Unexpected English!

Unexpected English!

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Unexpected English! episodes

  • Happy Together!

    (EP 33) I heard some music! I made this podcast! If you like the show please support it by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Thank you! [Transcription below] Hi everybody! I was I was walking through the campus of the school near my house and I heard some music and I thought what's going on here? So I walked over and found these two gentlemen. So maybe they can explain it to me. Gentlemen, what's going on here? We're playing music up by Mesa College. We do it on Sundays when there's no people around. We’ve been doing this for about 10 years. So we started off playing Beatles and Bob Dylan and we kind of expanded from there. So you're saying that playing music is your relaxation? Yeah, exactly, it's a fun thing to do, yeah it makes me feel good! And what instrument do you play? I play the guitar. And I play flute and recorder. OK, so we've got a guitar and a flute and/or recorder and a nice quiet atmosphere where there's -- A lovely place on a Sunday. Yeah it absolutely is! And I agree with that because that's why I'm up here too on Sunday, it's nice and quiet -- Your very own park! Exactly it's a very very very peaceful park-like setting. So probably the best thing we could do is maybe hear a little bit of the music! How about, say, one verse of Happy Together, a song by The Turtles. [Music]

    4 min
  • Unexpected Beer!

    (EP 32) We visit a local brewery! We taste the beer! What can be better? San Diego is Beer Heaven!  If you like the show, please support my efforts by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Thank you! [Transcription below]

    So here we are at a local microbrewery called Ketch Brewing and I thought I would find out what's going on here. What's up with Ketch brewing? We basically are owned by a larger restaurant. We brew all the beer that served at those restaurants as well…. Hold up, hold up. So you make the beer for the restaurants? Correct, we make beer for several other restaurants in the city and we also get to experiment and put beer on sale here that you can't get other places. OK, and how many different varieties of beer do we have available right now? Available right now we have seven on tap. Usually we will have more than that, but right now this is basically split into lighter beers and darker beers and IPAs. OK, so speaking of the styles of beer, uhh, what have we got going right now? Right now we have a Kolsch. A Kolsch is a light beer it's very flavorful it's good for summertime, good for the heat over the summer, this is been a really hot summer and that's the type of beer that's very refreshing is very good to drink when you're outside with friends and summertime. Aha.. Kolsch sounds good. OK, what’s next? What's next? Up there we have a pilsner. A pilsner is another light German style beer. Pilsners are going to be very clear and very crisp; ours is no different. It is very true style is very well-brewed and it’s done with all German ingredients. OK, and then I see we've got a lager. Correct. What’s the difference between a lager and a pilsner? The real difference between lager and pilsner is lager versus ale. So lager has to do with bottom up fermentation versus top down fermentation. Ah that sounds a little technical to me .. and would I be able to taste.. I guess I should taste the difference, huh? You absolutely can taste the difference. Oh oh oh oh! OK, I think I'm gonna put that to the test and I’m gonna have to taste both of them. We’ll do that in a minute, Then I see we have two IPAs and IPAs are basically…. IPA stands for India pale ale. And an India pale ale is known for being bitter and full of flavor. People like to drink IPAs. quite frankly. because they're fun to drink. You get a lot of flavors from them and they're very strong. Very strong smelling, very strong tasting, they’re delicious overall, ours is especially fruity, so lots of pineapple, citrus, blueberry notes from our IPAs. OK, so, it seems like you guys specialize in lighter beers. I don't see any, any uhh stouts, or any… Well I wouldn’t speak so fast because we are working on a stout currently and that will come out in the winter time. I'm not sure exactly what month, maybe November or December time frame. OK, so we’ve got a stout to look forward to! All right, well thanks for your help I think we're going to just stop the podcast now so I can taste some beer! Sound good, cheers!

    ----
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    6 min
  • Unexpected Free Food! (advanced)

