At The Age of Humans we take language and communication and tare it apart, one question at a time. We decided to do so because we love curiosity so much. 
Warning: Thought-provoking ideas ahead.

The Age of Humans

One way to improve our language skills is by expressing our thoughts in the target language. For that reason, I have prepared an English conversation class “Express Yourself through A Conversation”. Please feel free to check that lesson here: https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/24647106/english
I have a lot of interesting topics to talk about. But of course, you are welcome to bring up your own topic.

In this episode, I want to show you one example of the discussion topic. It’s about my imaginary city, Subara City 素晴市 （スバラしsu ba ra shi）.   The name is derived from 素晴らしい（すばらしい）and 都市（とし）.   素晴らしい means “wonderful”, “magnificent”.    市 means “city” and when placed at the end of a word can be pronounced as “shi”し.   So here I name my imaginary city 素晴市（スバラしsu ba ra shi）or “Subara City”.  In this episode, I’m introducing English lessons, not Japanese. I just want to let you know how I made up the name.

The theme of the story is that you have just been elected to the council for Subara City. You have 6 billion Yen in your budget. What can you do? Listen through. Below here is a simple worksheet to give you more ideas.

Total budget: 6 billion Yen.

(1) Carbon Footprint
Main cause of pollution is old factories on the edge of the city. They have to be relocated.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

(2) Deprivation and Inequality
You need to establish projects to reduce the percentage of people living below the poverty line.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

(3) Congestion and Mobility
Although the ground in Subara City is considered not suitable for subway infrastructure, recent research has been investigating solutions to tackle the ground issue. This research needs funding.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

(4) Education and Qualifications
The number of grants for teachers to study abroad should be increased.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

(5) Language and Cultural Integration
More investment is needed to ensure that migrants coming to work in your city adapt and integrate into the society.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

Midori no Heya

Make a Difference in Subara City

Nick is joined by Martina to discuss what makes a good teacher. This may well be an IELTS speaking part 3 question if the topic is education. 

IELTS with Nick - World Knowledge 

What makes a good teacher?

端午节 duān wǔ jié：Duan Wu Festival
重要的 zhòng yào de：important
传统 chuán tǒng：traditional
最初 zuì chū：initial;first;original
古代 gǔ dài：ancient
老百姓 lǎo bǎi xìng：civilian;common people
祛病防疫 qū bìng fáng yì：curing diseases；epidemic prevention
传说 chuán shuō：legend
战国时期 zhàn guó shí qī：The Warring States Period of early Chinese history
屈原 qū yuán：Qu Yuan was minister of the State of Chu and one of China's earliest poets.
汨罗江 mì luó jiāng：the name of a river in the northern part of Hunan Province, southern China
纪念 jì niàn：mark;in honour of;in commemoration of
习俗 xí sú：custom
赛龙舟 sài lóng zhōu：Loong Boat Racing
粽子 zòng zi：Dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves
雄黄酒 xióng huáng jiǔ：realgar wine
艾叶 ài yè：A fragrant plant（Artemisia argyi）
香囊 xiāng náng：sachet; Bags containing various spices.
五彩线 wǔ cǎi xiàn：Multicolored thread
祈福消灾qí fú xiāo zāi：praying good fortune and ending disaster

“龙”年中国话（“ lóng ” nián zhōng guó huà）

端午节[duān wǔ jié]~Duan Wu Festival

        这个星期六，白雪和我一起去看看她喜欢的那套公寓，那套公寓价格一个月1800，包括水电费。对她来说挺便宜。

        我们是坐地铁去的，一路上，白雪想她以后的生活：她可以在公寓的大阳台上种一些花花草草，而且这个公寓离公司很近，工作日的早上，她可以多睡一个小时的懒觉！
        
        下了地铁站，我们按照地图来到公寓附近，但这个地方并不是很容易找到。
        
        不一会儿，介绍人就来了，他带我们上去。白雪并不知道，这个公寓竟然在九楼，而且还没有电梯！
        到了九楼，我们都累坏了。介绍人开了门，我们发现客厅比照片上小很多，沙发也不是新的，卧室和阳台不很大。从阳台上看，小公园里非常多人，一些人在放音乐非常吵。

