Emma's ESL English
Episodes
Episode 247 Is this the end...maybe...
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thank you so much for tuning in to Emma's ESL English for three years and 246 episodes! I really appreciate all your time, clicks and the occasion...
Episode 246 The Tale Behind Peter Rabbit: Beatrix Potter’s Life & Legacy
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
📚 In this special episode of Emma’s ESL English, we’re celebrating the life and legacy of beloved British writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter...
Episode 245 What’s a Thingamajig? Words for When You Forget the Word!
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
🌼 Welcome back to Emma’s ESL English, still recording in my grandma’s garden—complete with sunshine, thunderbugs, and roses.Today we’re tal...
Episode 244 10 FREE Tools to Improve Your English Writing Instantly—Without Studying More
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
✏️ Struggling with writing in English? Whether you’re writing emails, essays, or presentations, I’ve got you covered. In this episode of Emma’...
Episode 243 Why Is English So Weird? Exploring More Strange Idioms
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
English is full of bizarre idioms that make little sense—yet we use them all the time! Remember, most British people don't study idioms at schoo...
Episode 242 Tom Cruise’s Most Iconic Movie Quotes – From Top Gun to Jerry Maguire
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Emma’s ESL English, we take a thoughtful look at Tom Cruise’s career and his most memorable movie quotes. From Top Gun’s icon...
Episode 241 George Orwell & The Erasure of History—1984’s Warning for Today
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tomorrow is the birth date of famous dystopian British writer George Orwell. In this episode find out more about his interesting and unusual life and ...
Episode 240 More Weird British Idioms You Should Know (But Probably Won’t Use!)
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
English is full of strange idioms, and today we’re diving into some bizarre British expressions you might hear! Some of these are quite common, espe...
Episode 239 Mastering L & R Sounds: Essential Pronunciation Tips for ESL Learners
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
🗣️ Struggling with L & R sounds in English? You're not alone! Many ESL learners, especially those from Asian language backgrounds, find i...
Episode 238 Daily English vs. Novel English: A Guide for ESL Learners
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
🚀 Take your English reading skills to the next level! Don’t let descriptive writing slow you down—learn how to tackle novels with confidence.📚...
Episode 237 British Idioms That Make No Sense (But We Say Them Anyway)
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
British idioms can be totally baffling—what on earth does “she’s absolutely cream crackered” mean? 🤯 In this episode, we unpack some of the...
Episode 236 Real British English: UK Dialect Words You’ve Never Heard Before
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hello and welcome back to Emma’s ESL English! This week, we’re diving into some brilliant and bizarre British dialect words — from sea fog calle...
Episode 235 Real British English: Why Strangers Might Call You "Love" or "Pet"
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Emma's ESL English! This week we’re diving into the quirky regional terms of endearment for strangers you might hear across the UK —...
Episode 234 British Accents Explained: Why the UK Doesn’t Sound Like You Expect
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Emma’s ESL English! This episode kicks off a three-part series on real British English—and today, we’re diving into British accents. ...
Episode 233 English Listening Practise - The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - Don't Panic!
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Emma's ESL English!Today, we're doing something a little different—and a lot of fun! I'm reading an excerpt from the famous B...
Episode 232 We're snowed under with weather idioms
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I went to look for weather idioms last month, and discovered none of them were about the weather! So today we're reviewing weather idioms that you...
Episode 231 Use English Greetings Like a Native Speaker!
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're covering a common question from students:It it OK to just answer 'how are you?' with 'I'm fine'. Yes! We'll al...
Episode 230 English Big Day Birthday Idioms and Phrases
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today it's my birthday! So we're covering some common idioms and phrases you might hear people use when talking about birthdays. Today's V...
Episode 229 Come With Me To Scotland! We're off to Helensburgh and Glasgow
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last month I went to Scotland with my Mum. We went first to Helensburgh, the town where I went to high school, then to visit my piano teacher and fina...
Episode 228 English Listening Practise - Reading from Terry Pratchett's Raising Steam
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I will read a short excerpt from Terry Pratchett's Raising Steam. In this section we are in a dwarf meeting. We hear the king and ...
Episode 227 Are you getting confused between SO and TOO when you speak English? Let me help.
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're looking at a little known grammar point called 'intensifiers'. These words are used to intensify adjectives and adverbs. I...
Episode 226 Stop Saying 'I'm Stressful' – How to Talk About Stress in English Like a Native
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Emma's ESL English! 🌟Today, we're diving into a very common English mistake: "I'm stressful about English." 😬If...
