ELLLO Podcast

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Latest Episodes:

Episode 29: Dream House (Views 1371) May 27, 2015

In this episode, Spencer talks with Curtis about her dream house. Students can listen and see what she would do with her kitchen, bathroom, livingroom, outside of the house and yard.

Go to elllo.org for the full episode with script. audio, media and quiz.

Episode 28: Hollywood Movies (Views 1351) Jan 13, 2015

Today on the elllo podcast, Win from Vietnam, Michael from Norway and Goron from Italy talk about Hollywood movies and films made in 3D. This is lesson 1351 on elllo.org. Go to the website for the complete lessons with downloadable audio and printable worksheets.

Below is the transcript to the interview.

Michael: Hello, my name is Michael. Next to me I have Goron from Italy and Win from Vietnam, and today we are going to discuss movies and specifically we are going to discuss about Hollywood movies. Do we like Hollywood movies? What is typical in our own countries, and so on. So, were going to start with you Goron, please?

Goron: Oh, I would say that generally, I like Hollywood movies. If I want to be, without thinking anything, I just like to lie down on my couch and just eat something and drink and watch a movie, I would choose a Hollywood movie. They are pretty fun. They are well done. They have a huge budget for those kind of movies, like the last superhero movies about Ironman, Spiderman, Avengers. all those kind of movies. The plot is really weak, but you know, you have this like visual effects which the impact on your is strong, and you just think that, at least I think, "Well, how did they do that?"

Michael: Yeah, I would give a good example there. You have Avatar. You know the story, it's a huge cliche.

Goron: Yeah, we heard about this story before.

Michael: I knew how the movie would end, but you know, just going there to see the good 3D effect that movie had, I think it had good 3D. It really immersed you in this whole world. You know, you saw those flying things in the forest.

Goron: But if you think it was recorded by a 3d camera because the camera was a million dollars, but the other 3D movies are really crap, because everything was post-production, so you can tell, oh this is 3D, and it's dark and you have to wear glasses, and if you already have glasses, it's uncomfortable so it seems like a technology that is trying to steal your money.

Michael: It was a huge hype. They were charging more for it, and everyone tried to get on the 3D bandwagon. All of the movies went into 3D and it became more normal for there to be 3D movies in the cinema than the normal movies, but I agree totally with you. They went to far. Avatar was made from ground up. The idea was to make in 3D and they really worked hard to provide a great experience, while the other movies. It's just not the same.

Goron: The technology is not ready yet.

Michael: And I also agree with you, you know, that there is movies that you watch for the story, which are really good, and you love them. You don't have to have then in 3D. They don't have to be. You just focus on the story, but then you have like, you know, even Transformers, with lots of explosions, lots of effects. It's entertaining in the other way.

Win: I mean, it depends on how we look at entertainment. Some day, you could, I mean you want to watch something emotional, romantic, and some days you just want some really easy stuff. But I'm just saying Hollywood isn't all about blockbusters and effect-heavy movies. I think Hollywood has made some really good thinking, some really good food-for-thought and it's not that all bad.

Episode 27: Best Teacher Oct 02, 2014

This week on elllo.org, Abidemi and Jeremy talk about teachers that had a big impact on their lives. See the transcript below.

Remember that you can go to the website to see the video, learn now words, download the audio and take a quiz.

Transcript of conversation:

Jeremy: Abidemi, so looking back at your life as a student, can you tell me a little bit about your experience with the best teacher that you had, and maybe a little bit about your worst teacher?

Abidemi: Sure. I think I’ve had many, many great teachers. I’ve been really blessed in that way. Thinking back now, I remember my teacher when I was in primary 6 in Nigeria, actually. His name was Mr. Oleaer. And this teacher was a math and science teacher. And I think the best thing about him was he really took a personal interest in all of us. We could tell that he really cared. Although, he was very much a teacher, he took that authority role but at the same time, he was like our friend. Like during the break time, we would approach him, we would talk to him. And over the summer, he tutored a few of us for the entrance examination to high school because we have that system in Nigeria.

So it was just fun. Every time we saw him, we just have a good time with him. And I remembered he talked to me. He mentored—he was like a mentor. He came to me, and he was wondering what I wanted to be in the future and he made some suggestions because of the scores I had in his class. And to this day, I still remember him. He sticks in my mind. And having taught for a little bit as well, I think for me too, he’s one of the people that I tried to model myself after. I model myself after him. Maybe not even consciously, but I liked the fact that he was a teacher and we knew it but at the same time, he was very friendly. So I really love that aspect of him.

How about you, Jeremy? Anyone comes to mind?

Jeremy: You know, it was more just sort of teacher qualities that I remember from a number of different teachers. And what I always really—when I look back and think about teachers that made a difference, it was teachers that recognized students’ weakness and tried to counsel them or to sort of—in my case, it was that I was a very, very shy person. And a teacher who would talk to me a little bit and give me encouragement if I did a presentation, which was just the worst thing I could possibly ever do because I was so nervous. But teachers that recognized I had a real serious shy problem, and that they would just give a little bit of encouragement. And those with little bits of encouragement, over time I started to gain a little bit more confidence. And by the time I was in university, I still had a problem with giving presentations but—even in university, I had teachers who would compliment me on a job attempted—and I wouldn’t really say well done, but I tried.

