Alle afleveringen
405 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
-
#4 Why Does English Have Weird Spelling?
15 mei 2019 · 19 min
Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast4 Lees meer
Become a Level Up Member - https://levelupenglish.school
Transcript - https://levelupenglish.school/transcripts (Members Only)
Expression of Today: Turophobia - is the fear of what?
Muhammed asked on Facebook
“Why are there some letters that we don’t pronounce?”
For example: Know, Listen, Often, Neighbour29% of English is French (France was the main language after the 1066 invasion for 600 years)
Examples of French words: Beef, Pork, Pastry, Salad, Portrait, Capitalism, Camoflague
26% of English is from Germanic languages (including Old English, Old Norse and Dutch)
Old Norse words are often concrete nouns, things we can feel. They often have hard consonants, such as "dirt, gun, club"
Words with silent Ks usually come from Old Norse and the K used to be pronounced. Over time, the pronunciation changed but the spelling remained the same.
In Old English, the E used to be pronounced. "Bite" used to have two syllables.
6% of English comes from Greek - it’s a very old language and supposedly the first to use an alphabet with vowels (AEIOU) and consonants (BCDFG).
Philosophy (pronounced like "FILO..")
Phobia (something you’re scared of)
English also likes to borrow words from other languages.
Tsunami, karate (Japanese)
Caravan (Persian-->French-->English)Know - Comes from old English. The K has stopped being pronounced.
Listen - Also form Germanic languages. The T is quite hard to say so probably why it stopped
Often - Middle English - Can be pronounced both ways
Neighbour - Old English - from nēah ‘nigh, near’ + gebūr ‘inhabitant, peasant, farmer’
Game of Thrones Expressions
"Lady of Winterfell, [it] has a nice ring to it"
If something "has a nice ring" that means it sounds good or is pleasing to the ear.
"Sir John? That has a nice ring to it""It had its moments"
This means that an event was not completely boring or terrible. Some parts were fun or interesting.
"The party last night had its… -
#3 Preparing for Travel in English
8 mei 2019 · 21 min
How to prepare for a trip abroad and useful English for this. Lees meer
Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast3
Become a Level Up Member - https://levelupenglish.school
Transcript - https://levelupenglish.school/transcripts (Members Only)
English is useful whether you’re travelling to an English country or another country where you don’t know the language since most people know some level of English.
If you’re learning English then you are lucky! You can use English in any country (if I do it people will think I’m lazy)
How your travel will be different if you know the language
Meet new people
Learn about history
Read a restaurant menu
Avoid misunderstandings
Learn about the culture
It’s useful to remember a few structures that you can add in your own words to change the meaning.
I have no idea (where I am, what to order, etc)
Is there anything you’d recommend doing/eating?
Talk about the weather
It’s boiling today, isn’t it?
It’s freezing! (British love exaggerating)
It’s tipping it down
It’s a bit drizzly
A teacher can help you with any mistakes or serious pronunciation issues you have before the trip.
Think about what you’d like to do on holiday and visit the websites or read about it. Then study the language.
British politeness ( don't be direct)
I would like (use when asking other people) / I want (use when talking to yourself)
Please, could I have...
Would you mind if...
Always say please, sorry and thank you!
The good thing about travel is that you can make a fool of yourself and no one will ever see you again!
*Ask people questions even when you know the answer - just to practice!
My advice for visiting the UK: Get out of the cities and see the countryside.
Don’t worry if you’re not as good as you think. Most people find language is harder when they actually go to the country - just like I did in Japan.
Expression: Do you have itchy feet?
Instagram: @englishwithmichael
Facebook: /englishwithmichael
Youtube: /c/englishw… -
#2 Creating a Study Routine
1 mei 2019 · 23 min
If you don't have a study routine, definitely don't miss this episode. Lees meer
Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast2
Become a Level Up Member - https://levelupenglish.school
Transcript - https://levelupenglish.school/transcripts (Members Only)
➡️ Join the Free Mini Course - https://www.levelupenglish.school/mini
⭐️ Join Level Up English - https://www.levelupenglish.school
Become a member and get:
Podcast Transcripts
Private Podcast
Group Classes
Private Coaching
And over 500 online lessons!
