Luke's ENGLISH Podcast - Learn British English with Luke Thompson

844. Improve Your Pronunciation with Luke Nicholson - Accent Coach

A conversation with accent coach Luke Nicholson, including lots of insights, advice and conclusions about improving your pronunciation in English.

843. The Birth of Our Son

Talking to my wife (and daughter) about the birth of our son, who came into the world just a few weeks ago. We describe what happened, and explain how it feels to become parents for the second time. This is a very personal, first-hand account of childbirth and the experience of bringing a child into the world. Watch out for the vocabulary of childbirth and children which has previously been explained in episodes 162, 491, 492 and 814. 

842. A Pre-Baby Summertime Ramble ☀️👶

Hang out with me for an unscripted and unedited ramble about things like engaging moments while teaching English, how it feels to be about to become a father again, a funny new recording of my daughter speaking English, some recent films I've seen, and a recording of me doing stand-up comedy in front of an audience recently.

841. A Conversation about MONOPOLY 🎲🏠💰 with Anna Tyrie

Monopoly is one of the most famous board games of all time.

It's sold in more than 114 countries and has been printed in more than 47 languages.

It's famous for causing arguments and taking forever to finish!

But it is a fantastic and fascinating game, so let's talk about it.

In this episode I talk to Anna Tyrie from English Like a Native about childhood memories, rules that people don't follow, winning strategies, the real history of the game and more!

I guarantee that with this episode you will learn new things about Monopoly.

840. Things that make you go "Hmmm" 🤔😅 Life, Laughter & Learning English

Here is a list of curious mysteries, jokes and observations about the English language and life in general. I talk about each interesting point, give some funny comments and explain bits of English vocabulary in the process. Expect to learn a few things, and have a bit of a laugh in the process 🙂.

839. Kate Billington Cycled to Berlin 🚴‍♀️

Kate Billington returns for her 4th appearance on LEP to create some fun English conversation for you to listen to. We talk about lots of things, as usual, including her cycling trip to Berlin and a nasty accident she had on her bicycle in Paris earlier this year. Expect tangents, vocab, idioms, jokes, stories, cups of tea and some very "professional" podcast eating.

838. A 3-Hour Mega-Ramble / Reflecting on a Wonderful Spring Day in Paris

This is the longest episode of LEP so far, and it's a solo ramble. I talk freely about a lovely day I had in Paris earlier this year, which really stuck in my memory. Relax, follow my words, hang out with me for 3 hours, get stranded on a desert island of the imagination, and then get rescued. Includes a haircut, a sleep and a t-shirt change during the episode.

837. Describing a Car Accident in 15+ Styles of English 🚗 📄

How would the same car accident be described in over 15 completely different styles of English?

What are the differences in vocabulary, grammar and organisational structure?

How should I change my voice to read each description?

Let's see how English changes in different situations.

Styles presented include:

• formal and informal English,
• news reports,
• an action movie screenplay,
• an Eminem rap, a romantic novel,
• a Shakespeare play,
• a politician making a speech,
• a stand-up comedian,
• Liam Neeson in the film Taken,
• and Luke in an episode of Luke's English Podcast.

836. Life & Life Only with Antony Rotunno [Part 2] David Blaine, Food & Diet, The Shining, Conspiracies, Comedy, Happiness

[Part 2 of 2] Since recording part 1 of this conversation, Antony caught COVID-19 and lost a bit of weight, but he managed to talk for about 100 minutes here about more topics he has previously covered in episodes of his podcast "Life & Life Only". Here we discuss diverse things including the extraordinary feats of endurance by David Blaine🕴🏻, food and dieting 🍔, Stanley Kubrik's film "The Shining" 🪓, the term "conspiracy theory" 🤫, the ways that comedy shows can reveal the truth 🎭, and the complex art of happiness 🙂.

835. Life & Life Only with Antony Rotunno [Part 1] Cats, Titanic, Travelling, Teaching & Life Coaching

Antony is an English teacher, podcaster, life-coach and writer and he returns to LEP today for a conversation about topics which he has discussed in episodes of his podcast called "Life & Life Only". Listen to us chat about why cats are good for your health 🐱, what the Titanic disaster tells us about social class 🚢, how losing his backpack while travelling taught Antony a valuable life lesson 🎒, how psychology is involved in English teaching 🧠 and more.

834. The best way to learn a language, according to research (Article)

Reading an article by Gavin Lamb (PhD) about the conclusions of academic studies into language learning, and adding my own reflections and comments. What does research tell us about the best way to learn a language? What are the most important things to consider? What are the best methods? The article boils it all down to three main points.

833. Text Adventure Story: Lemon Simulator (by Daniel Champion)

Join me as I read through a bizarre online game. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a lemon? No? Well, neither had I, until I played this game. Can I escape the kitchen, become human again and avoid being chopped up and turned into a juice! Watch out for some descriptive language and some funny moments along the way! Story by Daniel Champion on www.textadventures.co.uk

832. Sherlock Holmes: The Red-headed League (Learn English with a Short Story)

Let me read you a classic Sherlock Holmes detective story, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I'll read the original text and stop regularly in order to explain what is happening so you can follow the story.

831. Learning How to Learn with Hadar Shemesh

A conversation with Hadar Shemesh, a non-native speaker who has improved her English to a very high level, and who now shares her knowledge and experience with the world through her podcast and YouTube channel. Hadar describes her own experiences of learning English and mastering pronunciation. This episode is all about the voyage of discovery that is learning a language.

