Sarah and Peter talk about the difference between people in Southern US and the rest of the country. 

After you have mastered all the vocabulary and phrases in this episode, try to explain the differences people have in different regions where you live. 

For the full transcript, go to elllo.org and look for episode 1276. 

Peter and Sarah talk about North Carolina, a state in the US. 

Go to elllo.org and look for episode 1275 for the full transcript. 

Ade talks about some of the popular dishes in Spain. She goes into detail about paella, one of the most famous dishes, but also one of the dishes with the most different variations. 

For a full transcript of the audio and to practice vocabulary, go to elllo.org and look for #1273. 

Abiedemi and Todd talk about how people prefer to watch movies in her country.

Go to elllo.org for the full transcript, vocabulary, and activities that go with this lesson. 

Abedimi and Todd discuss one of the biggest industries in Nigeria. Only India produces more of this product worldwide. Can you guess what it is?

To check out the full transcript of the audio, go to elllo.org and search for interview 1271. 

Vesna talks about Pula Croatia.

Go to elllo.org for the full transcript and lesson with vocabulary.

Daniel talks to Hana about how much they sleep. They talk about taking naps as well.

You can go to the elllo.org for the full lesson.

In the spirit of Halloween, we talk about scary movies. Listen to Akane tell Ruth how she feels about horror films.

Go to elllo.org for the full lesson. 

Ruth: So Akane, is there anything that you’re frightened of?

Akane: Well… I’m, I’m really scared of horror movies. I never watch them, cuz they really really frighten me.

Ruth: Horror movies wow. Have your ever seen a horror movie?

Akane: Well, um, when I was little I used to watch them with my friends, because, back in the 80’s, horror movies used to be really popular. Like ah “Jason”, and “Freddy Cruger”. (Oh yeah) and things like that yeah. But ah, they used to keep me up at night and I couldn’t sleep.

Ruth: Yeah, my friend actually had a “Freddy Cruger” poster. It used to frighten me.

Akane: Did she?

Ruth: Yeah, it wasn’t my favorite. So, ah, what don’t you like about horror movies?

Akane: Well, um, I think, I think uh, I don’t know, I think it’s the psychological aspect of it. They just really make me feel scared.

Ruth: Ah, heh.. What was the last horror movie that you watched?

Akane: Um, the last one I watched was, I think it was the “Blair Witch Project”.

Ruth: Oh I know that film, yeah

.Akane: The first one, I saw it in the theatre with my friend. And I couldn’t sleep properly for a week after that.

Ruth: Oh no!

Akane: Ya, I mean, I know it’s stupid. A lot of people think it’s a pretty stupid movie. Um, but I think it was just, just the psychological aspect of it that really made me feel scared. And uh, I think, with that movie, after people saw it, they weren’t really sure whether it was real or not. 

Ruth: Oh yeah.

Akane: And so there was that element as, as well. 

Ruth: Was that the same film that I’m thinking of. The one where they filmed people in a forest, is that right?

Akane: Yeah, that’s right. It was in a forest. And the whole thing was done with a camcorder. A hand held camcorder. And so, it was, a lot of it was, I think, black and white. I can’t remember. And uh, and the camera was very shaky, and…

Ruth: So it wasn’t professionally filmed?

Akane: Um, I guess it didn’t look like it was.

Ruth: Right.

Akane: Yeah, I heard that the movie actually only took um, It didn’t take a lot of money to film it. But it, it made a lot of money.

Ruth: Yeah, I can believe that actually, I can believe that. Well, thanks for that.

Happy Halloween. This week we listen to an older recording of Mike and Adrienne talking about Halloween.

Go to elllo.org for the complete lesson.

Transcript of the Conversation:

Todd: OK, guys we're going to talk about Halloween. So, what do you think about Halloween?

Adrienne: I actually like it. It's a fun holiday for kids especially because you get to dress up in costumes and you get lots of candy if you go trick-or-treating. I have a lot of good memories. of Halloween growing up.

Todd: OK, what is trick-or-treating? Why do you trick-or-treat?

Adrienne: Trick-or-treat is when you go, you dress up in your costume on Halloween and you go door-to-door ringing doorbells, knocking on doors. One person comes to the door, you say, "Trick-or-treat" and usually these days they give you a treat which is candy or apples or something like that but in the older days, you could, if they didn't give you a treat, then you could play a trick on them or they could play a trick on you, instead of giving you a treat, something like that.

Mike: I always thought that it was they performed, the person at the door performed some kind of trick for the kids because they didn't have candy to give, but I could be wrong.