And those were the things that really stood out, teachers that recognize when people have issues in their life and they really try to encourage them to overcome those issues. It wasn’t just one teacher. It was a number of teachers. But not all teachers did that. Some of them, it wasn’t part of their job description to be a counselor, I guess, and it was more work and they just didn’t attempted or didn’t care or maybe didn’t recognize it. But some people really thought, here’s a guy who maybe needs a little bit of extra boost, and they would try to help me out. Those are the probably the things that stick out in my mind. And like you, I try to model myself after those teachers to try to find students who need a little bit of extra encouragement and make them feel better about themselves.

Abidemi: I think that’s great. I think as teachers, everyone, if you have an opportunity to be a teacher, one of the best things you can do is to try and find the potential in each and everyone of your student because everyone has something special in them. And for a teacher to recognize that, it’s so awesome. It’s amazing. Yeah.

Jeremy: I think you’re right.

End of Transcript

Episode 26: Cost of Living Sep 11, 2014

This lesson on elllo.org we hear from Dan from Tropical MBA Podcast as he shares basic living costs for working in Southeast Asia. You can see the full lesson here!

Transcript of Conversation

Todd: So I'm here with Dan, and he lives in Bali, Indonesia. And he’s talking about slow travel, which is the concept of living in a foreign country for a long time to experience the culture and the lifestyle.

Dan, can you talk a little bit about the cost, like if somebody wants to really do this, how much money do they need for housing, transportation, food, things like that?

Dan: Well, when I quit my job four years ago, I had a mantra in my head. And I always said, all I need to be happy in life is a thousand bucks and a backpack. And I thought, if I could really simplify my life and take away all the overhead cost of car payment or a mortgage on a house or student load debts, credit cards, things like that, all I would need is a thousand dollars of income a month in order to own my time and to spend my time going to anywhere I wanted.

I think realistically in places in Southeast Asia, if you want to move around every two or three months or go visit friends at another city, you're going to want at least $1,500 to $2,000 a month. And that’s going to give you, I would say, a quite luxurious lifestyle.

Obviously, you could come here to Bali and live for $700 a month and you could do the same in Nha Trang like we’re talking earlier, maybe even easier in Vietnam. But the real cost come in is when you want to explore and move around internationally. So if you’re living in Nha Trang and you’d like to visit a friend in Bangkok every three months or something like that, you’re going to want more like 1,500 to 2,000 a month.

Todd: So could you like break down the cost? So what kind of cost are we talking here? Like how much would you pay for housing? How much would you pay, you know, for food every month? How much would you pay for health insurance? Things like that.

Dan: Sure, I mean, if we can make like a vast generalization across Southeast Asia in general. I know it’s a huge place but in most places for a furnished apartment, for a solo traveler, you’re going to look at anywhere from $250 to $750 a month. So let’s just ballpark it and say $500. You know, in a place like Manila, you’re going to get a great apartment for $500. In a place like Bangkok, you’re going to get even better apartment for $500. And again, you have to commit to a month at least to get these kinds of rates. But if you’re willing to do that, stay for few months, you’re going to get really good advantage there.

Let’s take Bangkok as an example. $500, you’re going to have a great apartment. For another $500, you are going to eat like King Midas. And then let’s say your internet is $30 a month and your health insurance in $120 a month. We’re at about $1,200 a month now. And I’d say, on top of that, it's all about the most dangerous habit for your wallet on the planet, and it is travel. So if you decide that you want to go home for Christmas and you want to go home for Thanksgiving as well for Americans, you know, that’s going to kill your piggy bank. But if you don’t travel so much, you could easily stay in a place like Bangkok for $1,000 to $1,500 a month.

Todd: So, what about like a, you know, going out having beers and thinks like that? Like are there certain habits that you have to kind of curtail or keep down so that you save money?

Dan: Well, it really depends where you live. So, in the Philippines you could go out and party every night and it won’t make a dent in your wallet. Whereas in places like here in Bali, you had to be really careful because beers can be $7 for one cocktail. So if you go out to the club and you order 4 cocktails, and you meet a cute girl and you buy her 2 cocktails, that could easily turn into a $50 evening, and that’s going to kill your traveler’s budget.

So generally in Southeast Asia going out for social drinks isn’t a big impact on your wallet because booze here is relatively cheap. But definitely that can have a big impact.

Todd: Alright, thanks for the advice.

End of Transcript

Episode 25: Working in Bali Sep 03, 2014

This week on elllo.org we hear from Dan, an Americna businessman working abroad, and he talks about why he likes to live in Bali and why it is a good place to set roots.

The full episode online comes with a video, quiz, audio vocabulary and a speaking/listening challenge. You can get it here or at the link below:

http://elllo.org/english/1301/T1323-Dan-SEA.htm

Transcript of the Conversation

Todd: So now Dan you live in Bali, Indonesia, which is a very beautiful place and you do a lot of business in Southeast Asia. Why do you think Southeast Asia is a good place to do business?

Dan: Well, one of the primary reasons is the lifestyle. If you are generating a reasonable income on western standards, you can—what we do is, you know, perform some global arbitrage. You can take that western level salary and move it to a developing area of the world like here in Southeast Asia, and your purchasing power is much greater.

