toilet! but I mean I don’t really care, I don’t really care where you are or what you’re doing as long as you actually listening to the podcast, that’s the most important thing for me. Also you can listen to this anywhere in the world, so if you’ve come to London to study English – you might have been at my school, you might have been one of my students and if you come to London and then you go back to your country you can keep downloading and listening to this podcast from your country and it’s a really good chance to extend your British English learning experience. Now, there are lots of other podcasts that you can download from the internet, lots of learning English podcasts. If you go to iTunes, if you’ve got iTunes on your computer for example, if you go to the iTunes store and do a search for learning English podcasts you’ll find lots of different English language podcasts available, but in my opinion most of them are rubbish actually and I think that this will be probably better than all the others! Now I’m not being very modest there, but I think I’m just being confident, which is a good thing, but I’ve listened to a lot of other podcasts that you can find on the internet and first of all most of them seem to be American and they have American English – which is fine because American English is great and all that – but you might want to listen to British English, right? Or sort of London English which is what I can offer in this podcast. So also a lot of the podcasts that I’ve listened to seem to be very patronising, and by patronising I mean that they talk to you like you’re a bit stupid, or maybe like you’re a bit of a child so they might be something like:
“Welcome to the American English podcast from podcasts.com. Today’s podcast is about dogs. Dogs are a kind of pet that you keep in your home or in your house…”,
for example, right? Sort of, a bit slow, a bit boring and a bit patronising so I think that this podcast will be hopefully more interesting than that, not as patronising, not very boring hopefully, sort of natural and fun and you will actually want to listen to it for entertainment so it’s not like studying but more like just something that you listen to just because it’s interesting I hope so anyway.
So, I think that’s it really, that’s the end of this first podcast. Don’t forget to listen to the second one and the third one because they will be more interesting than this because they’ll be things like interviews with people and other stuff like that.
So, I’d like to end this podcast with a question which I would like you to answer through the email address and the question is: What would you like me to talk about? so what would you like to hear me talk about on this podcast? so send me a question. It could be a question about perhaps Britain or British culture or about London or it could be a question about English – if you’ve got a question about English vocabulary or grammar I’m happy to answer your questions on the podcast. So, that’s the first question: what would you like me to talk about? And that’s it, that’s the end of the podcast. Don’t forget you can email me at: Luketeacher@hotmail.com. I’m very much looking forward to hearing from you in the future, so that’s it.. bye bye bye bye….
Here is the transcript to my YouTube video: 1 Introduction Part 1
Hello, and welcome to Luke’s English podcast – the podcast for learners of English. This is the very first podcast that I’ve done and it will be the first of many more podcasts that you will be able to download and listen to in the future, so because this is the first podcast, it’s a bit short, it’s shorter than the other ones will be and in this podcast basically I’m going to introduce myself to you so that you can get to know me a little bit and then I’m going to tell you about what is going to happen in other podcasts in the future.
Let’s see, first of all my name’s Luke – Luke Thompson. Now the name Luke can be a little bit difficult for learners of English to pronounce sometimes and I meet lots of people who can’t pronounce my name and they call me Look or maybe Luck, but it’s not Look or Luck, it’s Luke of course, and let’s see, I live in London. I work as an English teacher in an English language school in West London and I’ve been teaching English for about 8 years now. I first started teaching in Japan and I lived in Japan for two years in an area near Tokyo called Kanagawa Prefecture and I taught English there for two years and it was really great, I had a really good time. It was a very interesting experience for me and I’ve got lots of interesting stories to tell about my time in Japan. So, I taught there for two years and then I came back to London and I have been teaching English in London for about six years now. I’ve worked in a few different schools. I used to work in a school near Oxford Street and I worked in another school in Waterloo and now I work in a school which has two buildings, one in Holland park and the other one in Chiswick in West London and I enjoy my job very much because I get to meet lots of very interesting people, possibly people like you, people who need to learn English and they come to London. They come to my school, for example and it’s very interesting for me to meet these people from around the word and to introduce them to the English language and the English culture as well.
Let’s see, as well as being a teacher, an English teacher, I’m also interested in lots of other things. I love music, I’m a big music fan, for example I love the Beatles, of course, because I’m English and we all love the Beatles don’t we? So, I love the Beatles and I love lots of different kinds of music as well. I play music sometimes, I play the drums and I play the guitar. I’m not very good at the guitar to be honest I’m just trying to learn how to do that, but I’ve been playing drums for a long time now. I play in a band at the school and we play concerts sometimes and that’s really great fun. I’m also into lots of other things. I love movies and I like sport, like football of course, again because I’m English and we all love football, right? and I also like rock climbing too.
So, that’s just a little bit of information about me and, OK, now I’m also interested in you, and your opinions and your stories and your questions as well, so if you have any questions for me, if there are stories that you’d like to tell me, you can email me. Now at the end of each podcast I will actually ask you a question and I really want this to be an interactive podcast, which means that you can email me your answers to the question that I will ask you at the end of the podcast and it will be a chance for you to tell me what you think about some of the things that we’ll be talking about. So if you want to email me you can write to this address, its: Luketeacher@hotmail.com and I’ll be very glad to hear from you.
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