Personal experiences: Recent Episodes
Personal experiences
Is the thrill of the crowd worth the ticket price, or does the TV offer the ultimate front-row seat? In this podcast, we dive into the pros and cons of watching live events versus enjoying the action on TV, in other words; Stadium Buzz vs. Sofa Comfort..
Imagine the Olympics without drug testing — well, that’s the Enhanced Games planned to, take place in May 2026. The aim is to allow performance-enhancing technologies without restriction to see how human physical capacities can be pushed to the limit. What do you think? Which words come to mind ? Dangerous? Unethical? Progress? A glimpse into the future? Listen in to hear more.
Ever heard of a SWOT ? It's often used to assess the feasibility and progress of projects, but how about applying it to your language learning ? It's a great way to kick start your motivation and learning plan by assessing your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunties and Threats. Listen in to find out more.
In this podcast we look into the origins of streets names, roads, lanes, and alleys. We explore historic figures, battles, trades and forgotten landmarks, revealing hidden histories, quirky tales, and cultural insights. This podcast will prove that street names exist for a reason.... but spoiler alert: a King didn't live in every “King Street”!
Are you tempted by that doughnut with a generous helping of cream ? Well, you're not alone! Do you consider sugar as a sweet friend or sneaky foe? What about natural sugars in fruit? How much sugar is hidden in savoury dishes ? Listen in to find out more about sugars and where they hide in our diet.
What's your experience of working from home? Does it suit your line of work? Do you feel more efficient or less? This podcast was recorded during the Covid lockdown when working from home was new to us all. How has it changed over the years? It's interesting to look back and see how attitudes have changed.
Listen as Sue tells Chris about her holiday in Fes, Morocco. Did she visit all the 9, 000 streets? What did she think of the Medina? How does Fes compare to other cities in Morocco? Did she buy a fes hat? What does she say about gold? What do you think surprised her? What wasn't she keen on? How many times did she eat a Tagine? Have you been to Morocco ? Let us know, we'd love to hear about your experiences.
In this podcast, we talk about music and more precisely the "sound track of our lives". This is based on the BBC's long running radio show Desert Island Discs in which the interviewee has to imagine they are castaway on a desert island with only 8 disc to listen to. it's a great way to find out about people, so listen in to Chris' 8 discs and why he chose them.
In this podcast, we talk about music and more precisely the "sound track of our lives". This is based on the BBC's long running radio show Desert Island Discs in which the interviewee has to imagine they are castaway on a desert island with only 8 disc to listen to. it's a great way to find out about people, so listen in to Sue's 8 discs and why she chose them.
In this podcast, Chris helps Sue book a holiday aboard in real time, you'll hear clicks, and some mis-clicks, as they decide where to go. Sue has a budget, but not much of an idea, whereas Chris loves to surf the web to find lots of options. As a language learner, you can practice understanding flight times, dates, times, costs and destinations.
In this podcast, we hear from 4 people who describe some of their health issues; being stung by a bee, breaking both ankles at the same time, suffering with back pain and feeling the effects of a hangover... all the vocabulary you'll ever need to describe health mishaps.
In this podcast, we are on holiday in New York! Listen as Sue chats to Laura about their holiday in The Big Apple. Not only will you hear about some of the top places to visit but also you'll hear great grammar; the Present Perfect, the Present Continuous used to describe future plans as well as current situations.... in short everything you need to talk about your trips wherever you go.
In this podcast, Chris talks Sue through how to buy and sell on-line. There is a ton of useful vocabulary and even some great safety tips when using on-line sites.
In this podcast, Sue, as a European, listens in amazement to Cindy, an American from North Carolina, as she describes her everyday life living with guns in the USA. Cindy recounts why she needs to own a gun, how she practices shooting and how the constitution allows American citizens to carry an arm (and shoot) for their own protection. Whatever your view of guns, this podcast will fascinate you.
What are the benefits of learning a new language ? Will it make you more intelligent, make you open minded and even help with job opportunities? Listen as Laura describes her experience growing up speaking French and English.
