I’ve been living in Bangkok, Thailand since the beginning of August, so it’s been over 2 months now. This is the longest I’ve spent in one place outside of my home country before. One of our group class students requested an episode sharing my thoughts and experiences after moving here, and I decided to give it a go. In this episode, I’ll be talking about what’s changed here and some big differences I’ve noticed between the UK and Thailand. I’ll be sharing the good and the bad, things I miss and...
Oct 04, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 240
Memory is something we've covered a few times on the podcast before, but it's always worth coming back to with more ideas and tips. In this episode, I share advice on how you can stop forgetting English vocabulary, 2 methods of learning new vocabulary that suit all types of learners and personality types, expressions related to memory and forgetting, and at the end I give some advice on general memory and forgetfulness. I think there's a lot of value packed into this episode so listen carefully ...
Sep 27, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 239
Every now and then, I invite the members of Level Up English to join me for a chat about different topics. This time, we spoke about giving advice. In the end, only 3 people joined, which was quite a nice casual group. All members gave some amazing advice and also used some really good vocabulary. I hope you enjoy this episode! In this episode, we cover: Advice on being happy Advice on getting good sleep Advice on learning languages And problems we're facing in life Show notes page - https://lev...
Sep 20, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 238
Cara Leopold ( Leo Listening ) joins me once again on the podcast to discuss the benefits of learning English in groups with her experience teaching group classes based around movies, as well as some good movies and TV series she likes to use to practice and teach English. If you've caught this episode in 2023, Cara is relaunching her Movie Club course. You can try it out for one week in September to see if you like it. We talk more about this in the episode too Show notes page - https://levelup...
Sep 13, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 237
In this episode, we'll be talking about some patterns you can remember when adding UP to verbs. Here are some examples: cloud up, clear up, finish up, drink up, break up One of the Level Up Members recently asked about the difficult part of phrasal verbs where we add ‘up’ to a verb and why we do this. I decided to make an entire episode about it because it’s not an easy thing to get your head around. Part 1 was Episode 224 . I decided to stop the episode halfway because 1 hour of listing phrasal...
Sep 06, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 236
I had a great audio question sent in today about learning with comprehensible input. So in this episode, I cover some of the ideas behind the comprehensible input method, and then explore the input hypothesis from Stephen Krashen and how these ideas might benefit your language learning methods. As always, keep in mind we are all different and learn in different ways, but I think a lot of these points will be relevant to most of you. Perhaps you can take something away today that you can implemen...
Aug 30, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 235
Steve Kaufmann is a polyglot who has a good level of proficiency in around 20 languages. Steve is well known for his content online and on his YouTube channel, Lingo Steve . You've probably seen him before! Today he joined me for a really fascinating chat about language learning. I cover some of his recent YouTube videos and ask for tips on some of these topics. If you want to know more, I highly recommend going to his channel for more details. In this episode, we cover: Language learning mistak...
Aug 23, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 234
On the private podcast last week, I chatted a bit about my experience in China and then ended on the idea of the benefit of being silly in your language learning. I thought it was a really interesting and potentially useful topic for people to hear, so I decided to turn it into a public podcast episode too. In this episode, I’ll be talking about reasons why you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously, and how inserting more silliness into your life can benefit you - both generally and to help your...
Aug 16, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 233
I recently made a huge change in my life and I'm announcing it to everyone in this episode today. I'm going to talk a little bit about this change, why I made it, and some of my feelings about the future. I then talk about change in a more general sense and give you some tips (inspired by Atomic Habits) to help you in life and language learning, as well as some useful expressions related to change. Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast232 Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www....
Aug 09, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 232
Do you know how to use the word 'dear'? A lot of people get confused with this term, and honestly the answer isn't as simple as you may think, so let's look into that today. I'll cover the ways in which we use this word and why you might not want to say it to strangers. This is a re-share of a video I posted on the English with Michael YouTube channel, so thanks for your patience with me during this busy time! Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast231 Sign Up for Free Lessons - ...