So if you’re selling products in a higher valued economy like Germany and you’re living in Vietnam, you’re going to be able to experience a much higher lifestyle. And we call that concept arbitrage. You know, currency markets and stock traders have used that kind of concept all the time because they’re dealing with very liquid assets. In our case, you know, our locations weren't always so liquid. It wasn’t always so easy to change your location. Now with internet style business, it’s getting easier.

So primarily, the lifestyle, I found that that’s a great tool for recruiting because staff, they want to have a great lifestyle too. So if you can set up an office in a place like Bali, Indonesia, it’s like paradise on earth. It’s so beautiful here, people want to join you, and so it’s great for recruiting as well.

Todd: Do you find it’s harder to get work done in a beautiful place. I mean, Bali is basically paradise. Can you still follow the nine-to-five work grind and get things done?

Dan: I find that I get more work done in Bali because the cost of living here is lower on all fronts. Not only is food cheaper, rent cheaper, but it’s easier to get people to help you out to do things. For example, in United States, I can't afford to pay somebody to do my laundry. It’s too expensive. But here in Bali, I have somebody do my laundry and that saves me two hours a week.

Simple things like that start to add up. It’s a very relaxed and healthy place that helps me focus on work. I have a lot of friends that live in New York city for example and they spend so much time traveling on the train, making money to afford living there, and I see that as a much more stressful, difficult environment to really be productive and creative. Here in Bali, I have no problems focusing on my work.

Todd: So what kind of work schedule do you follow, like do you work every day? Do you work like eight hours straight? Do you work at night? Because you’re dealing with different time zones with people all around the world. You said your market is mainly in the States. Could you talk a little bit about your work routine?

Dan: Sure. It’s actually defined by what I feel like my biorhythms are. To use a really colloquial phrase, car guys in United States use a term called torque band. And that’s when your engine is the strongest—at what time your engine the strongest? And for me that’s 7:00 to 11:00 in the morning, and 7:00 to 11:00 in the evening, and right now it’s sort of 2:33 PM. This is generally a time that I would relax. I would close my computer. I would get in the pool. I’d meet with some friends, maybe take a walk, listen to some podcasts, and relax until dinner time. After dinner time have a coffee and continue working.

So, it’s primarily for me, that just seems to be when I’m most creative and I have no idea why.

Todd: It sounds like a nice life.

Episode 24: Sun vs Snow Jul 09, 2014

This week Paul from England and Aimee from Scotland discuss where they would like to live.

Go to elllo.org for the full lessons with audio, video, vocabulary, and more.

See transcript of interview below:

Paul: So, we were talking about climates, Amy. Uhm, you know are there any sort of climates that you’d like to live in?

Aimee: I would like to live in Iceland or Scandinavia.

Paul: Interesting. Why would you like to live in that sort of climate?

Aimee: Uhm, The snow is just so beautiful and my image of those countries is that their infrastructure is sufficient enough to keep you warm when you’re inside. You know? But I’d say it's just so beautiful. The snow is amazing, It quietens everything. I think it’s glorious. I just really like it. I used to ski when I was younger. So I always ... I like skiing and I like the hills, and yeah, and the snow on hills is just beautiful for me. How about you?

Paul: Well I, I love snow too, but I don’t like it when it gets so slushy and sloppy you know, and your feet are freezing. You know I think like, the ideal of snow is really appealing. I’m not sure about, you know, living in it. I prefer, I don’t know maybe the climate of like Southern Italy, kind of Mediterranean, climate I think that would be really quite pleasant. You know? Not too hot, by the sea, although yeah, in the summer, it does gets hot. But I don’t think it’s the humidity.

Aimee: Right, I was just thinking about that. What kind of heat is it? Is it a dry heat?

Paul: I think it is a drier heat. Yeah, yeah, whereas the heat we obviously we get here is unbearable at times, right?

Aimee: Yeah, it’s really bad. Yeah.

Paul: So, uhm….

Aimee: What’s the highest temperature? What’s the range of temperature in Southern Italy , what kind of climate, do you know?

Paul: Not sure, I guess maybe at this time of year it starts getting up towards 20 degrees C.

Aimee: That’s nice.

Paul: And then I think it does you know places like Sicily, I think it does get pretty hot, probably like high 30s? Yeah, yeah, so and I think the winters are probably quite mild, unless you’re from the North of Italy of course, near the mountains.

Aimee: Yeah.

Paul: Down in the south it remains kind of pretty mild, you know?

Aimee: Aha, if it’s in the Med ... It's my images of that. I’ve never been to Italy so I don’t know. I’ve been to the South of France and it got really hot. That was a nice temperature. It was dry, and yeah the nighttime wasn’t too hot either, it was really nice during the day. That was a nice climate, I think.

Thanks for listening.

Episode 23 - Money and Retirement Jun 10, 2014

This week Sorie and Mark talk about the future and money and saving for retirement.

Go to elllo.org for the full lesson online on the web or mobile phone.

http://elllo.org/english/1301/T1307-sorie-retirement.htm

Transcript

Mark: Hi, Sorie. Talking about money, do you worry about money?