In this podcast, Chris who has never (ever) seen a Star Wars film, interviews movie goers as they leave the cinema after watching the film Star Wars – The Force Awakens, just to see what all the fuss is about. Listen in as people give their opinion of the film just as they are leaving the cinema, it's hot off the press with authentic excitement and street noise too.
Have you ever heard of the term, “Vanlife?” , or ever seen the hashtag #Vanlife ?It is a growing trend where people convert vans to a fully contained living area that enables them to travel and work virtually anywhere in the world whilst pursuing their dream of travel, discovery and adventure.Listen to Chris telling Sue about a project that he has to buy and convert a van for a future tour that will include every European capital city,
In this podcast, Sue chats to 2 Canadians about life in Canada. We know it can get cold, but how cold ? We know there are many lakes, but how many? Listen in to the podcast to find out more about this country with amazing landscapes and very friendly people.
In this podcast, we catch up with Craig, an Irish guy living in Spain, who tells us all about he used to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day and what he does now.We talk about what the Irish drink, where they drink, what they wear and who Sant Patrick was.
In this podcast we hear from Ahmed who was born in Gaza, Palestine. He describes his home and how he left Gaza. The podcast was recorded in 2018, before the current war, so it's an interesting insight into life before.This podcast is for language learning purposes and does not express any political or religious view point.
In this podcast, Sue asks Chris all about his trip to India where he ticked many things off his bucket list, including seeing elephants in the wild..
Do you sometimes go on holiday and are surprised by what you find there? Find out what surprised Sue when she went to Cape Town on holiday.What do you know about Cape Town ? Find out about the politics, the weather, the geography, the shopping and the wine in this podcast.
Desert Island Discs is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings, a book and a luxury item that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices.Here, it's Chris' turn to talk about his eight favourite tracks and what they mean to him, so there is a lot of reminiscing about the past and fond memories evoked by music.
Desert Island Discs is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings, a book and a luxury item that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices.Here, Susan talks about her eight favourite tracks and what they mean to her, so there is a lot of reminiscing about the past and fond memories evoked by music.
An American woman describes her everyday life living with guns to a European, who listens in amazement,
Have you ever sold anything online? In recent years it has become part of our everyday life. The internet is full of sites specializing in selling second-hand items from houses, to cars, to handbags, to children's toys. Listen as Sue asks Chris about his experience, about the benefits and the pitfalls.
Do you know what yoga is all about?
Yoga is an ancient and complex practice, rooted in Indian philosophy, which began as a spiritual practice but has become popular as a way of promoting physical and mental wellbeing.
Yoga typically emphasizes physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation (dyana).
There are many different yoga styles, ranging from gentle practices to physically demanding ones.
Listen to this in-depth discussion with Renu an Ayuverda specialist based in Rishikesh in northern India on the basic tenets of Yoga.
A bucket list is a list of activities or things that people really want to do before they die, as depicted by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in the 2007 film of the same name, where two people realise their wildest dreams.
In this podcast Sue and Chris talk about a Bucket lists.
Before listening, do you know what bucket lists are?
While listening.
-
Does Sue want to swim with dolphins?
-
Where does Chris want to go for his bucket list?
-
Where does Sue say she thinks the Northern Lights are?
Listen to the podcast and try the following :
First relax, sit down, close your eyes then listen to the podcast all the way through. Note down some ideas of what you expect the Podcast will be about. If needed have a look on the Internet for the keyword, 'Bucket Lists' to prepare yourself for the listening. Listen to JUST Sue, ignoring Chris and try to work out globally what her questions and comments are. (you won't understand everything, so there is no point trying at this point.) Listen to just Chris as above. Now go back and listen to Sue - take a sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle, on the left of the paper, write any ideas that you have of what Sue was talking about. Now do the same for Chris. Now listen to the podcast all the way through THEN write down any more ideas that you have about the podcast. Leave the podcast for a day or two, then come back and listen. Do you understand any more than from the first session of listening you did? How do you rate the difficulty level for you? (Too difficult at the moment / A challenge / I understand enough). When will you return to this podcast to check your listening progress?