Episode 225 English Reading - Dr Martin Luther King Jr's Letter From Birmingham Jail
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week I'm reading a short excerpt from Dr Martin Luther King Jr's Letter from Birmingham Jail. Written on April 16th 1963 and addressed to...
Episode 224 The Greatest Chinese Adventure Story You've Never Heard - Part 2
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're continuing our story about China's great expedition to discover the world.As I mentioned last week, everything comes from Gavi...
Episode 223 The Greatest Chinese Adventure Story You've Never Heard - Part 1
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're heading to China for an adventure story. I read this book last year and it was so good, but I couldn't figure out how to share it with...
Episode 222 How Language Shapes Culture (And Changes How You See the World)
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered how language shapes the way we see the world? In this episode of Emma’s ESL English, we explore an eye-opening story about th...
Episode 221 Story time - Careers Advice from Chat GPT
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back! I hope you all had a great holiday period, Happy New Year! 🥳 This week I wanted to give you a little life update, so I guess it'...
Episode 220 Time To Plan For 2025
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Episode 218 we covered how to review your year, this is an important step, don't miss it. I know it can feel frustrating or even cringy to review t...
Episode 219 Special Christmas Video - Take A Trip To An English Country House
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week I have something a little different for you. Last year my family and I went to Castle Howard. This is an English country home in Yorkshire t...
Episode 218 Time To Review
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Wow! Here we are again, at the end of the year! For those of you who have been with me for a while, you will know what's coming, review and plan. In ...
Episode 217 Analysis of Terry Pratchett's The Last Hero
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're analysing last week's reading. I'll talk you through some of the references and vocabulary. I'll also put the vocabulary list below. ...
Episode 216 Christmas Reading: Terry Pratchett's The Last Hero
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have the inevitable Pratchett Christmas reading. I hope you enjoy. This is taken from The Last Hero, a book about Cohen The Barbarian (th...
Episode 215 English idioms are bad enough, but we're doing what now?😣🙀
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago one of my students brought me some phrases. She couldn't really work out what they meant, and the context wasn't helping. I was very q...
Episode 214 How to use Engoo to practise thinking in English
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're reading another Engoo Article: Level up your language skills by thinking in English. I'll give you some ideas about how you can use ...
Episode 213 English Pronunciation - Avoid falling foul of the English 'F' sound
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have a bit of a silly episode focused on the pronunciation of the 'f' sound. Episode 87 covers more pronunciation. You can find the You...
Episode 212 I'm not holding my horses for someone who goes at a snails pace!
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're looking at animal idioms. Surprisingly there's not as many of these as you might imagine (there's far more of the body part ones from ...
Episode 211 I've got a list of English idioms as long as my arm!
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're learning some English idioms that use body parts! There are SO many of these so do Google for more if you'd like. I mentioned Rob Wo...
Episode 210 A Day Trip to Buttermere in The Lake District National Park
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're going on a little road trip. We're going into the Lake District National Park in the North West of England. We're specifically going f...
Episode 209 Scam Alert! Story time
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Several months ago I got scammed. It took hours out of my time, both in the original phone call and in cleaning up the mess. And a lot of stress. This...
Episode 208 I'm back! Let's catch up about my decorating!
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm back doing episodes this week and we're starting this month with a series of stories. The first is just a little update on my decorating, since t...
Episode 207 The most annoying thing about learning English is also it's best point!
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do you get frustrated with the need to learn three different words to describe the same thing in English? Do we really need all of these varieties? Wh...
Episode 206 Speaking English in Stressful Environments or Situations
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to the channel! In this episode I answer a learner question: how do I speak English well at a conference? In this episode we'll div...
And I'm back! ...sort of
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Just a quick update for everyone, I know it's been a while. I haven't disappeared, but I have been busy. There will be new episodes uploaded...
Episode 149 UK Queer History, Be An LGBTQIA Ally AND Improve Your English!
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's celebration of Pride we have an episode about the history of LGBTQ history in the UK. Unfortunately we do seem to be going backward...
Episode 159 Everything You Need To Know About The English Word 'Overwhelmed'
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're studying a confusing English word: 'overwhelm'. This is a very over-used word, so the most important thing to understand is th...
Episode 160 How To Use TED.Ed Effectively To Learn English
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's episode we're looking at the website TED.com. ...well, I'm talking about it, you can go look at it! 😉 I'll teach you: 1....
Episode 205 English Phrases, Proverbs and Idioms To Talk About The Future
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A while ago I was talking to a Taiwanese student and he said 'I'll leave it for my future self to handle'. We talked for a while about thi...
