In this audio-only episode today you can join me at home as I potter around, and take time to relax while recording a rambling episode for you to enjoy. Enjoy the sounds of street noise outside, and my attempts to find the most comfortable spot in my flat where I can ramble about various things, including several robberies in Paris - one of which is the famous heist at the Louvre museum, where burglars broke in and stole precious jewels worth millions, in broad daylight. The other robbery was more painful - our own apartment, which was broken into earlier this year. Join me as I discuss all of these things and more. The video episode this week is a walk & talk in Paris. Get the episode PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/A-Cosy-Rambling-Episode-at-Home-964.pdf Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/12/01/a-cosy-rambling-episode-at-home-964-walk-talk-mission-in-montmartre/ Walk & Talk: Mission in Montmartre 📺 https://youtu.be/b0THApJaJTs 20% off LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[963] Emma Camara Ortega and I worked together as English teachers years ago, but since then Emma has become a licensed counsellor and therapist - helping people with their mental health. In this episode, Emma talks to me about what is involved in counselling, and we discuss some everyday habits to promote good mental health. This should be full of interesting insights and helpful tips for mental wellbeing, which is so vital for our general lives but also to help us learn as effectively as possible. Full transcript and vocabulary list available. Get the PDF transcript & word list 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Talking-Therapy-Mental-Health-Counselling-with-Emma-Camara-Ortega-963.pdf Episode page on my website 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/24/talking-therapy-mental-health-counselling-with-emma-camara-ortega-963/ LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Emma Camara Ortega in the UK Counselling Directory 👉 https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellors/emma-camara-ortega Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[962] Time for another short story on LEP. This one is about a man who has a wondrous experience as a child, which then haunts him for the rest of his adult life. Listen as I read the story to you, and then ramble about its meaning, interpretations and how it evoked some strong memories and strange feelings in me. Then there is a vocabulary review which will continue in an upcoming premium series. Get the episode PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Door-in-the-Wall-Learn-English-with-a-Short-Story-962.pdf Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/17/the-door-in-the-wall-learn-english-with-a-short-story-962/ LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[961] Emma Jakobi is the host of MmmEnglish on YouTube, and now the online community Hey Lady! In this episode Emma joins me for a chat about living on the remote Western coast of Australia, "blowing up" on YouTube, her decision to step away from MmmEnglish to focus on Hey Lady! Also, her thoughts on the rise of AI, and some fun facts about singing in the shower, her vintage Lexus car and her phobias of public speaking (surprising) and leeches (understandable). Full transcript available. Get the episode transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Emma-from-MmmEnglish-and-Hey-Lady-961-Transcript-1.pdf Episode page on my website 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/10/emma-from-mmmenglish-and-hey-lady-961/ Emma's Instagram 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mmmenglish_emma/ Hey Lady! website 👉 https://www.heylady.io/join Hey Lady! IG 👉 https://www.instagram.com/hey_lady_community/ Hey Lady! YT 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@heyladyenglish MmmEnglish on YouTube 👉 @mmmEnglish_Emma LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A particularly useful and interesting episode for you today - a conversation about English words which are very similar, but crucially, not the same. My guest Eli Burnstein is the author of “Dictionary of Fine Distinctions” - a book which aims to bring clarity to English words. Expect a funny discussion about subtle shades of meaning between words like poison & venom, accuracy & precision, envy & jealousy and many others. Eli is Canadian, now living in London and so he also shares some key features of Canadian English. 📄 Get the PDF transcript https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Fine-Distinctions-Subtle-Shades-of-Meaning-with-Eli-Burnstein-960.pdf 🔗 Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/03/fine-distinctions-subtle-shades-of-meaning-with-eli-burnstein-960/ 🏆 LEP Premium https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium 📗 Get the book in the UK https://www.waterstones.com/book/dictionary-of-fine-distinctions/eli-burnstein/9781805227229 📘 Buy the book from Profile Books https://profilebooks.com/work/dictionary-of-fine-distinctions/ 📙 Also available on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dictionary-Fine-Distinctions-Nuances-Niceties/dp/180522722X/ 🧔‍♂️ https://www.eliburnstein.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People keep asking me in comments, "How can I learn English with your podcast?" so in this episode I am answering that question as simply, directly and efficiently as possible. Expect advice about improving your English across the 4 skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing, and the language systems of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and discourse management. PDF available. 📄 Get the PDF here 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/How-to-learn-English-with-my-podcast-959.pdf 🔗 Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/27/how-to-learn-english-with-my-podcast-959/ 🏆 Sign up to LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up to LEP Premium here 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium If you have ever wondered what happens in premium episodes, this episode will show you. I'll play you some clips from the latest series (P71) including some vocabulary explanations, memory quiz questions, pronunciation practice and discussion questions for speaking practice. For the rest of the series, and all the other episodes of LEP Premium (now over 250, each with PDF worksheets and video versions) sign up and become a Premium LEPster today 🏆 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium 📄 Get the episode PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A-Free-Sample-of-LEP-Premium-Series-71-_-Vocabulary-Pronunciation-958.pdf 🔗 Website page for this episode 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/20/a-free-sample-of-lep-premium-series-71-vocabulary-pronunciation-958/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My brother James joins me again on the podcast for a rambling chat about diverse topics such as: trousers 👖 sandwiches 🥪 gangster films 🍿 the work of Edgar Allan Poe 📖 vinyl and cassettes 🎵 memories of living together 🎮 annoying behaviour 😤 and English words and grammar that irritate people 😠 plus James has a new vinyl EP out now on Ooz records. Transcript available 📄. 