Luke's ENGLISH Podcast - Learn British English with Luke Thompson

In this episode the PODPALS Amber and Paul are back and we're going to have the normal catching up session in which they talk about what they have been up to recently. As usual we sit on the terrace and get interrupted by insects, the sun, neighbours on their balconies around us (including a naked man eating his lunch) and the inevitable references to a certain Russian joke that always comes up in our conversations. Episode page: http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6Qk italki offer: http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Details of a new LEP competition / Competition rules / Advice & Tips / Inspiration / Some Funny Anecdotes Transcript & videos here: http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6Pr italki offer: http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here is part 2 of this description of my recent holiday in Thailand. In this one you can hear more stories and descriptions about different parts of the country, learning how to cook, a conversation with a monk, doing yoga every day, a couple of messages from listeners and some reflections on gratitude, forgiveness and guidance. Transcript and notes here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6Ol italki offer http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode contains stories and descriptions of my recent holiday in Thailand. You'll hear some facts about Thailand, some descriptions of Bangkok and a few stories about funny experiences that happened while we were there. Part 2 is coming soon. More details and transcriptions below. Enjoy! http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6O7 italki offer http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is not a full episode of the podcast - I'm just letting you know that I'm going away for a few weeks so there will be no podcasts for a little while. We're getting away from it all for a few weeks. I probably won't be online much, perhaps not at all. A couple of places we're going to don't have any internet at all. It's going to be a bit of a digital detox. So, I won't be uploading episodes for a while, and I won't be responding to comments and stuff, but I look forward to reading your comments when I get back. More details here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6Me Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode my brother James and I go for a game of mini golf in the local park, and then head to the pub for a pint of beer. While doing that we have a discussion about English history, life in the countryside vs life in the city, the London riots of 2011 and how James feels about being a guest on my podcast. I've uploaded a lot of new episodes recently but that's going to stop soon when I go away on holiday for a few weeks. Click here for more details and a transcript of some sections of the episode http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6Mh Audible offer http://www.audibletrial.com/teacherluke Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this conversation Alex is in Edinburgh in Scotland and I'm in Warwick in England. In the previous episode we talked about pub quizzes and how they're a common part of pub culture in the UK, so I thought we would play a kind of pub quiz with each other. The only problem is that neither of us are in a pub, but that doesn't matter - this is a podcast and you can use your imagination. Details here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6M2 Audible offer http://www.audibletrial.com/teacherluke Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I talk to Alex Love in Edinburgh about his show, some details about the culture of pub quizzes in the UK and we go off on several quite instructive tangents about stag and hen parties, male strippers, The Smurfs and the anatomy of giant squid, which are large sea creatures with tentacles. That sounds quite random but it's not really. It's actually perfectly logical and it will all become clear as you listen to the conversation, and I think there's quite a lot to learn about British culture in this episode as you'll see. I've also highlighted a lot of vocabulary for you to watch out for. Click here for the details http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6Ls Audible offer http://www.audibletrial.com/teacherluke Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a game show hosted by my Dad, with me as the contestant. The aim of the game is to see how many words I know. My Dad designed this quiz for his students of journalism at the university where he works sometimes. The quiz is specifically designed to highlight what he considers to be common misuses and misunderstandings of words. His opinion is that journalists writing and presenting on television should use words in exactly the right way, even if many people use those words to mean different things in general everyday use. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6LA italki offer: http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of the podcast is all about telling anecdotes in English. Anecdotes are little stories about our experiences that we share while socialising. It's important to have a few anecdotes of your own and to know how to tell them properly. In this episode I'm going to give you some advice for how to tell an anecdote and then you're going to listen to some true anecdotes told by members of my family that I recorded yesterday evening during dinner. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6KT italki offer http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is part 2 of my conversation with Rob Ager from Liverpool, who makes documentaries about films and publishes them himself on his website Collative Learning. If you haven't heard part 1 yet, you should check that out before listening to part 2. In this conversation we talk about Rob's approach to film analysis, hidden meanings in films, the work of Stanley Kubrick and the conspiracy theory about the moon landing. More details here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6Ji italki offer http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the podcast I'm talking to Rob Ager from Liverpool, who is probably best known for his film analysis videos on YouTube in which he discusses classic Hollywood thrillers, sci-fi and action movies in quite astonishing levels of detail, often focusing on deep psychological and political themes and hidden messages that most viewers probably wouldn't even notice. His videos are carefully constructed documentaries, made for educational purposes and all of them feature a voice-over commentary by Rob in which he analyses the film and gives his observations. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6J3 italki offer: Http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I'm talking about Pokemon Go. It's a global phenomenon and there are lots of things to say about it. It's not just a stupid game, there's a lot more to it than that. So, in this episode I'm going to describe Pokemon the game, then talk about Pokemon GO, including what it is, how it works, what people are saying about it, why it's so significant, what some of the good points and bad points are, and what this might mean for the future. Notes & transcript here: http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6IB italki offer: http://www.teacherluke.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the LEP Annual Meeting 2016, which actually doesn't take place on an annual basis. In this meeting I'm going to deal with various points of admin (including a language point about words like 'annual', 'biannual', 'biennial' etc, Pokemon Go, Transcript Collaboration, LEP Meet-Ups, Comedy shows, music, torrent sites and a comment from a vampire) and I'm going to ask you various questions during the episode. Please give your answers to the questions (any of them) on the page for the episode here: http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6FP italki offer: http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to part 2 of this conversation with my friend Alex Love. If you haven't already heard part 1, I suggest you go back and listen to that. I've divided this episode into two parts just because I thought it was a bit long and that it would be easier for you to deal with two slightly shorter episodes than one epically long one. Click here for the episode page http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6HQ italki offer: http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the podcast today I am in conversation with Alex Love, who you might remember from some previous episodes of this podcast. Alex Love regularly performs stand-up comedy gigs in London and in Manchester where he now lives. At this moment he's preparing for the Edinburgh Festival where he will be performing a one-hour show which he has written himself, called "How to Win a Pub Quiz". The show is a mix of stand-up comedy and pub quiz trivia and it has had some good reviews at previous festivals. If you're in Edinburgh this August you can see Alex's show at a venue called The Stand in rooms 5 & 6 (venue 319) at 12 o'clock midday from 4 to 14 August. Click here to visit the page for this episode http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6FV italki offer: http://www.teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone, in this episode I'm just letting you know that I'm very busy at the moment, which is why I haven't uploaded an episode for a while. Normal podcasting will resume soon. In the meantime, you can listen to the audio track from a video I did in 2009 at the Notting Hill Carnival. There are 40 phrasal verbs in the video. Can you find them? You can see the video below, with a full transcript and all the phrasal verbs in a list + definitions. You're welcome! Click here for the page for this episode http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6FH Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I finish the series I've been doing about Brexit in the same way that I started it, by having a conversation with my Dad. First I'll highlight some vocabulary and phrases, then you can hear my Dad giving his comments about what has happened since the UK voted to leave the EU three weeks ago. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6DX Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LEP is back after a two-week absence. This episode is about top tips for learning English. Here are some ideas about learning English that have occurred to me in the last couple of weeks of teaching intensive general English classes at school. Click here for the page for this episode http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6D2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a special episode about Muhammad Ali and the story of one of his most famous fights, "The Rumble in the Jungle". In the episode you'll hear me give a biography of Ali and then I go into lots of descriptive detail about the fight, exploring exactly what happened in and out of the ring and why he is now considered not only one of the greatest boxers but one of the most outstanding people of recent times. The episode is almost 100% transcribed. See below for details http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6pv Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, welcome back to the podcast. This is part 2 of a fairly long rant I recorded today about the Brexit situation and England's awful performance in the football yesterday. There might be some strong language and swearing. There will also be lots of fairly strong political points of view from me. Please listen to the whole thing and try to avoid knee jerk reactions. If you disagree with me please feel free to leave a comment because I am open to other points of view - but I encourage you to fully flesh