Sorie: Yes, I do. I especially worry about the future, about my retirement plan. And I’m not saving any money at the moment. And I have friends around me that are already saving up for their retirement. I’m 27 years old right now and I’m not sure if I should be concerned or not. Are you concerned?

Mark: Well, what kind of options are there? How would you want to save up?

Sorie: Well, first of all, right now, I don’t have the option to save for retirement.

Mark: Because you don’t have any money?

Sorie: Yeah, the present is plenty to think of. I haven’t got my head around the future yet. Do you have any recommendations at how I could do it?

Mark: Well, national pension plan or kind of put a little bit aside every week or forget about it. You’re only 27.

Sorie: Yeah. It’s very interesting, you know, because I know some people that instead of having a retirement plan, they decided to have a lot of kids and have their kids pay for them when they grow up and they get older. So that may be an option for me.

Mark: Yeah. And from where from also, that’s kind of the norm perhaps.

Sorie: Yeah, that’s right. How about you?

Mark: Yeah, I’m a bit older than you and I don’t have a pension plan either. But I’m not quite so worried about it right now.

Sorie: The time will come though.

Mark: The time will come and the more I think about, the more we talk about it, it’s definitely something to be considering. But it’s interesting in national pension plan, isn’t it because what if we leave? What if we won’t live in this country anymore, we had to move to another country and then we work there a little bit. And then we move to another country.

Sorie: So as an international person, it’s difficult to commit to a national pension because you don’t know where you’re going to end up, right?

Mark: Exactly.

Sorie: That’s what you’re saying, I see.

Mark: So if that was the case, it would seem that putting a little bit away every month or every week personally in an account would be a good idea.

Sorie: And are you committed, like, can you do that every month? Can you?

Mark: Yeah, I think I can do that. Yeah, but it’s interesting that I haven’t considered such things. And now when we consider it and realize how important it is, it’s probably a good thing to be considering.

Episode #18 - Evaluating the Euro Feb 06, 2014

This interview is great for Business students. It is advanced but if you spend a little time working with the transcript and repeating phrases and words you don't know, you'll really improve your English and sound smart!

Go online to elllo.org and look for #1284 to read the transcript and take the quiz.

Episode #17 - Local Accents Jan 27, 2014

Spencer talks about how her accent has changes over the years and Joel gives students some advice: be proud of your accent!

For a full transcript, interactive quizzes, and vocabulary go to elllo.org and look for #1282.

Episode #16: Croatian Cuisine Jan 17, 2014

Carlo and Vesna talk about the food and wine in Croatia.

Go online at elllo.org and look up 1279 to read the entire transcript, watch the slide show, and take the interactive quiz.

Episode #15: Southern Style Jan 01, 2014

Sarah and Peter talk about the difference between people in Southern US and the rest of the country.

After you have mastered all the vocabulary and phrases in this episode, try to explain the differences people have in different regions where you live.

For the full transcript, go to elllo.org and look for episode 1276.

Episode #14: North Carolina Jan 01, 2014

Peter and Sarah talk about North Carolina, a state in the US.

Go to elllo.org and look for episode 1275 for the full transcript.

Episode #13 Spanish Cuisine (Views 1273) Dec 18, 2013

Ade talks about some of the popular dishes in Spain. She goes into detail about paella, one of the most famous dishes, but also one of the dishes with the most different variations.

For a full transcript of the audio and to practice vocabulary, go to elllo.org and look for #1273.

Episode #12 Viewing Habits (Views 1272) Dec 13, 2013

Abiedemi and Todd talk about how people prefer to watch movies in her country.

Go to elllo.org for the full transcript, vocabulary, and activities that go with this lesson.

Episode #11: Nigeria's Big Industry (Views #1271) Dec 09, 2013

Abedimi and Todd discuss one of the biggest industries in Nigeria. Only India produces more of this product worldwide. Can you guess what it is?

To check out the full transcript of the audio, go to elllo.org and search for interview 1271.

Episode 10: Travels Tips for Pula (Views 1270) Dec 06, 2013

Vesna talks about Pula Croatia.

Go to elllo.org for the full transcript and lesson with vocabulary.

Episode #9 Sleeping Time (Views 1268) Nov 29, 2013

Daniel talks to Hana about how much they sleep. They talk about taking naps as well.

You can go to the elllo.org for the full lesson.

Episode #8 Scary Movie Oct 30, 2013

In the spirit of Halloween, we talk about scary movies. Listen to Akane tell Ruth how she feels about horror films.

Go to elllo.org for the full lesson.

Ruth: So Akane, is there anything that you’re frightened of?

Akane: Well… I’m, I’m really scared of horror movies. I never watch them, cuz they really really frighten me.

Ruth: Horror movies wow. Have your ever seen a horror movie?

Akane: Well, um, when I was little I used to watch them with my friends, because, back in the 80’s, horror movies used to be really popular. Like ah “Jason”, and “Freddy Cruger”. (Oh yeah) and things like that yeah. But ah, they used to keep me up at night and I couldn’t sleep.

Ruth: Yeah, my friend actually had a “Freddy Cruger” poster. It used to frighten me.

Akane: Did she?

Ruth: Yeah, it wasn’t my favorite. So, ah, what don’t you like about horror movies?

