Better At English - Free English Conversation Lessons Podcast

Hi English learners! Lori here, your teacher from Betteratenglish.com. In this episode of Real English Conversations, you'll hear part 2 of my conversation with Kyla. We're discussing a book that we both really liked. It's called Daily Rituals, by Mason Currey. The book describes the daily routines and habits of 161 creative people, people like writers, painters, musicians, philosophers, and scientists. Now, while I love the book, I don't recommend it for English learners at lower levels. This is because it has a lot of quotations from sources that are very old, and some of that language is very difficult. But if you are an upper-intermediate to advanced learner of English who needs to read English literature from different periods, it might be a great place to start. The chapters are very short — sometimes only a half a page. That means you can have the satisfaction of finishing a chapter without having to spend too much time. And it's easier to do deep language analysis and study if the text is not too l

INTRODUCTION Hi English learners! Lori here, your teacher from Betteratenglish.com. In this episode of Real English Conversations, you'll hear me talking to Kyla, a fellow musician. We met up to talk about a book that we both really like. It's called Daily Rituals, and was written by Mason Currey. But as it turned out, Kyla and I had a lot more to talk about than the book. In fact, we didn't even start talking about the book until several minutes into the conversation. So you'll have to wait until part two for that. In this first part, you'll hear us breaking the ice by talking about guitars and practicing and other things we have in common. This was a normal thing to do because it was the first time we ever spoke to each other. You'll be hearing lot of informal American English, including tons of phrasal verbs. I think the best way to really learn phrasal verbs is in context, so I've highlighted most of them for you in the transcript, along with the other vocabulary. As always, you can find the full trans

In this Real English Conversations podcast, you'll hear Lori and her mom talking about their bedtime routines and what they do to get good night's sleep. The conversation includes lots of idioms and phrases related to going to bed, sleeping, waking up, and daily routines, and these interesting language items are listed in the vocabulary notes.

Lori talks to you about one of her favorite quotes: 80% of success is showing up. You'll learn what it means and who said it. And if you're feeling discouraged with your English progress, you'll learn how resolving to keep "showing up" can get you back on track with your learning.

Lori burns her arm while making a cup of tea, and can't sleep because it hurts so much. Her mother tries to help her find a way to get through the night. The real English conversation is between Lori and her mother the following morning, discussing what they did to relieve the pain and whether or not it worked.

Lori invites her mom onto the podcast to discuss telling time in English, focusing on some of the differences between American and British English usage.

Lori and her Dutch friend Yvette return to finish their conversation about perfectionism and procrastination. This time they focus on the strategies that have proved useful in their own battles with this debilitating problem.

Lori and her Dutch friend Yvette continue their discussion of perfectionism, focusing on how it can cause problems for foreign language learners.

Do you ever procrastinate? Lori sure does! She and her Dutch friend Yvette talk about what procrastination is, why we do it, and what we can do about it.

In today's conversation, which is part four of four, my British friend Michael and I wrap up our lengthy conversation about the pros and cons of dogs, dog ownership, and dog owners. Warning: some of the vocabulary we deal with in this episode is a bit vulgar, so if you are sensitive or easily offended I suggest you stop listening now.

Michael and Lori continue their discussion of dogs and cats, focusing on the tendency for humans to get emotionally attached to their pets.

In today's conversation, which is part 2 of 4, my British friend Michael and I continue discussing dogs and cats, and which we prefer.

My British friend Michael and I begin by talking about whether we are dog people or cat people. Then we move on to discuss the social etiquette of dog walking, particularly picking up after them in public places.

In this episode, Michael and Lori talk about weird food combinations -- you won't believe what some Americans like on their hamburgers!