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

815. A River Avon Year: The Wildlife & History of Shakespeare's Avon, by Rick Thompson (Dad’s New Book!)

My dad has written a new book and he's come on the podcast to tell us about it. The book follows the path of the river Avon as it flows through the middle of England, telling stories of key moments in British history, nature and the current condition of Britain's rivers.

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

A River Avon Year: The Wildlife and History of Shakespeare's Avon by Rick Thompson is available now!👇

814. The Language of Children & Parenting (with Anna Tyrie / English Like a Native)

A conversation with Anna Tyrie from English Like a Native (YouTube, Podcast) about children, the way we talk to children, and vocabulary relating to children and childcare, with a vocabulary quiz and some special news from the Thompson family...!

813. Language Learning is a Voyage of Discovery / Steve Kaufmann Interview

Steve Kaufmann is a very prolific language learner. He has learned at least 20 languages to varying degrees during his life. Some of them he learned during his career as an international diplomat and businessman, and others he has learned during his (semi) retirement. In this interview Steve talks about his language learning experiences, methods and motivations. We talk about various metaphors and similes for language learning including ocean voyages 🚢, cows 🐮, skiing ⛷ and cutting grass🏡 and and I ask Steve about cross-cultural experiences he has had during his career.

There is a video version on YouTube but only the audio version contains my intro and ending rambles about getting my hair cut and how you need to remember that you're a baby cow-shark on skis 🐄🦈🎿😅.

812. Can You Pass A British Citizenship Test? 🇬🇧 🛂 (with Cara Leopold)

To qualify for British citizenship, one of the requirements is to pass the "Life in the UK" test. Questions cover things like British history, British life & culture, British politics, British geography and principles of modern British life. What do you think? Can you pass the test? Join me as I test online English teacher Cara Leopold. How much does she know about her own country of origin? What can you learn about Britain? What IS Britain anyway? Find out in this episode! 

811. Turkey & Syria Earthquake Appeal / What is happening in Iran? (Articles & Vocabulary)

An episode about two (unconnected) situations, 1) the very recent earthquake in Turkey & Syria which has left many people in urgent need of help, 2) the humanitarian crisis in Iran. During the episode I read from various articles and explain some vocabulary.

810. Discussing Ambient Music (with James)

A conversation with my brother about a specific musical genre, "ambient". We discuss Brian Eno's inspiration and approach to his first ambient albums, talk about the genre's origins in French 19th century classical music, jazz and the avant-garde and describe ambient trance music from the 80s and 90s including artists like Aphex Twin, The KLF, The Orb and The Irresistible Force. Enter the ambient zone on LEP.

809. Toilets, Titanic & TikTok with AMBER & PAUL

An unedited conversation with Amber & Paul about toilet habits, Titanic (1997), weird videos on TikTok & YouTube and plenty more.

Advanced level listening practice with the POD-PALs.

808. James Harris returns to talk about his book 📖🗣

James Harris is a writer, comedian, English teacher and language learner (French, German, Chinese) from England. In this funny chat, we talk about learning Chinese, being married to a Chinese woman and his semi-autobiographical book, "Midlands" which tells several funny and touching stories about two ex-pats living in Germany; Stuart, who is a stand-up comedian trying to understand the Germans, and Doug who gets involved in a love affair. James reads several passages from the book during the episode.

807. Dylan, Lennon, Marx & God (with Jon Stewart PhD)

A conversation about two legends of contemporary popular culture - Bob Dylan and John Lennon, with pop-star academic Jon Stewart (guitarist in The Wedding Present and Sleeper).

806. PERSEVERANCE, POSITIVITY & PRACTICE with Santiago Ruiz de Velasco from Oxford University Press

Santiago has a top job in the English teaching industry. He is the managing director of English teaching at Oxford University Press. But English is not his first language. He learned it as an adult when he moved to London in his twenties. This conversation explores how he progressed in his English learning and in his career, while dealing with daily challenges and failures in English.

The conclusions are that motivation and positivity are vital, you have to keep going through the difficult times, and you can achieve great things in your career in English even if you're not perfect. This episode should be a boost for the confidence of all English learners! Keep an open mind, keep your eyes on the prize, keep going and your English WILL improve!

805. A New Year Ramble 2023 / Learn English with LEP

A rambling episode about making a fresh start in the new year, and some things I just have to tell you about listening to Luke's English Podcast using a podcast app on your phone + lots of tangents. I hope you enjoy it!

804. The Missing Masaccio (Learn English with a Text Adventure Story) by Peter Carlson

The third (and final) adventure in this series of mini-mysteries on LEP. Can I improve my detective skills to work out the disappearance of a priceless painting and a series of gruesome murders? Story by Peter Carlson and available on textadventures.co.uk

803. The Wraith (Learn English with a Text Adventure Story) by Peter Carlson

The second in a trilogy of text adventure stories by Peter Carlson. In this one we are chasing a ghostly serial killer with a few tricks up his sleeve. Do I have the detective skills to solve the mystery and avoid certain death?  

