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Learn English – Podcast: Mind the Gap!

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:11:23 +0000

Mind the gap, on the London Underground. Photo by Marcia Cabral de Moura/flickr In today’s podcast, I am going to talk about the English word “mind”, and about some expressions which contain the word “mind”. Your “mind” means the things which happen inside your head, or inside your brain – your thinking, in other words. We can say, for example, that someone has “a good mind” – that means, they think clearly and logically. Or we can say that someone has a mathematical mind – they are naturally good at maths. Or we can say about someone “she has a mind of her own” – that means, she thinks for herself, she does not just accept what other people say. We also use “mind” as a verb. To mind something means to be aware of something, to be careful about something, to “have it in your mind”. If you have visited London, I am sure you have travelled on the Underground and seen the signs or heard the loudspeaker announcements which tell you to “mind the gap”. There is often a gap between the railway carriage and the station platform. If you “mind the gap”, you think about the gap and take care when you get on or off the train. If you don’t mind the gap, you may trip or fall and hurt yourself. You can mind other things as well – children, for example, or animals. Joanne has a friend called Susan. Susan looks after small children in her own home while their parents are at work. She plays with the children, she feeds them, and she takes them for a walk to the park and to the shops. She is what we call a “childminder”. If we say “mind out” to someone, we mean “be careful”. When Susan takes her group of little children for a walk, they need to cross the road. She holds the children by the hand and says to them, “Mind out, in case a car is coming”. Kevin, you may remember, is into 1980s punk rock. One of his favourite bands is playing at a gig on Saturday. He asks Joanne if she would like to go to hear them. “No way“, says Joanne, who thinks that listening to 1980s punk rock is a form of torture. “Do you mind if I go with George?” asks Kevin. He means, does it cause you any problems if I go to the gig with George? And Joanne says, “No, of course I don’t mind”. And then there is the expression, “to make up your mind”. This means, simply, to decide to do something. If I make up my mind to sell my old car, it means that I have decided to sell my car. Joanne’s friend Susan, the childminder, is always dithering. She cannot decide what to do. Should she wear a red jumper or a blue jumper. Should she read a book or watch television. Should she take a bus or walk. She cannot decide. Joanne sometimes says to her, “For goodness sake, make up your mind!” That means, “Stop wasting time – just decide what to do and do it!” And finally, let’s meet the expression “to change your mind”. If I decide to do something, but then I decide to do something else instead, I “change my mind”. Kevin has saved up some money and has made up his mind to buy an iPod. It is exactly what he needs to listen to his collection of 1980s punk rock music on the train. But on his way to the iPod shop, he passes a shoe shop. In the window there is a pair of green suede shoes. They are, thinks Kevin, the finest, the most beautiful green suede shoes in the whole world. Suddenly, he is in love with the shoes. He decides to buy the shoes and not the iPod. He “changes his mind”. Quiz – how well did you understand the podcast? :: File Download (5:21 min / 3 MB) Less

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Learn English – Podcast: You could be right.

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:25:22 +0000

Today’s sentence Hi. How’s it going? Today, we’re starting a new series on expressing doubts. You could be right. Notes OK. Someone has just said: “The world is flat.” Now, that’s a pretty doubtful assertion. You don’t really want to say, “you’re wrong!” So, you say: “You could be right…however, evidence suggests that…” This is a tactful way of disagreeing. You probably want to follow up with, “but…” or “however…” However, it may mean that you really believe the other person could be right – but you aren’t totally sure. It depends on your tone of voice. That’s all for today. We’re going to look at another expression tomorrow, so see you then! Search Linguagum for more English tips, check out our very useful links and our shop! And please, tell us what you think of us! Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008 Less

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Learn English – Podcast: 48 GG April Fools’ Day Episode

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:45:22 +0000

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Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

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Learn English – Podcast: ESLPodcast 18 – Getting Around (Fast)

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:56:32 +0000

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Learn English – Podcast: Podcast #24 Sarah is Number One