out your opinion, don't just give your knee-jerk reaction without backing it up with some evidence or justification. Click here for a transcript http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6vf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's another episode about what's going on in the UK at the moment - in politics and in football. I know I am talking about this subject a lot at the moment, but I just can't help it - it's too big. Too many things are happening! So there will be more Brexit & football in this episode and then it'll be back to podcasting as usual. Oh and by the way there will be some swearing in this episode because I'll be sharing some comments from some angry people online and generally there has been quite a lot of swearing and kicking of furniture all across the country since Friday - especially yesterday while watching England get knocked out of the Euros. Swearing is rarely appropriate - remember that. Only at the right time in the right place. E.g. when watching England play football, or while thinking for two seconds or more about the EU referendum. Also, another preface here - you'll notice that I'm pretty unhappy about things at the moment, but don't worry I'll bounce back, and Luke's English Podcast will continue with the usual sort of episodes soon. I just have to get some things off my chest about what's been going on. Click here for a transcript: http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6uU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK has voted to leave the EU. Here are my thoughts and feelings. http://teacherluke.co.uk/2016/06/24/360-the-day-after-brexit-thoughts-and-feelings/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's referendum night and I've decided to share my stand-up comedy material about the EU referendum in this episode of the podcast, because after today I might not be able to use these jokes ever again! This works much better in front of a live audience of course - so you'll have to imagine that! Anyway, I hope you enjoy listening to some of my 'jokes' and humorous comments about this big moment in UK history. By the way, when I recorded this I didn't know the result of the referendum. Click here for more information http://teacherluke.co.uk/2016/06/24/359-brexit-jokes-eu-referendum-night/#disqus_thread Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join my wife and *me as we walk around the streets of Paris during the annual World Music Festival. You'll hear live music, descriptions of the scene, a couple of conversations with people we met, and the sounds of this amazing evening in the city of light. It's another long episode, but I hope you listen to all of it because I just really want to share the atmosphere and moments of this special event. Check here for photos http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6rx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I'm talking to Olly Richards the polyglot from England. Our conversation covers points about what accent you should learn to speak with, the importance of developing clear pronunciation and effective communication in English, using Periscope to listen to native English speakers and the physical side of learning a language. See below for a transcript to the introduction, more information and links to Olly's work. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6pI Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello welcome to this LEP meeting. I've called this meeting in order to deal with some stuff that's going on at the moment. On the agenda for today we have some news, some football updates including the England vs Wales game from yesterday, some more Brexit chat and then at the I'll talk a bit about the incident that happened yesterday involving a British MP called Jo Cox, which is a pretty tragic story. That's still developing and we don't know the full facts yet. It just happened yesterday and by the time you listen to this it might have developed further. Click here for the page for this episode http://teacherluke.co.uk/2016/06/17/356-lep-meeting-football-brexit-events-in-the-uk-jo-cox/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I talk about the EUROs including how it feels having the championship here in France, the violence in Marseille that occurred between English fans, Russian fans, local French fans and the French police this weekend, and the England vs Russia game that happened on Saturday. I welcome your comment on this subject so please share your thoughts under the page for this episode. A transcript is available for 95% of this episode. Click here to visit the page for this episode http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6qp Image: UEFA.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

aka "The Accordion Legs Episode" Listen to Amber, Paul, James Simpson and me as we play a light-hearted speaking game called "Would you rather...?" and hear about having accordions for legs, being stuck in a lift with a pair of wet dogs and living on a desert island with a mermaid (or merman). You'll also hear the results of the interactive lying game from episode 343. There are notes and some transcriptions below. Share your comments on the page for this episode. How would you answer these 'would you rather' questions? Notes and transcriptions here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-wF Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode started with no title and no particular aim, but I ended up chatting about walking the red carpet at the ELTon awards, the rain and floods in Paris, getting struck by lightning, the revolution of fibre optic internet at home and a crazy idea about doing live podcast recordings around the world. Listen up! More details here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6pp Buy English lessons on italki and get a 100ITC discount here http://teacherluke.co.uk/talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a