Luke's ENGLISH Podcast – Learn British English with Luke Thompson

It is traditional to tell a scary story at Christmas time, so here is one for this year's festive season. The Kit-Bag by Algernon Blackwood is a classic scary tale which will give you a chill, while you stay cosy and warm indoors this winter. Listen and I will explain a lot of vocabulary which comes up in the story.

Get the episode PDF with story text and word list https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Kit-Bag-Learn-English-with-a-Short-Story-965.pdf

Episode page https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/12/08/the-kit-bag-learn-english-with-a-short-story-965/

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In this audio-only episode today you can join me at home as I potter around, and take time to relax while recording a rambling episode for you to enjoy. Enjoy the sounds of street noise outside, and my attempts to find the most comfortable spot in my flat where I can ramble about various things, including several robberies in Paris - one of which is the famous heist at the Louvre museum, where burglars broke in and stole precious jewels worth millions, in broad daylight. The other robbery was more painful - our own apartment, which was broken into earlier this year. Join me as I discuss all of these things and more. The video episode this week is a walk & talk in Paris.

Get the episode PDF transcript https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/A-Cosy-Rambling-Episode-at-Home-964.pdf

Episode page https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/12/01/a-cosy-rambling-episode-at-home-964-walk-talk-mission-in-montmartre/

Walk & Talk: Mission in Montmartre https://youtu.be/b0THApJaJTs

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[963] Emma Camara Ortega and I worked together as English teachers years ago, but since then Emma has become a licensed counsellor and therapist - helping people with their mental health. In this episode, Emma talks to me about what is involved in counselling, and we discuss some everyday habits to promote good mental health. This should be full of interesting insights and helpful tips for mental wellbeing, which is so vital for our general lives but also to help us learn as effectively as possible. Full transcript and vocabulary list available.

Get the PDF transcript & word list https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Talking-Therapy-Mental-Health-Counselling-with-Emma-Camara-Ortega-963.pdf

Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/24/talking-therapy-mental-health-counselling-with-emma-camara-ortega-963/

LEP Premium https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

Emma Camara Ortega in the UK Counselling Directory https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellors/emma-camara-ortega

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[962] Time for another short story on LEP. This one is about a man who has a wondrous experience as a child, which then haunts him for the rest of his adult life. Listen as I read the story to you, and then ramble about its meaning, interpretations and how it evoked some strong memories and strange feelings in me. Then there is a vocabulary review which will continue in an upcoming premium series.

Get the episode PDF https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Door-in-the-Wall-Learn-English-with-a-Short-Story-962.pdf

Episode page https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/17/the-door-in-the-wall-learn-english-with-a-short-story-962/

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[961] Emma Jakobi is the host of MmmEnglish on YouTube, and now the online community Hey Lady! In this episode Emma joins me for a chat about living on the remote Western coast of Australia, "blowing up" on YouTube, her decision to step away from MmmEnglish to focus on Hey Lady! Also, her thoughts on the rise of AI, and some fun facts about singing in the shower, her vintage Lexus car and her phobias of public speaking (surprising) and leeches (understandable). Full transcript available.

Get the episode transcript https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Emma-from-MmmEnglish-and-Hey-Lady-961-Transcript-1.pdf

Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/10/emma-from-mmmenglish-and-hey-lady-961/

Hey Lady! https://www.heylady.io/

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A particularly useful and interesting episode for you today - a conversation about English words which are very similar, but crucially, not the same. My guest Eli Burnstein is the author of “Dictionary of Fine Distinctions” - a book which aims to bring clarity to English words. Expect a funny discussion about subtle shades of meaning between words like poison & venom, accuracy & precision, envy & jealousy and many others. Eli is Canadian, now living in London and so he also shares some key features of Canadian English. 

Get the PDF transcript https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Fine-Distinctions-Subtle-Shades-of-Meaning-with-Eli-Burnstein-960.pdf

Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/11/03/fine-distinctions-subtle-shades-of-meaning-with-eli-burnstein-960/

LEP Premium https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

Get the book in the UK https://www.waterstones.com/book/dictionary-of-fine-distinctions/eli-burnstein/9781805227229

Buy the book from Profile Books https://profilebooks.com/work/dictionary-of-fine-distinctions/

Also available on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dictionary-Fine-Distinctions-Nuances-Niceties/dp/180522722X/

‍ https://www.eliburnstein.com/

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People keep asking me in comments, "How can I learn English with your podcast?" so in this episode I am answering that question as simply, directly and efficiently as possible. Expect advice about improving your English across the 4 skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing, and the language systems of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and discourse management. PDF available.

Get the PDF here https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/How-to-learn-English-with-my-podcast-959.pdf

Episode page https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/27/how-to-learn-english-with-my-podcast-959/

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If you have ever wondered what happens in premium episodes, this episode will show you. I'll play you some clips from the latest series (P71) including some vocabulary explanations, memory quiz questions, pronunciation practice and discussion questions for speaking practice. For the rest of the series, and all the other episodes of LEP Premium (now over 250, each with PDF worksheets and video versions) sign up and become a Premium LEPster today https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

Get the episode PDF https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A-Free-Sample-of-LEP-Premium-Series-71-_-Vocabulary-Pronunciation-958.pdf

Website page for this episode https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/20/a-free-sample-of-lep-premium-series-71-vocabulary-pronunciation-958/

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How many words are there in English? How many do you really need to know? And how many words have I spoken on this podcast? Also, what is shadowing, and how should you do it? Can you do episodes about different English accents? What are your top 10 countries for this podcast? In this episode of Luke’s English Podcast, I answer listener questions about vocabulary size, English accents, the shadowing technique and more. PDF available with transcript and vocabulary list.

Get the PDF with transcript and vocab list https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/More-Questions-of-English-Listener-Comments-_-Bits-Bobs-5-957.pdf

Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/13/more-questions-of-english-listener-comments-bits-bobs-5-957/

Sign up to LEP Premium for more lessons on vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

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My brother James joins me again on the podcast for a rambling chat about diverse topics such as: trousers sandwiches gangster films the work of Edgar Allan Poe vinyl and cassettes memories of living together annoying behaviour and English words and grammar that irritate people plus James has a new vinyl EP out now on Ooz records. Transcript available .

Get OOZ004 - James' new vinyl EP https://oozrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ooz004

Get the PDF transcript https://teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Thompson-Originals-A-Chat-with-My-Brother-956-TRANSCRIPT.pdf

Episode page on my website https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/10/06/thompson-originals-a-chat-with-my-brother-956/

Sign up to LEP Premium for extra episodes about vocab, grammar, pronunciation https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/premium

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