English with Rob

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.

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/

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/

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.

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.

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)

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.

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)

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.

1. Putting ketchup on everything

1. Never letting your emotions get the better of you - 

To get the better of you = to strong for you to control

1. Shouting wahey when someone drops a drink in the pub

TEST IT!

1. Being squashed on the train by a larger person and pretending you don’t notice when they are half sitting in your seat.
2. Being tolerant

Tolerant/To tolerate = To accept something you don’t like.

1. Saying ‘right’ before you’re about to do something.

1. Moaning about our commute

To moan = to complain    A commute = a journey you do regularly, usually to and from work/school 

1. Respecting our elders 

Elders - people older than you / Elderly (adj) A polite way to say ‘old’

1. Wearing shorts and sunglasses the second the sun comes out

1. Holding the door open for someone when they’re unnecessarily far away so they end up running for the door

1. Having a barbecue as soon as the sun comes out

1. Having meals based on what day it is – like Fishy Friday - a Sunday roast

1. Not complaining in a restaurant when the food is bad

(an example of being tolerant)

1. Pulling together in a crisis

To pull together = To cooperate with people/to work together to solve a problem.

1. Being proud of where you are from
2. Eating fry ups for breakfast

A fry up - a meal with fried food: sausages, egg, bacon, tomato, baked beans, toast

1. Sarcasm

Sarcastic (adj) = saying the opposite of what you mean to be funny, or to criticise. 

1. Having good manners

Manners = doing polite socially acceptable things. Eg saying please and thank you.

1. 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).

1. Having a stiff upper lip

Not expressing emotion / hiding your emotions

1. Going to the pub
2. Dunking biscuits in tea

To dunk = to dip = to put something into liquid, and pull it out again quickly.

1. Saying please and thank you

(good manners)

1. Saying ‘sorry’ too frequently
2. Using tea as a cure/fix for everything
3. Liking fish and chips
4. Putting the kettle on in a crisis

Kettle = a machine to boil water

To put the kettle on (a collocation)

1. Having a roast dinner on Sundays
2. Queuing

(not queue jumping or cutting in line)

1. 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,

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

Facebook: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=channel_banner&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa1hSdGhzU1BDMmZjdS16anF0RUFLakpzZVIxQXxBQ3Jtc0trZ3JLdVFXT1U0TlkyQ2hGSWg5VGNrcD