TALC Chats Podcast
Supported by Tacoma Area Literacy Council Volunteers.
This podcast supports American-English language learners by strengthening listening and comprehension skills. In addition, this podcast focuses on pronunciation challenges, idioms, and expressions in the American- English language.
Contact info: https://tacomaliteracy.org/ ph. 253-272-2471
Episodes
56 episodes
#57 - What's the matter? Is everything OK?
You look like you don’t feel well this morning. What’s the matter?Oh, thanks for asking. I didn’t sleep very well, and I have a headache.You were concerned about me because I looked like I didn’t feel well. You wanted...
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8:33
# 56 Did you use to walk to school? 🏫 Practice with "use to"
L: Did you use to walk to school when you were a kid?D: Yes, I used to walk to school when I was a kid, Latonya. Did you? L: No, I didn’t use to walk to school. I took the school bus. Those ar...
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12:19
#55 - I just have $5 in my wallet. 💵 Practice with the little word "just"
How are you this morning?I’m fine, thanks! I just finished breakfast!You said you just finished breakfast. What does that mean?It means that I very recently finished breakfast - not hours ago, but in the very ...
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10:54
#54 - I wonder if it will rain tomorrow. ☔ Practice with "wonder"
I wonder if it will rain tomorrow. We want to go for a hike.Right! And I wonder if it will bed dry enough to walk on the trails.We use “wonder if” in those sentences... what do we mean to say?We are ...
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7:23
#53 - Their cat is now our cat 😺! - Practice with their and our
A correction! In our conversation Diana said that words that sound the same, but are spelled differently are homonyms. That isn't correct. Those words are homophones.Remember that in podcast # 48 we practi...
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12:09
#51 - I need to feed Rosie. 🐶 Practice using want, need, like & love
I need to feed my dog, Rosie. What does she want to eat? She wants to eat tuna fish.Does she like tuna fish?Yes! She loves tuna fish, but she doesn’t need to eat...
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8:31
#50 - Brrrr! It's cold🥶! Winter Weather
A correction: Diana said, "The boiling point on the Fahrenheit scale is 112 degrees." The boiling point on the Fahrenheit scale is 212 degrees.What’s the weather like this morning? It’s cold, frosty and sunny this mor...
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16:30
# 49 - A conversation with Jaime, a TALC learner.
We talk with Jaime, who has been studying English with a TALC tutor for about four years. We learn that English is not his second, but his third language. He also speaks Japanese! Listen to our conversation and learn what Jaime finds the ...
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13:43
# 38 - Mt. Rainier and the Cascade Mountain Range 🌄
In podcast # 35 we talked about the Puget Sound, a body of water that starts north of us in the Straits of Juan de Fuca and extends to Olympia south of us. We live in the area of Washington State called The Puget Sound. From ...
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17:18
#48 - Is that his phone or her phone? 📱 - Practice with possessive adjectives
If that phone belongs to Mary, I can say “That is Mary’s phone.” If that phone belongs to John, I can say, “That book is John’s phone.” When we are talking about someone owning or possessing something, we can use the person’s name...
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10:16
#47 - The Orcas of Puget Sound
In podcast #35 we talked about the Puget Sound - a body of salt water that is connected to the Pacific Ocean at the Straits of Juan de Fuca north of Seattle and extends 95 miles south to Olympia. Olympia, Tacoma,...
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14:47
#46 - Everyday English - Slow and Easy
Today how about practicing some English phrases that are useful for everyday life situations? That sounds good! Where shall we start?Let’s start with greetings: To greet someone: &n...
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10:26
# 45 - We had a windstorm! Did your lights go out? 💡
On November 20th there was a big windstorm in western Washington. Did you have a lot of wind at your house? Some places escaped the high winds, but many areas in northwestern Washington were hit h...
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12:12
#44 - Happy Holidays
Happy holidays to you!And happy holidays to you, too!We’re right in the middle of the time of the year we call “the holidays”.What is a “holiday?” It comes from an old English word that meant “holy day”...
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12:39
# 43 - Can you hear me? Are you listening to me? 👂 - What is the difference?
Can you hear me? Are you listening to me?In Podcast #39 we talked about the difference between “see” “look” and “watch”. We use “see” when we are talking about our sense of sight. We “see” things without trying....
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10:34
#42 - "What do you mean?" Practice with that little word, "mean"
"You know, I can do without Halloween. ""What do you mean?""I mean that I don’t like Halloween. It’s just too creepy …scary…for me."When you asked me “What do mean?” what did you want to find out? I wasn't sure what you w...
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14:11
#41 - The "ought" Word Family
You know, I don’t think we have ever devoted an entire podcast to pronunciation of words that are hard for English learners to pronounce and spell, am I correct?You’re right! So maybe we ought to do that today....
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10:26
#40 - Back to school! 🏫
Podcast – Back to school!It’s the end of September already! Can you believe it! Time flies! Many languages have a similar expression because wherever you live in the world time goes so fast that it seems like it is flying away.&nb...
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17:37
# 39 - "I see a bear."🐻 " I'm looking at a bear."🐻 "I'm watching a bear." 🐻 What's the difference?
Can you see me? Are you looking at me? Are you watching me? “see”, “look” and “watch". We use those three little words a lot in English. Each word means to do something – an action with our eyes.B...
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12:53
# 37 - Let's Take A Little Vacation! 🧳
Do you want to take a short trip? A little vacation?In episode # 33 ‘That Summertime Feeling”, we talked about activities that people do in the summer. Something that a lot of people do in the summer is take a vacation or “
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14:06
# 36 - More practice using "to get" as a phrasal verb - "I got rid of my old car 🚗 last month."
In episode # 34 we talked about using that chameleon verb “get” as a phrasal verb A phrase is two or more words used together, so a phrasal verb is combining a verb with other words. Together they have a different meaning –...
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14:50
# 35 - Bodies of Water - The Puget Sound 🌊
We are lucky to live in a place where there are so many bodies of water. We usually use body to mean the physical structure of a living creature, but we also use "body" to talk about a significant accumulation (gathering) of wat...
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14:50
#34 - My dog 🐕 and cat 🐈 get along! Practice using "get" as a phrasal verb
We use that little verb “to get” a lot! We use it in more than 50 ways. That’s we called it the “chameleon verb” in Podcast 30. In that Podcast, we practiced 4 common ways we use the verb “to get” when we use it alone – as a...
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14:32