In this episode I was talking about questions from my lovely French learner who is reading an English novel. I felt that a lot of the vocabulary was common and useful so we did a whole episode on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iBFmKlO4BY
Vocabulary

Idiom - to squeeze something out of someone - to make someone tell you or give you something

Idiom - to spill the beans - to tell the secret

an inappropriate story - something that you wouldn't share with everyone
Idiom - Her hopes were dashed. - hopes are destroyed

irrevocably - impossible to take back or fix, changed forever
Idiom - to have a send off - to have a party, usually when someone leaves to go somewhere but can be used for a life celebration at a funeral
Idiom - Lets have a knees up - to have a party ...people will probably get drunk

Idiom - scared out of my wits/scared witless - really scared of something

Idiom - two peas in a pod - to share interests or seem similar

stagger - 'he staggered home' - walked awkwardly or drunkenly
As I mentioned in the podcast there are two famous comedians who this makes me think of. The first is John Cleese doing the Monty Python sketch, The Ministry of Silly Walks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCLp7zodUiI

The second is our very famous and hilarious comedian Billy Connolly and his 'drunk walks'. Billy is from Glasgow in Scotland, so you get extra points if you can understand everything he says.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW3rDi0Ko6M

spotted - I spotted a bluebird. - to see

avidly - with lots of interest or excitement
fanatic - (route of 'fan') someone who is a big fan or really loves something

bird spotter (also 'bird watcher' is common)/train spotter - someone who really loves birds/trains and goes to look for them as a hobby.
twitcher - someone who watches birds as a hobby.

In episode 3 I talk a little bit about the North West of England, where I was born and now live.
y county is called Cumbria.
In the episode I talked about a few famous places and people. I talked about the history of my town, Whitehaven. And how great the sunsets are here.

I talked about the nearby National Park, the Lake District. Grasmere, one of the many lakes in the National Park, was home to William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, for many years. You can read Wordsworth's famous 'daffodil poem' here:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud

I talked about the different kinds of flowers we have in the springtime in the UK. I mentioned: snowdrops, daffodils and bluebells.

I also talked about my favourite historical resident of the Lake District: Beatrix Potter.
You can learn about her life and see lots of scenes from this beautiful part of the UK by watching the movie 'Miss Potter'. I'm sure you'll recognise her very famous 'Peter Rabbit' in this trailer.

Vocabulary

hesitate - to pause or wait
coastal - an area next to the sea
exporting - to ship things out of a country
lucrative - that is very profitable, makes a lot of money
downside - the negative or bad part of something (sometimes disadvantage)
indicator - a signal or way to identify something
menagerie - a mixed collection, usually used to describe a mixed collection of animals
Botanist - a scientist that knows about nature, usually plant life (in Beatrix Potter's case, mushrooms)
'to hold a dear place in (your/my/our) heart' - idiom - something that you (or in this case a nation) really love and feel affection for

In episode 2 I talked about my travels around the world. If you head to YouTube you can watch the video which is accompanied with pictures from my travels.

After a year in South Korea I went to work in Milan in Italy. I really loved Italy and spent my free time traveling around Milan and visiting famous cities like Florence and Rome.
While I lived in Korea I had a car and travelled all over the country. I was curious about the differences between Korean, Chinese and Japanese culture and temples were one of the most obvious places to see this culture difference.

In my final year in Korea I visited Kyoto in Japan. I loved it so much I went twice in one year!

Vocabulary

Phrasal Verb - 'popped off to Italy' - pop off to (also pop to) - Mostly British phrasal verb meaning to go somewhere quickly or easily.

Phrasal Verb - 'pop up somewhere in the city' - pop up - Used to describe the action of appearing suddenly out of the ground. Often used for animals such as meercats or groundhogs. In this case used to describe the action of using underground transport to go somewhere without an expected or planned destination.

Idiom - 'right on my doorstep' - Used to describe a place that is very close to your home, often in comparison to some other place. In this case Paris is much closer to the UK than South Korea and so can be described as being 'on my doorstep'. 

Phrasal Verb - 'we set off' - Used to describe leaving somewhere to begin a journey.

Vocabulary - auspicious - Suggesting a positive or successful future or outcome (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/auspicious).

A little bit about my teaching background and some ideas about what you might ask.

Vocabulary

obscure - not clear or very unusual

Hello and Welcome to my podcast.

This podcast is available everywhere you can find podcasts. In addition it's also available on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZuUr-gK1KmiuKirvVEEhRQ

I began making videos in Episode 57, from then on all the podcasts are available to listen or to watch.

Check the description on each episode because there are vocabulary lists and additional information there for each episode.

I hope you find my podcast useful for your English listening practise.

Vocabulary

Idiom: 'the nitty gritty' - the detailed information about something