Remember :
You won't understand everything you hear. There is a lot of regular work to do to tune your ear into Real English - you need to work on listening regularly. NEVER write notes at the same time that you are listening. ALWAYS - try to set yourself realistic objectives. REMEMBER - this is just a part of your learning and you need to be able to connect this work with your other work. This is REAL English - we don't believe that slow, over-articulated speech prepares learners for the real world - you may be able to understand an audio extract that is spoken slowly, but what good is that if you don't understand real people in real situations. At english-podcasts.com we want to help you to be ready for the real world - it will be difficult at first, but later you will feel the benefit - it is just pure, common sense.
Why not try this quiz to give you ideas as to what to put on your Bucket list.
There is no doubt that the successive lockdowns of 2020-21 have dramatically changed our daily lives on so many levels, and figures show that more people have experienced anxiety due to the social, financial and work restrictions that have been placed on us.
The workplace is a very demanding, quick-paced and increasingly uncertain place in which we operate on a day-to-day basis, but does it always have to be a stressful place?.
Pressure to meet deadlines, deliverables and working with difficult people, among other factors, puts modern employees under unreasonable amounts of stress.
In fact, being constantly stressed out is so universal that many people have accepted it as unpleasant, but a way of life - it has become the norm.
While a certain amount of stress is acceptable and can actually be beneficial for you—keeping you alert and focused, helping you cope well with challenges—beyond a certain acceptable limit, stress is nothing but bad for you, if it is not channelled and managed.
Not only does it affect your mental stability but also your health, relationships, productivity at work, and overall quality of life.
People are different, so we all react differently to the same set of circumstances; something that one person may find stressful, another may regard as only mildly challenging or even normal.
How you tolerate and respond to stress depends not only on the particularities of your situation but also on what type of person you are; your natural inclinations, beliefs and behaviors.
In this podcast we look at some of the ways that workplace stress impacts people and we look at :
Stress trends in the 21st century What stress looks like in the workplace The effects of stress The cost of stress Is your workplace causing you stress?
Victoria's Gap Year Listen to Victoria talking to Susan about what she did in Victoria's Gap Year and see if there are any differences between what she did and what others do, as set out below or in Gapyear.com.
In the professional or career world, a gap year is a year before going to college or university and after finishing high school or taking a year off before going into graduate school after completing a bachelor as an undergraduate.
It is also known as a sabbatical year. During this time students may engage in advanced academic courses, extra-academic courses and non-academic courses, such as yearlong pre-college math courses, language studies, learning a trade, art studies, volunteer work, travel, internships, sports and more.
Gap years are sometimes urged as a way for students to become independent and learn a great deal of responsibility prior to engaging in university life.
Have a look at the site GapYear that includes a community and ideas of things to do during a gap year.
Florian Bucket list Listen to Florian's bucket list, but try the pre-listening questions first.
A bucket list is a list of items, challenges etc., that people want to do before they die.
A check-list of lifetime wishes that people really want to do at some point in their life.
Some are just wild dreams that will never be achieved, but some people really stick to their dreams and do everything within their powers to achieve their goals.
The ideas for bucket list have been used to make a film, where billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and car mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) are complete strangers, until fate lands them in the same hospital room.
The men find they have two things in common: a need to come to terms with who they are and what they have done with their lives, and a desire to complete a list of things they want to see and do before they die.
Against their doctor's advice, the men leave the hospital and set out on the adventure of a lifetime.
Listen to Florian speak about his bucket list (Florian Bucket list) - don't worry about any small mistakes that he has made, they can help both him and you - see this blog post on mistakes in learning - Learners, learn to love your mistakes.