🎧 Get OOZ004 - James' new vinyl EP 👉 https://oozrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ooz004 📄 Get the PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Thompson-Originals-A-Chat-with-My-Brother-956-TRANSCRIPT.pdf 🔗 Episode page on my website 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/06/thompson-originals-a-chat-with-my-brother-956/ 🏆 Sign up to LEP Premium for extra episodes about vocab, grammar, pronunciation 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 949 I did an online test which claimed to be for C1 level, but let's be honest - it was more like an intermediate level, the questions were rubbish and it was ultimately a useless scam. This time I'm taking a proper C1 English test - the Use of English section from a Cambridge CAE exam. Let's see what is required to pass this, and what bits of English you can learn from it. 📄 Get the PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Lets-take-a-REAL-C1-English-Test-CAE-Use-of-English-955.pdf 🔗 Website page for this episode 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/29/lets-take-a-real-c1-english-test-cae-use-of-english-955/ 🏆 LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium 🎧 Listen to my podcast in an app on your phone 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/links What is the pass mark for this CAE test? I forgot to add that the pass mark is 60% for this test, which means you must get a minimum of about 22/36 in the Use of English section (that's 14 lost points). Could you do it? Bear in mind that this is only a part of the whole test, and you'd need to get at least 60% across all 4 sections (also including listening, writing and speaking). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Pod-Pals are back on the podcast for another catching up session! Recorded just after the summer holidays, there is talk of Paul's hatred of the beach 🏖️, the English tradition of building epic sandcastles 🏰, other famous people with our names (including an "evil" teacherluke 👿) and what AI gets completely wrong about us 🤦. PDF transcript available. (a.k.a Catching Up with Amber & Paul #15) 📄 Get the PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Transcript-Holiday-Hell-Serious-Sandcastles-AI-Inbreeding-with-Amber-Paul-954-2.pdf 🔗 Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/22/holiday-hell-serious-sandcastles-ai-inbreeding-with-amber-paul-954/ 🏆 Sign up to LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My 7-year-old daughter joins me again as co-host in this fun episode. We play "Would you rather?", a conversation game in which we ask each other ridiculous questions about various hypothetical situations. Enjoy listening to another cute and funny chat with my daughter, which covers topics such as food, world peace, wealth, fame, success and Inspector Gadget. 📄 Get the PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/A-game-of-Would-You-Rather_-with-my-daughter-953-TRANSCRIPT-1.pdf 🔗 Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/15/a-game-of-would-you-rather-with-my-daughter-953/ 🏆 LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A description of my recent family holiday to Norway 🇳🇴 including rambling about how I can't stand beach holidays 🏖️, chasing my son around different international airports 🏃, visiting Oslo ⛴️, Bergen 🏠, fjords 🚤 and mountains 🏔️. Edward Munch's The Scream 😱, staying in a cabin with no hot water, shower or washing machine, swimming in a freezing lake 🥶, catching a trout 🎣 and driving an electric Jaguar 🐆(that's a car). Includes a PDF with vocabulary in context, definitions, full transcript, and vocabulary quiz. 📄 Get the PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/The-Trip-to-Norway-_-Learn-Vocabulary-in-Context-952.pdf 🔗 Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/08/the-trip-to-norway-learn-vocabulary-in-context-952/ 🏆 Sign up to LEP Premium 👉 www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dealing with some questions from listeners about pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, namely how to know when 'd is had or would (in writing and pronunciation), the curious origins of the word podcast and a vocabulary lesson about the word cast including various collocations and phrases which include this morpheme (that means a part of a word, not some kind of shape-shifting alien). More groundbreaking and genre-defying content to grace your earphones, and not boring grammar stuff at all, not even a little bit, no, no way, not here. Get the PDF here https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Questions-of-English-Listener-Comments-Bits-Bobs-4.pdf Website page https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/09/01/questions-of-english-listener-comments-bits-bobs-4-951/ Subscribe to LEP Premium for more of this kind of thing https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I take a typical multiple choice grammar test that you can find online, explain the answer to each question and give mini grammar lessons along the way. I also discuss what makes a good test of your English, and what good and bad level tests do. Learn more about grammar, and about how to check your language level. 📄 Get the episode PDF https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Lets-take-a-C1-English-Grammar-Test-and-critique-it.pdf 🔗 Episode page https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/08/18/lets-take-a-c1-grammar-test-and-critique-it-949/ 🏆 LEP Premium https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this fun and practical episode I dive into realistic workplace English through improvised role-play conversations. Designed to help you boost your vocabulary, listening skills, and confidence in professional settings, this episode features six humorous and educational role-play scenarios in workplaces like a factory, office, supermarket, and a shop. Listen to me improvising with ChatGPT and see if it can keep up with some ridiculous ideas, and learn some useful practical English in the process. 📄 Get the episode PDF https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Workplace-Role-Plays-_-Scenarios-for-Practical-English-948.pdf 🔗 Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/08/11/workplace-role-plays-scenarios-for-practical-english-948/ 🏆 LEP Premium https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.