830. English With Cooke / A Chat with Instagram English Teacher Andy Cooke

In conversation with Andy Cooke, an English teacher from England who is very popular on Instagram. We talk about Andy's background, becoming an English teacher, getting big on Instagram, ChatGPT and a few other tangents along the way. Includes a few songs on the guitar at the end of the episode.

829. 88 English expressions that will confuse everyone (Part 3)

Finally, here is the third part of this series about English slang words and expressions that most British people know, but which will probably confuse almost everyone else! I started this series in 2019. It's only taken me nearly 4 years to get round to finishing it. Learn loads of slang and culture, plus a bit of British history too.

828. PARIS STORIES with Amber Minogue

Amber returns to the podcast to tell us some grisly stories about the history of Paris. Amber is a bit of an expert about Paris. She has read pretty much every book about the city and is also a registered tour guide here. A few years ago she set up a podcast called Paname Podcast (Paname is a nickname for Paris). Each episode contains a true story from history, with tales of battle, execution, romance, tragedy and adventure. You can get it where you get your podcasts. In this episode Amber comes onto LEP to share a few stories from her podcast series. Includes a 30-minute ramble at the end of the episode.

827. An Interview for an Academic Study about Language Learning Podcasts (Carlos Soares, University of Aveiro)

826. Yiddish Words used in English (with Sebastian Marx)

Comedian Sebastian Marx returns to the podcast in order to talk about Yiddish words which have found their way into the English language, including common words like bagel, glitch and schmooze and plenty more.

825. Time-Travel Story, Language Immersions in Malta & Playing the Bagpipes (with Alastair Budge)

Is that a confusing title? Hopefully not. As you might expect, it's a little summary of what's included in the episode. To give you some more details, Alastair Budge is the host of a podcast called "English Learning for Curious Minds" and he has created a new audio drama for English learners called "Pioneers of the Continuum". It's a time-travel adventure for English learners, and Alastair asked me to be the narrator for episode 1. In this episode of LEP, we talk about Alastair's story, living in Malta, learning English by immersion, cliches and complaints from English speakers visiting Paris and Alastair's story about playing the bagpipes on the streets of Paris. The audio version includes 30+mins of rambling from me at the end. Enjoy!

824. The Coronation of King Charles III (with Mum & Dad) The Rick & Gill Thompson Report

Talking to my parents about the coronation ceremony of King Charles III which happened in Westminster, London on Saturday 6 May. Includes descriptions of the ceremony and discussion of some of the issues related to it, plus a few dodgy jokes along the way 👑.

👉 Episode page https://wp.me/p4IuUx-sOz

823. ChatGPT & Learning English PART 3

In this final part of the series I'm going to evaluate ChatGPT's ability to work as a dictionary with definitions, example sentences, synonyms, phonetic transcriptions, etc. I test its ability to convert texts into British English or other varieties, see if it can help with sentence stress and word stress, and check its ability to create grammar and vocabulary quizzes and other useful exercises.

822. ChatGPT & Learning English PART 2

In this series I am evaluating ChatGPT as a language-learning tool. In this part I'm experimenting with role-play conversations, job interview practice, creating texts and dialogues and seeing if it can help you prepare for Cambridge exams like IELTS or CAE.

821. ChatGPT & Learning English PART 1

An episode exploring the various ways that ChatGPT might be able to help you learn English. Can it create study plans? Can it correct your errors and explain the corrections? Can you use it to simulate natural conversations? This is the first of a three-part series in which I test ChatGPT's usefulness as an AI language learning tool.

820. A Springtime Ramble 🌸🌷Learn English with LEP

Rambling on my own about getting stuck in a time-loop 🔁, protests and strikes in Paris 🔥, the arrival of child 2 👶, and more.

819. What does it really mean to be “good at English”?

How do we know when someone's English is good? Is it just about having a "British accent", knowing lots of big words, or speaking with no errors? In fact, there is a lot more to it than that. IELTS can show us how someone's level of English is assessed by looking at a wide range of skills and sub-skills and there is a lot more to it than making no errors while speaking with a "British accent". This episode should help you consider your own level of English level, get some perspective on what language competence really means, and hopefully cause people to think twice when making snap judgements about other people's English.

818. Monster Bogey (A Children’s Book) with Anna Brooke

My friend Anna has written a book for children (7+) which has a full publishing contract and is available in all good bookshops now. The book tells the story of a boy who accidentally creates a monster when his secret collection of nose bogeys gets struck by lightning! This conversation includes lots of talk of snot and bogeys, as well as stories from Anna's time as a travel writer.

Episode page https://wp.me/p4IuUx-sN1

817. Parson’s Pleasure by Roald Dahl (Learn English with a Short Story)

Learn English with another short story. This time it's Parson's Pleasure by Roald Dahl, which is an intriguing tale of a dodgy antiques dealer with a nasty twist. Learn vocabulary while you enjoy a fascinating story.

👉 Episode page on my website https://wp.me/p4IuUx-sMo

👉 Buy "The Complete Short Stories" by Roald Dahl https://amzn.eu/d/axqHJjc

816. Kate Billington in the Podcastle

Kate Billington returns to LEP for the third time, to drink tea, talk about my pod-room, learning the bassoon, exam results, learning Chinese, responding to listener comments and talking about her videos on TikTok.

Studying In The UK - Realities, Opportunities & Advice (with Lioba Berndt)

An episode all about studying at university in the UK, with loads of advice about student visas, funding your studies with scholarships, extra-curricular social activities and opportunities at the students' union and more. Features a conversation with a German student currently studying a master's in clinical neuroscience at UCL in London. This episode is published in paid partnership with Study UK and the UK Government's GREAT Britain campaign. For more information, follow the links below.

Links