Before you listen to the podcast (Florian Bucket list), think about the following questions :
How long is the road, that he wants to travel in Florian's bucket list? Which activities that are mentioned in Florian's bucket list has he done before? Has he ever been to any of the countries that he wants to go to? How many countries does Florian mention in the podcast? Are there any items on Florian's bucket list that you would add to your own, personal bucket list? What would you add as an item on your bucket list (you can note them in the comments below).
Explore your bucket list and over 3 million other goals for bucket lists.
May the Best House Win was a British lifestyle game show that aired on ITV from 22 February 2010 to 24 June 2013 and was narrated by Guy Porritt. The show sees four proud homeowners compete to win £1,000 by showing off their homes to the other contestants, who will then rate their home based on their interior design, homeliness, comfort, and hospitality.
This series was about Brits living in France and Spain.
Best Experiences - Laura Listen to Laura, an English woman, talk about her best experiences in The 2012 London Olympics.
What were the highlights for her?
Who did she meet?
What was her favourite souvenir from this event?
Listen to Valérie talking about her best experiences, notably of parachute jumping.
Listen carefully to what she found exciting and what she was scared of.
What were your best experiences?
Listen to Susan talking about how she learnt French, including some useful tips for learners of other languages.
Have you ever lived in a foreign country?
Have you ever had experiences of living or working in a different culture?
Listen to the Rebecca, an Australian, talking about her experiences of living in several countries and the cultural and linguistic hurdles she had to over come.
Listen to Fred talk about the items that he has on his bucket list that he would like to achieve.
Henri is just starting out with learning English, but kindly agreed to talk to us about the things that he really want to do and achieve in his life.
Listen to Etienne talking about his bucket list, the things that he really wants to do or to achieve.
What is a Podblog? Any ideas?
It's a contraction of Podcast and Blog, which is what we have here at EFL PodBlog.
For more information, have a listen to the podcast.
Chris & Sue Meet Chris & Sue Meet for the first time to talk about the idea of starting a podcasting site for learners of English as a second language.
This was the very beginning of EFL PodBlog.
Susan and Laura Susan and Laura talk about their best experieces - listen to what Laura considers as her best experiences.
Susan Meets Leïla Susan Meets Leïla to chat about jobs, interests etc.
https://english-podcasts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Susan-meets-Leïla.m4a
London Tube or Paris Metro which is best? In this podcast Chris and Sue compare their favourite underground systems; London and Paris. Sue loves the London underground whereas Chris is a fan of the Paris metro. Why, Why, Why ???
Listen as they attempt to prove which one is the best with the most interesting facts Google could provide ! Be ready for the challenge of numbers, numbers, numbers as Chris and Sue try to show off their knowledge of the underground systems and try to catch each other out with tricky questions!
Before listening take this opportunity to review how we compare facts.
Adjectives Comparatives Superlatives
Long Longer than The longest
Easy Easier than The easiest
Comfortable More comfortable than The most comfortable
You will also hear the comparatives/superlatives of these adjectives: old - fast - expensive - deep - short - far - complicated
Also listen out for the adjectives and the nouns used in this conversation especially when Chris and Sue ask each other questions:
Long The length
Deep The depth
High The height
Wide The width
How long is the system? How many stations are there ? How deep is the deepest tunnel? How far is the station? How long does it take to travel through the entire system? How old is the metro?
What is the depth of the deepest station? What is the length of the distance between....
Here are some more facts on the London Tube and The Paris Métro
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Susan in Lockdown Susan talks about positive & negative experiences of the lockdown in France
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France in lockdown
France put its 67 million people under lockdown on Tuesday 17 March 2020, in an unprecedented act during peacetime, and said it was ready to nationalise big companies suffering financial turmoil created by the deepening coronavirus crisis.
Drafting in the army to help transport gravely ill people and ordering border controls, President Emmanuel Macron late on Monday said citizens could leave their homes only to buy food, go to work, seek medical care or get some exercise on their own.
