The Level Up English Podcast (Natural British English)

Ivan Doan  is a multilingual actor, speaking 6+ languages, of Ukrainian Vietnamese descent working around the world. Ivan joins the Level Up English Podcast today to discuss acting, mistakes when acting, skills and tips to being a good actor and director, improving pronunciation and accent for language learning, favourite TV series and movies, and much more. To connect with Ivan online, click...

The question I get asked most often these days is " How can I learn English? " and " What's the best way to learn? " It's clearly a topic that people want to hear about, so my goal today is to finally answer that big question once and for all. I'll be giving advice to people who know some English, but don't know how to make it a daily practice. And also advice for learners who have been studying f...

I'm talking to you from the beaches of Okinawa, Japan, and bringing you an outside episode today. Click the link below if you'd like to watch the video version on YouTube. It's a bit of a chatty episode, but my main topic is Travel Hot Takes. A hot take is a controversial opinion that many people will disagree with, and today I list some of my biggest ones. I'm sure I'm going to anger a few people...

This is the episode I've been excited about for months! In the final episode of the year, I'll be going in detail about what you can do to set goals and become the best version of yourself in 2026.  I'll start by going through my process this year of how you can best do this. It involves writing a review of the good and bad of the previous year, so you can appreciate your successes...

This is a continuation of a annual series where I track my language learning progress and draw lessons from the data. The first time was Episode 248 , and then again in Episode 306 . If you're like me and you love to get nerdy about data and statistics, then you'll get a lot out of this episode. I break down all the categories of how I've spent my time studying over the last year an...

In this episode, I go through a list of 2nd Conditional questions that encourage me to self reflect and think about how I could improve my life and habits in the new year.  Using this grammar structure is really useful, and I encourage you to answer each question as well. This is a more casual, chatty episode, so if you actually want to learn about the grammar in more detail, Episode 65 might be m...

In this episode of the Level Up English Podcast, we dive into the world of sadness - an emotion we all experience, yet often struggle to express clearly in English.  We'll be looking at a few different ways to say you're sad in English, and to keep things happy and optimistic, I also share some ideas on how to be happy in life. Show notes page  - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast354...

If you're planning on taking the IELTS exam, this episode is a must listen for you. In it, I cover an overview of the exam, and some tips on how to prepare and ace the listening section. I also want to make sure all learners can learn from this episode, so in the second half, I cover some general listening tips and things you can do to level up your listening skills, sharing techniques and mo...

Whether you like cats or not, this is the purrfect episode to learn a lot of useful cat-related expressions that you can use to improve your spoken English. I share a list of different expressions, go over the meaning and popularity of each one, and of course give examples from my own life. If you'd like to join in the conversation, go to the comments on the shownotes page. At the end, I also...

Jesús returns for another episode, but this time we challenge each other with some phrasal verbs from America and Britain. We each have a secret list of 5 phrasal verbs, and our goal is to share one that the other doesn't know. While talking, we discover whether these phrasal verbs are used internationally, or only in one part of the world, and we also share examples from our own lives. Join...

In this cross-post episode, Lewis and Michael go through some fun conversation questions that involve a lot of British English idioms and slang. While hearing our funny stories, you'll improve your knowledge of spoken English and train your listening. Show notes page  - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast350 ➡️ Join the Free Mini Course - https://www.levelupenglish.school/mini ⭐️ Join Leve...

I just came back from a trip to Japan where I cycled the 80km Shimanami Kaido trail that connects two of the main islands by a group of small islands and bridges. It was a beautiful experience, and in this episode I share an overview of the trip. You'll hear some funny stories and mistakes, as well as some reflections on language learning and using it in the country while travelling. It'...

Shower thoughts are basically deep thoughts that tend to come to us when we're in the shower, or at other times in the day free from distractions.  In this episode, I go through a few funny thoughts, and a few deep and philosophical ones I've gathered and find interesting to think about. Hopefully you'll enjoy hearing them too! Make sure to listen carefully to the vocabulary I menti...

Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a top English learning podcast?  In this episode, I chat with Luke from Luke's English Podcast about the challenges and joys of content creation. We discuss: filming outdoors and dealing with self-consciousness, balancing YouTube's algorithm with quality educational content, audio vs video podcasting, audience capture and staying authentic,...

"The more you know, the more you realise you don't know" This is an example of a well-known proverb (that is so true for language learning too, by the way) and in this episode, we'll be looking at several proverbs, quotes, maxims, and aphorisms that contain some wisdom or rule for living a better life. We'll be learning a few key terms and also exploring the vocabulary wit...

Sentences that are too short and simple is an issue that all language learners face. We can say what we want, but we don't sound natural because all of our sentences sound like children. In this episode, we're going to practise extending sentences and making more natural phrases using Relative Clauses. I spend just 5 minutes reviewing the grammar, and then delve into a casual chat where...

It's great to have goals, but what's the point of having them if we never actually achieve them? Or maybe you do eventually get there, but wouldn't it be nice if we could get there faster and more efficiently? In this episode, I talk about SMART goals and give examples of how you can make your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. I give examples from my...

This is an episode I'm excited for because we'll be looking at a group of words that have gone through a similar history; namely, they have all had quite a drastic change in their meanings over time. Many words we use today in English such as 'terrific' or 'fond' used to have almost completely opposite meanings!  In this episode, I explore why these changes took place...

Rayhan is back for his second appearance on the podcast since Episode 144 , about 4 years ago, to talk about a range of topics from getting better at small talk, self-improvement, the origins of the universe, spirituality, and more!  Ray teaches on Preply , and you can also find him on Instagram , as well as his course and membership site Elevate English . Show notes page  - https://levelupenglish...

As you may know, politeness in English - especially in British English - is a very important thing. Learners often struggle to keep up with the confusing grammar and long sentences, so in this episode, I break down a few key phrases that you can start using today to make your questions and requests sound more polite. I go through each phrase one by one and explain how we use it, give an example an...

In this episode, I mix a serious topic with some fun where I talk about my reverse culture shock returning to the UK after one year while trying to answer the question why so many people are deciding to leave the UK and move elsewhere in the world. Despite being British, seeing my own country from the outside gave me some interesting realisations, so I share a lot of them in today's episode. ...

Inspired by a viral video of a Chinese boy doing his English homework, I thought I'd make an episode where I list 10 common mistakes that language learners make and what you should avoid. To be clear, I'm sure that boy will master English one day, and my comments were more of a criticism of language education in schools. The video simply reminded me of some of the mistakes I've made...

Today we have a conversation between Anna Connelly and me on the topic of overcoming shyness.  This was originally an episode we record on Anna's podcast, Confident Business English , where Anna was mostly interviewing me about my experiences with feeling shy and my tips for the audience. Listening back to this one, I actually felt quite inspired, and I really hope that by re-sharing this tod...

I've been teaching English online for almost 10 years now, and over that time I've picked up quite a lot of patterns and similarities between all my students.  In this episode, I share 11 life lessons and other interesting things that I've learnt from my students, my lessons, and running an online teaching business.  This is actually a previously-recorded episode from the Level Up E...

Have you ever wondered what it's like to cycle through Bangkok? That's exactly what I'm doing in today's episode. I'm taking the podcast to the streets and I'm riding my bicycle across the city while avoiding stray dogs, and sharing my views on life in Bangkok. I mostly talk about the things I like and dislike about living here, and some ways in which the UK might be...