TALC Chats Podcast

Send us Fan Mail We talk with Jaime, who has been studying English with a TALC tutor for about four years. We learn that English is not his second, but his third language. He also speaks Japanese! Listen to our conversation and learn what Jaime finds the  hard est and eas iest about learning English. What does he do to improve his English skills? Jaime leaves us with some advice for other English...

Send us Fan Mail In podcast # 35 we talked about the Puget Sound , a body of water that starts north of us in the Straits of Juan de Fuca and extends to Olympia south of us. We live in the area of  Washington State  called The Puget Sound. From our homes in the Puget Sound we see a lot of mountains. Can you see mountains from where you live? What mountain we can see from many places in Puget Sound...

Send us Fan Mail If that phone belongs to Mary, I can say “That is Mary’s phone.” If that phone belongs to John, I can say, “That book is John’s phone .” When we are talking about someone owning or possessing something, we can use the person’s name, add an apostrophe plus an ‘ s’   to show possession or ownership. An apostrophe is a little mark. It looks like a comma, but it is higher, not down on...

Send us Fan Mail      In podcast #35 we talked about the Puget Sound -  a body of salt water that is connected to the Pacific Ocean at the Straits of Juan de Fuca north of Seattle and extends 95 miles south to Olympia.  Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Bellevue and Everett are cities on Puget Sound. About 2/3 of Washington state’s population live on Puget Sound.      Today we’re going to talk about the o...

Send us Fan Mail Today how about practicing some English phrases that are useful for everyday life situations ? That sounds good! Where shall we start? Let’s start with greetings: To greet someone:                 Formal: Good morning/afternoon/ evening;  How are you?                           It’s nice to see you!                 Informal: What’s new?; What’s up?; How’s it going?   To reply:    ...

Send us Fan Mail  On November 20th there was a big windstorm in western Washington.  Did you have a lot of wind at your house?   Some places escaped the high winds, but many areas in northwestern Washington were hit hard! What do you mean by that? “some places were hit hard.”  I mean some places had a lot of wind. They were affected by the storm. The storm hit those places hard.  What were some of...

Send us Fan Mail Happy holidays to you! And happy holidays to you, too! We’re right in the middle of the time of the year we call “ the holidays ”. What is a “holiday?”   It comes from an old English word that meant “holy day”. The word was first used a long time ago - before the 12th century. The word was used for days that were special religious days, holy days. People had religious festivals, a...

Send us Fan Mail Can you hear me?  Are you listening to me? In Podcast #39 we talked about the difference between “see” “look” and “watch”.  We use “ see” when we are talking about our sense of sight . We “see” things without trying.  I can see Mt. Rainier today.”  We use “ look” + “at” when we are focusing our eyes on something. “I am looking at the yellow and orange leaves on the trees.” We use...

Send us Fan Mail "You know, I can do without Halloween. " "What do you mean?" "I mean that I don’t like Halloween. It’s just too creepy …scary…for me." When you asked me “ What do mean?” what did you want to find out? I wasn't sure what you wanted (intended) to say. That little word mean i s like a lot of words in English. We use it in many ways. Let’s talk about...

Send us Fan Mail You know, I don’t think we have ever devoted an entire podcast to pronunciation of words that are hard for English learners to pronounce and spell, am I correct? You’re right!  So maybe we ought to do that today. I agree that we ought to do that! In fact, ought is one of those words that is challenging for learners to pronounce and spell. Before we start, dear listener, we suggest...

Send us Fan Mail Podcast – Back to school! It’s the end of September already! Can you believe it! Time flies ! Many languages have a similar expression because wherever you live in the world time goes so fast that it seems like it is flying away.  What does the month of September make you think about? …the beginning of fall? …the days getting shorter? Or do you think about the new school year star...

Send us Fan Mail Can you see me? Are you looking at me? Are you watching me? “see”, “look” and “watch".  We use those three little words a lot in English. Each word means to do something – an action with our eyes. But…do they all mean the same thing? No, they don’t! And it’s easy to confuse them. Today let’s look at the differences between see, look and watch. First, when do we use “see”? Wel...

