Category: 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast

Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Exam Preparation Class, Guest Posts, Reading Classes, Vocabulary Classes

Guest Post: B2 First – A Forgotten Dream

Posted on by Tim Warre

This is a guest post by my friend, colleague and co-host of the podcast 2Ts in a pod, Katy Wright. It’s designed to help students preparing for the B2 first exam get to grips with some of the phrasal verbs and fixed expressions they might encounter in the exam. Students read a text about Jim’s forgotten dream, then try to recreate the text using key words. Download the student handout below:

b2-vocab-writing-a-forgotten-dream-1-1Download

A FORGOTTEN DREAM

  1. Look at the pictures. What is the story about?
  • Read the story. Were your predictions correct?

Jim couldn’t stand his job. All he did all day was sit at his desk and pretended to work while watching the heavy rain outside his window. He was meant to be selling insurance on the phone, but he wasn’t very good at it. In fact, he had sold very few contracts. This was because all he had ever wanted to do was be an actor in Hollywood. He had loved acting when he was a teenager, but instead of going to America he studied Business and he put off looking for fame. “I’ll look into that when I have finished Uni” he said to himself. This was his biggest regret in life. On his way into work that day, his 15-year-old car broke down. Standing in the rain trying to change the tire he made up his mind. He wasn’t going to carry on like this. He was going to make a big change…

  • Answer the questions in groups.
  • What is Jim’s big dream?
  • Why do you think Jim didn’t decide to become an actor after Uni?
  • What do you think makes him change his mind?
  • What big change do you think he is going to make?
  • What will happen at the end of the story?
  • What do you the expressions in yellow mean?
  • Can you translate them to Catalan/Spanish?
  • Do you have similar expression in Catalan/Spanish?
  • Try to remember the original expression used in the story. The words in brackets are to help you.

Jim hated (STAND) his job. All he did all say was sit at his desk and pretended to work while watching as it rained heavily (HEAVY) outside his window. He should have been (MEANT) selling insurance on the phone, but he wasn’t very good at it. In fact, he didn’t sell many (FEW) contracts. This was because all he had ever wanted to do was be an actor in Hollywood. He had loved acting when he was a teenager, but rather than go (OF) to America he studied Business and he postponed looking (PUT) for fame. “I’ll investigate (INTO) that when I have finished Uni” he said to himself. This was his biggest regret in life. On his way into work that day his 15-year-old car stopped working (DOWN). Standing in the rain trying to change the tire he made a decision (UP). He wasn’t going to continue like this any longer (ON). He was going to make a big change…

  • Write the original expressions here:
  • STAND…………………………………………………………………………
  • HEAVY…………………………………………………………………………
  • MEANT …………………………………………………………………………
  • FEW …………………………………………………………………………
  • OF …………………………………………………………………………
  • PUT …………………………………………………………………………
  • INTO …………………………………………………………………………
  • DOWN …………………………………………………………………………
  • UP …………………………………………………………………………
  • ON …………………………………………………………………………
  • Write the rest of the story. Use the questions to help you.

Middle:

  • What does he decide to do next?
  • How will he change his life?
  • What does he do to help him realize his dreams?

End:

  • Does he finally reach his goals?
  • How does he feel about his situation?
  • Does he ever think about his old life?
  • Read all of the paragraphs and vote on the you think is the best
Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Advanced C1, Conversation Classes, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

B2+ Conversation Topic: Pet Peeves & Bugbears

Posted on by Tim Warre
Pet Peeves - RunEatSnap

This is a conversation topic for B2+ students in which they discuss things that annoy them. First they study some expressions related to annoyance and anger, then put them to use in a discussion about different annoying habits. Download the student handout, key and Powerpoint below:

pet-peevesDownload
pet-peeves-student-handoutDownload
pet-peeves-student-handout-keyDownload

Warmer

Start by writing “Pet hates/peeves & Bugbears” on the board and give examples of some of your personal pet peeves using some of the expressions from the student handout.

Vocabulary Focus

Give out the handout and have students complete the expressions. Check answers in open class.

Instruct students to cover the handout, then show the first slide from the Powerpoint, students now need to remember the expressions using the words from the exercises on the handout:

STAND – I can’t stand it when…

The sentences are animated on the Powerpoint so you can reveal them one at a time.

Repeat for the expressions about anger.

Discussion

Put students in pairs or groups of three.

Go through the slides on the Powerpoint showing different annoying habits and behaviours.

