Alan Palmer's Language Chat podcasts

China, the homeland of tea It is universally acknowledged that China is the original tea-growing area, as well as the first country to grow, produce and drink tea. In the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) Dynasties a popular custom was tea appraising. Over the long history of drinking tea, a special and simple Chinese tea culture came into being. Drinking tea was not only for quenching thirst or for enjoyment, but also for the promotion of friendship and mutual understanding. Folk customs of drinking tea reflected the ancient Chinese people's great interest in tea culture. (to appraise – to value, to judge) to quench- to satisfy (mutual – common) People often used tea as a betrothal gift; for it could not be "transplanted." After accepting tea as a betrothal gift, a girl could not capriciously change her decision to marry her fiancé. Betrothal – promise of marriage capricious – impulsive - reckless Entertainment of guests to tea is the most fundamental social behavior in the Chinese people's contacts with each other. When a guest comes, the Chinese will offer him or her a cup of tea to express friendship. Fundamental –basic, original China is the home country of tea. Before the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Chinese tea was exported by land and sea, first to Japan and Korea, then to India and Central Asia and, in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties, to the Arabian Peninsula. In the early period of the 17th century, Chinese tea was exported to Europe, where the upper class adopted the fashion of drinking tea. Chinese tea, like Chinese silk and China, is an outstanding contribution to the world's material and spiritual civilization. Adopted – take on China is the homeland of tea. It is believed that China had tea-shrubs as early as five to six thousand years ago, and human cultivation of tea plants dates back two thousand years. Tea from China, along with her silk and porcelain, began to be known over the world more than a thousand years ago and has since always been an important Chinese export. At present more than forty countries in the world grow tea, with Asian countries producing 90% of the world's total output. All tea trees in other countries have their origin directly or indirectly in China. The word for tea leaves or tea as a drink in many countries is a derivative from the Chinese character "cha." The Russians call it "cha'i", which sounds like "chaye" (tea leaves) as it is pronounced in northern China, and the English word "tea" sounds similar to the pronunciation of its counterpart in Xiamen (Amoy). The Japanese character for tea is written exactly the same as it is in Chinese, though pronounced with a slight difference. The habit of tea drinking spread to Japan in the 6th century, but it was not introduced to Europe and America till the 17th and 18th centuries. Now the number of tea drinkers in the world is legion and is still on the increase. Derivative – taken from, original legion – great many