    (EP 31) Free food? What?!? This is “advanced listening” but don't worry! You don't need to understand everything to answer the easy questions below. 1) How often is this event? When? 2) What does it cost? 3) What four food items are mentioned? 4) How many pounds of food are there? 5) What percent of students have “food insecurity?” Answers will be on Instagram soon, just follow UnexpectedEnglish! Use the transcript below AFTER you answer the questions!  OK so here we are again at Mesa College and there's a special event going on, and I'm going to try and find out exactly what that is. Could you explain to us what's going on?  Yeah hi my name is Johanna  Aliman and I work with the Office of Equity and I’m the coordinator for The Stand here at Mesa College.. And so The Stand is for college students and it’s a free food pantry and professional clothing closet. Some of the additional programs we do is the event like you see here today it's the Farmer’s Market. we do it once a month, it's  typically the third Thursday of every month. OK, hold up now — the third Thursday of every month you have a farmers market; and what is that exactly?  OK, our Farmer’s Market is where we hand out free fresh produce and it costs nobody nothing (sic) —all they’ve got to do is sign in, and come and get as much as they can carry. So you're saying it's free food today.  It is free food today! And what what kind of food are we offering?  Today we are offering onions, carrots, corn and tomatoes. And about how much food do you think will move out of here today? Ah, just over 8000 to 9000 pounds.  That's a lot of food!  Yes, we do about 9 to 10,000 pounds a month of various produce.  And why is this kind of event necessary? So, recently the Hope Lab out of Temple University conducted its third, umm, research event that included our college district on food insecurity and homelessness among college students, and found that about 18.4% of our students are homeless and about 50% of our students have some level of food insecurity. And food insecurity means that they are not able to obtain regular, healthy meals in what we would see as a normal way.  OK well I think we've got it, we'll probably have to listen to it a few times to understand everything, but it's a lot of information, and good information, and thanks for your time!   You're welcome, and thanks for coming out seeing us today!

    *******
    If you like the show, please support my efforts by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Thank you!

    5 min
  • Unexpected Irish!

    (EP 30) We visit the House of Ireland! Plus an unexpected bonus! No transcript for the bonus at the end, but you can tap your feet to the music!

    **Transcript**
    OK so here I am in beautiful Balboa Park and there's this area called the... The International Cottages. The International Cottages where... well why don't you tell us? What are the international cottages? So the international cottages were formed back in 1935 and, uh, for the Worlds Fair and have been there, here since, and we have 33 different countries represented. Each country has a cottage. Right, and so we're in The House of Ireland right now, which is one of them, and...  Oh! We're in the House of Ireland! That's fantastic, I dunno if you can hear the Irish music, let's try! .....Oops, there we go! That's, uh, Irish music in the house of Ireland. And we are open and every Saturday and Sunday for visitors and we typically have Irish food of various types here and the other cottages likewise have food from their countries, and we have entertainment, usually music and dance from different countries and cultures. OK so I can get some food at every one of these cottages and occasionally some entertainment. Correct, and then, uh, we do ours in March for St. Patrick's Day. OK that makes sense. Alright, so there you have it. You learned a little bit about The house of Ireland here in beautiful Balboa Park. Thanks a lot. Thank you! ............BONUS CONTENT: GAELIC!
    [Music: The Chieftans] Follow on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts! Tell your friends!!!! Instagram: @UnexpectedEnglish

    6 min
  • Crossing the Border: Tijuana - San Diego -Tijuana

    (EP 29) A story from the Mexico / USA border.  We're not just for English learners! Listen, enjoy and subscribe on Spotify, Apple podcasts and everywhere! 

    Unexpected English brings you another spontaneous interview from the streets. Check out our past episodes for more interesting stories!

    ** RoughTranscript **

    So here I am in downtown San Diego at another restaurant talking to the hostess outside, and she told me that she lives in ... Tijuana, Mexico ... I thought it would be interesting to do a little podcast because here in San Diego we're right on the border and you're proof of that I guess? Yes sir, one of the many people that commute across two countries to go to work and live. So every day, how do you get to work? So, I leave my house at 4:40 in the morning to walk 20 minutes to a local bus station and I take the 5 AM bus that drops me off at the border at 5:30 in the morning. I do about one hour and a half wait time which it makes it about seven in the morning. Wait a minute now, they drop you off and then you have to wait an hour and a half for what? To cross the border from Mexico to United States. In the bus? No, the bus drops me off to the, umm, walking way to cross to the US. Alright, what we call La Linea, right? La linea. OK, then and from there, there's so many people it takes an hour.... an hour, an hour and a half roughly if it's during peak hours which usually are in the morning because many of us work early or have school. OK, so she's got an hour. hour and a half wait to get across the border, and then once you get across... I take the trolley, the Blue Line from the San Isidro station all the way to 12th and Imperial, which takes about 30 to 40 minutes, and then I get off. I transfer to the Green Line which takes me from 12th and Imperial to County Center and Little Italy, where I get off and I walk about five minutes to get to work. So all together the trolley time is... it depends on the day, like an hour-ish, maybe more. OK, so an hour on the trolley, an hour waiting.... (someone interrupts…) OK, well, we had a little interruption because somebody was looking for a bathroom but I think you got the idea! So that's it, thanks for listening!

    **** OK people, now show your friends how to subscribe! That will make me happy, and I need to be happy to do more interviews and create your podcasts for you. Let's do this!

    7 min
  • Amnesty International

    (EP 28) Yes, It's another episode of Unexpected English, the podcast for English learners who want something DIFFERENT!

    Short, fun, and totally unexpected!