For each slide encourage students to discuss their feelings about the topic and also think of a specific time in their lives when they’ve witnessed such behaviour, and how they reacted. If they can’t think of a specific time, encourage them to speculate about how they would react: “If I saw someone throwing litter out of a car window, I would lose my rag!”

Encourage students to share their opinions and experiences in open class.

Wrap up the activity by having students write a definitive list of 3 pet peeves/bugbears that they have.

For adult students or groups that you know well, you may want to teach slightly more explicit versions of the expressions:

Lose one’s shit

It fucks me off

Homework

Have students listen to our episode of 2Ts in a Pod on the topic of Pet Hates:

Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Advanced C1, Listening Classes, Proficiency

2Ts in a Pod: Thursday Murder Club – Part 1

Posted on by Tim Warre
2Ts in a pod's stream on SoundCloud - Hear the world's sounds
Image credit Mark Wilding

New Episode! This is the first in a new series of book club episodes based around Richard Osman’s brilliant page-turner “The Thursday Murder Club”. Tim and Katy discuss the plot a few chapters at a time and highlight some useful language. Try it out with your high-level students!

https://cutt.ly/KgHpP9I

Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Listening Classes

2Ts in a Pod: Halloween Special 2020

Posted on by Tim Warre
Image credit: Mark Wilding

2Ts in a Pod is back with our first episode of season 4! It’s the 2020 Halloween special!

Some great creepy stories to use as listening activities in your classes this week! Try the spine-tingling one from 40:09-43:05 by friend of the pod Wilf Merttens.

If you like what you hear, check out Wilf’s podcast The Wilfiad: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wilfiad/id1198607038

Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Listening Classes, Vocabulary Classes

2Ts in a Pod Video: Friendship Expressions

Posted on by Tim Warre

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We’ve recently launched a Youtube channel for our podcast 2Ts in a Pod. There’s not much up there yet but more content is in the pipeline. Check out this video we’ve made looking at 5 expressions related to the topic of friendship. Why not show it to your students or set it as homework?

If you like the video, please consider subscribing to the channel, it’s a new project for us and we really want to get it off the ground so a like, a share and a subscription can go a long way!

You can also check out full episodes of our podcast on our Soundcloud page below. Any comments or feedback welcome.

Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Listening Classes, Reading Classes

2Ts in a Pod: Book Club – The Landlady by Roald Dahl

Posted on by Tim Warre

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The latest episode of our podcast for English teachers and B2+ students is now live! It’s part of a new series of book club episodes in which we discuss a short story. This episode we discuss The Landlady by Roald Dahl. We recommend that you read the story before you listen.

https://soundcloud.com/2tspod/2ts-episode-37-book-club-the-landlady-by-roald-dahl

Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Exam Preparation Class, Listening Classes, Teacher Training

2Ts in a Pod: Cambridge First (FCE) Mini-Series

Posted on by Tim Warre

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I haven’t even had time to keep up with the posts about each episode of our podcast. Terribly neglectful of me. Towards the end of last year we did a little mini series on the Cambridge B2 First or whatever it’s called these days (Cambridge keep changing the name). We looked at most parts of the exam; have a listen by following the links below:

FCE General Tips

FCE Speaking

FCE Reading

FCE Use of English

 

Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Listening Classes

2Ts in a Pod: Episode 3 – Food – Listening Activity

Posted on by Tim Warre

 

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Image credit: Mark Wilding

Anna Balquin, one of the listeners to our podcast made this fantastic listening activity based around a section of episode 3 about food. The extract you’ll need is 10.57 – 15.09, download the student handout and answer key below:

2Ts in a Pod Food listening

Student Handout

Pre-listening

1. Discuss these questions with your partner:
• What’s your favourite comfort food?
• What do you think a ‘supper club’ is?
• What do you know about food from the USA? What are some traditional American dishes?

2. First listen

We’re going to listen to Nicole talk about her supper club. What kind of food does she serve?

3. Second listen: listen again and answer the following questions.

1. How long has Nicole been living in Barcelona?
2. What did Nicole serve with the brisket?
3. Do the supper club guests usually know each other?
4. Where did gumbo come from?
5. Which cultures does the dish gumbo mix?
6. What’s the first thing you do when making gumbo?
7. What is the holy trinity?
8. What were the main ingredients of the gumbo that Nicole made?
9. How does Katy express that she likes the sound of Nicole’s gumbo?

