The Fluent Mind ESL Podcast

In this episode, Kevin and Jack talk about their pets from when they were younger and today. What pets do you have? What are their names? What's your favorite animal to have as a pet?https://atozenglishpodcast.com/do-you-have-any-pets/Share your answers to the discussion questions in our WhatsApp group chat!If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here: https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, Kevin and Jack talk about things that they're scared of. What about you? Do you have any phobias?https://atozenglishpodcast.com/do-you-have-any-phobias/Share your answers to the discussion questions in our WhatsApp group chat!If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here: https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, Kevin and Jack talk about their travel styles, and how it's changed over the years. What's your travel style?Share your answers to the discussion questions in our WhatsApp group chat!If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here: https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this week's episode, Kevin and Jack discuss bad roommate experiences that they have had in the past. There are some funny stories in this week's episode. For a PDF study guide which contains useful vocabulary terms, listening exercises, and discussion questions, follow the link here:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/roommates/If you would like to discuss this episode with us and other listeners of the podcast, join our WhatsApp and/or Telegram groups here:https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7https://t.me/+l2s3tRYegTFjOWU1If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here:https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, hosts Kevin and Jack talk about their reading habits and the kinds of books they enjoy reading. To join the conversation, follow the WhatsApp link on our website:https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7On the website, you can find a study guide for the Quick Tips and Quick Chat episodes. Share your answers to the discussion questions in our WhatsApp group chat!https://atozenglishpodcast.com/what-are-you-reading/If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here:https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Transcript written by Layla  Welcome to A to Z English Podcast quick chat. We are going to surprise each other with the topic for the day and see where the discussion goes. Check our website for a study guide with vocabulary notes and discussion as well as links to our Whatsapp or Facebook page where you can join in the conversation. Kevin: So Jack, I've been reading a little bit recently, I was curious how many books do you read a year these days? Jack: Oh boy, um, that's a good question. Well, my new New Year's resolution for January, the was to read 50 books in a year. Kevin: It's a very ambitious. Jack: Yes, that was one a week. That's I wanted to read one book a week and I'm not talking about, you know, children's books. Of course, I'm talking about real books. It was a total failure, just like an absolute failure. I've aimed way too high with ambitious and so. Kevin: It's not a realistic goal really to start with. Jack: So in the last, so this year I properly have only read and it's July right now I think I've read maybe two or three books so far this year. Kevin: Ok, I'm actually at a pretty similar amount. I'm trying to read more this year. Last year, I was bad at reading. I was just surfing the web and spending way too much time on the internet and not probably reading anything. This year, I've probably read, yeah I'm about the same I'm at two or three. I'm curious when you read books, how do you read them these days? Jack: Ah, that's a good question, so yeah. Kevin: For me, I'm always I'm in the middle of two books at a time. I never just read one and finish and read one and read one and finish and read one and finish. I always have two or three going both on my bookshelf or on my nightstand and it's like, okay, what do I want to read now? Right, like what's my mood at this point in the day or before bed. So how do you read? Do you take notes? Do you read like details? Jack: No, so bad, yeah, so you asked me how many books that I've read so far. This year, and I've only read, you know, when I think of having read a book, it only counts if you go from cover to cover. You got to read the whole thing. Kevin: You got to finish it. Jack: If you asked me how many books have I started this then I probably I'm 20 or 30 books. Where I read 20 or 30 pages, and then I just bailout and start a different book. And how I read, I never take notes, I just read. I just read it and try to retain as much as I can. I only read non-fiction. I don't read fiction only. Yeah, I don't really like fiction. Yeah, I haven't read fiction for more than ten years, I had since I've read novel probably. Kevin: Not at all. Jack: That's nothing,yeah. Kevin: I'm in the middle of two books right now. I'm in the middle of one non-fiction