Culips Everyday English Podcast show

Culips Everyday English Podcast

Summary: Learning English is tough stuff, but we're here to help every step of the way. This podcast is for English language learners who want to improve their lives by becoming fluent in English. Our high-quality lessons are free, fun and taught by our expert hosts. Listening to Culips is like sitting in on an interesting chat between good friends. Your fluency, listening skills, vocabulary, and pronunciation will improve naturally as you get to know our hosts and learn about interesting topics and trends in Canada and around the world. Get awesome at English, with Culips!

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Podcasts:

 At the workplace | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:13

Let’s go to work! You can listen and relax while Harp and Maura talk about trends in the workplace in Canada and the US. You’ll learn about things like casual dress at the office, free gym memberships, and other perks. They also talk about current trends in changing jobs and going back to school. This episode will make great water cooler talk! Harp: Yeah, definitely. It's important not to be a workaholic and spend 60, 70, 80 hours in the office or doing work. It's important to have a good balance. Maura: Right. We do have a lot of workaholics though, especially with technology and having a smartphone with you all the time. But more and more, people are realizing that it's not healthy for you to work that much. You have to have a little bit of play time. Harp: Exactly. You have to have downtime, time to relax and just enjoy life and not think about work. Maura: Now, I know that there are some things that the workplace, or someone's particular place of employment, is doing to make it easier for people to have a better balance between their work and their personal life. Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials: A workaholic Downtime Flex time Telecommuting Water cooler talk Perks vs. benefits On site To unwind A lifer A thin line To raise a red flagTo downsize Podcast/ Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo: © Royalty-Free/Corbis

 Chatterbox #73 – Board games aren’t boring! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:07

Who doesn’t like to play games? We’ve got an episode for you all about board games, which ones are popular in Canada and which ones Harp and Maura have memories of playing. Have you heard of The Game of Life? Do you know Monopoly? Listen and learn here about games and game vocabulary. Expressions includedRead More

 Board games aren’t boring! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:07

Who doesn’t like to play games? We’ve got an episode for you all about board games, which ones are popular in Canada and which ones Harp and Maura have memories of playing. Have you heard of The Game of Life? Do you know Monopoly? Listen and learn here about games and game vocabulary. Harp: I've played a lot of checkers when I was young, but never chess. Maura: Yeah. Checkers is pretty easy to play. There aren't too many rules. I've probably played chess once or twice and I just wasn't interested because there was so much memorizing with all of the rules. And if you wanna get good or enjoy playing chess, I think you have to keep playing so that you just start to know the rules by heart. Harp: Yes, I agree. And it's a game you always have to think a couple of steps in advance. I think now, present. “If I move this little piece, what does that do?” That's it. Maura: What are some of the other top games on the list? Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials: A board game Game pieces and dice To be honest It’s been ages Settlers of Catan Hardcore A learning curve A sore loser To take the fun out of something To go on forever Connect Four A travel version Tic-tac-toe To sound like a deal Podcast/ Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo: Immanuel

 Catch Word #116 – To walk on eggshells | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:19

Sometimes we have to be sensitive to how other people are feeling. We might even act a certain way because we don’t want to upset them. In this episode, we talk about expressions used for this kind of situation. You might need to walk on pins and needles to keep others happy around you. TooRead More

 English idioms: to walk on egg shells, to walk on pins and needles, to tread lightly, etc. | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:19

Sometimes we have to be sensitive to how other people are feeling. We might even act a certain way because we don’t want to upset them. In this episode, we talk about expressions used for this kind of situation. You might need to walk on pins and needles to keep others happy around you. Too bad everyone isn’t happy all the time! Maura: So maybe there's someone in your life who is having a very bad day. This is the time when you might walk on eggshells, because you wanna be sensitive to how they're feeling and you don't wanna disturb them. Harp: Exactly. Maura: It could be just that specific time or maybe there's someone in your life who is always sensitive and always gets disturbed easily. So in that case, you might always walk on eggshells around them because you know that they get upset very easily. Harp: Yes, exactly. If it's someone who gets angry or upset really easily, you might walk on eggshells around them all the time. Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials: Why not To walk on eggshells To snap To be grounded You know what I mean? To walk on pins and needles To bug someone To clean up after yourself To hold a grudge A detention To tread lightly At the drop of a hat IT Anything and everything Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo: ©John Lund