Send us Fan Mail Do you want to take a short trip? A little vacation? In episode # 33 ‘That Summertime Feeling”, we talked about activities that people do in the summer. Something that a lot of people do in the summer is take a vacation or “ go on vacation ” or “ take a trip”. Do you go on vacation every summer? Do you prefer to take long vacations or short vacations? Do you like to travel to a lo...

Send us Fan Mail In episode # 34 we talked about using that chameleon verb “get” as a phrasal verb   A phrase is two or more words used together, so a phrasal verb is combining a verb with other words. Together they have a different meaning –  a meaning that is not a direct translation of each of the words. Guess how many ways we use “get” as a phrasal verb in English. Get ready for it! There are...

Send us Fan Mail We are lucky to live in a place where there are so many bodies of water.  We usually use body to mean the physical structure of a living creature, but we also use "body" to talk about a significant accumulation (gathering) of water on the surface of the earth – or other planet. Oceans, rivers and lakes are bodies of water . The biggest bodies of water are the oceans or t...

Send us Fan Mail We use that little verb “ to get” a lot! We use it in more than 50 ways. That’s we called it the “chameleon verb” in  Podcast 30. In that Podcast, we practiced 4 common ways we use the verb “to get” when we use it alone – as a single word. 1. We use “to get” to mean “ to arrive”. I get home early on Mondays. – present       I got home late yesterday. - past  2. We use “to get “ wh...

Send us Fan Mail June 20th was the first day of summer on the calendar. When does summer begin for you? What gives you that summertime feeling? .... Maybe the long days? Or the warm sunshine? What is that summertime feeling ? What do you want to do in the summer?      Do you want to relax ? Here are some expressions we use for "relax":     “kick back”      “take it easy”      “chill”    ...

Send us Fan Mail Today is July 3rd and tomorrow we will have a big holiday in the USA - the 4th of July! Let’s have a little 4th of July Trivia Quiz! The dictionary definition of trivia is "unimportant information or facts". It is very popular now to have trivia quizzes – games in which people try to answer questions about fun facts or information. A quiz is a  short informal test. The t...

Send us Fan Mail We spend a lot of time in our kitchens.  We prepare food, cook and clean up in the kitchen. When when we have "get togethers" (when friends and family come to share a meal) people often gather in the the kitchen to help with food preparation, or just to " chew the fat " ( talk) or " catch up " (learn what is new). In this episode we take a tour of thi...

Send us Fan Mail A  chameleon is a lizard that is famous for changing its color to match its surroundings. The verb "to get" is like a chameleon because it changes its meaning like a chameleon changes colors.  In this episode we will practice some of the most common ways we use "to get". Here are the "forms" (the conjugation) of "to get":   P resent:        ...

Send us Fan Mail Are you having allergy symptoms right now, dear listener?  A lot of people are! Allergies are an over-reaction of our immune system to something in our environment - something that usually isn't really dangerous, but our immune system reacts like it is dangerous. Our immune system, says "Hey! This is a problem and we need to put up a fight against it." That "fi...

Send us Fan Mail In episode #16 we practiced using the verb "to be" in present tense. Today we are practicing  using "to be" in the past. Here is a quick review of the forms of "to be" in the present :       I am (I'm- contraction)    you are (you're        they are (they're)     we are (we're)       she is (she's)                           he...

Send us Fan Mail Here is a riddle (a question that needs careful thought to figure out the answer) for you: What goes up but never comes down? Your age! Our age goes up (increases) all the time, but we count the increase in years on our birthday. Not everyone celebrates their birthday. Some people don't celebrate their birthday for religious or personal reasons. Probably most people in the Un...

Send us Fan Mail In episode # 17 we shared a Valentine's Day story that had a lot of idioms about love. Today we tell a story with some more idioms  - a lot of the idioms in this story are about $$$$$  - money. idioms are expressions or groups of words that have a special meaning that cannot be translated word by word. We use a lot of idioms in English.  Here's Tom's story. The idio...

Send us Fan Mail Latonya and Diana talk about making small talk - those short conversations between people who usually don't know each other very well.   Small talk conversations are usually not about important things, but they are conversations that make connections between people. Small talk "breaks the ice" - it "melts" the cold, awkward silence  between people and make...