Akane: Well, um, I think, I think uh, I don’t know, I think it’s the psychological aspect of it. They just really make me feel scared.

Ruth: Ah, heh.. What was the last horror movie that you watched?

Akane: Um, the last one I watched was, I think it was the “Blair Witch Project”.

Ruth: Oh I know that film, yeah

.Akane: The first one, I saw it in the theatre with my friend. And I couldn’t sleep properly for a week after that.

Ruth: Oh no!

Akane: Ya, I mean, I know it’s stupid. A lot of people think it’s a pretty stupid movie. Um, but I think it was just, just the psychological aspect of it that really made me feel scared. And uh, I think, with that movie, after people saw it, they weren’t really sure whether it was real or not.

Ruth: Oh yeah.

Akane: And so there was that element as, as well.

Ruth: Was that the same film that I’m thinking of. The one where they filmed people in a forest, is that right?

Akane: Yeah, that’s right. It was in a forest. And the whole thing was done with a camcorder. A hand held camcorder. And so, it was, a lot of it was, I think, black and white. I can’t remember. And uh, and the camera was very shaky, and…

Ruth: So it wasn’t professionally filmed?

Akane: Um, I guess it didn’t look like it was.

Ruth: Right.

Akane: Yeah, I heard that the movie actually only took um, It didn’t take a lot of money to film it. But it, it made a lot of money.

Ruth: Yeah, I can believe that actually, I can believe that. Well, thanks for that.

Episode #7 Trick or Treat (Views #289) Oct 30, 2013

Happy Halloween. This week we listen to an older recording of Mike and Adrienne talking about Halloween.

Go to elllo.org for the complete lesson.

Transcript of the Conversation:

Todd: OK, guys we're going to talk about Halloween. So, what do you think about Halloween?

Adrienne: I actually like it. It's a fun holiday for kids especially because you get to dress up in costumes and you get lots of candy if you go trick-or-treating. I have a lot of good memories. of Halloween growing up.

Todd: OK, what is trick-or-treating? Why do you trick-or-treat?

Adrienne: Trick-or-treat is when you go, you dress up in your costume on Halloween and you go door-to-door ringing doorbells, knocking on doors. One person comes to the door, you say, "Trick-or-treat" and usually these days they give you a treat which is candy or apples or something like that but in the older days, you could, if they didn't give you a treat, then you could play a trick on them or they could play a trick on you, instead of giving you a treat, something like that.

Mike: I always thought that it was they performed, the person at the door performed some kind of trick for the kids because they didn't have candy to give, but I could be wrong.

Adrienne: Yeah, I don't know exactly. It's one of those three options.

Todd: Yeah, I think it's you play a trick on them.

Mike: Oh, really

Todd: You throw trash against their house.

Adrienne: Toilet paper their.

Todd: Toilet paper, eggs,

Mike: Egg their window.

Todd: Dog pooh in the paper bag on fire. On fire!

Adrienne: Yuck.

Todd: Yeah, that's gross. So, Mike, you're from Canada, so do you have Halloween American-style in Canada? Do you celebrate trick-or-treating? Do you do trick-or-treating?

Mike: Oh, yeah, I think it is the same as in the U.S. I believe it is a little bit different in Europe, maybe. They don't have the same kind of traditions but, yeah, exactly the same as in the U.S. We watched all the Snoopy, Charlie Brown Halloween kind of things, just like everybody....

Todd: OK. That's good. I'm glad because now we can diverge. What was, what were your costumes when you were younger?

Adrienne: Ah, I had so many. My mom was a seamstress so she used to make a lot of my costumes. I designed them and she would make them for me and my sister so one year I was bat girl, another year I was Wonder Woman. Another year I was Princess Lea from Star Wars, I was a rainbow and a clown and a cat, and a witch and everything, basically that you're supposed to be for Halloween I was.

Todd: A lot of heroines in there.

Adrienne: Of course. Strong women!

Todd: Mike, how about you?

Mike: I was goat boy.

Todd: Goat boy!

Mike: I was always goat boy because there...

Todd: Every year?

Mike: Yeah, we, I couldn't afford to get a decent costume every year.

Todd: So how were you goat boy? What did you look like?

Adrienne: Where did you get goat boy from?

Mike: They just put some sort of, they put a lot of trash on me, and forced me to eat a can. It's OK.

I got lots of candy but then the other kids would beat me up and steal it from me. That's OK.

Adrienne: That's the saddest thing I've ever heard.

Mike: Well, you know. That's all right. It toughened me up when I got older.

Episode #6 Music in Nigeria (Views #1261). Oct 24, 2013

Today in the podcast, Abidemi talks about the music scene in Nigeria.

Go to elllo.org for the full lesson.

Transcript of the audio:

Todd: So Abidemi, you're from Nigeria. Can you talk a little bit about the music scene in your country?

Abidemi: Yes. Nigeria is just amazing now in terms of music and even in the past we’ve had and we still do have great music, great musicians. We love to party just as much as we love to eat, there's nothing that Nigerians loves more than parties. We love to have a good time. So of course, music plays an important role in that. One of the music that we have now is like fusion. A mix of old traditional Nigerian music and instruments with more Western Hip Hop, R&B kind of sound and even reggae and Jamaican music and some Spanish too mixing with it.