Aug 02, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 231
A listener requested a topic on the housing market in the UK, so I thought I'd give it a shot and make it as interesting as I can. In this episode, I talk about the housing crisis the UK is currently going through, my own experience with buying a house and share some interesting sayings and idioms too. As always, we look at lots of useful and high-level vocabulary. Do you know the word 'insurmountable'? Let's learn it today! Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast230 Sign Up for ...
Jul 26, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 230
Kevin Stroud from the History of English Podcast joins me for a fascinating discussion and dive into... well, the history of English! In this episode, we talk about a variety of things, including: Why TH doesn't have its own letter In what part of England the language was standardised? When did the first dictionaries come Why there are so many French words in English Why we have so many silent letters Why we have different words for animals and meat (pig, pork) Where English surnames come from A...
Jul 19, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 229
This week I’m beginning to come down with a cold. I can feel my throat getting hoarse and it hurts to swallow, and I probably don’t have much time before I’ll be unable to record a podcast episode, so let’s get this done quickly! Getting sick is something we all have to deal with at some point, so although it’s not the cheeriest of topics, it’s an important one to cover since there are so many great expressions we can use to talk about this. I’ll be covering a lot of those today as well as tips ...
Jul 12, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 228
I had a listener question about Phrasal Verbs and why some of them use prepositions even though the meaning seems to be the same without them. Can we say "Check it" and "Check it out"? What's the difference? I break down this question in detail and also talk about the difference between literal and idiomatic phrasal verbs. I hope you learn a lot today in this useful and information-packed episode. Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast227 Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.l...
Jul 05, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 227
This is the first AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode I have done since #84! It's been a while, but this is where I reach out to Instagram to get some questions for me to answer on the podcast. If you like these episodes or have a question to submit for a future episode, get in touch with me on the website below or on Instagram . Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast226 Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.levelupenglish.school/#freelessons Join Level Up English - https://courses.l...
Jun 28, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 226
Aubrey Carter from All Ears English and IELTS Energy joins me today for a chat about the IELTS English exam, and a few other topics. We discuss tips for the exam as well as some interesting slang and vocabulary that would be useful for all learners! Should you use formal or informal English? Should you improve your English or study the exam structure ? Useful vocabulary Using idioms and slang New English words that we have learnt recently And more! Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school...
Jun 21, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 225
I got a question about adding "UP" to certain verbs and this learner wanted to know more. As I did more research, I was plunged into a rabbit hole of research and it turned out to be much more complicated than I first realised! I decided to try to tackle this topic in a podcast episode. Because there's a lot to talk about, this is just part 1. If you like this episode, let me know! If this one goes well, I'll do my best to make a part 2. In this episode, I talk about what a phrasal verb is, how ...
Jun 14, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 224
I see a lot of writing mistakes with learners struggling with parallel structures, or parallelism. This is where features in a sentence have to follow the same grammatical patterns to sound natural. It may sound a bit confusing, but honestly, it's fairly simple once you understand the main idea. In this episode, I go through 7 examples of how to sound more natural with this grammar rule as I talk about some of my favourite travel memories. I encourage you to respond and do the same! Show notes p...
Jun 07, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 223
With the recent coronation of King Charles in the UK, people might be wondering why I haven't posted any content related to the royal family. Well, in this episode I'm going to be exploring the British opinion on the monarchy (based on Reddit posts) and sharing my own opinion at the end too. We explore a lot of vocabulary and I try my best to cover both sides of the argument, from those who think the monarchy is important to our culture, to those who want to see it abolished. What do you think? ...
May 31, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 222
Are you well-rested and ready to begin today's episode? Sleep is a vital part of human health and I explore this a bit in today's episode. I talk about the importance of sleep and how it related to learning and the mind. I explore the idea of comparing sleep to study time. Is it better to study more or sleep more? I share my thoughts and provide some statistics in today's episode, and as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts too! Leave your comments in the show notes below. Show notes page - ht...