Adrienne: Yeah, I don't know exactly. It's one of those three options.

Todd: Yeah, I think it's you play a trick on them.

Mike: Oh, really

Todd: You throw trash against their house.

Adrienne: Toilet paper their.

Todd: Toilet paper, eggs,

Mike: Egg their window.

Todd: Dog pooh in the paper bag on fire. On fire!

Adrienne: Yuck.

Todd: Yeah, that's gross. So, Mike, you're from Canada, so do you have Halloween American-style in Canada? Do you celebrate trick-or-treating? Do you do trick-or-treating?

Mike: Oh, yeah, I think it is the same as in the U.S. I believe it is a little bit different in Europe, maybe. They don't have the same kind of traditions but, yeah, exactly the same as in the U.S. We watched all the Snoopy, Charlie Brown Halloween kind of things, just like everybody....

Todd: OK. That's good. I'm glad because now we can diverge. What was, what were your costumes when you were younger?

Adrienne: Ah, I had so many. My mom was a seamstress so she used to make a lot of my costumes. I designed them and she would make them for me and my sister so one year I was bat girl, another year I was Wonder Woman. Another year I was Princess Lea from Star Wars, I was a rainbow and a clown and a cat, and a witch and everything, basically that you're supposed to be for Halloween I was.

Todd: A lot of heroines in there.

Adrienne: Of course. Strong women!

Todd: Mike, how about you?

Mike: I was goat boy.

Todd: Goat boy!

Mike: I was always goat boy because there...

Todd: Every year?

Mike: Yeah, we, I couldn't afford to get a decent costume every year.

Todd: So how were you goat boy? What did you look like?

Adrienne: Where did you get goat boy from?

Mike: They just put some sort of, they put a lot of trash on me, and forced me to eat a can. It's OK. 

I got lots of candy but then the other kids would beat me up and steal it from me. That's OK.

Adrienne: That's the saddest thing I've ever heard.

Mike: Well, you know. That's all right. It toughened me up when I got older.

Today in the podcast, Abidemi talks about the music scene in Nigeria.

Go to elllo.org for the full lesson.

Transcript of the audio:

Todd: So Abidemi, you're from Nigeria. Can you talk a little bit about the music scene in your country?

Abidemi: Yes. Nigeria is just amazing now in terms of music and even in the past we’ve had and we still do have great music, great musicians. We love to party just as much as we love to eat, there's nothing that Nigerians loves more than parties. We love to have a good time. So of course, music plays an important role in that. One of the music that we have now is like fusion. A mix of old traditional Nigerian music and instruments with more Western Hip Hop, R&B kind of sound and even reggae and Jamaican music and some Spanish too mixing with it.

Todd: Oh wow, that sounds like a nice mix.

Abidemi: It is actually and because we love to dance as well, it's something that you can move your body to, you can dance to, and also some ballads as well, that makes people think. In the past, Nigerian artists were either they sang traditional songs which they sang in the languages that we had in Nigeria or they sang in English for the most part because we do have many languages. So if you want to reach a wider audience, you needed to sing in English. But these days the interesting thing is many people are mixing. 

Todd: Oh, nice. 

Abidemi: They will sing a little bit in English as well as in their ... mostly in their native language which makes for very interesting mixes because then people that do understand that language, it attracts them to it. And it becomes more our own thing in our own country. 

Todd: So what are the languages that are mixed with English?

Abidemi: For example in my region, I speak Yoruba, so Yoruba, they use a lot of Yoruba. They use Igbo language too, it’s from the southeastern part of Nigeria. And there’s also Pidgin, Pidgin is a kind of ... it's Nigerian English or ... I know in other parts of west Africa they use Pidgin as well. But it’s more like slangy English, I would say. So there's a mixture of that. So the music becomes more Africanized, Nigerianized, if that’s a word. So it makes it much more our own thing and people enjoy it. Yeah, and it’s really good. So new artists now, they’re doing that and one of the results of that is it’s more accessible actually to people that are not Nigerians. So a lot of people download Nigerian music from YouTube. For example, there’s D'Banj. He’s an artist that’s gone over to the United States and he sings with Kanye. 

Todd: Oh, wow! 

Abidemi: Yeah, and some big top Hip Hop artist in the United States. There was a guy who they used one of his songs in one of the American - Black American movies in the States as well. 

Todd: Oh, cool! 

Abidemi: And he got a lot of exposure through that. So our artist are, yeah, they become more more famous it seems like. And they're leading other areas of Africa too.

Todd: Well I’ll be sure to put some YouTube clips up with the interview so people can check it out.

Abidemi: Please do.