A particularly useful and interesting episode for you today - a conversation about English words which are very similar, but crucially, not the same. My guest Eli Burnstein is the author of “Dictionary of Fine Distinctions” - a book which aims to bring clarity to English words. Expect a funny discussion about subtle shades of meaning between words like poison & venom, accuracy & precision, envy & jealousy and many others. Eli is Canadian, now living in London and so he also shares some key features of Canadian English. 

📄 Get the PDF transcript https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Fine-Distinctions-Subtle-Shades-of-Meaning-with-Eli-Burnstein-960.pdf

🔗 Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/03/fine-distinctions-subtle-shades-of-meaning-with-eli-burnstein-960/

🏆 LEP Premium https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

📗 Get the book in the UK https://www.waterstones.com/book/dictionary-of-fine-distinctions/eli-burnstein/9781805227229

📘 Buy the book from Profile Books https://profilebooks.com/work/dictionary-of-fine-distinctions/

📙 Also available on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dictionary-Fine-Distinctions-Nuances-Niceties/dp/180522722X/

🧔‍♂️ https://www.eliburnstein.com/

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People keep asking me in comments, "How can I learn English with your podcast?" so in this episode I am answering that question as simply, directly and efficiently as possible. Expect advice about improving your English across the 4 skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing, and the language systems of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and discourse management. PDF available.

📄 Get the PDF here 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/How-to-learn-English-with-my-podcast-959.pdf

🔗 Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/27/how-to-learn-english-with-my-podcast-959/

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Sign up to LEP Premium here 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

If you have ever wondered what happens in premium episodes, this episode will show you. I'll play you some clips from the latest series (P71) including some vocabulary explanations, memory quiz questions, pronunciation practice and discussion questions for speaking practice. For the rest of the series, and all the other episodes of LEP Premium (now over 250, each with PDF worksheets and video versions) sign up and become a Premium LEPster today 🏆 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

📄 Get the episode PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A-Free-Sample-of-LEP-Premium-Series-71-_-Vocabulary-Pronunciation-958.pdf

🔗 Website page for this episode 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/20/a-free-sample-of-lep-premium-series-71-vocabulary-pronunciation-958/

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How many words are there in English? How many do you really need to know? And how many words have I spoken on this podcast? 🧐 Also, what is shadowing, and how should you do it? Can you do episodes about different English accents? What are your top 10 countries for this podcast? In this episode of Luke’s English Podcast, I answer listener questions about vocabulary size, English accents, the shadowing technique and more. PDF available with transcript and vocabulary list.

📄 Get the PDF with transcript and vocab list 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/More-Questions-of-English-Listener-Comments-_-Bits-Bobs-5-957.pdf

🔗 Episode page on my website 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/13/more-questions-of-english-listener-comments-bits-bobs-5-957/

🏆 Sign up to LEP Premium for more lessons on vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

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My brother James joins me again on the podcast for a rambling chat about diverse topics such as: trousers 👖 sandwiches 🥪 gangster films 🍿 the work of Edgar Allan Poe 📖 vinyl and cassettes 🎵 memories of living together 🎮 annoying behaviour 😤 and English words and grammar that irritate people 😠 plus James has a new vinyl EP out now on Ooz records. Transcript available 📄.

🎧 Get OOZ004 - James' new vinyl EP 👉 https://oozrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ooz004

📄 Get the PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Thompson-Originals-A-Chat-with-My-Brother-956-TRANSCRIPT.pdf

🔗 Episode page on my website 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/06/thompson-originals-a-chat-with-my-brother-956/

🏆 Sign up to LEP Premium for extra episodes about vocab, grammar, pronunciation 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

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In episode 949 I did an online test which claimed to be for C1 level, but let's be honest - it was more like an intermediate level, the questions were rubbish and it was ultimately a useless scam. This time I'm taking a proper C1 English test - the Use of English section from a Cambridge CAE exam. Let's see what is required to pass this, and what bits of English you can learn from it.

📄 Get the PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Lets-take-a-REAL-C1-English-Test-CAE-Use-of-English-955.pdf

🔗 Website page for this episode 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/29/lets-take-a-real-c1-english-test-cae-use-of-english-955/

🏆 LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

🎧 Listen to my podcast in an app on your phone 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/links

What is the pass mark for this CAE test?

I forgot to add that the pass mark is 60% for this test, which means you must get a minimum of about 22/36 in the Use of English section (that's 14 lost points). Could you do it? Bear in mind that this is only a part of the whole test, and you'd need to get at least 60% across all 4 sections (also including listening, writing and speaking).

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The Pod-Pals are back on the podcast for another catching up session! Recorded just after the summer holidays, there is talk of Paul's hatred of the beach 🏖️, the English tradition of building epic sandcastles 🏰, other famous people with our names (including an "evil" teacherluke 👿) and what AI gets completely wrong about us 🤦. PDF transcript available. (a.k.a Catching Up with Amber & Paul #15)

📄 Get the PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Transcript-Holiday-Hell-Serious-Sandcastles-AI-Inbreeding-with-Amber-Paul-954-2.pdf

🔗 Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/22/holiday-hell-serious-sandcastles-ai-inbreeding-with-amber-paul-954/

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My 7-year-old daughter joins me again as co-host in this fun episode. We play "Would you rather?", a conversation game in which we ask each other ridiculous questions about various hypothetical situations. Enjoy listening to another cute and funny chat with my daughter, which covers topics such as food, world peace, wealth, fame, success and Inspector Gadget.

📄 Get the PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/A-game-of-Would-You-Rather_-with-my-daughter-953-TRANSCRIPT-1.pdf

🔗 Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/15/a-game-of-would-you-rather-with-my-daughter-953/

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A description of my recent family holiday to Norway 🇳🇴 including rambling about how I can't stand beach holidays 🏖️, chasing my son around different international airports 🏃, visiting Oslo ⛴️, Bergen 🏠, fjords 🚤 and mountains 🏔️. Edward Munch's The Scream 😱, staying in a cabin with no hot water, shower or washing machine, swimming in a freezing lake 🥶, catching a trout 🎣 and driving an electric Jaguar 🐆(that's a car). Includes a PDF with vocabulary in context, definitions, full transcript, and vocabulary quiz.

📄 Get the PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/The-Trip-to-Norway-_-Learn-Vocabulary-in-Context-952.pdf

🔗 Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/08/the-trip-to-norway-learn-vocabulary-in-context-952/

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Dealing with some questions from listeners about pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, namely how to know when 'd is had or would (in writing and pronunciation), the curious origins of the word podcast and a vocabulary lesson about the word cast including various collocations and phrases which include this morpheme (that means a part of a word, not some kind of shape-shifting alien). More groundbreaking and genre-defying content to grace your earphones, and not boring grammar stuff at all, not even a little bit, no, no way, not here.

Get the PDF here https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Questions-of-English-Listener-Comments-Bits-Bobs-4.pdf

Website page https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/01/questions-of-english-listener-comments-bits-bobs-4-951/

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