Practising English

Write to Mike Bilbrough to ask a question or give an opinion.

This is a B1-level story with a few surprises. There are lots of useful B1 level words in it, and, as usual, I'll explain some key words before we start. If you would like to read one of my full-length stories, and you're a B1-level student studying for B2, you could buy buy my book The Tudor Conspiracy... https://amzn.to/33Axu2N For more exercises to improve your English, visit my website, www.practisingenglish.com

At https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.
https://www.practisingenglish.com/
My latest novel for learners of B2 English is called The Tudor Conspiracy. You can see it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
Be back soon with another podcast!
Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)

Write to Mike Bilbrough to ask a question or give an opinion.

Today, I'm going to talk about language around the bicycle. When you get on your bicycle, you say you push off, you push off and you start pedalling. Isn't it lovely to go out on your bicycle on a sunny day, when it's not too hot, not too cold? At the moment, I'm cycling along the river - along by the side of the river.

Now, I think the first thing we could talk about is the all the different parts of the bicycle. Okay, of course it's got two wheels. And the wheels have tyres, TYRES, which are inflated. That gives you a nice, soft ride. So you ride a bicycle, you get on your bicycle, and you ride a bicycle. Sometimes if you have an accident, you can fall off your bicycle.

Okay, talking about the tyres. Sometimes if you're unlucky, you can ride over something sharp and get a puncture, and the tyre deflates. And you have to get off your bike and fix your puncture. Or if you don't have a puncture repair kit, then you have to push your bicycle home.

So, the wheels have spokes which are those long, thin spaghetti like things which given rigidity to the wheel. And the front wheel is held in the front forks which are two long metal parts which run down from the frame and the front wheel is inserted into the forks.

Now the frame of the bicycle itself. There are different types, but often we talk about a gentleman's bike and the lady's bike and the gentleman's bike has a crossbar, which is a horizontal bar running from the top of the forks to the saddle or the seat of the bicycle, where you sit - on the saddle. And a lady's bike traditionally doesn't have that crossbar. So they don't have to, ladies don't have to lift up their leg to get over the saddle when they push off.

Now, then, of course, to make the bike go along, you have to pedal and like many English words, it can be the noun, the thing or the verb. So you pedal along - you pedal, you turn the pedals and that drives a chain, which drives the back wheel. And probably you will have gears. And those gears, what they do is to allow you to go faster or slower. Go up hills. When you want to go up the hill, for example, what you'll do is to put it into a low gear, a low gear when you go downhill, or you want to go fast on the straight and you put it into a high gear.

Right, the thing that you hold on to, to steer the bicycle is the handlebars. And on the handlebars, there are brakes, hopefully, the front brake and the back brake, which help to slow down the bicycle or stop it altogether. It's a good idea to check your brakes and make sure they're always working. So you don't have an accident and fall off your bike.

Okay. And also on the handlebars, you've got the gear change, which is a switch or a lever, which you move to change the gears of the bicycle. So that's about it. I also usually bring along a pump, a bicycle pump to pump up the tyres if they get a little low to stop them going flat.

At https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.
https://www.practisingenglish.com/
My latest novel for learners of B2 English is called The Tudor Conspiracy. You can see it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
Be back soon with another podcast!
Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)

Write to Mike Bilbrough to ask a question or give an opinion.

These are the B2 time adverbs you should learn for the speaking and writing of the Cambridge FCE exam. Listen for them in the podcast, and decide which I am referring to in the dialogue section at the end of the podcast. (B1 students also invited!)

firstly, etc. lastly, (often at the beginning of a sentence)
instantly (often at the end of a sentence)
temporarily (often at the end of a sentence)
currently (often before a verb)
sharp (at the end of a time phrase)
precisely / exactly (often before a time phrase)
increasingly (often before a verb)
roughly (often before a time phrase)
continuously (often before a verb)
constantly (often before a verb)
permanently (often at the end of a sentence)
gradually (often before a verb)
simultaneously (often at the end of a sentence)
eventually (often before a verb)
seldom (often before a verb)
shortly (often at the end of a sentence)

To see the transcript of the dialogues, go to my website: https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-234.htm

At https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.
https://www.practisingenglish.com/
My latest novel for learners of B2 English is called The Tudor Conspiracy. You can see it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
Be back soon with another podcast!
Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)

Write to Mike Bilbrough to ask a question or give an opinion.

This is a B1-level short story in two parts.
Professor Mathew Pearson, a paleontologist and professor at Oxford University, made an incredible discovery when he found a skull. Tests are done and the results are extremely surprising...
Technical vocabulary in the story
Prehistory / A prehistoric scene
paleontology
fossils
The Jurassic period (finished 145 million years ago)
The Eocene period (finished 33m years ago)
skull
The prehistoric animal mentioned in the story is a sarkastodon.
B1 vocabulary I discuss at the beginning before the story starts
The weather forecast
seriously hurting the planet
spectacularly beautiful buildings
A friend had introduced them to each other.
Christine had encouraged him to keep on going.
explain in detail
We must keep it a secret.
changed the subject
taking all this extremely seriously
Sorry, if I kept you waiting!
'I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure,’ said Mathew.
There was an embarrassing pause.
without any doubt
Listen for these phrases and enjoy the story.

At https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.
https://www.practisingenglish.com/
My latest novel for learners of B2 English is called The Tudor Conspiracy. You can see it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
Be back soon with another podcast!
Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)

Write to Mike Bilbrough to ask a question or give an opinion.

The Winds of Bolonia (B1 Story with new comprehension questions)

I wanted to publish this story together with the Para-olympics in Paris. I was watching it on television. It shows how positive attitudes, strength, determination are not qualities limited to those athletes in the Olympics we saw earlier this summer, but that persons with disabilities are no different and share the same qualities.

The heroine in my story today, The Winds of Bolonia (B1 level) is about a young girl in a wheelchair. Her story is a success story, not because she learns how to be better than her disability but because she has a disability.

Comprehension questions and vocabulary test for the complete story (read before you listen)

1) Why was the wind a problem on the island of Bolonia?

2) What was Ainimos' favourite hobby?

3) Why was Animos in a wheelchair?

4) Did Animos pass the university entry exam?

5) Why did Animos feel positive at the end of the story?

The vowels (a, e, i, o, u) have been taken out of each word (unless the word begins with a vowel). Read the definition and guess the word in bold.

1) pnfl adj. (hurts very much)

2) lkd frwrd t v. past (waited for an event and wanted it to happen soon)

3) prvntd v. past. (stopped her from doing something)

4) sns of hmr (be funny, know how to make people laugh; laugh at good jokes)

5) old-fshnd adj. (not modern, not in fashion)

6) hpfl adj. (feeling good about what is going to happen)

7) at lng lst (in the end, finally)

8) rmnd qt (continued not saying anything)

9) cldn’t blv hr eys (she saw something but she didn’t think it could be true)

10) injrd v. past (hurt yourself e.g. in an accident)
See all answers at https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-204.htm

At https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.
https://www.practisingenglish.com/
My latest novel for learners of B2 English is called The Tudor Conspiracy. You can see it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
Be back soon with another podcast!
Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)