ESL Pod Official - Speak English Fluently by Listening (with Text)

Yesterday, I was talking to an ex-colleague of mine who, quite frankly , has something of a big mouth . I bumped into him at the beach, where he was walking his dog. Anyway, as I was saying, he's the kind of guy that's always bad mouthing his co-workers . So he comes up to me and says, "Hey, Jeff. Long time, no see . What've you been up to?" "Ah, not much, " I said. "Well, guess who I saw yesterda...

I admit that I'm not very good at small talk . When I'm with friends, I can just shoot the breeze all day long . But when I talk to a stranger or someone I don't know very well, I'm always casting about , searching for something to talk about. Politics and religion are definitely taboo subjects, at least here in the United States. But you have to chat about something, otherwise there are these unc...

I came across some good advice while reading this week. If you're like me, you spend most of your time thinking about all of the things that are on your "to-do‚" list and you try to figure out how you're going to do them all. Or, sometimes, I think about things that have already happened. Maybe I messed up my presentation at work or had a fight with my boyfriend. People dwell on these kinds of thi...

I've had a really busy day today. I rolled out of bed at around 7:00 AM, like every morning, and jumped in the shower. After brushing my teeth and shaving, I picked up my morning paper from the front sidewalk and started reading it. I like to eat breakfast when I read the paper, so I poured myself a bowl of cereal. At around 7:30, I went into my office and sat down to go over my to-do list. First,...

Lucy: Hey Jeff, can I pick your brain for a minute? Jeff: Sure, what's up? Lucy: Well, I have a sticky situation at work and I wanted to get your input . You're always so tactful .Jeff: Thanks. I'm not sure I can help but I'll give you my two cents. Lucy: Well, it's like this. There's this guy I work with who is always making jokes about the boss. Don't get me wrong. I like a good joke now and the...

Driving in a big city like L.A. can be so stressful . It sometimes feels like I'm doing battle just to get to the grocery store, much less across town . What is it about getting behind the wheel that brings out people's aggressive side? The most mild-mannered mother of three turns into a race car driver when she gets on the road. In L.A., people rely on the freeway to commute to their jobs or just...

Spring cleaning is supposed to take place before summer, not after it. But, as usual, I procrastinated and now I have to finally get rid of all the junk I've accumulated over the year. But now there are no if's, and's, or but's about it --the cleaning must be done! I start in my bedroom. I have a king bed, with a sheet on the mattress and a top sheet , with pillow cases on the pillows . At top all...

This is turning out to be a month for seeing old friends. I got an email a couple of weeks ago from an old friend from graduate school . She and her family are visiting L.A. for a week. They plan to see family and to visit old friends. Since she moved out of the country, I hadn't seen her in ages . I'm looking forward to meeting her new kids and seeing her again. Another old friend called this wee...

Well, I was born and raised in Minnesota, in St. Paul, Minnesota, to be exact. I won't say how long ago that was, but let's just say I'm no spring chicken . I grew up there with my rather large family of 8 brothers and 2 sisters. (I was the baby of the family, but I swear I wasn't spoiled !) We were 13 in all, probably the biggest family in the neighborhood, maybe in the state. I had a mostly happ...

My computer has been acting up on me. It's a pretty old model , and I need to replace it. So I decided to call up my friend Kevin to ask for his two cents. Kevin is a computer whiz . He knows PC really well since he worked on them for years, but in his heart of hearts , he is a big Mac fan. So, I thought he would be good person to ask. I have always used a PC. I do mostly word processing so I don'...

ESLPodcast 19 - Going Shopping Tags: Shopping Audio Index: 15:33 Believe it or not, I don't own an iPod. I know, I know. I'm really behind the times, but I have an excuse. I've been so busy at my work lately, I haven't had time to take a break. So finally yesterday I went shopping for an iPod down at the mall in Santa Monica. I walked into the Mac store there and was immediately greeted by a sales...

ESLPodcast 18 - Getting Around (Fast) Tags: Daily Life , Transportation Audio Index: 15:34 Getting around in the United States is sometimes not very easy. Most people own their own cars, but not everyone can foot the bill for the car, plus the insurance, gas, and maintenance. Most big cities have buses, but they are much slower than a car. Several cities in the U.S. have subway systems, but many d...

