ESL Pod Official - Speak English Fluently by Listening (with Text)

Well, my worst habit that I have ever had is probably smoking. I don't smoke anymore, but when I graduated from college, I went abroad to study in Mexico. And almost everyone around me was a smoker. So it was very difficult for me not to smoke. And I just decided after a couple of months to give in and to start smoking myself. I smoked for probably about two or three years, and then I decided to quit smoking.I was lucky because I was able to quit cold turkey, whereas other people who try to quit often have to use nicotine patches or nicotine gum or something like that. But I was fortunate. I missed smoking after I stopped it for probably five years. When I would walk by someone who was smoking, I would inhale deeply to smell the smoke because it gave me a certain satisfaction, a certain pleasure. But after about five years, I got sick of the smoke so that now—and this was 10 years ago that I quit smoking—I can't stand the smell of smoke. I try to get away from the smell of smoke in a restaurant or on the street.The other bad habits that I have include drinking alcohol, although I don't drink very much alcohol. I used to drink when I was in college and after college, but now I don't drink as much, partly because I can't handle my alcohol very well anymore, and I don't have a lot of occasions to drink. I don't go to bars anymore, and I don't hang around a lot of people or friends who are heavy drinkers.I also like to drink tea. I was a coffee drinker for many years. I drank coffee almost every day, but eventually the coffee started to irritate my stomach, and so I had to stop drinking coffee, and I switched to tea. And now I drink all sorts or all kinds of tea. I drink black tea. I drink oolong tea. I drink jasmine tea. I drink chai tea. My favorite drink with tea is a hot chai tea latte. A latte is a drink, either tea or coffee, that's made with milk and sugar—sometimes a little cream, too. I usually have a cup of tea every morning. It helps me wake up. I like the caffeine in the morning. It gets me going. However, if I drink tea at night, I have problems sleeping. So I try to avoid drinking tea.As usual on ESL Podcast, we recommend or suggest that you listen to this podcast several times—two, three, four times—in order to understand everything that we say. Now we're going to talk about some vocabulary that you may have had difficulty with or difficulty understanding.The first expression used at the beginning of the segment was to give in. I said how I gave in when I was in Mexico because everyone else around me was smoking. To give in means to do something because you are pressured somehow or that you receive pressure from other people. For example, I ask my sister to lend me her car and she says no. And then I argue with her. I give her reasons. I beg her. I bribe her. I give her money, and eventually she gives in and allows me to use her car. So to give in means that you are reluctant or you don't want to do something, but eventually you do.Another expression we used in talking about smoking was cold turkey. I said that I quit smoking cold turkey. To quit cold turkey means to stop completely without ever going back. We often use this expression when talking about bad or nasty habits, such as smoking and drinking. So to quit cold turkey is to stop some vice, some habit, some addiction you have completely.Two other expressions that we mentioned in our talk: can't stand and can't handle. I mentioned that I can't stand the smell of smoke. Can't stand means you do not allow it, you do not tolerate it, you do not put up with it. For example, I can't stand people who shout, meaning I'm very bothered by people who shout. I try to get away from people who shout. So the expression can't stand means you can't tolerate, you can't put up with. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you asked me which I like better, the suburbs or the city, I would definitely say the city. I'm a little biased, though. I have only lived in a city, in a medium-sized city and in large cities. I was born in a very large city. Then I grew up in another city, and now I live in what some people think may be a very exciting city—perhaps the best city in the world—and that's Los Angeles.I like living in L.A. because there is always something to do. If you wake up in the morning and you want to try something new, you can always find something to do that you've never done before. Maybe that's going to a concert or trying a new type of food, or just going to a different part of the city. Even if you've lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, because there's always new people moving into the city, the city is constantly changing, and there is always something new.It's a place where you can meet people from different countries who speak different languages, with many different kinds of beliefs, and people who do different kinds of jobs. Some people say that you can find anything you want in Los Angeles. I think that in the world there are a few other cities like this—maybe New York City, Paris, Beijing, who knows? But I think that Los Angeles is the best city to live in.I love eating. I love being able to try new kinds of foods and being able to eat things that I've never thought about eating before. I also like living in Los Angeles because it's close to the ocean—close enough that on the weekends I can get up, drive a little ways, and walk next to the beach and feel the ocean breezes and watch people surf. It's a lot of fun. I like watching the water, seeing the waves, watching people surf.I also like Los Angeles because of the warm weather. I have always lived in warm weather—well, almost always. For a short time, I lived in Washington, D.C., where the weather is very cold in the wintertime. Some people who lived in very, very cold weather think that Washington, D.C. isn't that cold. But for somebody who grew up in Arizona, it is very, very cold. So I like Los Angeles because the weather is nice, it doesn't rain very much, and even in the wintertime, you don't have to wear heavy jackets.There are, of course, disadvantages to living in a large city. In big cities, there are so many people that the roads or the streets are often congested. In Los Angeles, it's usually the freeways. It's difficult to get from one place to another without driving on the freeway. But if you drive on the freeway, you will very likely get into a traffic jam, especially at rush hour. So if you live in Los Angeles, get ready to wait in traffic every day.I want to thank Lucy for talking to us today about where she's lived. As you heard, she's lived in different places here in the United States—in Los Angeles, in Arizona, in Washington, D.C.