Emma's ESL English

Continuing with our Witches Abroad analysis, this time we're focusing on the gambling vocabulary used in the episode.  Disclaimer: I don't gamble or play cards! Do your own research first if you want to use your English to gamble! May the odds be ever in your favour. Vocabulary (Additional Vocabulary in YouTube Description) Card sharpers - people who cheat at cards to win money, often chea...

Today we're going to analyse the reading from last week (Ep100), Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad. I hope you've had time to listen to last week's episode a couple of times and feel at least a little bit confident about what you think is happening.  Additional Note : in this episode I talked about 'card sharks', in the book Terry calls them 'Card Sharpers', in fact...

Today is our 100th episode! That's pretty amazing to me! Thank you all so much for listening each week. I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and I really hope you find it useful.  Spotify tells me that this year people from 22 different countries tuned in!  Remember, you can always send me feedback and ideas or questions by commenting on YouTube or on the blog, or by emailing me a...

Today we're talking about New Year's Resolutions and I gave you some tips on how you can set yourself up to have successful goals, rather than things you quickly give up on. Remember: Make your goal realistic Make it achievable Don't forget to motivate yourself Vocabulary taking stock - usually at the end of the year or the end of a project we look back and see what we have achieved, u...

Today we're talking about New Year celebrations in America and the UK. Of course all over the world people have different kinds of celebrations for New Year. Let me know in the comments what's normal for you and what kinds of things your family eats or does on New Year. I mention in the podcast about the ball drop in New York. You can see the video from last year here: https://www.youtube....

Today it's just a short episode. I want you to take some time to evaluate your progress this year. We will use this evaluation next week, but for now just evaluate and feel smug about how great you are!  In this episode I mention one of my favourite online coaches Mel Robbins. She has two books and some great ideas. If you want to carry out her Year End Review you can watch the video and downl...

Yesterday we read Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. This is quite a challenging read, even for me! So I just read a tiny bit, which is all about Christmas dinner. Today we are analysing the text. This is the longest episode yet, 20 minutes! But I go through the text bit by bit and I hope it will help you understand.  In this analysis I will also tell you a lot about British Christmas dinners,...

Continuing on our Christmas theme, today I will read a short excerpt from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  (I know! Terrifying! It's SO HARD! 😱 Even for me! But we can handle it! This little bit is just about eating Christmas Dinner, so it's the easiest part of the story!🥳) This is the quintessential Christmas story and has been retold hundreds of times in different plays and mov...

Yesterday we read Terry Pratchett's Christmas story 'Father Christmas's Fake Beard.'  Today we will review some of the phrases and grammar from the story. In this story we had quite a lot of euphemisms for things, that is phrases that mean something else. In addition, a surprising amount of the vocabulary is very relevant to work life and especially HR related things! Today we'...

In this episode I will read a short children's story written by my favourite author, Terry Pratchett.  The story is about Father Christmas (Santa) going to work in a department store at Christmas time. The story is written through a set of emails between various employees at the store. Of course, the people in the store don't know that the *real* Father Christmas is coming to work as a fake F...

In this episode I will introduce some different English vocabulary to describe laughter. It turns out that there are a lot of different words, collocations and even idioms that we use to describe laughter. Some of these like 'giggle' you will definitely have come across before, but others are more obscure. In many causes you're more likely to see these words written down in a story, ra...

In this episode we're learning about the nuances between these very similar pieces of English language. It's very easy to get these words confused because they look...alike! 😬 But don't worry, today I'll help you understand the differences and give you lots of examples so you can see each one in action. See you tomorrow! These phrases are our focus today. They all use similar word...

In today's episode we will look at the correct grammar and meaning for intensifiers, specifically So , Too, Such and Enough .    It's common for my students to get 'too' and 'so' mixed up or to think they are the same thing. In this episode we'll look at how they can change the meaning of a sentence.    Have a great weekend! Vocabulary So & Such = Very So > usual...