Todd: Oh wow, that sounds like a nice mix.

Abidemi: It is actually and because we love to dance as well, it's something that you can move your body to, you can dance to, and also some ballads as well, that makes people think. In the past, Nigerian artists were either they sang traditional songs which they sang in the languages that we had in Nigeria or they sang in English for the most part because we do have many languages. So if you want to reach a wider audience, you needed to sing in English. But these days the interesting thing is many people are mixing.

Todd: Oh, nice.

Abidemi: They will sing a little bit in English as well as in their ... mostly in their native language which makes for very interesting mixes because then people that do understand that language, it attracts them to it. And it becomes more our own thing in our own country.

Todd: So what are the languages that are mixed with English?

Abidemi: For example in my region, I speak Yoruba, so Yoruba, they use a lot of Yoruba. They use Igbo language too, it’s from the southeastern part of Nigeria. And there’s also Pidgin, Pidgin is a kind of ... it's Nigerian English or ... I know in other parts of west Africa they use Pidgin as well. But it’s more like slangy English, I would say. So there's a mixture of that. So the music becomes more Africanized, Nigerianized, if that’s a word. So it makes it much more our own thing and people enjoy it. Yeah, and it’s really good. So new artists now, they’re doing that and one of the results of that is it’s more accessible actually to people that are not Nigerians. So a lot of people download Nigerian music from YouTube. For example, there’s D'Banj. He’s an artist that’s gone over to the United States and he sings with Kanye.

Todd: Oh, wow!

Abidemi: Yeah, and some big top Hip Hop artist in the United States. There was a guy who they used one of his songs in one of the American - Black American movies in the States as well.

Todd: Oh, cool!

Abidemi: And he got a lot of exposure through that. So our artist are, yeah, they become more more famous it seems like. And they're leading other areas of Africa too.

Todd: Well I’ll be sure to put some YouTube clips up with the interview so people can check it out.

Abidemi: Please do.

Episode #5 Three Choices (Views #532) Oct 24, 2013

Today on the podcast Eucharia takes a quiz with Todd. She answers what she prefers for different situations. She talks about reading, drinking and other things.

Go to elllo.org and see Views #512 for the lesson.

Here is the transcript of the conversation:

Todd: OK. Eucharia, we’re going to play a game "Choices". I will say 3 things, you tell me which would you choose. OK, the first one - coffee, tea or water in the morning?

Eucharia: Water.

Todd: Water.

Eucharia: Yeah, when I wake up I usually have 2 glasses of water and then at the moment I’m trying not to drink coffee and not to drink caffeine so at the moment it’s water but if I were given a choice normally it would be coffee.

Todd: OK, how about at night time. You’re at a party, which would you rather have - beer, wine or a cocktail?

Eucharia: It depends on the party. If I’m going dancing, cocktail. If I’m going out eating, wine and if it’s just friends getting together, beer.

Todd: You’re on an airplane and you’re flying across the ocean. What would you prefer to read - newspaper, a magazine or a book?

Eucharia: A book, definitely.

Todd: Yeah, why a book? That was a very strong answer.

Eucharia: I love reading. I have to read every night before I go to sleep for maybe 30 minutes so I really enjoy reading and I find that I emotionally engage with the book and what’s happening in the book and I forget the fact that I’m on a 12 hour intercontinent flight.

Todd: OK, good answer. You have to choose between 3 seasons - summer, fall or winter.

Eucharia: Summer.

Todd: Summer?

Eucharia: I love sunshine. I love heat. I can’t stand rain which is why I don’t live in my home country and I don’t like snow.

Todd: OK, I’m with you on that. OK, next one. To pass the time at night you can watch TV, you can check the internet or you can watch a movie, a dvd. What would you prefer?

Eucharia: Probably watching a dvd because, yeah if I’m on the internet I’m on the internet at work and so I don’t want to go on the internet late at night because I start thinking too much and I can’t sleep.

Todd: OK, last one. You’re at the beach. Would you prefer to - play a sport on the beach, on the sand, go in the water and swim or surf or lie on the beach and get a tan?

Eucharia: Lie on the beach and get a tan! Yep, I’m from a country we don’t see a lot of sunshine so I still get very excited when I see sunshine. I’ll go to the beach and maybe I’ll go to the water and swim a bit but my favourite thing is to lie on the beach with my book and get a tan.

Todd: OK. Thanks, Eucharia.

Eucharia: You’re welcome.

Views #1258 Greek Vacation Oct 09, 2013

In today's podcast, Daniel talks with Hana about her trip to Greece.

Go to elllo.org for the complete lesson for this audio.

Transcript of Conversation | elllo.org | #1259 Greek Vacation

Daniel: So we're talking about holidays. Is there any really, really good holidays that you remember?

Hana: Well, one of my favourite holidays was when I went to Greece a couple of years ago with my family.

Daniel: Wow, Greece, I've never been there. How is it? Sounds really, really nice.

Hana: Greece is a very beautiful country. The houses are ... everything is so white and the beaches are so beautiful.

Daniel: So what did you do in Greece?

