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Learn English with me, Rob. I bring you interesting vocabulary, phrases and facts about language. There will also be chat with other English teachers and learners, grammar songs and lots of other fun stuff to help you to learn and remember English.
Episodes
Tuesday Feb 09, 2021
Tuesday Feb 09, 2021
In this episode I chat with some English learners about things which annoy them.
Useful Vocabulary:
To annoy / Annoying
To get on (one's) nerves
It gets my goat
A bugbear
It gets on my tits
It pisses me off
If you would like to appear on my next Live with Learners podcast, follow me on Instagram, where I will post about when upcoming live podcast records will happen, and what the theme will be.
I hope to see you there.
Thanks for listening,
Rob.
Tuesday Feb 02, 2021
Tuesday Feb 02, 2021
Zdenek from Zdenek's English Podcast co-hosts. We chat about how board games can be a great too to learn English in the classroom, at home and online.
Useful vocabulary
To win/won to lose/lost
The rules/against the rules
The instructions
The objective/goal/aim of the game
A dice/ a die
To roll the dice
Your turn/my turn/your go/my go/whose go is it?
A deck of cards
To shuffle the deck
To draw a card
Your hand
To cheat
A sore loser
Also:
- What's the name of the game game
- Phrasal Verb of the Week: To give in/to give up
- Which is the most popular game game
Links:
Be sure to check out Zdenek's English Podcast:
https://zdeneksenglishpodcast.podbean.com/
And see his available courses (including an English with board games course) on his website:
https://www.teacherzdenek.com/
Tuesday Jan 26, 2021
Tuesday Jan 26, 2021
British English teacher Fiona from Birdsong English joins me for fun chat and games about the news.
Useful Vocabulary:
Headlines
Tabloid vs broadsheet
Caption
Correspondent
An article/an editorial/a feature/a column
Hard news
Gossip
Offbeat stories
Coverage
Quotes
Also:
- Conversation about the news
- A game with headlines
- Some funny 'pun' headlines
- Funny cuttings (accidental jokes from newspapers)
Follow and learn with Fiona from Birdsong English:
Website: https://www.birdsongenglish.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birdsong_english/
Thursday Jan 21, 2021
Thursday Jan 21, 2021
Canadian English teacher Kate from English.anywhere.de joins me for a chat about parenting, exercise, and combining the two.
We discuss some useful vocabulary to talk about the subjects. There's my phrasal verb of the week, and a game about exercise workout moves.
Saturday Jan 16, 2021
Saturday Jan 16, 2021
With special guest Sabina from Damn It English, I discuss using rap to learn and to teach English.
Listen to the end to hear Sabina rapping about the present perfect tense.
Plus there is news about how this podcast will change in 2021.
Tuesday Nov 24, 2020
Tuesday Nov 24, 2020
Episode 3: Present Perfect Simple Tense
In this episode:
- A brief explanation of the present perfect tense and how it is different from the past simple tense
- 'Have you ever...?' chat with Michael from English with Michael and the Level up English podcast
- Phrasal Verb of the week: To carry on
- Song: Have You Ever Been in Love (The Divine Comedy cover)
Tuesday Aug 25, 2020
Tuesday Aug 25, 2020
I look at a received pronunciation rap song by British chap-hop artist Professor Elemental.
There's lots of useful vocabulary and facts about Britishness.
Thanks to the Prof himself for giving me permission to use this amazing track on my podcast.
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
Podcast Extra: Cockney Rhyming Slang
This podcast is all about cockney rhyming slang. Find out about this strange but interesting language quirk which exists in London.
The phrases I look at include:
The apples and pears (stairs)
To be brown bread (dead)
A butcher's hook (a look)
A China plate (a mate)
To be cream crackered (nackered)
The dog and bone (the phone)
Tuesday Jul 28, 2020
Tuesday Jul 28, 2020
Episode 2: Being British
In this episode:
- Top 30 things that British people do
- Chat with Shereen from An English Nerd - Experiences living in Manchester (UK)
- Phrasal Verb of the week
- Learn from a learner
Top 30 things that make you British (Metro March 2019)
This episode plays on stereotypes - not all British people are like this.