—so several different cities. There were a few words of vocabulary that you might have had difficulty with, that might have tripped you up, which is to say gave you some difficulties.One was traffic jam. A traffic jam is when there are too many cars on the road and everyone has to go slowly, either because of an accident or just because of what we call congestion. Congestion in traffic is too many cars on the road. Rush hour is another term that Lucy used in describing the traffic in Los Angeles. Rush hour is that time during the morning and the afternoon when most people are going back and forth to work. People who commute, that is to say, who go from one part of the city to another part of the city, usually have to go during the morning rush hour or the afternoon rush hour. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My name is Jeff McQuillan, and let's get started.Today we're going to talk about family and family members, and in doing so, we're going to go over some idioms and expressions related to expressing likes and dislikes. We focus on two questions today: What family member are you most like, and what family member are you least like?Well, my family member that I think I have the most similarity to or that I resemble the most would be my sister Therese. There are a couple of reasons why I think that we are most similar. Number one, she likes to read and I like to read. We're both readers. We always have lots of books in our house and are always reading something. My sister also likes to write. She is a writer by profession and I, as a researcher, do a lot of writing myself, so we both share an interest in writing.More importantly, we are the two members of my family that moved away from where my parents and the rest of our family still lives back in the state of Minnesota. We both live here in California—my sister in Northern California and I in Southern California. I think often in dealing with family members and family tensions and family politics, sometimes it's a good idea to move to another part of the country or sometimes even another part of the world, as I have done, and break away from those family ties to strike out on our own in order to do something different. And that is what both my sister and I did, and I think that's one of the things we have in common.Now, in terms of my siblings that I have the least similarity with or have the least amount of common interest, that would probably be my brother Mike. Now, Mike is a big sports fan. He was an athlete himself. He taught physical education for a few years. So Mike has a lot of interest in sports, and he spends a lot of time on things connected with sports, both with his own sons as well as his own activities outside of work. I am not a sports person. I don't really like sports that much. I don't watch sports very often. And so this is one reason why we're not very much alike.Let's start by talking about these terms like, alike, and likes. In English, the word like as a verb, you probably already know, means that you're interested or you enjoy something. For example:I like to read.I like to go bowling.I like watching television.Like is also used as a preposition to mean that you have a similarity or a resemblance with another person or thing. So, we might say:Los Angeles is like New York. They're both big cities.I'm not like my sister Therese in that she likes to drive and I don't.We use the term like here as a way of describing a phrase or expression that has some similarity with something else.Another term that sometimes gets confused but is similar in meaning is alike. That's A-L-I-K-E, all one word. Alike is usually used as an adjective. For example:My sister and I are alike.This is to express resemblance and similarity.Finally, there's the term likes. And likes relates back to that first definition we gave of the verb like. Likes as a noun means the things that you enjoy. For example:Some of my likes are reading, watching television, and surfing the internet.All of these would be likes, and again, likes serves there as a noun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ESL Podcast 1 - Introduction Welcome to our first English as a Second Language Podcast! In this podcast, we are going to introduce you to the format of the podcast, as well as the people who record it. ESLPodcast is designed especially for people who are intermediate or advanced speakers of English, but want to improve their listening and speaking skills. We plan on providing a new podcast every day, Monday through Friday. The daily podcasts are always free. There will be many different topics for our podcasts. We try to talk about topics that you will find interesting. All of our podcasts use “real English”—the normal, everyday English you will find among native speakers in the United States. ESLPodcast is not a textbook or a course. It is a way to listen to real native speakers talking as they do everyday in English. ESL Podcast tries to provide you with English you can understand. We speak at a slightly slower rate, but always use normal, native speaker English to help you improve. There are two parts to evey podcast: After a brief introduction, there is a discussion or dialog of the topic of the day. This usually lasts 3-6 minutes. In part 2, there is an explanation of the vocabulary and expressions used during part 1. We explain how certain words and phrases are used by native speakers, including both formal and informal expressions. ESLPod cast is currently produced by a team of volunteers. It is a production of the Center for Educational Development, in Los Angeles, California. My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillan, and I’m the host of ESL Podcast. I have been teaching English as a Second Language for many years both here in the United States and in other countries. I received my Ph.D., my doctorate, in applied linguistics from the University of Southern California. I taught as a university professor for several years here in California and in Arizona. I have written many articles and books on the teaching English. All of the voices you will hear on ESL Podcast will be native speakers. We suggest that you listen to the entire podcast at least once, and then re-listen to Part 1 until you feel you understand most of it. You will find that your listening comprehension will increase after each listening. The text or script of Part 1 of each podcast can be found on our website, www.e-s-l-p-o-d.com. That’s www.eslpod.com. Click on the “Scripts” link in the upper, right hand corner. We would love to hear from you. Please email us to tell us where you live and what topics you would like to hear on future ESL Podcasts. Our email address is [email protected]. That’s [email protected]. Thank you again for listening. We hope you enjoy these podcasts and that they help you in your goal to improve your English. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.