Hello everybody. Alan here. Thanks for listening to my podcast. www.alanlancs1.podomatic.com Today I want to talk about some of the difficulties with English pronunciation. There are certain letters or combination of letters that are often difficult for people learning English. I want to demonstrate some of these difficulties and ways to help your pronunciation sound more English. Firstly, I must say that I speak with a northern English accent and as such, my English pronunciation is a little bit different to London English or American English. So let’s start with some vowel sounds. A E I O U In English, we cannot just read word and know how it is pronounced. Take the word “right” for example. The “righ” is pronounced like the word “rye” or the “ri” in the word “sterile” So we must always learn the correct pronunciation from teachers, recordings or from dictionaries that use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) So, which are the most common sounds that can often be pronounced differently by people learning English, than the pronunciation used by a native English speaker? This depends on the nationality of the person learning English I think. Many people who speak other European languages sometimes pronounce “e” as “ee” ( as in “veeseet” instead of visit) and “a” as “eh” ( “ehpple” instead of apple) However, sometimes the sound of “e” is “ee” and the sound of “a” is “eh” as in the word “eat” and the word “any”. For those of you who speak European languages, try saying this: “ When I visit my mother, if she has any, she always gives me an apple to eat because she says it does me good to eat fruit” People who speak Chinese (as a native language) often mistake an “l” sound for an “r” so “right” sounds like “light” and sometimes they add another syllable to a word when there isn’t one. As in for example the words “and” which becomes sometimes “and-a” and “is” becomese “is-a” So for those of you listening who are Chinese, try saying this: “I know when I have the right light for reading, it is when I can see the text and the text is clear to see” English vowels are often pronounced as diphthongs which sound like two vowels together Bay for example is spoken like “bay-ee” Day is spoken like “day-ee” Go is spoken like “goh-u” Fine is spoken like “fye-een” Sometimes English people pronounce some words a little different to Americans: “Stupid” (English) “ Stupid” (American) Take care with these sounds: “th” To get this sound (which I think is very difficult) is put the very tip of your tongue touching your top teeth very softly and the allow a little air out and pull your tongue back quickly. For the other “th” sound as in: “the end” for example, just allow your voice to sound at the same time Try saying: “the thing that I think is that their thoughts are thoroughly thought-out at the end” “r” To get the “r” position correct. Curl your tongue back a little and let your tongue go flat as you say a word. Try saying this: “Roger ran after the rabbit and really regretted not reaching it” “w” To get the “w” sound try putting your lips to say “oo” like “food” and as you say the “w” let your jaw slightly drop – but only a little bit. Try saying this: “when I went with my wife to Wales, we wanted to go walking but it was a wet weekend” “v” this is sometimes difficult for Spanish speakers. To get the “v” sound put your top teeth on your bottom lip softly say the “v” and lower your jaw slightly – but only a little bit Try saying this: “vans are very wonderful fun vehicles” I have put a “w” word and an ‘f” word there for you to show you the difference between “v” and”w” Try to keep the rhythm of the speech in a similar way to English peoples’ The way to do this is to listen for the word intonation (stress) on the words and copy them. Without intonation, here is a sentence: “This sentence shows where we put stress on words when we speak” With intonation “This sentence shows where we put stress on words when we speak” Can you hear the difference? Finally, for this podcast, never be afraid to speak a little bit slower, because this gives you more time to say the words and think a little before you say anything. This is very useful when reading out loud. To give you an example, which do you think sounds better? I like to show you how to speak English better, and sometimes it is better to speak a little more slowly to make the language sound clear to listeners. It is fine, no English person should ever criticise you for doing this” So you can try to break up the sentence a little bit…. So, I hope you find this podcast useful for your pronunication. The important thing is never to worry about pronunciation. The most important thing is to be understood. In fact many foreign accents sound nice to English people. Bye for now Be good be happy

Hello everybody. The transcript for this is the next podcast. You can download it as a PDF text document. Bye for now Alan

Hello everybody. You can download the transcript for this podcast by clicking "download" on the next podcast ***TRANSCRIPT*** PDF format Take care Alan

Hello everybody. It’s been a while since I made a podcast. Today I wanted to give you some suggestions on how to start conversations with native speakers of English, or if you cannot find a native speaker to speak with, then try them out on anyone else you know who will speak English with you. Good luck! Take care Be good be happy Conversation starters…for students of different levels Beginning students “Please tell me about your family.” “What do you do? (student, worker, etc.) Where?” “Where do you live? Do you like it there? Why or why not?” “What did you do yesterday?” “What do you plan to do tomorrow?” “Please tell me how to get from here to your house (or the university or some hotel etc.)” “What do you like to do with your free time?” Intermediate students (can also use the above questions) "What did you do yesterday, from the time you got up to the time that you went to bed?” “Why did you choose to study _______?” “What would you like to be doing five years from now?” “Tell me about a time when you travelled somewhere.” “Please tell me about your favourite restaurant.” (favorite in USA) “Please tell me about your favourite book.” “Please tell me about your favourite movie.” “Please tell me about your favourite shop” (store in USA) “Please tell me about your best friend.” “Please tell me about an important moment in your life.” “Please tell me about your mum.” (mom in USA) “Please tell me about your dad.” “Please tell me about your brother (or sister or cousin or etc.).” “What kind of books do you like?” “What kind of films do you like?” (movies in USA) Advanced students (can also use the above questions) Note: Some of these should only be used with speakers of the same sex. “Please use a lot of detail and tell me what you did yesterday between (for example) 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.” “What qualities (or characteristics or traits) do you like in a friend?” “What was your childhood like?” “What is your first memory?” “Please tell me about the happiest day of your life.” “How important is religion in your life? Why?” “How important is politics in your life? Why?” “What is your opinion about….? (some major world event going on now) “In your opinion, what makes life worth living?” “What is the biggest mistake that you have ever made?” “What is your most embarrassing moment?”

