Finding a good teacher alone won't allow you to achieve your fluency goals.
Check out some tips and tools to use to make the most of your English classes.

It's definitely not all in the teacher's hands!

Share in the comments what you think :)

I Just Wanna Be Fluent in English!

ep5. You Need More Than a Good Teacher

Kids (Çocuklar)

Çocuklar

¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!  Muchos españoles comienzan el ano yendo de cotillón. En el episodio de hoy te cuento qué es un cotillón y su origen.

Después de escuchar el episodio, ¡cuéntame!  ¿Cómo celebras el Año Nuevo en tu país? ¿También vais de cotillón?


Blanca to go 

Especial Navidad 2.9 - El cotillón

CHISTES MEXICANOS

IDEA DE ÚLTIMO MOMENTO...

Today we're talking about a slightly informal phrasal that we can use to talk about flexibility in our schedules and budgets at work. I hope you find it useful!

DAILY Business English VOCABULARY builder

If you need more time, I hope you have some of this!

Alan Bates Gets a Knighthood from the King. 

Teacher Joseph's Podcast

In this episode, my dad and I recall some of our favorite memories as sports fans.

If you’re a sports fan yourself, that’s great, but even if you’re not, I think you’ll benefit from listening to this one, as many English idioms and other vocabulary were born out of the world of sports.

Otherwise, listening to this episode should give you a sense of what being a sports fan in America is like, because it’s unique compared to sporting culture in most other countries.

***For English learners! – Detailed vocabulary lesson begins at 31:56***

***Full episode transcript available ⁠⁠here: https://american-idiom.com/f/005-sports-memories ⁠⁠***

Episode Outline:

Baseball – the Detroit Tigers win the World Series in 1984 (Starts at 1:35)
Hockey - touching the Stanley Cup in 2001 (Starts at 6:27)
Hockey - meeting Guy Lafleur in New York (Starts at 10:22)
American Football - attending Michigan vs. Notre Dame in 2011 (Starts at 15:27)
American Football - Michigan Football's 2024 national championship (Starts at 20:31)
The Olympics - Attending the 2024 Olympics in Paris (Starts at 22:36)
American Football - Michigan's victory over Ohio State in 2024 (Starts at 24:04)
Association Football (Soccer) - France wins the 2018 World Cup (Starts at 27:21)

Vocabulary and examples (Starts at 30:04)

and so on and so forth (used at 4:08 explained at 32:40)
a stone's throw away from (used at 11:09 and explained at 34:40)
to run into someone (used at 11:35 and explained at 36:37)
to get to do something (used at 6:39, 11:43, 23:13 and 23:32 and explained at 38:35)
to pass away (used at 13:22 and explained at 40:51)
to be grandfathered in (used at 14:00 and explained at 42:55)
to pull something off (used at 17:29 and explained at 44:53)
in a nutshell (used at 26:32 and explained at 47:04)

***A list of specific sports vocabulary (with brief explanations) used during this episode can be found at the bottom of ⁠the following page: https://american-idiom.com/f/005-sports-memories ***

Brentoni's English Podcast

005 Sports Memories

In this short dialogue we will listen to a couple discussing the time. Pay attention to different phrases they use to tell time!

Transcript: 
NATASHA: What time is it? We’re going to be late!
TONY: It’s a quarter after seven. We’re on time. Don’t panic.
NATASHA: But I thought we had to be at the restaurant by 7:30 for the surprise party. We’ll never make it there with all this evening traffic.
TONY: Sure we will. Rush hour is almost over. Anyway, the party starts at 8:00. But I do need help with directions. Can you call the restaurant and ask them where we park our car?

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

What Time Is It?

Shipbuilding today is based on science and ships are built using computers and sophisticated tools. Shipbuilding in ancient Rome, however, was more of an art relying on estimation, inherited techniques and personal experience. The Romans were not traditionally sailors but mostly land- based people, who learned to build ships from the people that they conquered  namely the Greeks and the Egyptians.

There are a few surviving written documents that give descriptions and representations of ancient Roman ships, including the sails and rigging. Excavated vessels also provide some clues about ancient shipbuilding techniques. Studies of these have taught us that ancient Roman shipbuilders built the outer hull first, then proceeded with the frame and the rest of the ship. Planks used to bulld the outer hull were initially sewn together. Starting from the 6th century BCE, they were fixed using a method called mortise and tenon, whereby one plank locked into another without the need for stitching. Then in the first centuries of the current era, Mediterranean shipbuilders shifted to another shipbuilding method, still in use today, which consisted of building the frame first and then proceedlng with the hull and the other components of the ship. This method was more systematic and dramatically shortened ship construction t›mes. The ancient Romans built large merchant ships and warships whose size and technology  were unequalled  until the 16th century CE.

Enjoy the listening experience! And come back tomorrow for more practice.