vocabulary episode about the language of BREXIT. Click this link for all the vocabulary http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6ma Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everyone, I hope you're well. Here is an episode featuring a conversation with my Dad about Brexit - The UK's referendum on the EU. Finally! I've been mentioning this for a while so here it is. You've seen it in the news, you've read it in the papers - the UK is having a referendum on membership of the European Union and who knows, we might end up leaving. It's all over the news and the internet in the UK at the moment, everyone's talking about it - you can't escape it and it's going to get more and more intense the closer we get to 23 June, the date of the referendum. I've had plenty of messages from listeners asking me to talk about this on the podcast, so here we go. Click here for the LEP Brexit poll and more http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6kQ #brexit #eureferendum #english #language #learning Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the final episode in this superhero series and simply put, I'm going to make fun of the latest X-Men movie. Now, you might not be into the superhero stuff and I totally understand, but let me give you a heads up about this episode. Basically, I didn't like the film and so I'm more interested in poking fun at it than talking about it seriously. So, that might make it more fun to listen to than the other superhero ones I've done lately. You can just kick back and enjoy me taking the mickey out of this film. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6kE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More movie-relating talking in this episode as I speak to my friend Paul Langton. Expect plenty of very descriptive vocabulary about different characters, backstories, abilities and weaknesses. Click here for notes and transcripts http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6jC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi listeners - this is just a 15 minute episode. I just want to have a quick word with you. The thing is, I'm worried about a few things and I wanted to talk to you about them. Have a listen to this episode or read the notes below. Let me know what you think about what I'm saying in the comment section. Thanks! Luke :) http://teacherluke.co.uk/2016/05/23/can-i-have-a-quick-word-with-you-itll-only-take-about-15-minutes/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here is part 2 of this episode about superhero films and the Marvel cinematic universe. Before you listen to this I suggest that you listen to part 1. Where was I at the end of the last episode? I was giving you my history of superhero movies over the last 30-40 years, and the plan is to go into more detail about the recent Marvel films and then review the new Captain America movie. *No spoilers * So, let's continue. Click here for transcript/notes http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6jE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I'm talking about superheroes, Marvel movies and the latest Captain America film. By the way, I will do my best to avoid spoilers. I am only going to mention information which is basically common knowledge. I don't think listening to this will really spoil your enjoyment of any of the films in the marvel universe. So, you shouldn't worry about spoilers. Click here for transcript / notes http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6hU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phrasal Verbs & Idioms / More NY Stories / Politics / Leicester City / Google Adverts Welcome back to another podcast episode. It's nice to be back in your headphones or speakers. In the last episode of this podcast I talked to you about some recent bits and pieces such as the ELTon award nomination, my recent trip to New York and some other stuff. I also gave you a language task to keep you on your toes. I'm going to continue along the same lines in this episode and I have a list of things here to talk about and we're going to continue with the language spotting exercise. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6h0 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Breaking News! LEP Nominated for a British Council ELTon Award for Digital Innovation. In this episode you'll hear me talking about what's been going on since I recorded the last episode, including: LEP's nomination in the British Council ELTon awards, Leonardo DiCaprio fighting a bear in The Revenant, my adventure to the American Museum of Natural History and more. Also - for all the vocab hunters out there - watch out for some phrasal verbs and idioms. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-6bT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What? Another new episode? Slow down Luke! We can't keep up! OK I will slow down, I promise. I am going on holiday tomorrow and I will be quiet for a couple of weeks so I just wanted to upload another podcast before I go. While I'm away you'll have a chance to catch up with all these new episodes. This is #344 and it's another rambling conversation with podcast PALS Amber & Paul, but this time we're joined by a fourth member of the team. Could this be The Fantastic Four that LEPster Olga mentioned in a recent comment? Only you can decide... Topics of conversation in this totally tangential talk on the terrace include: jingles, voice overs, the Queen's birthday, the monarchy, Princess Diana and more... Click here for the page for this episode http://wp.me/p4IuUx-63l Groovy background music c/o http://www.bensound.com Photos (clockwise - left to right) Princess Diana, a ladybird, Fantastic Four logo, The Queen, Tim Curry, Dave Grohl, LEP logo) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I'm joined by podcast pals Amber & Paul and we're playing the Lying Game again, but this is a special version because this is The