The Donkey I saw a donkey One day old His head was too big For his neck to hold; His legs were shaky And long and loose, They rocked and staggered And weren’t much use He tried to gambol And frisk a bit But he wasn’t quite sure Of the trick of it His queer little coat Was soft and grey, And he curled his neck In a lovely way. He looked so little And weak and slim I prayed the world Might be good to him. Anon.

I explain a little more about using intonation in English Hello everybody I thought that today you might be interested in listening to English intonation. English has two main "tones": a "rising" tone for questions, and a "falling" tone for statements and commands. Father: "Are you not going to play with your friends today?" Son: "No, I'm not" (slight falling sound on "not") Father: "Why not?" Son: "Because I feel ill" Father: "Oh dear! what is wrong? Son: "I fell over and banged my head and I have a headache!" Father: "Ok, I think you need to rest!..." question sound: "today?" statement: "I'm not" question: why not? (sympathetically) statement "I feel ill" question: "what is wrong?" statement: "I have a headache" command: "you need to rest!" This dialogue shows how we use the falling and rising tones for conversation a bit clearer.

I hope you like my chatcast. It's a bit longer than usual and I'll put a text here in a couple of days. Be good be happy (BGBH) Alan

How to make a perfect English cup of tea http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39370.asp Guest Author - Hellie T. One of the things you need to be able to do is to sit down and enjoy a really good cup of tea. As a tea drinker myself I drink tea at breakfast, eleveneses, lunch, afternoon tea and quite often in the evening as well! This gives you plenty of opportunities to enjoy a cuppa in your garden. To make a really delicious cup of English tea - just follow the instructions below. Please note that if your tap water is heavily chlorinated it will make the tea taste horrid and you will need to filter the water before boiling it. Make a Pot of Tea to drink in your English Garden · Put freshly drawn cold water into the kettle – never use water that has been boiled more than once – and make sure your kettle is kept clear of scale · Boil the kettle. · Pour a little boiling water into the empty tea pot – swirl it around carefully to warm it up. Pour away this water that you used to warm the pot. · Put tea into the teapot - one teabag for each person or one rounded teaspoon of loose tea for each cup needed. It is better to add one extra bag or teaspoon “for the pot” to get a really good flavoured cup of tea. I recommend you use a tea generally called English Breakfast tea. A tea pot taking 20oz is about right for 2 people · When the water is boiling pour it directly onto the tea. · Then leave it to brew for a few minutes. 3-5 minutes is best and a tea cosy helps the tea stay piping hot whilst brewing.(Why not make one decorated with English garden flowers?) · In an English Garden you will be sitting at your wooden table using a china teapot and china teacups.In teacups - the milk should always go in the cups first – because you have made the tea in the pot – it is different when making tea in a mug - see below!) Semi- skimmed milk tastes the best, never put cream or powdered milk in tea because they completely spoil the flavour. · Pour the tea into the cup, don’t forget to use a strainer if you are using leaf tea. · If required add a teaspoon of fine white sugar - never ever use brown sugar or honey! – stir and take into your garden carefully. Sit by your lavender or English Garden feature and sip the tea savouring the taste and enjoying your garden at the same time. If you are making tea in mugs it is important that you warm the mug before you add the tea, swirl and empty. Put in the tea in and pour the freshly boiled water onto it. Never put the water in first and add a tea bag – this will make the tea taste disgusting! Don’t put the milk in first either or prod or stir the bag whilst it is in the water! Just wait about 2 minutes before you take out the teabag. Then is the time to add the milk to taste. Now you can drink your tea!

Here is my version of "L'auvergnat" (Song for the person from the Auvergne) It was written and sung by Georges Brassens It is ano old French song - and I like it a lot I hope you like my version Bye for now Alan If you want the English words - just e-mail me at alan_r_palmer@hotmail.com

