Unexpected English!

[EP61] In this episode I interview two guys a the local college about... well, just listen! Remember, Unexpected English brings you REAL English in short podcasts to help improve your listening while you have fun! Transcription included below!

All right so here we are at Mesa College, going to talk to a couple students. Are you guys both from San Diego? Yeah I've been born and raised. Born and raised, San Diego California. And what's the best part about living in San Diego? As cliché as it sounds, I want to say the culture of San Diego is probably my favorite part and just how diverse the entire community is. Umm, not to mention we have beautiful blue skies and sunshine every day. This is true, we do have good weather here, right? And the last time you left San Diego, where did you go? Umm, Seattle that's my favorite city in the world. Last time I left San Diego I went to Mexico. It was a lot of fun. Where, where in Mexico? I went to Tecate, Mexico I went there on a mission trip. Aha. And if you could go any place right now, I gave you, if I funded your vacation to go someplace, where would you go? Dude, send me to Italy! I want some of food, I want to wine, I want all that good stuff! Oh, OK, how about you?  I want to go to Japan really bad. I’m super into cars, and Japan has some of the best cars there. OK let me just ask you a little bit about Italy because most of my listeners are Italian so... yeah.. so.. what is it that is appealing about Italy to you? Umm, my parents are Italian so they talk a lot about how cool it was because they’ve been already and I've never been, but I hear that, like, the the culinary part of it is really nice and just the architecture is really beautiful and OK! Plus they have some really good music up there.. Beautiful, well OK, there you have it this is a spontaneous interview of two students here at Mesa College, thanks for your time guys! Yeah, thank you my man, appreciate it, have a great day!

[EP 60] In this episode, I read just a little selection from a story by one of my favorite American short story writers!  His delightful story-telling and and language are WEIRD and FUNNY, so I hope you will enjoy it! If you do, please follow on Spotify and instagram, and tell your friends! 

P.S. Is it Barth-el- may, or BART-el-may, or even Barth-Elm? Who knows?? 

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[EP 59] I'm publishing this one day after the 2020 Presidential election. We don't have a president in the USA yet, so how about a VOCABULARY lesson? I'll talk at random about using SHOOT and SHOT is some expressions. I can't fit a transcription here, so you may need to pay attention, take notes, and listen to the podcast a few times! Some of the phrases you will hear:

To shoot a weapon, pistol shots

This podcast has NO advertising I just for YOUR entertainment and mine, so if you enjoy it, please support me. HOW? I hope you will spread the word. Follow on Spotify and instagram, and tell your friends! Why not leave a review on Apple podcasts too! Thanks!

Need some links again?👉🏼  https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish

[EP 58]  Let's talk about the FUN of eating blazing chili peppers! Transcript below! Use the text to study and identify phrasal verbs and expressions, Unexpected English brings you fun ways to practice your English listening,  so be sure to subscribe!

(EP 56) Got Five minutes? Unexpected English always brings you fun ways to practice your English listening, so subscribe! Find us on Spotify, Apple, Instagram and everywhere! Season Five is coming soon, but for now just enjoy this musical finale.  You can even sing along, the lyrics are below!

SONG: (Yes, you can sing it too!!)

(EP 55) Unexpected English brings you poetry? Forget the word "poetry!" In this episode, you will find simple sentences in simple, direct language: perfect for your English listening. Charles Bukowski was an American writer. He is famous for his writing, and he was famous for his drinking. That's the reason for the title. Don't judge, just listen. Even if you are an English learner, I think you will understand them and I hope you will enjoy them The poems are:

Poetry

If you want the text of these poems,  just Google Bukowski + the name of the poem. If you want to know more about Bukowski, you can read about him here on Wikipedia.  He wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels. You can also hear him reading some of his work here on YouTube

(EP 54) Five minutes of real-life  American English  to train your listening while you have fun!  In this episode we visit a private wine cellar in an exclusive beach community near Los Angeles.  Transcription here -->

* Idiom note: You can say a person is "big on" something (or an activity) to mean they enjoy it a lot or promote it. Here we see a variation. Mike is "a big Cabernet guy" - he loves Cabernet!

(EP 53) Unexpected English, with more real-life interviews to train your listening while you have fun! This time: Mexican flavor! Transcript abbreviated with xxx due to length limits. Please share, support the podcast --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish

#1 Jasmine's Quinceañera -> OK so here we are at Balboa Park and I noticed these fine looking young men here with their T-shirts on that say..... can you tell us what's going on here? It's a photo shoot for a quinceañera. And could you tell us what a quinceañera is? It's a Mexican traditional party for when girl turns 15. And what does your T-shirt say? “Jasmine's Quinceañera” And how do you fit into the party scene? I’m a chambelan. A chambelan, and could you tell us what that is? We’re one of her dancers, part of her, like, chorus. And how many... the guys, right? So how many guys will there be? Seven of us. Seven of you. And have you been practicing your dance moves? Yeah, we have. And anything else you want to explain about what this, because my listeners don't know about a quinceañera, so anything you else you could explain what that is. It’s just like when a girl transforms into a woman and it’s like they leave their childhood behind. That’s basically it. And have a big party, right?  xxx

(EP 52) Unexpected English has an interview episode for you: we visit the House of Finland. Use the transcription below for help!

So, here we are at the House of Finland in beautiful Balboa Park. Uh, tell us what should we know about Finland? You should know that sauna is very, very important part of the Finnish culture. Every family has a sauna and it is very relaxing and very wonderful experience to go into the sauna, to get yourself totally hot and then jump into the water in the summertime. OK, wait a minute now, we have to explain the slowly, because this is for people learning English so... OH! Yeah, so, you said there’s, so... so saunas are very important. Could you tell us what a sauna is? Originally, sauna was the bath place for families, you know, because you didn't have running water, uh, in the house. You had a separate house where you heated the water, heated the rocks to throw some water on to get the steam kind of heat going on. OK, so it's a hot room with steam, right? Yes, it is. And it's very enjoyable! And I understand they do that even in the winter. Of course, in the winter especially! (laughter) Really, so tell me how that works in the winter. Uh, you have the wood cut, and you... you put the fire underneath the rocks that are heated for the heat in the sauna. And you have another place where you heat the water in the big, huge pot. And, uhm, in the winter time, you get yourself really warm in the sauna first... OK, how long will you be in the sauna? Uh, that depends how much you can take! And how hot it is, but for ten minutes at a time definitely, and then you do it several times. OK, ten minutes and then...? You go outside, and you roll yourself in that wonderful soft snow. OK... you roll yourself in the snow, and that I suppose feels really.... Invigorating! Oh there's the word, it feels invigorating! OK, so everybody who's listening: next time you're in Finland, make sure to go to a sauna, especially in the winter, so you can then go and run out and roll in the snow, right? Yes, that's that's what we do. Thank you! You’re welcome.

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