Oh, summer time. What a lovely, sunny, magical time of year. Summer is filled with vacations, camping, friends, delicious ice cream, and trips to the ocean. It’s the time of year to revel in the golden glow of the long summer days. If the dark and chilly winter makes you depressed, then now is the time to open your arms to the sunshine and soak it up!

It’s the dog days of summer here in the United States. The dog days are usually the hottest days of summer. They are so hot that dogs (and humans!) tend to get very lazy. The heat just melts our strength away. This is also the time of year when the sun is in the same part of the sky as the star Sirius. Sirius is sometimes called the Dog Star.

Andy loves the sun, and is sad that it’s the dog days of summer. Listen as he tells Marni about his end-of-summer plans. -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

People approach life in many different ways. There’s usually never just one answer to a problem. Sometimes, there are a ton of answers! Some people have some pretty crazy ideas about how to solve problems. For example, in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet wants revenge on his father’s killer. In order to hide his goal, Hamlet decides to pretend that he’s crazy. Most of Hamlet’s friends admit to Hamlet that his plan doesn’t make any sense.

However, Hamlet’s friend Polonius says, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” Apparently, Polonius is admitting that there is a method to Hamlet’s madness. When there is a method to one’s madness, this means that someone has a good reason for doing something crazy. Method to one’s madness is an English phrase that started with Shakespeare, but there’s no getting stuck in the 17th century for this phrase. We still use it today.

Dominique has done a few things that Kelsey doesn’t understand. Listen as Dominique explains to Kelsey that there is a method to her madness. -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

Office supplies are pretty amazing. Gone are the days of the boring yellow pencil. Today, pencils sparkle! It’s easy to spend hours in the office supply store. You can walk up and down the aisles, looking at all the staples and rubber bands. These days, even duct tape is amazing. It comes in many colors, and you can even buy duct tape that has pictures of ducks.

You can always have a store deliver office supplies to your home or office. But then you miss out on the magic of the office supplies. Going on a supply run is really fun, and nothing to get embarrassed about. Feel free to geek out over all the printers, pencils, and paper clips!

Jordin loves offices supplies, although Romeo prefers to be incognito while he does his shopping. Listen to what happens when they meet up at the office supply store. -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

Imagine that you are walking near a cemetery. You hear a scary noise. Then, you see a hand reaching out from the ground. There are suddenly many hands, and then many bodies. These human beings begin walking toward you, but they are not alive. They are the living dead, and they want your brains. It’s time to start running for your life!

This type of classic scene happens in many different zombie movies. We can thank George A. Romero for this. He began the cult of zombie movies in the 1960s when he made Night of the Living Dead. This movie was so scary that people had strong visceral reactions to it, and it became very popular. Sadly, George Romeo passed away recently, but he will always be remembered whenever there is a zombie on the movie screen.

Listen as Andy tells Dominique all about George Romero’s movies in today’s English lesson. -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

“It was much ado about nothing. At the end of the day, it’s still music.”

—Rapper Ice Cube, remembering the release of his controversial album, Death Certificate, in 1991. (Los Angeles Times) -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

Have you ever been glamping? Were you forced into a staycation during snowmageddon? Have you ever heard of a portmanteau? Genius words like glamping, staycation, and snowmageddon are all portmanteaus. A portmanteau is a new word created by combining two other words. So, glamping is from glamour and camping. Staycation is from stay and vacation. Snowmageddon is snow and armageddon.

Some portmanteaus are very obvious and in your face. For example, the media came up with the portmanteau Brangelina when they were talking about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Some portmanteaus have become so common that many people have no clue that they are portmanteaus, like electrocute (electric and execute) and motel (motor and hotel). Did you know that internet is a portmanteau of international and network? We bet you didn’t. Boom.

Andy has many frenemies. Frenemies are friends who sometimes act like enemies. Listen as Andy tells Dominique about his other favorite portmanteaus. -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

Actors and other people who work in theaters often have interesting beliefs. One of the most well-known beliefs is that it is bad luck to wish a person good luck before a show. Instead, actors believe it is better to say something with the opposite meaning. Now, it is traditional to say, “Break a leg,” before they are on.

Of course, this is just pretend. No one wants an actor to really break their leg on stage. That would be painful for the actor and the audience! Instead, the expression break a leg is just another way of wishing one luck before they go in front of an audience. There are many different ideas of how this started. They are all good stories, but like many theater stories, no one knows which one is true.

Kelsey has just a few minutes before her big show. It’s time for everyone to wish her luck in today’s English soap opera. -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

Hawaii is a lush, tropical paradise located in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles off the western coast of the United States. It is known for its waterfalls, tropical forests, and coconuts. It also has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. When the wintertime blues start to seep into your soul, it might be time to pack your sunscreen, and fly away to a Hawaiian paradise.

However, Hawaii is not cheap. If you want to take a vacation to Hawaii, you are going to have to budget and save your money. Planning your vacation beforehand can help you find the best deals on hotels and restaurants. Even then, it might still be too expensive for many people. If this is the case, you might have to use your imagination. Drinking piña coladas in your bathtub is a close second.

Dominique is having a hard time dealing with all the winter rain. Listen as Jordin tells her about the benefits of escaping to the tropical paradise of Hawaii. -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

Stephen King is one of the most popular fiction writers alive today. His most famous stories are usually scary, like Carrie, Pet Semetary, or The Shining. However, he also loves to cross genres, and he has written in almost every style. When he was a college student, he began to write a dystopian western about a gunslinger. The book wasn’t published until 12 years later.

When The Dark Tower was published, many people were pumped. The story became very popular. It told the tale of Roland, The Gunslinger, who must survive in a post-apocalyptic realm. The book is strange and beautiful. Now, after 35 years, this famous novel is going to become a movie. Fans of the story couldn’t be more excited!

Andy is a big fan of The Dark Tower. Listen to today’s English lesson to hear him talk with Marni about why he’s excited. -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com

“Many moons ago, I think I had just met Edgar Wright and professed my fandom… I was like, ‘Well, I’m totally available!’”—Actor Jon Hamm, speaking about meeting one of his favorite directors, Edgar Wright (Entertainment Weekly) -- View this and other great English lessons at www.englishbaby.com