Hello everybody, I have had some nice feedback from visitors to my site. I have realised that to help people with English, it is sometimes very useful to talk about cultural activities. Today I want to talk about small markets we have in some towns in England. Today, we went to a town called Skipton, near where I live. We visited a small market. This was called a “Farmers’ market”. It is where local produce can be sold. It is an alternative to supermarkets which are the shops where most people go shopping for groceries. However, these markets give people the chance to buy some produce made locally by private business owners and which can be very good – although more expensive that supermarket equivalents. The produce we saw today was: cheese, meats, fruit and vegetables, herbal oils, sweets (called fudge) and not just food, there was also pottery and jewellery. Also in the town was a European market. These are sellers from France and Germany. They sell speciality products also, but prices are more expensive – because they have to travel from France and Germany and bring their products with them. With high fuel prices, it perhaps makes their products a little too expensive. At the European market we saw: special German beer, French cheese, biscuits from Brittany (a region in France) many types of olives and special salami sausages with meat from wildboar and wild deer. It is interesting to have the chance to visit these markets. They are held in quite a number of towns around the country, usually on a Saturday or Sunday. Of course, many towns have weekly markets. Skipton’s weekly market is held each Saturday and the stallholders put their stalls along the main street. This market sells food, clothes and many other products. Take care Be good be happy Bye for now

Here's a guitar tune I recorded today. I hope you like it It is called "Bubble and Squeak" This is actually a food we eat in England: Bubble and squeak From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_and_squeak Bubble and squeak (sometimes just called bubble) is a traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables from a roast dinner. The chief ingredients are potato and cabbage, but carrots, peas, brussels sprouts, and other vegetables can be added. It is traditionally served with cold meat from the Sunday roast, and pickles. Traditionally the meat was added to the bubble and squeak itself, although nowadays the vegetarian version is more common. The cold chopped vegetables (and cold chopped meat if used) are fried in a pan together with mashed potato until the mixture is well-cooked and brown on the sides.

Hello everybody Alan here and welcome to www.alanlancs1.podomatic.com. And today I’m just speaking without a text. Usually, as you know, I prepare a text. To make it easier for me and also easier for you to read as I say the same things as I’ve written. But today I’m just doing a “chatcast” and what I mean by a chatcast is I just chat. I just speak about things I am interested in and hopefully you find it interesting too – well I hope so anyway. So today I’m going to speak about reading in a different language and just recently I was on holiday in France and I was reading some French newspapers and French books during the holiday and sometimes I find the text very difficult. In fact, very often I find it very difficult to follow the text as I would do in English for example. So I was trying to find was as in how to improve my reading skills and firstly I thought to myself how do I improve my understanding of the text? So I came with an idea which I seem to think works quite well and so I’d like to share this idea with you. The idea is that to understand the text better, maybe read it more than once, everyone says that of course. But I started to read each sentence more than once. Just read a sentence, then re-read a sentence quickly. So, hopefully it would not take much more time to read a text than it would do if you didn’t do that, because usually people read a text in other languages rather slowly, but my idea is to read the text quickly, but read it twice. So read each sentence twice quickly rather than one sentence read slowly to try and understand it. See if you like this idea it may help you. It certainly is helping me to read in other languages. I think reading each sentence twice helps us to understand it more because you are seeing the words twice. So that is my idea for today – my weekend words for today and I hope you find this idea useful. So, I’ll see you next time and be good be happy and I’ll see you again soon Bye