4. Look at this quote from the audio and discuss its meaning with your partner.

“I love to gather people around the table that are from different walks of life”

Answer key:

2. First listen

We’re going to listen to Nicole talk about her supper club. What kind of food does she serve? Southern US soul food

3. Second listen: listen again and answer the following questions.

1. How long has Nicole been living in Barcelona? over a decade
2. What did Nicole serve with the brisket? collard greens, sweet potato mash, green beans, crispy shallots
3. Do the supper club guests usually know each other? no
4. Where did gumbo come from? Louisiana New Orleans
5. Which cultures does the dish gumbo mix? West African with French
6. What’s the first thing you do when making gumbo? Make a roux (butter, flour)
7. What is the holy trinity? Onion, celery, bell peppers
8. What were the main ingredients of the gumbo that Nicole made? prawn chicken sausage and bacon
9. How does Katy express that she likes the sound of Nicole’s gumbo? “Oh my gosh, my mouth is watering!”

 

Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Listening Classes

2Ts in a Pod Episode 17: The Weird and Wonderful World of Sports

Posted on by Tim Warre

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Check out the latest episode of 2Ts in a Pod, our podcast for B2+ learners. The topic is weird and wonderful sports. We spoke to Mark, who has attended the legendary Gloucester Cheese Rolling event. We also spoke to my sister, Ruth Warre, about the full contact “rugby on rollerskates” sport that is roller derby. This is the first episode recorded in a professional studio! From now on we’ll be recording in Cadenza Studio in Sants in Barcelona.
We’ve included a couple of fun quizzes for teachers to use in class, the timings in the episode are listed below:
 
22:20 – Sport or Not a Sport Quiz
1:01:31 – Sports Vocab Quiz
 
Posted in 2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Listening Classes

2Ts in a Pod: Lesson Plan – Pet Hates

Posted on by Tim Warre

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This is a guest post by Katy Wright, the co-host of 2Ts in a Pod. It’s a listening activity based around a clip from episode 5: Pet Hates. Download all the materials below:

Teacher’s Notes

Warm-up

  1. Tell students they are going to listen to two people, Tim and Katy, talking about their pet hates. Check their understanding of pet hate [a common, everyday thing that can be really annoying]
  2. Ask student to predict in groups about what could annoy Tim?
  3. Listen to the extract and check their predictions
  4. Ask students if they also find these things annoying.
  5. Ask students to make a list of 3 of their biggest pet hates and share them with their partner

Listening in detail

  1. Tell students they are going to listen to the extract again. This time they write down expressions they hear related to being annoyed or irritated
  2. You may want to play the extract again is students are struggling
  3. Students compare the expressions they have written.
  4. Give the students the transcript of the extract. Ask them to underline the pragmatic language related to annoyance. Did they find them all?
  5. Check understanding of the expressions in open class. Point out the stressed words of these expressions
  6. Ask students to repeat the expressions with their partner to practice pronunciation and stress

Speaking

  1. Go back to the list of 3 pet hates they discussed earlier in the lesson. Ask students to talk about them again but this time using the expressions from the extract
  2. Monitor and give feedback on emergent language

Additional Idea

  • Students can practice the conversation a few times with a partner and then record their conversation “podcast” style. This could then be shared among the other members of the group on WhatsApp or a wiki if they feel comfortable to do so.

Transcript

1:43 – 3:00 minutes

Katy: [00:00:00] But first Tim, what really annoys you? What really drives you up the wall?

Tim: [00:00:05] What drives me up the wall. I would say, in general, inconsiderate people really get on my nerves. So, especially in public places like on public transport, for example. Here in Barcelona, it’s really common. So, say you’re on the Metro, okay, and you’re coming up to a stop and it pulls, the Metro pulls into the station and stops the doors open and people try to get on the Metro before you’ve got off. Yeah it really, really drives me insane.

Katy: [00:00:42] So annoying.

Tim: [00:00:43] If you just let us off everything would be so much easier. Yeah. It really really really really gets on my nerves. Also another thing on the metro I think it’s quite common, um, that really annoys me is people listening to music without headphones on their mobiles.

Katy: [00:01:02] That annoys me if people are walking down the street. I don’t know. Just turn it down, put headphones in. Or turn it down.

Tim: [00:01:11] Yeah. No one wants to listen to that.

Katy: [00:01:12] No one cares.

Tim: [00:01:14] So that, that’s what really really really annoys me. Yeah, It drives me up the wall.