Today we're going to look at the phrasal verb 'back up'. In this episode I will cover 6 different meanings for this phrasal verb, however, after filming I found two more! If this phrasal verb confuses you...no wonder! How can two little words have 8 potential meanings! That's CRAZY!!😵 Here's a list of all the way's you can use it. 1. Move backwards You'll have to back...

In this episode we talk about the different phrases you might say to go out with your colleagues for food. We'll also talk about some of the cultural differences around food. As I mentioned in this episode, some phrases such as 'I want to have dinner with you,' 'Will you have dinner with me?' And 'I want to go out with you'. Are culturally accepted to be about asking so...

This is one of the first episodes I planned to do, and then I thought, 'Hmm how could this work in a podcast?' I'm still not sure it does! Luckily now I'm recording videos for every episode! Yay! If your podcast provider doesn't show the video head to the YouTube episode here: https://youtu.be/7kKfQzcWEQg English pronunciation is tricky. No matter what your native language is t...

Today we're going to analyse yesterday's story. We will review the structure and see how it compares to the structures we discussed last week. We will also review some of the vocabulary I used while telling the story. You'll hear some common phrases such as: I want to get it off my chest It has served me well It starts to dawn on me She wanted to make me jump through hoops for security...

Today I'm sharing the story of my recently deceased phone.😭 The reason I decided to share this story in particular, is because it's a very common scenario. I think it's likely you might have your own phone story to share. It's also very likely you will hear this kind of story among friends or colleagues. My focus today is just to provide some listening practise. Tomorrow we will l...

Yesterday we read an article from Engoo about the Bermuda Triangle. You can find the article here: https://engoo.com/app/daily-news/article/mysterious-disappearances-what-is-the-bermuda-triangle/wD9Zqj44Ee2vY1NCE3_HmA I also discussed the various ways that you could use the Engoo website to help develop your English skills. Today we will focus on the writing in this Engoo article. * How did they s...

Today's podcast features a reading from Engoo. This is a really useful website for your English. You can organise the articles into different levels and categories so you can find something appropriate to your needs. Reading everyday can help you increase your vocabulary and Engoo shows you good examples of easy writing and reading. There are also discussion questions that you can use with a t...

Yesterday we talked about what was happening in the UK that led up to Guy Fawkes and his gang's 'Gunpowder, Treason and Plot'. Today I'll finish explaining what Guy Fawkes did and what happened to him. In addition, in today's episode we will look at the ongoing impact of Guy Fawkes on modern society, mostly in the UK, but in the wider world too.  This Saturday is Bonfire Night,...

In today's episode we'll look at the British history that led Guy Fawkes and his gang to plot to try to blow up the King, his family and Parliament all those years ago. This week, on Saturday (5th Nov) it's Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night in the UK. While this isn't a public holiday, other than Christmas and Halloween, it's probably one of the days kids look forward to the mo...

In this episode we are revisiting Tiffany and Miss Treason. We've just missed a major part of the story where Miss Treason takes Tiffany to a dance. She specifically tells Tiffany NOT to dance, but Tiffany dances anyway. Unfortunately this has caused a major problem, the God of Winter (the Wintersmith) is now interested in Tiffany and summer may never come! Not surprisingly, Miss Treason was v...

On the 31st of October we celebrate Halloween in the UK. I was going to do some Halloween vocabulary, but that's a bit boring. So instead I'm going to read two parts from Terry Pratchett's book, Wintersmith. This book is part of a series of books that begins with the Wee Free Men, which introduces the main character, Tiffany Aching, a young (at that point 8 years old) witch. Wintersmit...

Today we are looking at idioms that describe untrustworthy behaviour, untrustworthy people or things you can't quite believe. There are a surprising amount of these. Some of them can be tied back to previous episodes where we talked about keeping secrets and telling lies, both of which can be seen as untrustworthy behaviour.  See you next week! Today's Idioms To pull a fast one - to try an...