Hello everybody, I’m back from my holidays in France. Today I want to talk about when people speak fast and what you can do to help understand what is spoken. I think listening is the most difficult skill of the four skills in language learning For example: With writing, we have the chance to decide what we want to write and spend time on this. With speaking, we have the chance to decide what we say With reading, we usually have the chance to read the text many times if we want to. I don’t mean that the other skills are easy, they are often very difficult. What I mean is that with listening to conversational speech we often have no control over it. To explain more details: ? Often the speaker has an accent ? We cannot control the speed of the words (unless we deliberately ask the speaker to slow down – and very often we can’t do that) ? Maybe the speaker is using slang or expressions – sometimes dialect words ? Maybe more than one person is speaking at the same time, for example at a dinner table ? Maybe the subjects being discussed are cultural, social or political – and these subjects can be difficult even in our own language. So, what can we do to make it easier to understand spoken language? I have some ideas that can help sometimes. Listen for key words (important words that help understand what is being discussed) Listen for small pauses when people think a bit more what they want to say Listen carefully to the stressed words (this is useful in English because English words have stress on the pronunciation If you don’t understand something and it is possible to ask for more information, then ask a question. Instead of “could you say that again please?” , say “oh, was I correct in thinking you said this…….?” If you listen to English radio, then be careful not to listen to something very complex or you will think you understand nothing, when it is mostly because the radio speaker is using vocabulary that you don’t yet know. The most important thing to remember is not to worry –keep relaxed. The reason I say this is because I know from experience that many people can communicate well with very few words - providing people are relaxed and friendly. To demonstrate, I’ll read a text very fast and then show you why it is perhaps difficult From today’s “Daily Mail” Teenager Holly Herdman clearly hadn't heard that it's not a great idea to mention you're having a party on a social networking site. And it is especially unwise if you have been left in charge of the house while your parents are away. What she claimed was intended as a drink with a few friends ended with a mob of teenage youths running riot through a small market town. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1047373/Couple-say-sorry-neighbours-newspaper-advert-daughter-holds-party-leaves-street-like-war-zone.html Key words: Teenager Holly Herdman not a great idea - having a party -social networking site- unwise left in charge parents away – claimed –drink with a few friends – ended up – mob of youths – running riot – through town If you listen again now to a slower version, you can see that the language is complex and only 70 words. Many news items use lots of descriptive words and the language puts a lot of information in a few sentences. This is difficult to understand if it is spoken fast as much information is there. So, knowing more about why listening is difficult helps us to think of ways we can improve our listening skills Be good, be happy

Hello everybody This podcast is about the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is the longest canal in Northern England at 127 miles (204km) long. It passes through 91 locks with a summit level of 487 feet (148 metres) http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/ll/ll48.htm The canals of Great Britain are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a colourful history, from use for irrigation and transport, to becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role mainly used by pleasure boaters. Despite a period of abandonment, today the canal system in Great Britain is again in good shape, with many abandoned and derelict canals being reopened, and even the construction of some new routes under way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canals_of_Great_Britain Along the canal bank is a nice place to walk in summer.

Hello everybody. Many people I speak with who learn English would like to know how to “improve” their English accent. It’s always difficult for me to advise on this subject. Every nationality has a certain accent when they speak English, including the English themselves. For those of you who are interested in the way we speak in Britain, here is a good website http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/ To help answer the question, I’ve made a list of things to think about and I’ll discuss them a little here. What is an accent? http://www.buzzin.net/english/accent.htm This website says: Accent refers to a speaker's style of pronunciation. It may signal the regional or social identity of the speaker. Accent does not refer to the content of what is said So, this means that most of the time accent is not important for conversation. Regional Accent A “Geordie” accent is the regional speech style used by speakers in the North East of England. A “Cockney” accent is the speech style used by some people in the London area. 'Book' might be pronounced as 'Bewk' in northern England, but 'Back' in southern England. Similarly, the term 'car' might be pronounced as 'kaar' and 'caw' in these two regions. Use Every geographical area has its own characteristic and recognisable accent which is used by a group. Everybody speaks with an accent. Those people who speak with an accent called received pronunciation [RP] are just using the accent of prestige. It is quite common for a person to speak Standard English with a regional accent. Accent is not the same thing as dialect. The term dialect refers to grammar and vocabulary as well as pronunciation. That is, it describes the content of speech. Fewer than six percent [yes! - 6%] of the UK population speak Received Pronunciation (RP). Perhaps this statistic is surprising when we consider what prestige it has held historically and currently. RP was once itself a regional accent - that of the East Midlands. It acquired its status because East Midlands speakers converged on London as it became a centre for merchants. In other words, London became the power base and the financial centre, and the East Midlands accent became the spoken standard. This prestige accent developed alongside the regional accent of the London area. The co-existence of these two accents still exists today. The “ Cockney” accent is spoken in the East End of London by many original Londoners, whilst RP is spoken by many politicians and by upper-class people who live and work in the same area. The Cockney accent is a regional accent, and RP is class-based. Many regional speakers feel uncomfortable about their accent. This perpetuates the deference and prestige given to RP. Recent studies have shown that RP speakers will often be chosen for jobs, despite the superior skills of regional-speaking competitors. Some presenters on radio and television are employed even though they have strong regional accents. However, they tend to be used on programmes which are not very prestigious, such as weather forecasts, arts programs, and regional news bulletins. Accent can still be a very powerful indicator of status, and it is often an emotive item in social interaction. Speech varies subtly between individuals using the same accent. Because of this, a broad description is all that can be achieved. This applies to the classification of other accents too. (more on the website http://www.buzzin.net/english/accent.htm) My feeling is that many people from other countries want to have an “RP” accent. My opinion is that the most important thing is clarity of speech. In other words, as long as other speakers understand, then is it so important? Of course, when a British person speaks English to an American, the American will know it is an English person speaking. Some nationalities are good at disguising accents. Dutch people often sound a little like an American when they speak English. How do we “improve” an English accent? My feelings are that we should try to: Speak as clearly as we can when we are talking. Clear speaking is always appreciated Speak a little slower than we would want to – it does make a difference Speak with clear vowel sounds: A E I O U Speak with good endings to words: clocK, workinG, gardeN, studiO, floweR Speak with the correct stress on words (use a dictionary to check the intonation) WELcome, frusTRAtion, LANGuage. Often English people like to hear different accents. They like the sound of a foreign accent. It often has a charming sound, an appeal. Even small mistakes are forgiven. So, now you know a little more about accents, you can visit the websites I have given you and make your own mind up. I only write about my own opinions, so you must always form your own opinion. That is why I prefer to call my podcasts “guides” I am on holiday now for two weeks, but when I am back on the 19th August I will try to make a podcast for you just after then. In the meantime, have a great August (summer in the northern hemisphere, and for those of you in the southern hemisphere, I hope it is not too cold) Bye for now