In the cities and towns police patrol quiet streets, stopping drivers and pedestrians and demanding that they present an interior ministry document justifying their movement. The form can be downloaded on the ministry website and citizens can present an electronic version on their smartphones. Susan talks about the effects of the lockdown and how it has affected her daily life and habits.
10 Killer questions Emmanuel The Proust Questionnaire is a questionnaire about one's personality. Its name and modern popularity as a form of interview is owed to the responses given by the French writer Marcel Proust.
At the end of the nineteenth century, when Proust was still in his teens, he answered a questionnaire in an English-language confession album belonging to his friend Antoinette, daughter of future French President Félix Faure, titled "An Album to Record Thoughts, Feelings, etc." At that time, it was popular among English families to answer such a list of questions that revealed the tastes and aspirations of the taker.
Proust answered always with enthusiasm. The original manuscript of his answers of 1890, at the time of his volunteer internship or some little time afterwards, titled "by Marcel Proust himself," was found in 1924. It was auctioned on May 27, 2003 for the sum of €102,000.
The French television host Bernard Pivot, seeing an opportunity for a writer to reveal at the same time aspects of his work and his personality, traditionally subjected his guests to the Proust questionnaire at the end of the French broadcast Apostrophes.
Inspired by Bernard Pivot, James Lipton, the host of the TV program Inside the Actors Studio, gives an adapted version of the Proust Questionnaire to his guests. Lipton has often incorrectly characterized the questionnaire itself as an invention of Pivot.
A similar questionnaire is regularly seen on the back page of Vanity Fair magazine, answered by various celebrities. In October 2009, Vanity Fair launched an interactive version of the questionnaire, that compares individual answers to those of various luminaries.
Another version of the questionnaire, as answered by various Canadian authors, is a regular feature on the radio program The Next Chapter.
For the benefits of this quick-fire question podcast, we have simplified it even further and we make no claims that it reveals the true personality of the person - especially as the questions are asked in English to a non-native person.
What it is, is a lot of fun.
Bucket Lists Sue and Chris talk about a Bucket lists.
Before listening, do you know what bucket lists are?
While listening.
-
Does Sue want to swim with dolphins?
-
Where does Chris want to go for his bucket list?
-
Where does Sue say she thinks the Northern Lights are?
Listen to the podcast and try the following :
First relax, sit down, close your eyes then listen to the podcast all the way through. Note down some ideas of what you expect the Podcast will be about. If needed have a look on the Internet for the keyword, 'Bucket Lists' to prepare yourself for the listening. Here is a link HERE and HERE to start you off. Listen to JUST Sue, ignoring Chris and try to work out globally what her questions and comments are. (you won't understand everything, so there is no point trying at this point.) Listen to just Chris as above. Now go back and listen to Sue - take a sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle, on the left of the paper, write any ideas that you have of what Sue was talking about. Now do the same for Chris. Now listen to the podcast all the way through THEN write down any more ideas that you have about the podcast. Leave the podcast for a day or two, then come back and listen. Do you understand any more than from the first session of listening you did? How do you rate the difficulty level for you? (Too difficult at the moment / A challenge / I understand enough). When will you return to this podcast to check your listening progress?
Remember :
You won't understand everything you hear. There is a lot of regular work to do to tune your ear into Real English - you need to work on listening regularly. NEVER write notes at the same time that you are listening. ALWAYS - try to set yourself realistic objectives. REMEMBER - this is just a part of your learning and you need to be able to connect this work with your other work. This is REAL English - we don't believe that slow, over-articulated speech prepares learners for the real world - you may be able to understand an audio extract that is spoken slowly, but what good is that if you don't understand real people in real situations. At english-podcasts.com we want to help you to be ready for the real world - it will be difficult at first, but later you will feel the benefit - it is just pure, common sense.
Emmanuel shares his bucket list with us.
To be fair, he was asked with little or no time to think about it, so maybe, if we did it again, as we most probably will do, the bucket list would probably be very different than this one.
It is quite an interesting exercise to redo a bucket list, as in fact, it almost forces people to really think about what they would lreally like to do - hence a bucket list is created almost by accident.
