November 2, 2024Hello everybody. I've been meaning to record a short podcast to tell you what's going on, and here it is. I've been very busy the past month and November and December are shaping up to be even busier. So I'm not going to...

If your native language doesn’t include many consonant blends, English can be a challenge. An example is “st” as in the word “test.” These blends can appear at the beginning of a word, in the middle, or at the end. Let’s practice. 1...

(From - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: beginning of Chapter 7.)There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep...

Here are three more Phrasal Verbs based on “take”:1- As soon as all the passengers were seated and buckled in, the plane took off. [the plane left the ground]2- When the burglars heard our key in the lock, they took off...

Imaginary businesses with tricky-to-pronounce names. Use this podcast as an exercise to warm up your pronunciation. Go slowly before you try to go fast!1- Rudy’s Radioactive Radiator Repair2- Thea’s Thursday Seances Featuring Thin...

To “take over” has a couple of meanings. It can mean to “take control of” something, but it can also mean to control by being bossy.1- While I was sick, weeds took over the garden. Now it looks terrible.2- When my father died, I h...

Another expression with the verb take. Let’s practice with “to take advantage of.”To “take advantage of” can be good or bad. Here’s an example of the bad kind: “He took advantage of his friend’s generosity by borrowing money ...

Let’s continue our practice with the verb “take”, this time with “take place” which means to “happen”, usually for organized events.1) The next summer Olympic Games will take place in Los Angeles. I hope it won’t be too hot.2) The...

The verb “take” is very common in English and it’s used in many ways. One of the expressions is to “take a look.” Here are some examples:1) “Doctor, please take a look at this X-ray.”2) He took one look at the snake and said, “It’...

August has been very busy but here's a podcast so you won't think I've run away somewhere. We use the word "so" in many ways. Here are some sample sentences.1- That is a beautiful painting?Do you really think so?2- Is it t...

This podcast contains 26 sentences. Each sentence includes at least one 4-syllable word. The words are in alphabetical order, so the 4-syllable word in the first sentence is “alligator” beginning with “A” and so on. Sentence number 26 contains ...

Fixed expressions are little English phrases that native speakers use all the time. If I were in your shoes, I would learn lots of fixed expressions.For variety, this podcast uses several synthetic voices to read the sen...

Practice with the DJ sound, as in “judge” and “ginger.”1 - His travel agency has a large budget for advertising. 2 - Have you ever heard of an angel with an allergy?3 - The archaeologist apologized to the biologist.&nb...

Here's a short poem to help you practice S, Z, and SH sounds. Dessert Time at the Zooquarium.A zebra sipped a milkshake.A serpent swam in cream.Hippos splashed and frolicked.In a gurgling chocolate stream....

English has V sounds and W sounds. But some languages only have one or the other. If your native language is missing one of these sounds, you need to learn it. Otherwise we won’t know if you want to say “wet” or “vet”. To help you practice, I w...

Let's continue with English reductions where the pronunciation of the word "and" changes to ’n. Here’s another example: “She’s out and about, shopping at the mall,” changes to …”out ’n about”…11. Our cat wandered off again b...

English is full of reductions. We write “going to” but we say “gonna” for example.The conjunction “and” is often reduced to an /n/ sound. So “hot and cold” becomes “hot ’n’ cold” and so on. Here are ten sentences to practice with....

Regular verbs in English add “ed” to show past tense.So “walk” becomes “walked”, “cook” becomes “cooked”, etc.There are three ways the “ed” can be pronounced. In this podcast we will—again—practice verbs wher...

Final consonant clusters with "r"What's a consonant cluster? Simple: take the "r" sound, combine it with another consonant like "d", as in the word "yard" and you have a small group or cluster of two consonants. In the sentences below you'l...

See the transcript for the text of part 2.

Click on the transcript link to read the text as you listen. Enjoy!

Syncope (loss of unstressed vowels after a stressed syllable.)Example “chocolate” [CHAWK-uh-luht] becomes [CHAW-kluht]1- I like to eat chocolate. [CHAW-kluht]2- She visits her mother every weekend. [<...

One of the science podcasts I listen to regularly is Astronomy Cast hosted by Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay. In today’s lesson, you’ll hear a short excerpt from

The phone rings and it's a stranger trying to sell you something. This is part one of a multi-podcast series based on a real script. Have fun!Hi, this is Barry calling from Scam-O-Rama Car Services. I’m calling regarding your 2016 Chevr...

This is the first in a series of lessons about connected speech. One of the ways in which we link syllables and words together is with "glides" -- for example a Y sound is added between "be" and "able" so it sounds like "bee yable".  Liste...