Fluency - setting up a conversation Hello everybody. Today I want to talk about how to make your spoken English flow better and to help you with making it a little easier to talk to people, particularly native speakers. To have a good conversation you need to start well, enjoy the conversation and make it a two way thing and to find a good way to finish. This is useful and has nothing to do with the length of time you speak for. To start off a conversation, try to remember some good opening sentences: If you know somebody already… (informal) “How are you today?” “Nice to see you, how’s it going?” “What’s new? How are things?” “It’s good to see you” If you are meeting someone for the first time (formal) “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is…..” “Nice to meet you, my name is, how are you?” “Let me introduce myself, I’m……(name)” The next part is to let the other person do something similar and then you have names. If they use first names, then you can also use first names. The next stage is to give yourself time to think. The small pauses seem to be a long time, but they will only be a few seconds. “I’m learning English and…………. I’m finding it so interesting” “It’s great to be able to speak with you in English………………, I’m enjoying learning it” “I would like to improve my English…..I do have a few problems now and then, so forgive me if I am a little slow at times….” “What a pleasure it is to be able to speak some English…… I like learning it and I’m hoping to improve it” Then you can follow my advice about keeping the conversation going by letting the other person speak more, asking questions, saying phrases like: “ah really?” “that’s interesting” “I see” “hmmm, well you make a good point there” “I agree with you…” (if you do agree) “That’s right!” If you are uncertain, or you don’t understand so well “Oh, I’m not sure what you mean there…” “Could you repeat that please?” “That’s interesting, but I’m not sure what you meant by……” “Really? Well, it’s certainly something to think about” Many of these sorts of sentences can be used to keep conversations going and also give you time to relax and enjoy the conversation because most of the work will be on the other person. The more time you can give yourself in a conversation, the more time you have to think of the right words you want to say . If they ask you what you think about something and you are not sure what to say, then you can use these sorts of phrases: “Oh, I’m not sure about that, tell me what you think again please?” “Well, I would think it is something to consider yes,” “I think it’s not easy to answer that, what’s your opinion?” All the time, these sentences and pauses give you more time without the other person realising that you are doing this because they are also answering your questions. Enjoy your conversations…. Bye for now

Hello, Today I am playing a Beatles song for you - which I like very much. Here are the songwords: You know, if you break my heart I'll go But I'll be back again 'cause I told you once before goodbye But I came back again I love you so, oh I'm the one who wants you Yes I'm the one who wants you oh, ho, oh, ho, oh You could find better things to do Than to break my heart again This time I will try to show that I'm Not trying to pretend I thought that you would realize That if I run away from you that you would want me to But I got a big surprise Oh, ho, oh, ho, oh You could find better things to do Than to break my heart again This time I will try to show that I'm Not trying to pretend I want to go But I hate to leave you You know I hate to leave you Oh, ho, Oh, ho You, if you break my heart I'll go But I'll be back again Bye for now Alan