Hana: Mainly I just relaxed at the swimming pool and at the beaches. And at night time I went shopping with my mum. And we had some really nice food too.

Daniel: Oh, that sounds really interesting, like the perfect holidays. So you said you went with your family, right?

Hana: Yes, I went with my mum and dad and brother.

Daniel: And for how long did you go there?

Hana: We went for four days. And when we went there was a big football tournament. And so everybody was so happy and excited. And at night times everybody will start dancing. And so me and my brother, we would join and dance with them.

Daniel: Cool! So did you get to see any of those matches of the tournament?

Hana: Yes, I went to see one match with my dad and I had so much fun.

Daniel: Oh, it sounds really cool, like really nice holidays.

Hana: Yes, it was one of my best holidays.

elllo.org

Episode 3 Education in Spain Sep 30, 2013

In the podcast today we listen to Adelina from Spain talk with Chris from Belgium about her thoughts on Education in her country.

This podcast is lesson #1255 on elllo.org

Here is the transcript to the coversation:

Chris: So Adelina, I guess it's not polite to ask a girl for her age, but you must be more or less like me, 31, you're in your early 30s or maybe a bit less?

Ade: Well I just turned 34.

Chris: Wow! Well you wouldn't say that. Well, what's your profession, what do you do?

Ade: I'm a translator.

Chris: Oh wow, translator. And how long do you have to study for that, let's say if you want to become a translator, how many years of study is that?

Ade: In that time it was five years, but now I think they cut it one year, so now it's only four.

Chris: Okay, right. And generally not only university or high school, but generally the education system in Spain, you think it's good, you think it's a good system?

Ade: I don't know, I'm not into that anymore. But I don't think it's good, I don't like it, no. No, because I think there are so many things that needs to be changed because we need to improve our education system with the time. We are in a technology era, okay, so I don't think they need to learn ... I don't know, the Second World War, you know, because it's not useful anymore. So I think there is a lack of languages in Spain. People don't speak languages at all, so they should focus a little bit more in teaching the kids how to speak another ... more foreign languages, you know. Plus, I think also there is a lack of ... make the kids unique. So you cannot teach everyone the same thing because each person has potential and special skills. So I think the teacher shall be know a lot their students and focus on their abilities and their skills and try to grow them, to make the kid be ... I don't know, more talented, more creative and this world will be much better, I think.

Chris: Yeah, it's true. Parents only want the best for their children and they choose for their children. And when you talk about teachers, I mean teachers as well, they don' t... I don't think they care the most, I mean maybe in their first year, but when they are 10 years in teaching, I don't think they will really focus on one kid and saying, "Let's go talk to their parents because this kid really has to do this or that."

Ade: Yeah, I don't know, lately I see a lot of news that the children are aggressive and is the poor situation of the teachers, they become like victims. But I think also that if the teenagers are aggressive it's because they feel lost, they don't know what to do with their lives. And that becomes frustration, and with the frustration comes the aggressive attitude, you know.

Chris: Yeah. Well it's only now if you look in Spain, as you say, on the other hand people study ... parents put a lot of money in their kids to study and have their diploma and then finally they graduate, but there's no job or maybe shall we leave that for another time, this discussion?

Ade: Yeah. But the thing is that it's too much theory and not practice. So they need to practice what they're going to do in the future you know. But I cannot save the world, so this is a topic, it really, really get out of my nerves. So yeah, as you said, maybe just stop in this point.

Chris: Okay. Well, thank you very much.

Episode 2: The Prank Aug 03, 2013

Shirley talks about a prank she played with her brothers as child.

Go to elllo.org/podcast/ for links to bonus material

(Start of Audio Script)

Hello, everybody and welcome to the podcast.

This is episode #2 - The Prank.

And in today's podcast we hear from Shirley and Yuri again. We heard them in episode #1 talking about the shack. Shirley is from Scotland and Yuri is from Italy. And today, we hear about a prank Shirley did as child.

Now, a prank is like a joke you play on other people, and it makes you laugh, but maybe the people who you play the prank on, they don't know what's happening. So here, we're going to hear Shirley talk about a pretty good prank she did with her brothers when she was little.

So let's go ahead and listen, and we'll come back at the end of the podcast.

(Start of Conversation)

Yuri: So, Shirley, we were talking about childhood memories. And you're from Scotland. Is there anything from your childhood that you can tell us?