The Proust Questionnaire is a questionnaire about one's personality. Its name and modern popularity as a form of interview is owed to the responses given by the French writer Marcel Proust.
At the end of the nineteenth century, when Proust was still in his teens, he answered a questionnaire in an English-language confession album belonging to his friend Antoinette, daughter of future French President Félix Faure, titled "An Album to Record Thoughts, Feelings, etc." At that time, it was popular among English families to answer such a list of questions that revealed the tastes and aspirations of the taker.
Proust answered always with enthusiasm. The original manuscript of his answers of 1890, at the time of his volunteer internship or some little time afterwards, titled "by Marcel Proust himself," was found in 1924. It was auctioned on May 27, 2003 for the sum of €102,000.
The French television host Bernard Pivot, seeing an opportunity for a writer to reveal at the same time aspects of his work and his personality, traditionally subjected his guests to the Proust questionnaire at the end of the French broadcast Apostrophes.
Inspired by Bernard Pivot, James Lipton, the host of the TV program Inside the Actors Studio, gives an adapted version of the Proust Questionnaire to his guests. Lipton has often incorrectly characterized the questionnaire itself as an invention of Pivot.
A similar questionnaire is regularly seen on the back page of Vanity Fair magazine, answered by various celebrities. In October 2009, Vanity Fair launched an interactive version of the questionnaire, that compares individual answers to those of various luminaries.
Another version of the questionnaire, as answered by various Canadian authors, is a regular feature on the radio program The Next Chapter.
For the benefits of this quick-fire question podcast, we have simplified it even further and we make no claims that it reveals the true personality of the person - especially as the questions are asked in English to a non-native person.
What it is, is a lot of fun.
Surprising Incredible India Listen to Sue interview Chris about his recent trip to India and especially about what surprised him.
During his travels in India, Chris went to Bangalore in the south and then to Rajasthan in the north, to The Taj Mahal in Agra, Fatihpur Sikri, Bundi, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Delhi and Jaipur, to name but a few of the fabulous places he visited.
What do you think would be the most surprising aspects of travelling in India?
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See some photos of Incredible India here
Ahmed - my country Today we podcasted Ahmed, who now lives in France, about life in his country, how he left his country and what he misses from back home.
This is a podcast for English learners and is non-political, non-religious and has no views on any issues that may be raised by listeners and speakers on the site.
Listen to Fred talking about his bucket list.
As with many people, he wants to travel, perhaps all over the world, and a bucket list is a great way to tick off travel destinations.
The good thing about this is that as we tick off destinations, we get an appetite for even more travel.
But Bucket Lists are not just about doing scary or adventurous things, as Fred mentions, they can also be almost a personal development opportunity, making more 'me' or family time.
Living in the present and savouring everyday moments can also be an opportunity that a Bucket List can present.
10 surprising things about Cape Town
Do you sometimes go on holiday and are surprised by what you find there? Away from the usual tourist attractions everyday life can be so different from your home town.
What do you know about Cape Town ?
Politics ? Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years first in Robben Island and then in other prisons around Cape Town. Since the end of Apartheid Cape Town has become a vibrant melting pot.
Geography ? The landscape is dramatic thanks to the imposing sight of Table Mountain.
Wine ? The land around Cape Town is home to many vineyards producing first class wine.
Shopping ? The shops in the Waterfront centre are some of the best in the world.
The sea ? The dramatic coast line is home to penguins, sharks and whales.
But in this podcast Sue talks about what surprised her about her trip to Cape Town in South Africa. These photos may help with some of the vocabulary.
This is a photo of the Hen Party which surprised Sue. Can you imagine what a Hen Party is and why it was surprising ? Why was the guide cross with these girls?
This is the weather down at the Cape of Good Hope. How does Sue describe it?
What surprised Sue about the statues in Cape Town ?
This is a poster about the water issue. How many liters of water are people supposed to use a day in order to cut down on water consumption? What exactly is Day Zero ?
