In this bonus episode, Andrew shares a few quick updates from behind the scenes at Culips and tells a story about following the World Cup as a fan with more than one team to cheer for. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and improve your listening fluency.

Free study guide: This episode comes with a free study guide for everyone. Download it to review the vocabulary, follow along with the episode, and practice using the new expressions.

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Have you ever asked the internet about a health problem before asking a doctor? In this episode, Andrew and Anna talk about using AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini for health advice, and whether you can really trust them. Andrew shares a small health problem of his own and the answer he got from AI, and together they work out when a chatbot is actually helpful and when it is time to see a real doctor. Along the way they get into how confident these tools sound, who should be responsible when the advice is wrong, and what a visit to the doctor might look like in the future.

To build your fluency, try listening to the episode more than once and saying the new expressions out loud until you feel comfortable using them yourself.

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What do you think is hiding on a 20-year-old iPod that someone forgot in a drawer? In this episode, Andrew and Indiana share three news stories and trends they came across recently. The first is about a woman who buys old iPods and shares the playlists she finds on them, like a small window into strangers’ lives. After that, they talk about a new idea for spending less time on your phone, and a surprising change in what makes food popular today.

To build your fluency, try listening to the episode more than once and saying the new expressions out loud until you feel comfortable using them yourself.

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Have you ever loved something your partner just won’t try? For years, Andrew’s wife said no to baseball. In this bonus episode, he finally gets her to the ballpark and finds out what she really thinks. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and to improve your listening fluency.

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What if there were a copy of you at work, answering emails and joining meetings while you slept? After Anna read a BBC article about people who are building AI versions of themselves, she brought the idea to Andrew, and the two of them talk about what these “digital twins” could mean for the rest of us. They look at the same question from three sides, the worker, the boss, and the business owner, and they keep coming back to one worry. If a company has a copy of you, do they still need you?

Read the original BBC article on digital twins here:

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Have you started seeing videos that celebrate Chinese culture all over your feed, like someone swapping coffee for green tea? Andrew and Indiana noticed this trend too, and in this episode they teach three pieces of China-related slang and ask why it is all happening now. Their answer touches on the Djo song that went viral on TikTok, the move from TikTok to RedNote, soft power, and Canada’s anti-tariff billboards in the US.

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🔑 Key expressions

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In this bonus episode, Andrew shares some thoughts that have been on his mind lately about time and the way we experience it. He looks back a little, sits with the present moment, and wonders about what’s coming. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and to improve your listening fluency.

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Glossary expressions

What have you been up to lately? In this Simplified Speech catch-up episode, Andrew and Kassy share stories from the past month. Kassy talks about a family visit to Jeju Island, where rainy weather didn’t stop them from hiking Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea, and seeing some of the island’s stranger attractions. Andrew shares what happened during his birthday and fifth wedding anniversary, which fell in the same week and involved more cake than one person should eat in seven days.

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What’s one thing you wish you had known sooner? In this Chatterbox episode, Andrew sits down with Michael Lavers from the Level Up English Podcast for an honest conversation about regrets, missed chances, and the things we wish we had figured out earlier. They share stories about money mistakes, bad clothing buys, language learning, and the surprising lessons that come with getting older.

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Why do we dream? In this Simplified Speech episode, Andrew and Indiana share their own theories about what dreams are for, the strangest recurring nightmares they’ve had, and a uniquely Korean kind of dream that’s said to predict pregnancy. They also get into sleepwalking, snoring, and the small habits that can quietly ruin your sleep.

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References:

Wikipedia, Conception dreams — Read here:

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