        这个公寓在照片上看起来很漂亮，但是实际上，一点儿也不！这不是照片，这是照骗，骗人的骗！白雪太失望了。

包括Bāo kuò  to include
睡懒觉 shuì lǎn jiào to sleep in(late)
按照 àn zhào according to ; in accordance with
不一会儿 bù yí huìr  in a moment ; in a little while
竟然jìng rán unexpectedly; to one's surprise
发现 fā xiàn  find out ; discover
实际上shí jì shang  actually ; in fact ; in reality 
一点儿也不 yīdiǎn er yě bù 
骗 piàn to deceive; to fool; to cheat
失望shīwàng  disappointment



This Saturday, Baixue and I went to see the apartment she liked. The price of the apartment was 1800 yuan a month, including water and electricity fees. It's cheap for her.

We went there by subway. On the way, Bai Xue thought about her future life: she could plant some flowers on the balcony of the apartment. Moreover, the apartment is very close to the company. On weekdays, she could sleep in for an extra hour!

After getting off the subway station, we followed the map to the apartment, but this place is not easy to find.

Soon, the introducer came and took us up. Baixue doesn't know that this apartment is on the ninth floor, and without an elevator!

Arrived at the ninth floor, we were all exhausted. When the introducer opened the door, we found that the living room is much smaller than the photo shows, the sofa is not new, and the bedroom and balcony is not large. From the balcony, we saw there are many people in the small park. Some people are playing music and making a lot of noise.

The apartment looks beautiful in the photos, but in fact it's not at all! This is not a photo, this is a photo cheat! (骗人 and 照片 are having same piàn骗, 片) Bai Xue was so disappointed.

HSK4 Vocab Based - Short Story Podcast

03. 白雪被骗啦！Báixuě bèi piàn la! Baixue got cheated!

Mental blockers in job interviews, IELTS speaking or communication as a whole.

Have you heard of such a thing as a mental blocker? Or psychological filtering?

Most techers never talk about this because they care too much on helping you with the language (grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing). There is nothing wrong with it but why 60-90% of language learners aren't satisfied about their spoken language performance?

Mental blockers or filtering is when we focus too much on the bad things and ignore the good things. 

This can make us only see the negative parts of a situation and not notice the positives. It's like when you only pay attention to one mean comment and ignore all the nice ones. 

This can make us feel bad about ourselves and not appreciate the good things around us.

Have you found yourself in it? We all do it, I do too in various aspects and my student Savi inspired me to help you become aware of it and deal with it and succeed as the result.

Take your time listening to it as it is the first time in your life you came across this topic and again - it's not what English teachers talk about so please meditate on my thoughts, let yourself grow and come to my vip 1-1 training to ask questions and be helped.

You can do it!

The Habits of Women Growing Into Strong, Confident English Communicators

Mental blockers in job interviews, IELTS speaking or communication as a whole

Reims, la ville des cornichons !   Sa cathédrale garde en mémoire la présence des rois à travers les siècles. 

Douce France

Reims, une ville royale

El dinero es un tema universal, está en todos los lugares. Por eso he pensado que un episodio sobre vocabulario y expresiones relacionadas con el dinero podría ser útil. En este episodio vas a aprender algunas formas coloquiales de llamar al dinero y algunas expresiones para referirse a personas que tienen (mucho, no mucho) dinero.

Espero que, como siempre, disfrutes el episodio. Cuando lo hayas escuchado no te olvides de dejar un comentario o pasarte por mi Instagram y decirme:

-si conocías estas formas coloquiales para dinero y

-si en tu idioma también tienes expresiones similares a las que menciono en el episodio.


Blanca to go 

51 – hablamos de dinero

Илона Ма́ска зна́ют все. Кто-то говори́т о нём хорошо́, кто-то – пло́хо, но о нём говоря́т все. А вы зна́ете что-нибу́дь о его́ де́тстве?