This is a car guard, what were Sue's impressions about crime in Cape Town ?
Sebastien shares his bucket list with us.
To be fair, he was asked with little or no time to think about it, so maybe, if we did it again, as we most probably will do, the bucket list would probably be very fifferent than this one.
It is quite an interesting exercise to redo a bucket list, as in fact, it almost forces people to really think about what they would lreally like to do - hence a bucket list is created almost by accident.
Hervé Bellut, the creator of this self development board game, has had a varied and interesting career path.
His formal studies were in astrophysics, and as an aerospace engineer he went on to become interested in occupational stress in the workplace. This interest and development into Well Being seemed a natural path to him because from a young age he had begun to learn yoga and in 1990 he became a yoga teacher and therapist.
Hervé uses meditation and yoga in his therapy sessions, training and workshops, in addition he has written books on the subject and is a frequent conference speaker.
From this experience, Hervé developed the "game" of INVITOSCOPE in order to help professionals in the workplace better understand their motivation, their path to creativity, their decision making process to reach fufillment and improve team building among colleagues.
French speakers would be interested to read "Les 7 invitations de l'Univers" which Hervé wrote in 2015 and is the foundation for his game INVITOSCOPE.
The Invitoscope Website
Experiences of being on stage Experiences of being on stage can be both a very exciting or a very stressful experience, especially if you suffer from Stage fright or performance anxiety.
Susan asks Andy, a somewhat seasoned performer, and Chris who is just staring out, about their experiences of being on stage.
Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, whether actually or potentially (for example, when performing before a camera).
In the context of public speaking, or performing on stage, this may precede or accompany participation in any activity involving public self-presentation.
In some cases stage fright may be a part of a larger pattern of social phobia (social anxiety disorder), but many people experience stage fright without any wider problems.
Quite often, stage fright arises in a mere anticipation of a performance, often a long time ahead.
It has numerous manifestations: stuttering, tachycardia, tremor in the hands and legs, sweaty hands, facial nerve tics, dry mouth, and dizziness.
Stage fright can occur in people of all experiences and backgrounds, from those who are completely new to being in front of an audience to those who have done so for years.
Stage fright may, for example, have a negative impact on the individual's performance, such that it affects their confidence during job interviews, being on stage or during presentations.
It affects actors, comedians, musicians, and politicians. Many people with no other problems in communication can experience stage fright, but some people with chronic stage fright also have social anxiety or social phobia which are chronic feelings of high anxiety in any social situation. Stage fright can also be seen in other situations, like stand up projects and class speeches.
See this too
The first time I saw snow The first time I saw snow - Can you remember the first time you saw snow ? Do you live in a country where snow is usual or do you live in a region of the world where snow is a highly unlikely event?
Some countries never get a single flake of snow and the idea of the ground covered in a white blanket of snow is only something that some people see in books or on Christmas cards.
For other countries, snow is an annual occurrence that can last for up to six months at a time - some love this and others really hate it.
In this podcast Raghv Vamsi, a 25 year old Indian currently living in France, shares his feelings with us about the first time he saw snow.... he was clearly impressed! Listen carefully to vocabulary which expresses amazement and surprise.
In February 2018 Europe was hit by a strong high pressure system which caused severe temperature drops and was quickly nicknamed "The Beast from the East" because the snow came from an easterly direction and the temperatures were even colder than Arctic Circle .
The United Kingdom, in particular, experienced huge amounts of snowfall, gale-force winds and record cold temperatures. Some villages across the British Isles were cut off by 25-foot drifts, days after the snow ended. The army was bought in to help dig people out. There were major travel disruptions with roads being impassable, airports closed, trains stuck in stations and thousands of schools and business closed for days all across the country.
In France and the rest of Europe the weather was very cold but the snowfall only lasted a couple of hours and caused much fun for many people, including Raghv Vamsi.
Test your comprehension skills even further by watching the Met Office weather forecast snow warning.