May 24, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 221
Anna Connelly is known as Anna with 2Ns online and has her own podcast looking at Business English. She joins us today to discuss business English, giving presentations, job interviews, and more! Whether you need business English or not, I think there's a lot to learn from this conversation for general learners too. I hope you enjoy. Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast220 Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.levelupenglish.school/#freelessons Join Level Up English - https:/...
May 17, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 220
Are you ready for a laugh? Well, I can't promise that. But I'll do my best! This is Part 2 of learning English with jokes and humour, where I'll be looking at puns you might find amusing while learning some useful vocabulary and expressions hidden within them. My hope is that you'll have fun with me today and learn something new as well. Find part 1 here: https://levelupenglish.school/podcast202 Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast219 Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.lev...
May 10, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 219
Are you looking for some inspiration this week? Today I look at 4 of the world's most influential people and share some valuable life lessons we can all learn from. I explain how I think these can be applied to language learners too! So if you're struggling with motivation, this is the episode for you. As always, there are lots of great vocabulary and phrases we look at along the way. Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast218 Video Teaching from Signs: https://youtu.be/b5x3FWVJn...
May 03, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 218
Learn about the benefits you can receive from embracing your weirdness - in other words: accepting your uniqueness. There are so many benefits of doing this for your language learning and for your life as a whole and I go through a lot of these today while using some useful and relevant vocabulary to help expand your English knowledge. I LOVED recording this episode and I hope you love listening to it as well. As always, join in the conversation on the show notes page linked below. Show notes pa...
Apr 26, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 217
Dr. Valerie Fridland is a professor, sociolinguist, author, and public speaker. Her recent book is: Like, Literally, Dude . Arguing for the Good in Bad English. She joins me on the podcast today for a fascinating discussion about aspects of English we often consider to be bad, such as UM and AH. We also talk about the use of "like" and other language features like Vocal Fry. Valerie also helps me feel more comfortable with my use of UM and AH in speech as they actually have special meanings with...
Apr 19, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 216
In this week's episode, we're exploring the fun topic of animals, except we're not learning simple animal words or noises they make. This is more advanced. We'll be looking at a few animal idioms, expressions and phrasal verbs that you can use in your daily life. Native speakers use these all the time! Along with each expression, I'll share a cool fact about the animal, as well as an example from my own life to give some context. Listen to my guest episode with All Ears English: https://youtu.be...
Apr 12, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 215
We'll be talking today about making phone calls in English, including tips on being confident and doing it successfully, as well as some useful expressions that we all use on the phone. Even if you don't regularly make calls, I think this will be a useful episode for everyone. Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast214 Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.levelupenglish.school/#freelessons Join Level Up English - https://courses.levelupenglish.school By becoming a member, you c...
Apr 05, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 214
Today I'm answering a question I hear all the time - How long until I get fluent in English? How many months or years until I can be done? I answer this question in detail today by responding directly and also questioning back as to whether this is the best attitude to have in language learning. Don't miss this one! Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast213 Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.levelupenglish.school/#freelessons Join Level Up English - https://courses.levelupen...
Mar 29, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 213
Richard Simcott has a strong passion for language learning and is described by Wikipedia as a hyperpolyglot (a word I had never heard of before). This is an episode you definitely don't want to miss! Richard shares some of his tips on learning so many languages. We talk about: How to get motivation to learn What if you're too shy to talk? What if you don't have time to learn? Why children are better language learners And much more! Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast212 Sign ...
Mar 22, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 212
In this episode, we're talking about money! I share lots of very useful words related to finances, making and saving money, as well as some useful ways of describing people's attitudes towards money. How do you feel about your financial situation? I'm sure for most of us, it's not an easy relationship! Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast211 Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.levelupenglish.school/#freelessons Join Level Up English - https://courses.levelupenglish.school B...
Mar 15, 2023•20 min•Season 1Ep. 211