ESLPodcast 17 - Going to the Movies (Fast) Tags: Entertainment Audio Index: 20:00 I love watching movies. I like a lot of different genres. No matter what my mood is, I can always find something that fits the bill. When I'm feeling down, I sometimes like a good comedy. My favorite are romantic comedies. The plot is pretty simple. A boy meets a girl and there are road blocks to them getting togethe...

ESLPodcast 16 - Summertime Vacations (Fast) Tags: Travel Audio Index: 18:41 I think the best summer vacation I've ever taken was when I went out East a few years ago. Two of my friends and I went on a two-week road trip. At the time, I was living in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the Midwest of the United States. Anyway, we started off camping every night, but that got real old, real fast. So we started...

ESLPodcast 15 - Going to a Concert II (Fast) Tags: Entertainment Audio Index: 14:52 My friend Ben and I have been waiting a month to see our favorite band in concert. This was the night. We were so excited. In a small venue like the Whiskey, there wouldn't be a bad seat in the house. So, we get to the Whiskey really early to find street parking and snagged a spot about four blocks away. Then, we g...

ESLPodcast 14 - Going to a Concert I (Fast) Tags: Entertainment Audio Index: 15:47 I heard on the radio this morning that my favorite band was going to be in concert here next month. I was so excited. The first thing I did was to call my friend Ben who is also a big fan of the band. Not only was the band playing in town, they were going to play at a bar called the Whiskey. The Whiskey is known as...

ESLPodcast 13 - Dining at a Restaurant II (Fast) Tags: Dining Audio Index: 14:52 I love coming to this Italian restaurant. The appetizers and desserts are to die for. When the waiter came to our table to take our order, my friend ordered a lobster ravioli dish, and I ordered my favorite, lasagna. The waiter then asked us, "Would you like a soup or salad with that?" My friend said yes; I passed on...

ESLPodcast 12 - Dining at a Restaurant I (Fast) Tags: Dining Audio Index: 12:13 Well, I love going out to restaurants to eat. One of the best experiences I've had recently was at a place here in Los Angeles called Il Fornaio . It's an Italian restaurant in a very nice part of Beverly Hills. I don't go there very often--I can't really afford it, but every once in a while I'll treat myself. The last...

Interview It would be great if I could always feel happy all the time, day in and day out. But sometimes I feel down. This is one of those days. Sometimes I get depressed if something disappointing happens—like if I interview for a job and I don't get it, or if I have to cancel my vacation after looking forward to it for a long time. Once in a while, I'll even feel down if I've read a very sad boo...

Telephone Conversation Good morning, Roth and Company. Good morning. I'm trying to reach Michael Dobson. I'm sorry, Mr. Dobson is not in the office. Would you know if he will be in today? I'm afraid I don't know Mr. Dobson's schedule. Oh, I see. Well... I wonder if I could leave a message for him. Sure. I can take a message. Please let him know that Susan Kale called, and would you please ask him...

There have been several times in my work where I had to ask permission or for a favor that was somewhat difficult. And so I wanted to ask very nicely, very politely. One time I went into my boss's office and asked if I could have some vacation time near one of the big holidays. So I went to her and I said: Excuse me, Ms. Chang, may I ask you a question? And she said: Sure, go ahead. Well, I said:...

Personal Email Hi, Julia. I'm sitting here in front of the computer in our apartment writing this email to you. It feels so weird not to have you here. You were my roommate for four years after all. I really miss having my best friend here. But enough with feeling sorry for myself. I am so happy to hear that you're getting settled in New York City. I'm trying to imagine what it's like for you—firs...

Mary's Response I love to eat, but I don't like to cook—not at all. I probably don't like to cook because I'm really bad at it. When I was growing up, my mother did all of the cooking in our house. But I never did learn how to cook any dishes at all. And so when I went to college and I moved into my own apartment, I had to learn how to cook a little bit. Usually what I made were very simple instan...

I do have nightmares sometimes. I do have bad dreams. A lot of my bad dreams are things like I'm being chased by someone and I can't get away from them, or I'm hiding from them. Some other of my bad dreams involve not being able to get home. I'm trying to get home and there are a lot of different obstacles that I have to get past before I get home. And I usually wake up before I get there. So I fi...

Today we're going to talk about favorite places to live. I'm going to talk a few minutes, and then we'll go back and listen for some particular vocabulary. Let's get started, shall we? Well, I would say that my favorite place to live is in a big city. I've lived in a medium-sized city, a city of about 500,000 people. And now I live in a city—Los Angeles—of three and a half, four million people. It...