Slow English with James (Intermediate English Listening Practice)

In this episode, we talk about what it’s like to live without our phones.
No buzzing notifications, no flashing screen, no modern day apps to help us.
I talk about what could happen when maps, music, and messages disappear, and you’re left with the slower world that existed before.
This episode isn’t about rejecting technology, but about noticing what happens when it’s gone.
If you’ve ever felt a bit addicted to your phone, this one’s for you.

✨ EPISODE TRANSCRIPT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/could-you-spend-143208351

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Technology, Digital Habits, Reflection & Feelings
Grammar: Passive voice, Modal verbs for speculation or advice

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” for the same story at a lower level.

This episode starts with a drive into the mountains: Autumn light, gold leaves, and cool November air smelling of trees and rain. It was lovely.
But the car I was driving had other ideas.
Somewhere between the mountain bends and motorways, I was fighting the machine! The car kept deciding what was “safe” and what wasn’t.
This one’s about control. About how technology that’s meant to help can end up taking over.
If you’ve ever felt nostalgia for something simple, or argued with your own modern car, this episode is for you..

✨ EPISODE TRANSCRIPT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/old-cars-are-new-142897684

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Car Parts & Features, Driving Actions, Nature & Sensory Language
Grammar: Non-defining relative clauses, Comparatives and superlatives, Passive voice

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” for the same story at a lower level.

Have you ever dreamed in another language?
In this episode, I tell the story of the first time it happened to me.
It was a cold night in Spain, a few months after I moved there, when I still knew only a few words but had a lot of curiosity.
It’s a story about being tired, living fully in another language, and the moment when that language starts to feel natural instead of foreign.
We talk about learning, belonging, and the small signs that show your progress even when you’re fast asleep.

✨ EPISODE TRANSCRIPT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/my-first-dream-142169025

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Living abroad, Home life, Language learning
Grammar: Past perfect (earlier past events), Non-defining relative clauses, Linking devices (for narrative flow), Discourse markers & stance adverbs (for natural spoken style)

😎 Too easy? Search:
“Everyday English with James” (advanced)

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” (beginner)

The air is changing, and you can feel it!
In this episode, I talk about the cold days arriving, the shorter light, and the quiet streets that come with winter.
But I also ask: what if we stopped fighting the season and learned to enjoy it?
This is a calm story about slowing down, finding small joys, and learning to live with the cold, not against it.

✨ EPISODE TRANSCRIPT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/winter-is-coming-141737764

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Nature & Seasons, Cold & Warmth, & Comfort
Grammar: Reduced Relative Clauses, Comparatives and Superlatives, Present Continuous for Developing Trends or Ongoing States

😎 Too easy? Search:
“Everyday English with James” (advanced)

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” (beginner)

In this episode, I go to one of Spain’s biggest theme parks for my birthday.
Between the screams, the speed, and the silence before each drop, I start to wonder how these machines really work.
Why don’t they fall off the track? Why do they feel so scary but stay so safe?
It’s a story about design, fear, trust, and how we find excitement in things that could never actually hurt us.

✨ EPISODE TRANSCRIPT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/140895765

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Theme Parks & Rollercoasters, Engineering & Mechanics, Sensations & Emotions
Grammar: Passive Voice, Causatives (to have / get something done), Adverbial Clauses of Contrast

😎 Too easy? Search:
“Everyday English with James” (advanced)

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” (beginner)

In this episode, I take you back to a cold winter day in London.
One small show-off stunt, a sheet of frost, and a fall that changed more than I expected.
It’s a story about pride, pain, and what it really feels like when a bone breaks.

✨ EPISODE TRANSCRIPT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/140372624

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Injuries & Pain, Medical & Healing
Grammar: Question Tags at the end of a sentence to check or confirm something, Past Perfect to talk about something that happened before another past action, Modals of Deduction using modal verbs (must, might, can’t) to say how sure we are about something.

😎 Too easy? Search:
“Everyday English with James” (advanced)

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” (beginner)

In this episode, we walk through the countryside of Great Britain.
Green hills, quiet woods, and wide fields full of life.
I talk about the animals you see every day, the hidden ones you only notice at night, and the insects that are always around us.
This episode is a gentle trip into nature, showing how even ordinary places are full of surprises.

✨ EPISODE TRANSCRIPT, FLASHCARDS, & PATREON EXTRAS: https://www.patreon.com/posts/139652857

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary:Nature & Environment, Wild Animals & Features
Grammar: First Conditional to talk about something possible in the future and its result, Quantifiers for Variety like "plenty of", "most", "a few", "some", Linking Words for Narrative Flow like "although", "meanwhile", "as soon as".

😎 Too easy? Search:
“Everyday English with James” (advanced)

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” (beginner)

In this episode, I talk about tattoos - how they look, how they feel, and why people get them.
I share the story of my first tattoo, what it was like to sit for hours in pain, and the ways tattoos heal on the skin.
It’s also about memory and self-expression - the marks we carry and the stories we keep with us.

✨ Get this episode’s transcript: https://www.patreon.com/posts/138721327

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Body & Pain, Feelings, Memory, & Attitude, Art, Expression, & Stories, Phrasal Verbs
Grammar: Comparatives with Far / Much / A Lot, Relative Clauses with Which / Who / Where, Second Conditionals to describe imaginary or unlikely situations in the present or future.

😎 Too easy? Search:
“Everyday English with James” (advanced)

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” (beginner)

In this episode, I take you on a flight that didn’t go as planned.
It starts as a simple trip to Riga with a friend, cheap tickets and excitement in the air.
But in the middle of the journey, something unexpected happens, and suddenly the plane feels very different.
This story is about surprise, fear, and courage, and how travel can bring moments we never forget.

✨ Get this episode’s transcript: https://www.patreon.com/posts/138130818

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Travel & Journeys, Actions & Movements
Grammar: Past Perfect for Sequencing to show that one past event happened before another past event, Relative Clauses with Prepositions at the End to give more information about a noun, Emphatic “Do” for Emphasis to add emphasis, especially in the present simple or past simple.

😎 Too easy? Search:
“Everyday English with James” (advanced)

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” (beginner)

In this episode, we look at the weight of a bad day.
I talk about why we blame ourselves, how even the strongest people struggle, and the small, simple things that can help us through.
This is a gentle reflection on sadness, self-kindness, and the fresh chance that tomorrow always brings.

✨ Get this episode’s transcript: https://www.patreon.com/posts/its-ok-to-have-137403297

🧠 Today We Learn:
Vocabulary: Emotions & Mood, Problems & Difficult Situations, Expressing & Sharing Feelings, Energy & Effort
Grammar: Causative With 'Have' / 'Get' to show that someone makes another person do something or arranges for something to be done, Comparative Structures Beyond '-er/more', Wish / If only (Present Regrets) to talk about regrets or things we want to be different in the present.

😎 Too easy? Search:
“Everyday English with James” (advanced)

🐣 Too difficult? Search:
“Beginner English with James” (beginner)