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:13:33 +0000

This lesson is a kind of experiment. You should do this lesson before and/or after watching the May 1 video podcast of a program called The Daily English Lesson. The video podcast is the creation of Sarah. Sarah is from New Zealand. She lives and works in Japan, where she teaches English. Here is the link to the May 1 edition of The Daily English Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfzPshMpF1Y Sarah achieved her dream. Sarah reached one of her highest goals. She was voted the number one video podcast. Her video podcast was voted number one. She voted for herself. She cast a vote for herself. Thank you very much. That’s very cool. I can’t thank you enough. That’s really nice. Sarah printed out the list. Sarah made a printout of the list. Some people left some very nice comments. Some people wrote very nice comments. A woman emailed to ask if she could get broadband service. A woman emailed to see about getting broadband service. The word gay has several uses. The word gay has a number of different meanings. The word gay can mean a homosexual person. The word gay can be used to mean a homosexual person. A woman named Gay received an automated reply email. A woman named Gay got back an automated reply email. The company apologized. [missing in audio] The company made an apology. You heard that Gay received an automated reply email. The prefix AUTO- in the word automated means “by oneself” or “by itself” or “self acting.”An automated email reply program studies the words in the email you write. It matches your words against a list of words and uses those matches to decide what message you should receive back. In the case Sarah describes, the filter saw the word GAY and decided that it was an inappropriate word for a business email, because it can mean homosexual. Now here are some sentences to help practice words that have the prefix AUTO ATM stands for Automated Teller Machine. I took out 50 dollars from an ATM. I got 50 bucks at an automated teller machine. Can you tell me where the nearest ATM is? Can you point me to the nearest ATM? Some restaurants automatically add a tip to the bill. If you are born in the USA you are automatically a citizen. If someone writes the story of your life, it is called a biography. If you write your own life story it is called an autobiography. I wonder if anyone would read my autobiography? Have your read any good biographies lately? I read the autobiography of Charles Darwin. Reading biographies is a good way to study history. Less

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Learn English – Podcast: Rigoletto – Act 1

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:11:23 +0000

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Learn English – Podcast: Get real!

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:25:22 +0000

Learn English – Podcast: 58 GG However, Ignore & Strunk White

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:45:22 +0000

Learn English – Podcast: ESLPodcast 33 – Being Gifted

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:56:32 +0000

Learn English – Podcast: Podcast #37 Theme Parks

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:13:33 +0000

My house is less than two hours from several theme parks. Where I live is no more than two hours from several theme parks. The most famous of these is Disneyland. Disneyland is the best known of these. I have to admit I’ve never gone there. I hate to say it, but I’ve never been there. It strikes me as being one big ad for the Disney corporation. To my mind, it is a massive ad for the Disney organization. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Disney films. Don’t misunderstand me, Iâve got no problem with Disney films. But I find the intensity of the marketing by Disney to be offensive. But I am put off by the intensity of Disney’s marketing. Especially because it is aimed at children. Particularly because children are the target audience. Also, I have heard that the lines for rides are endless. Also, people say that the wait times for rides are not to be believed. The one theme park I have been to is Legoland. Legoland is the one theme park I have been to. The park features exquisite constructions made with Lego blocks. A main feature of the park is beautiful Lego block constructions. Sometimes they have a cityscape like that of New York or Las Vegas. Sometimes they have the model of a city like New York or Las Vegas. My visit there was seven years ago. My visit there was seven years back. Now rides and entertainment are the big attraction. These days it’s rides and entertainment that are the big draw. Tickets for theme parks are not inexpensive. Theme park tickets don’t come cheap. You can expect to pay $40 to $60 per person for an all-day admission. An all-day admission goes for upwards of $40 to $60. Plus the cost of food, drinks, and souvenirs. Add to that the outlay for food, drinks, and souvenirs. Many of the parks have annual tickets. A good number of the parks offer yearly tickets. I think theme parks will suffer if the economy goes bad. My guess is the parks will not do well in a down economy. People will look for cheaper family entertainment. People will seek out less expensive family entertainment. Less

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