    ** Transcript below **

    OK so I was walking down the street and I see this dude wearing a yellow vest and it says Amnesty International. So I thought I'd stop and ask him what's going on. Yeah thanks, I really appreciate it. Amnesty International is a for-profit, or a NON-profit organization that’s been operation for 57 years to combat human rights abuses around the world. And we’ve actually got a new program right now that we're running 150 countries... But wait a minute, wait a minute what are YOU doing right now? Oh, I'm canvassing! I'm going door-to-door to get people engaged. it's a grassroots efforts so we can get donors on board to make sure our seven million member strong number gets even bigger, cuz it's gonna take a lot of people to help make that. So, you're saying there are 7 million members now? Yeah, in Amnesty International; we’ve been running for a really long time, so that number has been building for decades. And you're going door-to-door to get more people to sign up? That is correct. And, briefly, what does Amnesty International do? Well, we are the largest human rights organization in the world. We’re fully nonprofit with a seat at the United Nations and our biggest goal right now is to stop human rights abuses for refugees. Refugees... so where... where do we see the biggest problem of the abuse of refugees worldwide. Right now the biggest problem is that I've seen personally are in Venezuela, Israel, Syria. and right here on our southern border. I've seen the southern border stuff, we're right here about 20 minutes away. I've seen border patrol separate kids from their families of my own eyes. And it doesn't look good, does it? It does not, no sir! And that's why we’re out here trying to make a change, because someone's got to look out for them. OK well I appreciate it, I appreciate your time and I wish you the best of luck with your project.  Thank you very much!

    ****

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    4 min
  • The New Kitchen

    (EP 27) My neighbor has a new kitchen! I made a podcast! I promise it won't be too... BORING... UNINTERESTING... UNEXCITING... MUNDANE...TIRESOME...HO-HUM... or HUMDRUM Let me know what you think on Instagram! Now....... let's listen!

    ** TRANSCRIPT**
    OK so I'm at my neighbors house and he invited me in because he just redid his kitchen and I wanna tell you it's beautiful, it looks beautiful. But I thought maybe you could tell us what was involved. Well, good question. What was involved is uh, a complete demolition of the kitchen area and living room. So, so so you mean you took out a wall. I took out a few walls and some supporting beams that supported the roof. Uh-huh, and now it's all wide-open. Well, I’ll have to get a picture of this too and I can see this, and that looks beautiful. What else we got? Well, then we started on remodeling the kitchen taking everything out that was originally here for the past 65 years and, umm... 65 years? 65 years it was here. Because the house was built in what year? 1963. OK, so it was the original, and he said “Enough is enough, time for a new kitchen!” Very true, because we remodeled the whole house except for the kitchen! So the kitchen was last, but the kitchen is now the best! It is! It flows into one large room, a very open concept, so that you can be here, cook and entertain with everybody in the living room and the dining room area. And we had all new cabinets put in. New cabinets. Well, we put in. And new appliances. New appliances –appliances means what? A stove, an oven, sinks, dishwasher. microwave and a very large refrigerator. Oh so that must've cost you a lot of money! Appliances alone were $9500. OK, so $9500 for new appliances, wow, alright, but it looks nice! Thank you very much! Yeah, so, it, it was just a work in progress -- new tile new -- tile. tile on the floor -- yeah, and the countertops which are quartz countertops, which were $6000 for just the countertops. $6000 of countertops! Are you, like, uh uh a rich guy? I mean, it seem like... I just work hard and save money. OK, so he works hard, saves money, and now he spent it all on a fabulous new kitchen and I'm gonna stop the podcast here so I can take a picture, so you can see the beautiful result. OK, thank you. Alright, thank you very much! ====================
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    7 min
  • Unexpected Driver!

    (EP 26) This is Unexpected English! She's 15 and ½!  She's learning to drive! [Transcript, including the intro, below]

    Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts to listen to ALL the episodes of your favorite English podcast, Unexpected English!
    **** INTRO Hey everybody and welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English! Your favorite English podcast! That's right! You know what, uhh I don't even believe that myself to be honest. But anyway, this podcast is about driving as maybe you could tell from the intro music, Maybe? I can tell you this about driving in the United States there is no national drivers license every state is different, and so every state has different regulations. For example the age that you can drive or the conditions. For example, who's in the car or what hours of the day can you drive when you are a learner. When you finally get a full license will depend again on the state, because in some states you can get a full driver's license at age 16 1/2 other states you have to be 18. The same for beginning to learn. You can begin to learn to drive as young as  14 1/2 in some states, 15 1/2 in some states... Anyway, if you're interested you can look in Wikipedia. But I think right now we should get right to the podcast. What do you say? OK, here we go! INTERVIEW OK so I was walking through the parking lot and I saw a car with a sign on the side that says student driver. So I thought I would see what was going on. Are you a student driver? Yes. And tell me about this experience. Umm, so I'm 15 1/2 right now I just got my permit the other day, and so... Permit means what? Umm, I... am permitted to drive with an adult who is over 25 years of age with me in the car for six months until I can get my drivers license. OK, so a permit is not like a driver’s license, it's like a first step for as long as there's an adult in the car then you can drive. Yes. And so, who's your teacher here? This is my dad. Actually I have my first driving lesson on September 15 with the teacher. OK so we've got a student driver and we got dad in the car making sure everything is going OK. Are you excited about learning to drive? Umm, I am quite scared but I am really excited. I think driving is really fun, so yeah. I'm really excited. OK well that sounds sounds great I know you're going to have a great... great experience learning to drive and you'll be a great driver, right? Yes! And drive safely, OK? Thank you. Thank you Bye! Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts to listen to ALL the episodes of your favorite English podcast, Unexpected English!

    5 min
  • The Sound of Silence

    (EP 25) Maybe the most exciting interview on the podcast yet! [Hahaha!] 😂 If you like it, you can become a friend of the show on Facebook and Instagram. TRANSCRIPT below. And please please:  spread the word! New listeners can't find the show unless YOU tell them! TRANSCRIPT: OK so I'm here in Balboa Park with ... with... what? I don't know! These two ladies here, they’re... they're giving me the... the “We can't talk face” You hear the deadly silence? I think it's the same people to come knocking on your door all the time and want to talk to you but you can't record them because then they get in trouble with... Who do you get in trouble with? Like... they won’t even tell me who.. Who’s your boss here? OK, well, OK there we go, that was it, that was the interview with the people announcing Jehovah's Kingdom and the Watchtower magazine with the provocative question “Is this life all there is?” Now, normally, they would be telling me all about that but I guess they're not allowed to go *on the record.... Is that right, you can’t go on record? So there you go.... So, here's my tip, listeners: next time Jehovah's Witness people come knocking at your door, just pull out your phone and pretend you're recording them and then they'll, like, **zip their lip right away and that will be the end of the experience. OK, thanks a lot thanks for your time * on the record - say something officially, in a public way **zip your lip --- be quiet, shut up, stop talking (rude) 

    /// Please tell your friends about your favorite English podcast! 😂😎👍🏼

    4 min
  • Unexpected Burger! 🍔 ..... Season Two Opener!
    (EP 24) We're back for Season Two of Unexpected English with a burger that you never expected!
    Transcript below! [Spoken Intro]
    OK so here I am at a local eating establishment called “Thai burger company.” So I thought I would find out a little bit about Thai burgers. Because we all know about hamburgers, we all know about cheeseburgers, but maybe you've never heard of a Thai burger before! So let's find out. What can you tell us about a Thai burger?
    (Thai accented English)
    OK so Thai burger is very unique and we create for a friendly, for American people easy for eating (sic) so we use a rice as a bun. No bread bun,  rice bun! 
    Rice as the bun, OK. And how about the burger — what is the burger?
    So for the burger, we create a. like a Thai famous dishes from Thailand.  Like a barbecue pork,  Panang curry pork, spicy Kaprao, basically spicy Kaprao pork, turned to a patty and put between rice bun.
    And how can you hold it if it's in rice?
    Because we do a special rice, like a sticky rice,  not fall apart (sic) like a Jasmine rice. We use sticky rice.
    OK sticky rice. And are they popular? Do people like these Thai burgers?
    Yeah people love them!
    We love these Thai burgers!
    Oh, I've got a customer coming in right now! So, can I ask you a question? Have you ever had one of these Thai burgers?
    I've been coming here since they opened!
    And what is you like about these burgers?
    The flavor! It's different, nobody has burger like it!
    Nobody... would you really call it a burger or...
    Yes, I'd call it a burger, it's a patty.
    OK there we go! And you've been coming for...
    Since they opened. I was here last night!
    Oh, so you're like an addict, you're addicted! it's not just like you like this...
    You can't get anything like this anywhere San Diego.
    So it's unique that's for sure. All right! Well, thanks for your time and I hope you enjoy your burger. Thanks for the interview, and we’ll catch you next time!
    [Outro]
    OK that's it! You're invited to the Unexpected English Facebook group, or follow on Instagram! I want to know my listeners, so please follow and I'll follow back. And don't forget to tell your friends about the podcast! https://linktr.ee/UnexpectedEnglish
    5 min

About Unexpected English!

From the publisher's feed

Looking for some short, sweet, real life English to improve your listening skills or just have fun? Never too long, never boring, and always something worthwhile for the curious listener or English…