Episode 204 It Can Be Quite Hard To Use 'Quite' Correctly
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
'Quite' is such a common word in English. As you'll see from my closing statement, it's even possible to put it in almost every senten...
Episode 203 Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men - Analysis
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday I read from Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men, today let's take a look at the vocabulary. Luckily the vocabulary in this episode is mu...
Episode 202 Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men - A Tiffany Aching Story
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the podcast we have another reading episode. This is one of my favourite books and the very first Discworld novel I ever read. It is The ...
Time For An Announcement
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Thank you so much to all my podcast listeners, I didn't mention you much in the video, but this is where it all started. I know you have been list...
Episode 201 An Analysis of The Confession Scene in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday I read a famous scene from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Today let's review the vocabulary and meaning of some of the conversation. ...
Episode 200 Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, The Confession.
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the day before Valentine's day, I'm reading from the grand romantic story, Jane Eyre. This little bit is from the moment Mr Rochest...
Episode 199 How The Beatles Broke America
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we are talking about the Beatles very first trip to America. This tour was short but soon followed by one of the most famous and groundbreak...
Episode 198 Prepare For The Cultural Differences In English Interviews
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we are finally completing our series on Interview English. You can find all of these episodes in the Business English Playlist. This time w...
Episode 197 Freya Stark, Explorer and Travel Writer
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we are learning about the famous explorer and travel writer Freya Stark. She wrote many travel books and focused her books on the Middle Eas...
Episode 196 Presentations When English Isn't Your First Language
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're continuing our series on Interview English and we're focusing on Presentations. There are videos about this in the Business En...
Episode 195 Britain's Great Wall Builder
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have a short listening episode to celebrate Emperor Hadrian's birthday. This Roman emperor is probably one of the most famous in the ...
Episode 194 Tips To Ace Your International Interview
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing our Interview series, today I want to talk about how, in an interview situation, certain aspects of vocabulary, etiquette, and tone of voic...
Episode 193 Common English Terms Related To Interviews
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we are talking about some English terms that are related to interviews, you might read them during the application process, hear them during an ...
Episode 192 Ride Shotgun With Me While We Read a Romance Novel
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're reading a short excerpt from Jill Shalvis's novel 'Almost Just Friends'. This is an American romance novel. Jill has writt...
Episode 191 Introducing Yourself In an English Interview
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week is the beginning of a new series about Interviews in English, I hope you will find it useful if you're planning for applying for a new j...
Episode 190 Couch Potato or Sofa Potato? Is there a right answer?
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week's episode comes from a question from a student who heard this phrase from a colleague and wondered what was wrong. They asked me what wa...
Episode 189 Let Last Year Go! Take What You Need And Move On!
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this peppy episode we're talking about letting go. It's really easy to take all of the analysis we have done over the last few weeks and sp...
Episode 188 Happy New Year and Reading and Understanding Auld Lang Syne
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year! Every year, right at midnight, at parties around the world people hold hands and sing a song. In the English speaking world there is o...
Episode 187 Build Yourself A Ladder To Succeed
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're thinking about the past and thinking about what we want to achieve in the future. We're looking at what has worked before in y...
Episode 186 Christmas Reading from Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Christmas Day may be over but our Christmas readings are not! This year I'm reading an excerpt from Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. In this stor...
Episode 185 Time To Plan Some Achievable Goals For Next Year
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week your task is to set yourself some actionable goals for next year. Keeping in mind what you thought about last week regarding what was succes...
Episode 184 Christmas Reading - The Elves And The Shoemaker
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week we are reading the most Christmassy Brother's Grimm story (only because it actually mentions Christmas and involves presents!). Note: P...
Episode 183 Learning Goals Check In/Appreciation
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're analysing, along with your test results, where you are now in your learning journey. We want to know whether things are going well...
Episode 182 Can You Recognise English Metaphors And Similes From Discworld?
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today on the podcast we're learning about similes and metaphors. I find these two very confusing and so look for the core differences between them...
Episode 181 Test Your English Skills Today!🧐
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're getting ready for the new year. This is the first in a series of episodes, going out on Wednesdays that will walk you through the ...
Episode 180 International Influences On The English Language 4
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're looking at some of the other influences on English, including the Vikings and Indian and African languages. English really is an inter...
Episode 179 Why Is English Spelling So Hard?😱
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're looking at some of English's weirdly spelled words and we're following them back through their roots to find out where they ca...
