Simon gets a new job, but everything goes wrong. He doesn’t wear enough deodorant and smells at work. He tries walking, taking the bus, the train, a taxi, but he always gets there too early or too late. One day, it all becomes too much…
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In this episode, I explain the theory behind second language acquisition, or the way that we learn languages and how best to study languages. I introduce Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Comprehensible Input and discuss the five hypotheses that make it up, and then explain how I used this theory when creating Easy Stories in English.
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Rats come to the town of Hamelin, three times as big as normal rats. The townspeople don’t know what to do. But then a piper comes to town and says he can get rid of the rats with his music. The only problem? The price! But when the mayor refuses to pay him, the piper plays a different kind of music…
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An elephant is travelling to meet his family, bringing delicious honey as a gift. He stops to give a hare a ride over the river, but the hare smells the honey and can’t resist just having a taste…
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There is a king who loves only his clothes. One day, two brothers come to town and say that they can make magic clothes for the king. If you are stupid or bad at your job, you can’t see the clothes. But what happens when the king can’t see them?
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In a small town, the people look after each other. When someone is hungry, the others give them food. But one day, the Voice of Reason comes to town and changes everything.
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Two people live in buildings next to each other: a clean man and a messy woman. Each day, they look through the window into the other’s flat and imagine what their life is like. But in the end, only one person knows the truth…
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Recently, I worked with Alastair Budge on Pioneers of the Continuum, an eight-part audio drama featuring your favourite ESL podcasters as narrators. Today, we talk about Pioneers of the Continuum and Alastair’s other work. Alastair also hosts the English Learning for Curious Minds podcast, where you can learn about history and inspiring stories in accessible English.
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With every month that passes, Eileen gets cleverer. The kids at school hate her, and her parents are afraid of her. There’s something not… human about this child.
This story covers my feelings about AI (artificial intelligence). I talk a lot about an episode of another podcast, Your Undivided Attention, which explains the dangers and possibilities of AI.
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