Practising English

Hello, and today, I'm going to interview my daughter. My daughter is 11 years old. And we're going to talk about her school. This is good B1 language about school subjects, school terminology and the school routine. Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practising English Podcasts: https://www.practisingenglish.com/contact.htm My NEW book: " B1 Engli...

Podcasts for learning and practising English for intermediate level students. Today I'm talking about the language we use when we're playing cards . I'll talk a little about the history, where cards came from and the language we need to talk about playing cards with friends or family. Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practising English Podcasts:...

The Tudor Conspiracy is a reader for B1 students studying for B2 level English. In this chapter Isabel and Philip, who now believe the quarto to be a fake, visit the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was christened. They don't know, however, they are being followed and the person who is following them is determined to get the quarto back. You can buy the book from any Amazon platform......

Help with understanding the different tenses and aspects in English. Here, I explain in simple language and with examples the past perfect (she had already left). I explain its structure and why we use past perfect and compare it to past simple. For the transcript, go to: https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-56.htm Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practis...

Following on from the podcasts on zero and first conditionals , second and third conditional , we now look at the circumstances when we mix conditionals . This happens when we make references to both past and present in the same sentence. This podcast explores mixed conditional clauses and offers simple to understand examples for the various cases when we use them. See transcript at https://www.pr...

This is chapter 8 from my book, The Tudor Conspiracy, which is a reader for B1 students studying for B2 English level exams. In this chapter, Isabel and Philip visit David Buddle's laboratory where they find out some surprising and worrying news about the newly discovered play by Shakespeare. You can find out more about this book at my website: https://mabilbrough.com and for more podcasts fo...

Part of a series of B1 level talks on the grammar, structure and use of the conditionals in English. This is the third conditional. Learn what the phrases 'spilt milk' and 'water under the bridge' mean. Offers lots of example sentences and the full transcript can be read at: https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-53.htm Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about...

Grammar study for B1 level English. Today I'm continuing with the series of conditional studies. The last one was episode 22 on the zero and first conditionals and today we're looking briefly at the main points of the second conditional - If I were a rich man... You can find the audioscript to this podcast at https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-52.htm . Contact Mike Bilbrough with...

The continuing story of The Tudor Conspiracy for B1 students studying for B2 level English. Available in book form and now these weekly audio podcasts. Isabel and Philip drive on to Stratford-upon-Avon. When they arrive, they decide to have lunch before going to see David Buddle but an unexpected visitor turns up at the restaurant, and Isabel and Philip have to react quickly.  Contact Mike Bilbrou...

This podcast is about words which go with comparatives so that we can add more precision to what we mean. So the words that we're using are words like not quite , slightly , almost , easily , a good deal , far ...  I don't think they make much sense on their own. So I'm going to put them together. And it will be clearer then what I'm trying to explain to you, in fact, it will b...

In this episode, I talk about the different genres of books and give some examples I have on my bookshelves. I explore the language associated with books : the different types of book, the parts of a book, what we do with a book and the language of commercialization of books. Useful language to complete your knowledge on the correct way of expressing ideas when talking about literatures or your re...

This is the continuing story of The Tudor Conspiracy - a reader for B1 students studying for B2. In this chapter, Isabel and Philip decide to head for Stratford-upon-Avon to meet the antique book authenticator while some people in the dark shadows of the Bodleian Library are making sinister plans. See audioscript at https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-48.htm Contact Mike Bilbrough with a que...

B2 level podcast story listening - talking about ability in the past and useful vocabulary explained before the story begins. Verbs like: manage to, be able to, which we use for certain single events in the past instead of the auxiliary could. See transcript at:  https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-47.htm Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practising Engli...

Help with IELTS, Cambridge B2, C1 speaking exams, phrases and expressions talking about the question of how sport influences our lives . I bring in lots of useful language for students to copy and learn in preparation for their speaking exams. For transcript, go to - https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-46.htm Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practising E...

This is the continuing story of the Tudor Conspiracy - a reader for B1 students studying for B2. In this chapter, Isabel and Philip set out for Oxford and the Bodleian library. They meet the librarians there but one, in particular, reacts in a strange way when she hears what Isabel and Philip are looking for. https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-45.htm Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question o...

A look at how to write the story for Cambridge Preliminary writing exam practice part 2 and in this case the story-writing option. I look at the use relative pronouns and how to use them in the story so as to make your text more interesting and impress the examiners, who will give you more marks. I'll finish the episode with another story of Nasreddin and I'll use relative clauses for yo...

English is a language we call a stress-timed language . Perhaps it's unusual, because many other European languages are syllable-timed , especially Latin-based languages, like Spanish and Italian, for example. I'm going to explain and give examples of what a stress-timed language is. I'm also going to read you a poem . It's by a poet called Robert Southey, who was a poet in the...

Graded reader for B1 and B2 students.  You can buy the book and follow the reading every week of each chapter. In this chapter, Isabel and Philip go for a coffee and talk about the mysterious missing play. Philip explains to Isabel the history of the first copies of Shakespeare's plays. https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-42.htm Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about ad...

This is a podcast on tips for approaching the part 1 sections of both the IELTS and the Cambridge FCE speaking exams. It's about the brief questions you will be asked and how to answers them: the vocabulary, grammar and linking words to make your answers coherent. Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practising English Podcasts: https://www.practisingenglish....

Hello, and today I'm going to talk to you about the passive voice . I'll talk about its structure, about how to change from the active voice to the passive voice and why we use the passive. Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practising English Podcasts: https://www.practisingenglish.com/contact.htm My NEW book: " B1 English Vocabulary Builder - 22...

Chapter 3 of the reader for learners of English progressing from B1 to B2. In this chapter, Isabel takes the bus to the Globe Theatre and meets Philip. Philip gives Isabel a tour of Shakespeare's theatre but Isable then reminds him they must talk about the mysterious lost play. Book written for intermediate level learners of English and now with audio. The Tudor Conspiracy... Contact Mike Bil...

And today I'm going to talk to you about... that. Exactly that... going to . I'm going to talk about going to . Now I think the going to structure is something that most learners of English acquire quite quickly. Why? Well, because it's quite intuitive to talk about the future . And we usually feel that if we use going to , we will always get it right. But I'm going to talk abo...

Now, in English, there is a structure that we use when we talk about other people doing things for us. And that is have something done . If you go to the hairdresser's, well, you don't cut your own hair, do you? You ask somebody else to do it for you. And that person is the hairdresser. So afterwards, we say, I went to the hairdressers today, and I had my hair cut. I'll also discuss...

Chapter 2 of the reader for learners of English progressing from B1 to B2. In this chapter we learn about Isabel's job in Arthur's Antique Bookshop. Mr Fanshawe asks Isabel to set out on a mysterious mission to search for a very special book. The TudoerConspiracy is available as a paperback book and in Kindle on Amazon. Find out more here at my book website: https://mabilbrough.com/ Cont...

Hello, and today I'm going to talk to you about subject and object questions . Questions with and without inversion and auxiliaries: do, does or did. And I'm going to explain just a little, because I think this is revision really rather than a full explanation. I will also tell you a very old Nasreddin story called The Dinner Party with some examples of these questions types. Contact Mik...