Episode 178 Score With Some Great English Idioms
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we're back to normal and studying some idioms. Some of my regular students will recognise their stories in this episode, I hope th...
Episode 177 Don't Forget The English Of Government
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we have a brief overview of bureaucracy or the English of government. This is the English that you'll find in diplomatic and gover...
Episode 176 What's The Point of Technical English?
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today on the podcast we have a short episode introducing Technical English. In general this is a branch of English that you don't need to worry ab...
Episode 175 Why You Should Speak English Abroad
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today on the podcast we have the second episode about Travel English. This time we're talking about speaking English in foreign countries where En...
Episode 174 Speak English While Holidaying In English Speaking Countries
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have two episodes about Travel English. This first episode is specifically about traveling to predominantly English speaking nations. I&...
Episode 173 Is Financial English Useful To Learn?
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today on the episode we were talking about Financial English. This is a branch of English that serves the finance and accountancy sector. For most of ...
Episode 172 Do You Need To Study Academic English?
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we were talking about Academic English. This is an internationally recognised branch of English that often has longer sentences and mo...
Episode 171 How To Start A Conversation About Music
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we look at how we can talk about music. It's always a good idea to know some different music categories so that you can have an ea...
Episode 170 How To Make Your English Polite Enough For Business
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we're looking at how to use your tone to make your English more polite and consequently more acceptable in business situations. I...
Episode 169 What is Daylight Savings Time? Why Do We Change The Clocks?
29 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the 29th of October everyone in the UK will be changing their clocks. We'll move them one hour back. This is very frustrating for many of us w...
Episode 168 Use Murder Mystery Shows To Improve Your English!
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week is Angela Lansbury's birthday. This wonderful actress had a very long and varied career which included playing two famous detectives. Du...
Episode 167 Small Talk Conversation Topics For Weddings
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the last few weeks we've talked a lot about culture and what to expect at weddings, but I forgot to talk about the English! So this week I...
Episode 166b What To Expect At A British Wedding Reception (Party) And Wedding Vocabulary
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today on the podcast we're completing the conversation about weddings. I'll talk what you can expect at the wedding reception, which is the p...
Episode 166a What To Expect At A British Wedding Ceremony And Wedding Vocabulary
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago I went to my cousin's wedding. It was held at a wedding venue in the woods. This week we'll spend two episodes talking about ...
Episode 165 Learn English Conversation With Romance Movies
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the podcast we're studying some commonly occurring vocabulary that I found in two RomCom (Romantic Comedy) movies on Amazon. These m...
Episode 164 What You Need To Know About Yourself To Make Learning Anything Easier
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are many things that can make learning a language easier or more difficult. In this episode I'll talk about three things I think are vital i...
Episode 163 Taiwanese Students, Avoid This Common Mistake When Speaking English
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we will look at a very common mistake in Taiwan. This mistake has come about because many people commonly directly translate from the...
Episode 162 Celebrating Freddie Mercury's Life And Songs
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today is Queen rock star Freddie Mercury's birthday. In celebration we have a listening episode all about him, his bandmates and his songs. Did y...
Episode 161 Judgement Day - Lessons From Sci-fi That We're Not Applying Today
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today is the original Judgement Day as stated in the 1984 film Terminator. Check out the original trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k64P4...
Episode 158 Celebrate Thomas Telford: What Did He Build? And Why Do We Still Care?
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the podcast we're celebrating the birth of famous British (Scottish) Civil Engineer, Thomas Telford. This is a great lesson to pract...
Episode 157 How to Use YouTube News Reports To Improve Your English
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, similar to episode 155, we're going to look at Meta Thread's Launch, but this time, instead of looking at written articles on...
Episode 156 Everything You Need To Know About How To Correctly Use 'EVEN' In A Sentence.
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're answering a student's question about 'even'. This word seems so small and innocent, but...you know, it's still Eng...
Episode 155 How To Use Current News Articles To Learn English
19 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're reading an article from Reuters about the release of the online App from Meta, Threads and it's competition with Twitter. You can ...
Episode 154 Learn The Most English From Your Articles With These Tips!
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week I'm showing you how I would use two articles as learning sources to practise English. Remember, you can use this system, or take it apar...
Episode 153 How To Be More Deliberate When You Speak English
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A while ago I made a short as part of the Escape the Plateau series on the YouTube channel, giving you tips to help you get unstuck with your English....
Episode 152 How To Make a Learning Plan Taking Goals Into Account
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Episode 128 we talked about making good goals for your English. In this episode we're going to talk about how to break those goals down into ea...