⭐️ Join Level Up English - https://www.levelupenglish.school (Support the podcast!)
➡️ Join the Free Mini Course - https://www.levelupenglish.school/mini
🇬🇧 Book a lesson with me: https://lessons.levelupenglish.school/
Become a member and get:
Podcast Transcripts
Private Podcast
Group Classes
Private Coaching
And over 500 online lessons!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
-
#1 How to Get a British Accent
24 april 2019 · 23 min
What you can do to get a British accent. Lees meer
Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast1
Become a Level Up Member - https://levelupenglish.school
Transcript - https://levelupenglish.school/transcripts (Members Only)
How to Learn British Pronunciation
Introduction
There are countless British accents in England, let alone in the whole world.
Don’t worry too much about accents. Everyone has one (even native speakers) and it should be a badge of pride to show where you come from.
However: Reasons to want a British accent:
To be more respected at work
To stop being treated like an outsider
To impress your friends!
British accents have a few things in common which we’ll look at later
General Advice
Get the foundations right when you start so you don’t cement your mistakes, but change will come over time.
Watch lots of British TV shows, movies, and of course podcasts
Talk with native speakers and try to mimic their pronunciation
Getting a teacher would be even better because they can correct your mistakes
It takes a long time, and many people don’t begin to develop their accent fully until they reach an advanced level, don’t give up!
Specific Advice
Shadowing - repeat words from phrases you hear. Pay attention to vowel sounds.
Watch your mouth in a mirror
Pay attention to your tongue position
L - tongue touches top teeth
R - tongue moves back in mouth, not touching
Learn stress
I recommend https://forvo.com/ for pronunciation and https://www.merriam-webster.com/ for a dictionary.
PreSENT / PREsent
SUSpect / susPECT
Record yourself and listen back
Specific Sounds
T sound - Very strong
Butter, Better
R sound - Not so strong
Car, Park, Hair, Hard, Ear
American vs British
AdvertIZEment (USA) / AdverTISSment (UK)
The ILE sound is different. MoBLE (USA) / MoBILE (UK)
Words ending in "ation". Organisation
I recommend this poem called The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité
This poem shows the irregularities in English pronunciation. Try…
-
Introduction
12 april 2019 · 4 min
(Note that the podcast begins as "The English With Michael Podcast", but later on changes to "The Level Up English Podcast") Lees meer
Hello and welcome to The Level Up English.
Hello and welcome to the first-ever episode.
This is an introductory episode so I thought I could take some time to tell you about who I am and what to expect from this podcast.
So my name is Michael Lavers. I'm an online ESL teacher - that is, people learning English as a Second Language.
I'm from a city called Plymouth in the United Kingdom.
I have taught thousands of lessons online with students from all around the world, all difference countries, from ages 4 to 80.
But maybe we could talk about why I want to make a podcast.
I love helping people improve their English, but, there's only so much I can do in one day. I have a lot of questions online, on my website, on social media, asking for help, but unfortunately I can't help everyone.
So I thought a podcast would be a great way to reach more people and, hopefully, help people improve their English, and also British English.
I love podcasts! I listen to several hours of podcasts every day, so I think it's a really good way to learn no matter how busy you are.
I'm really passionate about helping people and I think podcasts are a good way to do that.
So let's talk about what you can expect in this podcast.
A usual episode might include me:
answering your questions
providing some advice on how to learn English
maybe sometimes we can talk about grammar and vocabulary (but in a fun way)
in the future I may do some interviews as well (I've never done that before so we'll have to see how it goes, but that's something I would be very interested in trying)
Each podcast with the podcast notes and all the resources will be available on my website at ewmichael.com/podcast (Note: this will redirect to my new website)
If you have any questions for me that you'd like me to answer, or any ideas for future episodes, please let me know and I'll …