Stereotype = a popular generalisation about a group of people.
- Putting ketchup on everything
- Never letting your emotions get the better of you -
To get the better of you = to strong for you to control
- Shouting wahey when someone drops a drink in the pub
TEST IT!
- Being squashed on the train by a larger person and pretending you don’t notice when they are half sitting in your seat.
- Being tolerant
Tolerant/To tolerate = To accept something you don’t like.
- Saying ‘right’ before you’re about to do something.
- Moaning about our commute
To moan = to complain A commute = a journey you do regularly, usually to and from work/school
- Respecting our elders
Elders - people older than you / Elderly (adj) A polite way to say ‘old’
- Wearing shorts and sunglasses the second the sun comes out
- Holding the door open for someone when they’re unnecessarily far away so they end up running for the door
- Having a barbecue as soon as the sun comes out
- Having meals based on what day it is – like Fishy Friday - a Sunday roast
- Not complaining in a restaurant when the food is bad
(an example of being tolerant)
- Pulling together in a crisis
To pull together = To cooperate with people/to work together to solve a problem.
- Being proud of where you are from
- Eating fry ups for breakfast
A fry up - a meal with fried food: sausages, egg, bacon, tomato, baked beans, toast
- Sarcasm
Sarcastic (adj) = saying the opposite of what you mean to be funny, or to criticise.
- Having good manners
Manners = doing polite socially acceptable things. Eg saying please and thank you.
- Having a dry sense of humour
The joke is not always obvious, perhaps said in a normal or serious tone of voice. Sometime plays on misleading or unexpected details. (what are you doing in my house? Turned off the lights jokes).
- Having a stiff upper lip
Not expressing emotion / hiding your emotions
- Going to the pub
- Dunking biscuits in tea
To dunk = to dip = to put something into liquid, and pull it out again quickly.
- Saying please and thank you
(good manners)
- Saying ‘sorry’ too frequently
- Using tea as a cure/fix for everything
- Liking fish and chips
- Putting the kettle on in a crisis
Kettle = a machine to boil water
To put the kettle on (a collocation)
- Having a roast dinner on Sundays
- Queuing
(not queue jumping or cutting in line)
- Talking about the weather
Generational differences were also found:
42% of older people considered it British to be proud of where you’re from
19% of younger adults agreed
13% said they weren’t proud to be British at all
Talk to a Teacher
Shereen from An English Nerd - Living in Manchester
Phrasal Verb of the week
To put up with
To accept something which you don’t like.
To not complain about something which is unpleasant. Or someone who is unpleasant.
Eg: I put up with some of the TV shows my wife suggests we watch together.
Learn from a learner
Chien likes British weather.
Q: Does she prefer summer or winter?
She can enjoy the day and enjoy the sunshine, and it’s pretty nice here
(she lives in the UK).
Temperature pronunciation
Repetition of nice
The temperature is - pleasant, just right, warm,
Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
In this episode:
Useful Vocabulary: Haircuts
Talk to a Teacher: Shereen from An English Nerd
Phrasal Verb of the Week: To cut back on / to cut down on
Learn from English learners
Useful Vocabulary: Haircuts
Hair cut (not hairs cut)
Hairdressers/barbers/hair salon
Hairdresser/Hair stylist/Barber
Get/have a hair cut (NOT I cut my hair)
A trim
Highlights/lowlights/a perm/layered/dyed/tapered/thinned
Wash, cut and blow-dry
Hairstyles: Short back and sides, crew cut, bob, fringe (bangs), side parting/centre parting, pixie cut
Scissors/clippers/hair straighteners/curling tongs/curling iron/foils
What to say/phrases:
I’d like a…. please
Do I need to make an appointment?
Just a trim please
Number two at the back and sides please
Number two all over, please
Just a bit shorter
Take about a cm off
Phrasal Verb of the Week: To cut down on / to cut back on = to do/have less of something which is bad or unhealthy.
Be sure to check out Shereen from An English Nerd's fantastic content:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anenglishnerd/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AnEnglishNerd