The Level Up English Podcast (Natural British English)

I had a great audio question sent in today about learning with comprehensible input. So in this episode, I cover some of the ideas behind the comprehensible input method, and then explore the input hypothesis from Stephen Krashen and how these ideas might benefit your language learning methods. As always, keep in mind we are all different and learn in different ways, but I think a lot of these poi...

Steve Kaufmann is a polyglot who has a good level of proficiency in around 20 languages. Steve is well known for his content online and on his YouTube channel, Lingo Steve . You've probably seen him before!  Today he joined me for a really fascinating chat about language learning. I cover some of his recent YouTube videos and ask for tips on some of these topics. If you want to know more, I h...

On the private podcast last week, I chatted a bit about my experience in China and then ended on the idea of the benefit of being silly in your language learning. I thought it was a really interesting and potentially useful topic for people to hear, so I decided to turn it into a public podcast episode too. In this episode, I’ll be talking about reasons why you shouldn’t take yourself too seriousl...

I recently made a huge change in my life and I'm announcing it to everyone in this episode today. I'm going to talk a little bit about this change, why I made it, and some of my feelings about the future. I then talk about change in a more general sense and give you some tips (inspired by Atomic Habits) to help you in life and language learning, as well as some useful expressions related...

Do you know how to use the word 'dear'? A lot of people get confused with this term, and honestly the answer isn't as simple as you may think, so let's look into that today. I'll cover the ways in which we use this word and why you might not want to say it to strangers. This is a re-share of a video I posted on the English with Michael YouTube channel, so thanks for your p...

A listener requested a topic on the housing market in the UK, so I thought I'd give it a shot and make it as interesting as I can. In this episode, I talk about the housing crisis the UK is currently going through, my own experience with buying a house and share some interesting sayings and idioms too. As always, we look at lots of useful and high-level vocabulary. Do you know the word '...

Kevin Stroud from the History of English Podcast joins me for a fascinating discussion and dive into... well, the history of English! In this episode, we talk about a variety of things, including: Why TH doesn't have its own letter In what part of England the language was standardised? When did the first dictionaries come Why there are so many French words in English Why we have so many silen...

This week I’m beginning to come down with a cold. I can feel my throat getting hoarse and it hurts to swallow, and I probably don’t have much time before I’ll be unable to record a podcast episode, so let’s get this done quickly! Getting sick is something we all have to deal with at some point, so although it’s not the cheeriest of topics, it’s an important one to cover since there are so many gre...

I had a listener question about Phrasal Verbs and why some of them use prepositions even though the meaning seems to be the same without them. Can we say "Check it" and "Check it out"? What's the difference? I break down this question in detail and also talk about the difference between literal and idiomatic phrasal verbs. I hope you learn a lot today in this useful and in...

This is the first AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode I have done since #84! It's been a while, but this is where I reach out to Instagram to get some questions for me to answer on the podcast. If you like these episodes or have a question to submit for a future episode, get in touch with me on the website below or on Instagram . Show notes page  - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast226 Sign Up f...

Aubrey Carter from All Ears English and IELTS Energy joins me today for a chat about the IELTS English exam, and a few other topics. We discuss tips for the exam as well as some interesting slang and vocabulary that would be useful for all learners! Should you use formal or informal English? Should you improve your English or study the exam structure ? Useful vocabulary Using idioms and slang New...

I got a question about adding "UP" to certain verbs and this learner wanted to know more. As I did more research, I was plunged into a rabbit hole of research and it turned out to be much more complicated than I first realised! I decided to try to tackle this topic in a podcast episode. Because there's a lot to talk about, this is just part 1. If you like this episode, let me know!...

I see a lot of writing mistakes with learners struggling with parallel structures, or parallelism. This is where features in a sentence have to follow the same grammatical patterns to sound natural. It may sound a bit confusing, but honestly, it's fairly simple once you understand the main idea. In this episode, I go through 7 examples of how to sound more natural with this grammar rule as I...

With the recent coronation of King Charles in the UK, people might be wondering why I haven't posted any content related to the royal family. Well, in this episode I'm going to be exploring the British opinion on the monarchy (based on Reddit posts) and sharing my own opinion at the end too. We explore a lot of vocabulary and I try my best to cover both sides of the argument, from those...

Are you well-rested and ready to begin today's episode? Sleep is a vital part of human health and I explore this a bit in today's episode. I talk about the importance of sleep and how it related to learning and the mind. I explore the idea of comparing sleep to study time. Is it better to study more or sleep more? I share my thoughts and provide some statistics in today's episode, a...

Anna Connelly is known as Anna with 2Ns online and has her own podcast looking at Business English. She joins us today to discuss business English, giving presentations, job interviews, and more! Whether you need business English or not, I think there's a lot to learn from this conversation for general learners too. I hope you enjoy. Show notes page  - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast220...

Are you ready for a laugh? Well, I can't promise that. But I'll do my best! This is Part 2 of learning English with jokes and humour, where I'll be looking at puns you might find amusing while learning some useful vocabulary and expressions hidden within them. My hope is that you'll have fun with me today and learn something new as well.  Find part 1 here: https://levelupenglis...

Are you looking for some inspiration this week? Today I look at 4 of the world's most influential people and share some valuable life lessons we can all learn from. I explain how I think these can be applied to language learners too! So if you're struggling with motivation, this is the episode for you. As always, there are lots of great vocabulary and phrases we look at along the way.  S...

Learn about the benefits you can receive from embracing your weirdness - in other words: accepting your uniqueness. There are so many benefits of doing this for your language learning and for your life as a whole and I go through a lot of these today while using some useful and relevant vocabulary to help expand your English knowledge. I LOVED recording this episode and I hope you love listening t...

Dr. Valerie Fridland is a professor, sociolinguist, author, and public speaker.  Her recent book is: Like, Literally, Dude .  Arguing for the Good in Bad English. She joins me on the podcast today for a fascinating discussion about aspects of English we often consider to be bad, such as UM and AH. We also talk about the use of "like" and other language features like Vocal Fry.  Valerie a...

In this week's episode, we're exploring the fun topic of animals, except we're not learning simple animal words or noises they make. This is more advanced. We'll be looking at a few animal idioms, expressions and phrasal verbs that you can use in your daily life. Native speakers use these all the time! Along with each expression, I'll share a cool fact about the animal, as...

We'll be talking today about making phone calls in English, including tips on being confident and doing it successfully, as well as some useful expressions that we all use on the phone. Even if you don't regularly make calls, I think this will be a useful episode for everyone. Show notes page  - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast214 Sign Up for Free Lessons  - https://www.levelupengli...

Today I'm answering a question I hear all the time - How long until I get fluent in English? How many months or years until I can be done? I answer this question in detail today by responding directly and also questioning back as to whether this is the best attitude to have in language learning. Don't miss this one! Show notes page  - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast213 Sign Up for...

Richard Simcott has a strong passion for language learning and is described by Wikipedia as a hyperpolyglot (a word I had never heard of before). This is an episode you definitely don't want to miss!  Richard shares some of his tips on learning so many languages. We talk about: How to get motivation to learn What if you're too shy to talk? What if you don't have time to learn? Why c...

In this episode, we're talking about money! I share lots of very useful words related to finances, making and saving money, as well as some useful ways of describing people's attitudes towards money. How do you feel about your financial situation? I'm sure for most of us, it's not an easy relationship! Show notes page  - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast211 Sign Up for Free...