More on conversations with native speakers Today I’d like to tell you more on starting conversations with native speakers when you are travelling to England, or another English speaking country. Also how to make the conversation more friendly. Places you can safely start conversations in the country where English is spoken: Hotel reception areas Train station platforms Bus stops Tourist information offices In shops Museums/Art Galleries Taxis Airport lounges Hairdressers Ice cream kiosks Newspaper stands Restaurants/cafes Car boot sales On the beach I don’t recommend talking to people in the street, unless it’s just to ask for the time or directions. Of course, speaking with people you don’t know isn’t the ideal way to practice English, but it is often these places where people who are learning English can have the opportunity to speak it , as they maybe don’t know any native speakers. So, be careful where you speak and to whom. This is just common sense. If you are a woman alone, then speak to people in public places. It will be surprising that maybe you can start an interesting conversation and get chance to practice. 1. Decide the reason for speaking to somebody. Maybe to find something about a place or just get to know more about what the place is like. 2. Ask a small question to start with “Could you tell me?” or “Do you know where/what time/how etc…?” 3. One the conversation has started, slow down your speech more that you want to, this will give you some time to think more about what you want to say and also give the person you are speaking with the chance to get used to your particular accent. 4. Don’t forget to add “please” or “Thank you” where you need to and also nod your head a bit to show that you understand what the other person is saying. 5. Ask small questions and if they give you a long answer that you can’t remember (for instance, with directions) say “Oh, thanks, let me just write that down please” 6. If they ask about you, be glad to tell them (but not very personal information) 7. Don’t talk about: money, politics, religion unless you get to know the person quite well (say if you are staying in the same hotel for some days) 8. Enjoy the conversation – never worry about mistakes – keep the conversation light-hearted and not too detailed. 9. When the conversations stops, don’t forget to say something like “it was nice talking with you” 10. If you want to take a photo for any reason, don’t forget to ask first if the other person minds.

Hello everybody, Some languages use tones or stress sounds (like Chinese) which shows meaning. Today’s Weekend words is more about how in English we use tones on different words when we speak. This is used for emphasis on meaning and also it makes language more interesting. I have found a nice text for you and I will read this out loud. 1. The first reading will be without stress on any word (this is a false way of speaking which we do not do in English, but it will show you what unstressed English would sound like. 2. The second reading will show you where I place the stress on words: ? At the end of each sentence there is also a little down sound to complete the idea. ? Listen to the words which have a little more stress to show that these words are important (breed, much-lamented, Christmas time) ? Listen to the words in a list: (cheap tat, reality shows, makeover shows and news) We can read this with a steady sound However, please don’t worry if you can’t decide how to say the right stress on words. It isn’t so important for people learning English as a second language – you will still be understood. The reason I discuss this today is to show you some of the way native speakers speak. This text is about two comedians called “Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise” who were very popular in England. They became part of British entertainment culture in the 1960s and particularly in the 1970s. Be good, be happy Bye for now http://www.ericandern.co.uk/ Welcome to Eric & Ern, the Morecambe & Wise website, a tribute to Britains best loved and most popular comedy double act. Double acts have come and gone, and are somewhat of a dying breed now. No longer is there the thriving club circuit to learn the trade or indeed the much-lamented entertainment shows that gave many comics their early break. Even our beloved television has been swamped with hundreds of useless channels showing nothing but cheap tat, reality shows, makeover shows and news. The bright spots used to be the yesteryear channels such as UK Gold which often showed classic Morecambe & Wise shows from the golden days. Sadly Eric and Ernie are not on as commonly as they were in the early years of satellite TV. Morecambe & Wise are, of course, usually with us at Christmas time. For fans around the globe, they will always be with us - in our hearts. Eric once said that he wanted people to remember and to keep watching the shows, or it would have all been for nothing. . Well - it wasn't all for nothing, and if this site goes some way to keeping them in our minds, then we have achieved something.