926. Oral Storytelling Traditions and the Mental Health Benefits of Listening to Podcasts ☀️🎧

Sarah Donnelly comes back onto LEP to catch up and to tell us about her stand-up special, now available to watch on YouTube, and to do a British English vs American English pronunciation quiz.Sarah’s show is called The Only American in Paris and we discuss some of the themes of the show - the real experience of being a US citizen living in Paris, the Netflix show Emily in Paris, cultural differences, learning French, plus a pronunciation quiz to help you compare UK and US English.📼 Watch Sarah's stand-up show here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2_N_CRoRz0&ab_channel=SarahDonnelly  @sarahdcomedy 📄 Get the episode PDF with quiz questions and full transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/929.-Sarah-Donnelly_-The-Only-American-In-Paris-US-vs-UK-Accent-Quiz.pdf🔗 Episode page on my website 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/03/31/929-sarah-donnelly-the-only-american-in-paris/🏆 Sign up for LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn English with another short story on Luke's English Podcast. This one is about a learner of English who has an extraordinary experience. Listen to me tell the story, and summarise it, then explain plenty of natural, commonly occurring, up-to-date English vocabulary.Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/03/24/928-the-abduction-learn-english-with-a-short-story/Get the PDF with transcript and vocabulary notes 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/928.-The-Abduction-Learn-English-with-a-Short-Story-1-1.pdf Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Finally, it's here - the medieval museum episode with Amber & Paul. Join us as we visit the museum of the middle ages in Paris. Learn about the history of the middle ages, find out about some of the art and artefacts from that period, including some fantastic symbolic tapestries, sculptures and weapons, and have fun with a few jokes along the way.Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/03/17/927-walk-talk-medieval-museum-with-amber-paul-kyle/ Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The other day I was thinking about how podcasts must be good for your mental health, and how this could be connected to the tradition of collective oral communication which was the first form of mass media in most human civilisations, and how this has been central to human psychological and cultural development over the years. So, I made this podcast episode about it. Expect discussion of culture, history, psychology and communication, with plenty of vocabulary explained. Detailed PDF available.Get the PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/926.-Oral-Storytelling-Traditions-and-the-Mental-Health-Benefits-of-Listening-to-Podcasts.pdfEpisode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/03/11/926-oral-storytelling-traditions-and-the-mental-health-benefits-of-listening-to-podcasts/ Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Walaa was first on this podcast in episode 703 she talked about living in Syria as a student during the civil war (or people’s revolution) but at that time she felt she could not talk in detail about the situation. Now that the Assad regime is no longer in control of Syria, Walaa feels she can talk more candidly about what it was like to live near Damascus during those days. Walaa’s descriptions are both shocking and moving. This is the topic of this episode, which is part 2 of a two-part series.👉 Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/03/06/925-walaas-experience-in-syria-walaa-mouma-returns-part-2/ Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Walaa Mouma returns to the podcast after 4 years to give us an update about her academic studies and personal story, including getting married and moving to Wales, details of her PhD doctorate, as well as her other studies and volunteer work helping to teach English to refugees and asylum seekers. Walaa's passion for this work is inspired by her own personal story of learning English, seeking asylum in the UK and studying in the UK's academic system, which she first talked about in episode 703 of this podcast. Part 1 of a 2-part episode.Episode page with more information and links to Walaa's social media 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/03/03/924-walaa-mouma-returns-part-1-phd-studies-in-wales-teaching-english-for-refugees/ Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A rambling episode full of spontaneous speaking from me to you. Topics include; an exercise for you to practise your spoken fluency 🗣️, the benefits of extensive listening to spontaneous speech 🎧, overcoming mental blocks 🌳, the English of my daughter and raising our kids to be bilingual 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦, some reactions to recent episodes 🙉, some thoughts about upcoming content 🔮, some bird-related idioms 🐦, the phrasal verb "to follow through" including its rude meaning 💩 ...and more! PDF transcript available.Episode page 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/02/23/923-a-rambling-exercise-for-fluency-late-winter-2025/Get the PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/923.-A-Rambling-Exercise-for-Fluency-_-Late-Winter-2025-Transcript.pdfLEP Premium info ℹ️ https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premiuminfo Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amber joins me for a discussion of some words which reflect various cultural movements of the last 12 months or more. Learn some trending words and listen to discussions of topics such as the influence of online content on mental health, the Oasis concert ticket scandal, an exploration of the 'lore' of LEP, romantic fantasy books, the rise of AI and more. Includes a PDF with my episode notes and vocabulary lists.The Oxford Words of the Year is a shortlist of words chosen by OUP because they saw a significant increase in usage in 2024 and because they represent certain cultural moments of recent times.📄 Get the episode PDF here 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/922.-Words-of-the-Year-with-Amber.pdfEpisode page on my website (with links for previous episodes) 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/02/17/922-words-of-the-year-with-amber/The Oxford Words of the Year (OUP website) 👉 https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/LEP Premium information ℹ️ https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premiuminfoSign into your premium account 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/accountSign up for LEP Premium 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian Moore returns to the podcast to talk about his career shift from stand up comedy to writing "cosy" crime novels. After several decades as a professional stand-up comedian, Ian has transitioned to writing murder mysteries. Now he is a bestselling author and his books are being adapted for television. In this episode Ian talks about ending his stand-up comedy career, why he was not suited for life as the host of a guesthouse, writing books on trains, and why his COVID lockdown was actually great. 🔗 Episode page on teacherluke.co.uk 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/02/10/921-from-comedy-to-cosy-crime-with-ian-moore/📄 Get the PDF transcript 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/921.-From-Comedy-to-Cosy-Crime-with-Ian-Moore.pdf📚 Ian's books 👉 https://www.ianmoore.info/ Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you know more animal vocabulary than my 6-year-old daughter? Find out in this episode which covers over 60 items of vocabulary for describing animals, their body parts, habitats and behaviour. I am joined by my daughter for a quiz and chat about different kinds of animals. PDF available with quiz questions, vocabulary review & more.Episode page with PDF 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/02/03/919-animal-vocabulary-quiz-with-my-daughter/ Sign up to LEP Premium on Acast+ and add the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone. https://plus.acast.com/s/teacherluke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.