 Chatterbox #72 – Here’s Michael Gilday! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 26:10

In this episode, Maura interviews Michael Gilday, a Canadian short track speed skater. She asks about what it’s like to prepare for the Olympics, and they also talk about Michael’s hometown of Yellowknife in the north of Canada and his experiences learning French. Have you ever seen the aurora borealis? Would you like to findRead More

 Here’s Michael Gilday, a Canadian short track speed skater! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 26:10

In this episode, Maura interviews Michael Gilday, a Canadian short track speed skater. She asks about what it’s like to prepare for the Olympics, and they also talk about Michael’s hometown of Yellowknife in the north of Canada and his experiences learning French. Have you ever seen the aurora borealis? Would you like to find out how learning French helped Michael in speed skating? Listen to this episode to hear all about it. Maura: So four years old, that seems quite young to decide to get into speed skating. Michael: I think at that time, it was more of a, sort of, I wanted to learn how to skate. And then as you get going, I think pretty quickly though you get into the full deal. But, yeah, that was when I joined the club or so I'm told by my parents…anyway. Maura: Are your parents athletes? Michael: In that they are recreational, they are active people. My dad was actually my coach for a long time but he didn't have any background in skating. He was just an interested parent and he volunteers and he liked to help out, so he was my coach for a long time until I moved away from my hometown to attend university and to skate at a higher level. Maura: OK, cool. Now, I know that through all of your competitions you've been all around the world. So what are some of the most memorable places you've been to? Michael: Yeah, well I'm really lucky because when we travel to World Cup competitions, they are all over the world. So I've been to many different countries. This year actually we were… One of my favourite trips of all time was actually to Nagoya, which is in Japan. We got to do a little bit of adventuring there, especially with the food and that let us sort of get immersed a bit more in Japanese culture. And even though we were often playing sign language, because I really don't speak a lick of Japanese, it was fun and it was a new adventure and it was something that I really enjoyed. Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials: To strike up a conversation To compete head to head Etc. To never turn back A lick of A perk Choices Canadian stereotypes The aurora borealis (the northern lights) Yellowknife To screw up To broaden your horizons To happen overnight So-and-so To not take any prisoners Across the board Podcast/ Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast

 Catch Word #115 –Yes and no sounds | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:00

In every language, there are funny little sounds that we make that are very important! In English, we have lots of noises we make while speaking. In this episode, we’re looking at sounds that mean yes and no. Listen closely as Harp and Maura give their best examples of mmhmm, uh-huh, and uh-uh using differentRead More

 Sounds that mean yes and no | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:00

In every language, there are funny little sounds that we make that are very important! In English, we have lots of noises we make while speaking. In this episode, we’re looking at sounds that mean yes and no. Listen closely as Harp and Maura give their best examples of mmhmm, uh-huh, and uh-uh using different tones. Are you going to learn from this episode? Mmhmm. What is a Member? Harp: Mmhmm. Uh-huh. Maura: So, these can be used just like the word yes. They can be used to answer someone, so when you use these sounds in response to a question, it's like you're saying yes. Harp: Or these sounds can be used to agree with someone; to show that you agree with what they've said. Maura: Right. Just like yes. Now, here's where it's a little bit different. You can also use these sounds to show someone that you're listening to what they're saying. So, in English, when you're listening to someone talk and maybe they're talking for 30 seconds or they're telling a bit of a longer story or something with more detail, the listener has to show that they're listening. Harp: Yes. And if you're in person you can just nod, but oftentimes you add a little bit of noise. Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials: Mmhmm We could go on Un-huh A fishing rod and bait Guess what What’d you do? To end up To call it a day To make a sound/noise At the last minute Uh-uh Would rather A board game Anyway and anyways Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast; Image: The giving heart™

 Catch Word #114 –To sell like hotcakes | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:32

Here’s an episode all about popular items. The expressions we talk about are used when something is in demand, which means that people are buying a lot of it. You can use these expressions to talk about the trendiest items of the moment. For example, new Apple products always sell like hot cakes. They can’tRead More

