Practising English

So today I'm going to tell you a story about space. The area above, around the Earth, planet Earth, where the stars and the planets are found. The story is called The Spaceman. I'm going to tell this…

This is a B1 level podcast for learners of English. Are bullies stupid, unintelligent? If that were always true, then when somebody is bullied at school, he or she just needs to get their big brother…

If I say the word 'vampire', I think you'll know what it means. The monster from the dead with two large sharp teeth is known throughout many cultures and countries even though it's meant to be a fic…

This is a story I wrote specially for B1-level learners of English. It contains a lot of B1 language that is useful to learn. The story also contains useful language about English gardens. The story …

A short story for B1 learners of English. The original title of the story was called The Sleuths. It was a short story by the American writer, O. Henry. I've completely re-written this story to a B1 …

I have a short story for you today. A story by the American writer, O. Henry. He was born in 1862 and died in New York in 1910. He is best known for his short stories. The one I'm going to read to yo…

There is definitely language that you will find as a visitor to the UK that you won't find in the English language learning textbooks. You need to go to special places to hear terms of endearment. We…

A visit to the beach in the south of Spain (Cadiz). Typical collocations (words that go together), words and expressions we use to talk about the beach, picnics and a swim in the sea. Come to www.pra…

I've just come back from a short holiday in Scotland. In this podcast I'm going to talk about my stay in the south-west of this country and make some comparisons with where I live in Spain. So some u…

In this podcast I'm going to talk about part two of the Cambridge English PET or Preliminary writing paper, where you have the option of writing a story. I'm going to read three model stories to you …

As the season of exams comes to a close at the end of the school year, I'm going to start with another type of podcast - looking at vocabulary of the world around us. In this podcast, I took a walk a…

I'm still on the theme of intonation and how important it is to place more emphasis or stress on the meaning words. That is: the nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and negative words especially, while…

I was giving some students a practice speaking test the other day and I noticed something that worried me. All students learn those set phrases for Part 3 and Part 4 of the First Certificate speaking…

When I was examining some students the other day for First Certificate (FCE) speaking exam, I noticed one thing especially which most students could not do correctly. I'm referring to intonation! If …

How long is a piece of string? How long have you been waiting? My goodness! You weren't very long! How long does it take? Not long. The use of 'long' can be a bit confusing but it's a word which expr…

Help and secrets for passing Cambridge First Certificate speaking exam part 2. While you are speaking, both examiners in the room are listening and assessing your spoken language according to some st…

For a student who is still in the pre-intermediate level of English, it's very easy to think that 'will' is what we use to talk about future. To get to a B1 level, it's important to know that there a…

This is a follow-up from podcast 11, which was about 'wish' and 'if only' to talk about unreal or unlikely situations. I'm continuing on that theme today because I want to make it clearer about how t…

This is a continuation of podcast 117, which showed you how to do Part 3 of the Cambridge English exam. In this podcast, I'll show you how to pass Part 4 of the exam and you can hear a model answer b…

B2 language level podcast for key vocabulary and expressions to talk about travelling by plane. Essentail language for going through check-in, customs and passport control, boarding your plane and fl…