Interactive Lying Game. I know - it's exciting. Try to control yourself. Find details, adjectives, nicknames, polls and links to song lyrics on the page for this episode here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5Y9 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I'm joined by podcast pals Amber & Paul and we talk about Paul's hit youtube video about French kissing habits, his newfound success as a stand-up (he's the hottest kid in town), some online abuse he's had and then an anecdote about an audition that we attended recently, which involved a surprising misunderstanding about accents. There's also a brief language focus on using relative clauses with 'which' to extend your sentences when speaking. Enjoy! Click here for the page for this episode and to watch Paul's video http://wp.me/p4IuUx-62J Image: c/o Robert Hoehn / French Fried TV Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amber & Paul are back on the podcast after a 4 month absence. What have they been doing? Let's catch up with them again, and respond to some comments from listeners. This episode was recorded in the open air, up on the terrace of my flat in the April sunshine. Click here to find the page for this episode http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5Zj Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Results & winners of the LEP photo competition announced, and - it's the 7th birthday of Luke's English Podcast! This episode is long but you don't have to listen to it in one go. You can listen, pause, do something else, listen later and so on. Click here for the page for this episode to see photos and vote in a poll about names: http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5Yb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here is the concluding part of this detective story, which is based on a text adventure by Peter Carlson on www.textadventures.co.uk. In the first part you heard me playing an adventure game in which I have to analyse clues and choose the right options to continue a story and solve a murder. Before listening to this episode you should listen to part 1 of the story. Click here here to listen to part 1: http://teacherluke.co.uk/2016/03/31/338-a-murder-mystery-detective-story/ In this episode (part 2) you'll hear the rest of the story, and if you don't understand what's going on - don't worry, I'll explain it at the end and you can read a summary of the story below. Enjoy! Visit the page for this episode here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5Wc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I'm going to read through an interactive text-based adventure story. The story takes place in Victorian-era London (19th century) and we'll play the part of an expert detective who, like Sherlock Holmes, tries to solve a complex murder mystery. Follow me as I read through the story and attempt to solve the crime in the process. Can you understand the evidence and make the right decisions to solve the case? You can read the text-based adventure story and play the game yourself at textadventures.co.uk For all the relevant details, click here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5W6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I'm talking to Moz on his canal boat in London. We talk first about issues relating to swearing on television, and then Moz tells us some true stories about murder on the streets of London. Moz has recently launched several walking tours of Soho in central London and over the last year or two he has been researching local court records in order to tell these true stories in full detail. CAUTION: this episode contains some explicit content including descriptions of violence and horror. There is also some strong language and swearing at the end of the episode. Click here for the page for this episode http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5Re Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features another natural conversation with a native English speaker. This time I'm talking to my mate Carrick, who I've known for about 10 years now. He is a teacher who used to work in the same school as me, back in London. We have a few things in common, like the fact that we've both had a few strange travelling experiences as English teachers, including the time when he once attended a meeting in Germany that involved not only the usual business work but also the drinking of some very rare and expensive scotch whiskies, which meant that the meeting turned into a kind of musical party with guitar and flute playing, quite a lot of whisky drinking, a late night and then, unsurprisingly, a bit of a hangover the next day. Listen to hear a few anecdotes, some authentic English conversation and more. http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5Qg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a chance to review and explain some of the vocabulary that you heard in my interview with Craig Wealand. Download the episode and read the list of words in this episode here http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5LB Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features an interview with English teacher and podcaster Craig Wealand from InglesPodcast.com Craig is originally from Essex in England, but now lives in Valencia in Spain where he works as an English teacher and Cambridge examiner for the British Council. Craig has been an English teacher for over 20 years, and for the last few years he has also been producing episodes of his learning English podcast, which won the award for Best Educational Podcast in the UK Podcaster awards last year. In the episode we find out about Craig, talk about his career, his teaching experiences, his podcasting and also I ask him some random "quick fire" questions, just like he does with guests on his podcast. The page for this episode: http://wp.me/p4IuUx-5La Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.