Shirley: I've got a really funny story actually. Maybe I was about ten years old or something, and we used to have this little kind of shack in the countryside that we were dragged to every weekend, and away from civilization, you know, and no running water, no electricity. So we kids had to make our own fun. I've got my brothers, myself, and a couple of cousins, we would always go there at weekends or school holidays or something, and one of the highlights was to go to the Sunday School, the Sunday morning church service, and the reason ... one of the reasons this was attractive to the kids was because they bribed us to go there by giving us sweets when got there, so it was great. So we always went anyway. It was a church service for about an hour, singing hymns and stuff like that. Anyway, this one Sunday we arrived early, about half an hour early. There was nobody there. The church wasn't open yet, so it was, as most people know, it rains a lot in Scotland, so on that rainy day, we all were wearing our cagoules which is a kind a rain jacket with a big pocket in the front, and while we were waiting for everybody else to arrive, we started just kind of playing around in the trees. There was a little river nearby, and it was at the time of year when the tadpoles were turning into baby frogs, so we got this crazy idea to collect all these ... I'm talking hundreds of frogs were around, so we all got a big handful of baby frogs, put them in the big pocket of our cagoule, went off into church. So there we are, we're kind of in the middle of the crowd. You know, we weren't at the front of the back, kind of in the middle, and everybody's standing up singing the hymns, and really getting into, you know, the church singing and stuff like that, and then we decided that we would get the frogs out, so each of us, one at a time, one of us kids, one at a time kind of crouched down like we were tying our shoe lace, and let all of these frogs out of our pockets, so these tiny little frogs started jumping all over the church, and there's all these ladies in their Sunday best and started squealing and screaming and the minister didn't know what was going on, and he's trying to keep everybody calm, and we're just singing along with the hymn, you know, we're really innocent and they had no idea, cause they didn't see us do it, so they had no idea what had happened, and yeah, we got away with it. We didn't get told off, cause we didn't get caught, and yeah, when after the church service, you know, we had such a laugh after the church service, and yeah, that's one of my greatest childhood memories. Getting up to mischief with my brothers.

(End of Conversation)

So, what do you think? Was it a good prank?

I think so. That's pretty brave. Wow! Doing that in church? Man! I don't think I was that brave as a child to do something like that in church. I'm very impressed because that's a pretty good prank.

What about you? Were you ever naughty as a child? Did you ever play a prank on anybody else?

As for me, I was a pretty good kid, but I idid get in trouble a few times. Maybe in another podcast I might share my prank story. But for now, I think I'll wait.

And as for today's podcast remember, you can go to elllo.org/podcast/ for links to this episode and many, many more. Also, remember at elllo.org there are thousands of listening activities especially made for English language students, like you to help you improve your English.

We have many, many real conversations from speakers all over the world. just like Shirley and Yuri. And we have quizzes, vocabulary as MP3, videos and much much more.

So, stop by and learn anytime. And that's it for today.

Thanks everybody. I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and we will talk to you soon.

Episode 1: The Shack Aug 03, 2013

In today's show we will here Shirley from Scotland talk about a special place she visited as a child. She talks with Yuri from Italy.

Visit elllo.org #998 by going here for multimedia and lesson activities.

(Transcript of audio)

elllo, everybody, welcome to the elllo podcast.

today we are going to talk about summer, or summer memories.

We are going to hear Sharon from Scottland and Yuri and from Italy.

Sharon will share her memories of a special place she visited as a child.

Enjoy!

(Start of transcript)

Yuri: So Shirley, you were talking about the shack. Can you tell me some more about it?

Shirley: OK, well, the shack - not as horrible as it might sound. I was actually born in the city, and yeah, grew up on the edge of the city of Glasgow, and my parents ... maybe I was about seven or eight years old ... my parents decided they would buy this little wooden house in the country side, only about forty-five minutes drive from where we lived, but right in the countryside, and it was really basic. It was huge. It looked like a barn, and my parents wanted to try and make it into something livable like a holiday house that we could go to on the weekends and summer holidays and stuff, so anyway we went there ... for the first time we went, it still looked like a barn, and had some beds in it and stuff like that, but no running water, no electricity, no toilet, no bath, no shower. It was like a barn in the middle of nowhere, so as you know, me and my brothers, we are kind of raised in the city, and although, you know we were kids way before video games and iPods and things like that, there was no TV. That was the biggest tragedy. There was no TV, and we though what on earth can we do up here? It's like we're in the middle of nowhere, how boring this summer holiday's gonna be, so we just had to you know, try and figure out how we we're gonna enjoy this holiday and what could we do with no television.

Yuri: Yes, exactly, what did you do? How did you spend you days?

Shirley: We were out in the country side. I mean, you just need to go out and look, and there's so many possibilities to have fun: making tree houses, making dens out of the woodland ferns and things like that, going on searches for frogs. We seemed to do that a lot. Poor frogs. We made like a tennis court out in the front of the ... we called it the hut. Right, I keep calling it a barn or a shack, but actually what we called it was a hut, although it was a really huge kind of wooden house, and so yeah, we made up a kind of a tennis court and when it wasn't raining we could play tennis.

We had to go collect water from a well near like, I don't know, maybe four hundred meters away, and we'd always have to go in twos because of course there's always an argument with kids. I did it last time. He has to do it this time. So we always had to go in pairs to get the water. For lights we'd just use a gas lamps. For cooking it was a kind of two stove ... two ring stove, connected to a gas bottle. We did have television, which was powered by a car battery, so we would save that until Saturday night, because always on a Saturday night there was a movie, so we would save the car battery power for the Saturday night movie, and it would usually last until the end of the movie.

Yuri: So it was a bit like camping.

Shirley: Yeah, yeah, I suppose but like camping, only thankfully we didn't get wet when it rained.

(end of transcript)

And that's it for today.

Thanks for listening. This conversation is #998 on elllo.org

Remember you can visit elllo.org for 1000s of English conversation, all with a quiz and vocab support.

Videos too! So stop by if you want to improve your English.

Thanks it for today. Thanks everyone!

Talk to you later.