802. The Unopened Safe (Learn English with a Text Adventure Story) by Peter Carlson

Let's do another text adventure mystery story by Peter Carlson. Listen to me read the story and make choices to solve the mystery. You can read the story with me (link below) or do the game yourself later. This is the first in a series of 3 stories from Peter's "Victorian Detective Interlude" game on textadventures.co.uk

801. WORLD NEWS QUIZ 2022 with Stephen from SEND7

Stephen from the SEND7 Podcast asks Luke 20 quiz questions about international news stories from 2022. Do you know the answers? Can you beat Luke in the quiz? Listen for some serious moments, some funny moments and a re-cap of some key events from the year.

800. [PART 3] EPISODE 800 RAMBLE (Final Part)

A quick ramble about why this is the final part of episode 800, why there was a delay between part 2 and part 3, some comments about having flu, and about World Cup 2022.

800. [PART 2] EPISODE 800 RAMBLE / LEPSTER Q&A

Celebrating episode 800 by answering a massive list of questions from listeners. This episode covers things like how to improve your speaking when you live in a non-English speaking country, the headphones and microphone I use, my current favourite episode, the afterlife and spirit world, my favourite brands of tea, my favourite video games, being a father and the recent Star Wars series Andor and plenty plenty more. Video version available.

800. [PART 1] EPISODE 800 RAMBLE / LEPSTER Q&A

Celebrating episode 800 and responding to lots of questions sent in on social media. Expect questions about my ill-fated music career, grammar, favourite authors, my daughter, life as an English teaching podcaster and plenty more. Video version available.

799. The True Story of a LEPster’s Waking Nightmare (and how LEP came to the rescue) Email Story

Luke reads an extraordinary email from a listener in an sos situation in a hospital. Contains some disturbing descriptions of fear, anxiety and horror, but there's a happy ending!

👉 Free ELSA app download link (download ELSA free & get 7 days pro membership free): https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/elsa

👉 ELSA Discounts page - ELSA PRO (85% off lifetime & 40% off one year ELSA memberships): https://elsaspeak.com/inf/LukesEnglishPodcast/

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

Ramble Message / Episode 800 Plans / World Cup Episodes?

A bonus mini-ramble about my plans for episode 800 (send me your questions) and why I haven't done any World Cup episodes yet, but you can listen to me talking about it with Zdenek on his podcast (link available).

798. MYSTERIOUS AL (Street Art & Graffiti)

797. Stephen from SEND7 interviews Luke about LEP

Stephen from SEND7 podcast becomes the host to interview me about how I started LEP, the ins and outs of doing this, plus some advantages and challenges for podcasting to learners of English. Video version available.

796. Language & Local British Identity (with Mark Steel)

Special Guest Mark Steel joins me to discuss cultural and linguistic differences between the UK and France, plus accents in the UK and a little tour of some places in the UK that you don't know about. Also includes a discussion of swearing and rude language in Britain. What is the R word which you should never say in a specific part of the UK? Listen on to find out.

795. DOPPELGANGER (Learn English with a Short Story)

Learn English with a short story. In fact, this episode contains two stories. Listen until the end for the 2nd one.

Repeat after me to practise your pronunciation. Learn some vocabulary & grammar in the second half of the episode, with an explanation of modal verbs of deduction in the past and present.

794. The Surprising Power of Reading Aloud (Article) 📖🗣️

Reading out loud can have lots of benefits on our memory and our mental health. How can it help with your English? In this episode I read an article, help you understand it and give comments on the importance of reading, both quietly in your head, and out loud.

📖 Read the article on the BBC Future website https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200917-the-surprising-power-of-reading-aloud

📄 Read the transcript and download the PDF transcript from my website (free) https://wp.me/p4IuUx-s8w

✅ Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ to access the 3-part series about this episode, and more https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

793. Rambling Through the Streets of Paris at Night on a Bike (with a VERY special guest)

Last week a very special guest visited one of our comedy shows in Paris. I was given a ticket to the show, so I decided to record a podcast while riding through the streets on the way to the show, wondering if I might be able to interview this guest on LEP. Listen to find out what happened, and to hear some rambling and atmospheric sounds of Paris streets at night.

792. The Rick Thompson Report: LIZ TRUSS (16 October 2022)

My dad returns to talk more about UK politics, this time describing the disastrous economic policy of Liz Truss and her Chancellor (finance minister) Kwasi Kwarteng. Advanced level English listening practice - this is complicated stuff, but keep listening to develop your English skills and learn about what's going on in UK politics and current affairs.

791. ADJECTIVE + PREPOSITION with Amber & Paul (A+P with A&P on LEP)

Amber and Paul join me in my pod room again for a rambling discussion about everything! Includes a language point about adjective + preposition collocations. Notice the phrases and try to find examples of them in context. Video version available.

790. Chatting in the Garden with Mum (Listener Q&A)

My mum returns to the podcast to answer some questions from listeners about books, cooking, her relationship with Luke and her granddaughter, the war in Ukraine, the song Imagine by John Lennon, family games, the time she fell off a horse & more...

789. 50 Random British Facts (True or False Quiz) with James [Part 2]

[Part 2 of 2] James and Luke discuss some more "facts" about the UK, but can you guess if they are true or false? Learn some interesting trivia about life in Britain, and improve your vocabulary in the process.