 Explaining English idioms – To sell like hot cakes; They can’t make them fast enough. | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:32

Here’s an episode all about popular items. The expressions we talk about are used when something is in demand, which means that people are buying a lot of it. You can use these expressions to talk about the trendiest items of the moment. For example, new Apple products always sell like hot cakes. They can’t seem to make them fast enough! Listen to this episode and learn more about these expressions and others. What is a Member? Maura: So, if we imagine that in the past, at a special event like a fair or some kind of community gathering, there would be a person who was making hotcakes and selling them and they were very popular. So lots of people would buy them, they were in high demand. Well, that's where the origin of this expression is supposed to have come from. Harp: OK. That makes sense. Maura: Right. So now we can use this expression, selling like hotcakes, to talk about a whole variety of items. And usually this expression is not used to talk about food. Harp: Yeah. It's usually an object, not food. Maura: Right. So this expression originated from the popularity of hotcakes, or pancakes, and now we use this expression to talk about some kind of item that people love and they buy a lot of. Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials: Drop someone a line To sell like hotcakes To line up around the block To fly off the shelves Tickle Me Elmo The Hunger Games They can’t make them fast enough To keep up To crave You betcha What What can you do? Podcast/ Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo: Cartoonstock.com

 Catch Word #113 –To toot your own horn | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:15

Have you done something extra special lately? In that case, you may want to toot your own horn! This episode is all about speaking well of yourself. It’s all about how to do it while staying humble. For example, we don’t want to want to toot our own horn, but we think our podcasts areRead More

 English idioms: to toot your own horn, to pat yourself on the back, etc. | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:15

Have you done something extra special lately? In that case, you may want to toot your own horn! This episode is all about speaking well of yourself. It’s all about how to do it while staying humble. For example, we don’t want to want to toot our own horn, but we think our podcasts are pretty fun and informative! What is a Member? Maura: Right, and that means that you talk about that experience. So if you did really well on a project at work, you toot your own horn when you tell other people about what a great job you did. Or if you did really well on a test, you toot your own horn when you tell other people about how well you did. Harp: Exactly. And if we think about this, to toot your own horn, if someone blows a horn, it's a celebration. It makes a noise and it gets people’s attention. If you talk about your own accomplishments, you're celebrating your own success. Maura: Right. You're drawing attention to yourself. And if you toot a horn, you definitely draw attention to yourself. Harp: Definitely Maura: Now, one possible origin for this expression is a connection to royalty. Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials: To toot your own horn To draw attention to yourself The job hunt Lemme Report cards Who didn’t? Straight A’s To rub it in someone’s face To pat yourself on the back To pat someone on the back On your own Parallel parking Spelling bee Podcast/ Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo: Zazzle

 Chatterbox #71 – The dentist | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:19

Here’s an episode about going to the dentist in Canada and some related vocabulary. Not many people like going to the dentist, but we hope you like this episode anyway! Harp and Maura also tell some of their own stories about appointments they’ve had, both good and bad. They also discuss some expressions with teeth:Read More

 The dentist in Canada and some related vocabulary | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:19

Here’s an episode about going to the dentist in Canada and some related vocabulary. Not many people like going to the dentist, but we hope you like this episode anyway! Harp and Maura also tell some of their own stories about appointments they’ve had, both good and bad. They also discuss some expressions with teeth: to have a sweet tooth and like pulling teeth. You’ll probably want to brush your teeth after listening to this episode! What is a Member? Harp: Maura, how often do you go to the dentist? Maura: I was hoping you weren't gonna ask, Harp. When I was younger, I used to go often. But I don't have insurance, and so I don't go very often. Harp: When was the last time you went to the dentist, Maura? Maura: The last time I went to the dentist, I think, was about a year and a half ago. Harp: OK. Not too bad then. Maura: No, it's not so bad. But I think there was a period where I didn't go for about 5 years. Harp: Yeah, because if you don't have insurance, it's very expensive to go to the dentist in Canada. Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials: A checkup A cavity A baby tooth To get kicked out To get fed up When it comes to A drugstore To grind your teeth To have a sweet tooth To quit cold turkey To rub off on someone Like pulling teeth The gum line Podcast/ Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo: InfoBarrel

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