and one fiction book. I do quite like novels. I like fantasy and sci-fi stories quite a bit. And my reading these days is the non-fiction book on breathing and exercise because I'm into Yoga a lot these days. Yeah, and how to breathe properly, so I'm reading that more during the day when I can really focus because it's informative books. And then before bed, I'm reading my non-fiction book because that's kind of a story. I just kind get into it and relax, you know, read a few pages before going to sleep, yeah. For me, reading at night is difficult because I fall asleep very easily. And so like you said reading in the day time is important. I think if you're going to finish a book you've got to carve out some when you're kind of alert and so for me, like, the reason I don't read novels used to love novels in my early 20s. I read all of the books by Ernest Hemingway. I loved the Sun also Rises and For Whom the Bell Toll and things like those kinds of books from that era like the early 1900s. Kevin: Classic literature. Jack: Yeah, yeah. Scott Fitzgerald. You know, those kind of era is my favorite for novels, um, however something kind of switched to me when I, don't know, turned 30 or in my mid-30s. I just found non-fiction much more interesting because it just gives you a lot of understanding of difficult concepts, so, for example, like politics. If you just watch the news to understand politics, it's not enough information. You have to read about it to really understand it. And I think that's true for just about any topic you have to read about it to really, it gives you depth and understanding instead of just, you know, watching Netflix or something. Kevin: I never really read about it. Politics is really tough one, um, I recently finished the book, though I do agree in some ways I recently finished a book about physics, actually because I quite like physics, but I'm not, I don't understand math, I'm terrible at all of that, but I love space travel. And how physics works. I think it's cool, yeah, and so I found basically what was the name of the book. I think it's physics for busy people and it's just a book physics and dark matter and, you know, yeah, gravity and things, but for people who don't understand physics. Jack: There are some authors that are very good like Neil DeGrasse Tyson is an example of the person who wrote the book that I just read. Yes, that I know that's why I mentioned that because I know that you wrote that book, but he can write it. He can describe physics in a way that, uh, we could say like a normal individual, just you know, right a non-expert could understand. And, uh, those are the kinds of non-fiction books that I love where the authors are good at explaning difficult concepts in ways that I can understand. Because I'm not, you know, I don't have a deep understanding of too many things. I mean maybe, uh, my deepest, uh, level of understanding is probably in education, you know, is to specifically English education, but, uh, aside ffrom that, yeah I need authors that are able to explain things in ways that I can understand. So I agree yeah. That's why I love non-fiction. I just find it so much more interesting than reading a novel. Kevin: What non-fiction topics are you reading a lot about these days? Jack: Okay, um, so when I read non-fiction I really am interested in American politics. Um, I'm also interested in theology, so I read some theology books and, um, I would say I'm also I within the realm of politics I'm really interested in, like activism or topics like racism um. Kevin: Okay, things like a lot of social issues then. Jack: Yes, exactly social issues, I find very, you know, fascinating and so. I like to be on top of those issues and understand what's happening and so, um, and I supplement a lot of the reading with, like podcasts. And uh, yeah YouTube channels and things like that, so I'm always kind of listening to podcasts and I'm reading books at the same time. I'm kind of getting information from different types of media. Amazing question. Kevin: What about… yeah, so I guess the types of books mine for non-fiction they're very random because I just was reading physics books not too long ago that I finish, you know, like a few weeks back and now I said I'm reading about breathing which is, you know, physiology and how human body can adapt and change with breath. So those are not very connected at all. I do read other, like I recently read uh, sapiens which is kind of about, like human culture and things, like that I like culture books, I guess, um. And then for non-fiction because I still like fiction quite a bit. And I probably try to read more fiction than non-fiction, but it's a 50 50 almost. But I read a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, so it's my favorite book of all time. And I'm going to ask you this as well either fiction or non-fiction, but my favorite fiction book is the Dune series. Jack: Oh yes, okay. Kevin: They recently made a film about Herbert. Actually I think is, yeah exactly, yeah. And I love those books because he talks, like what I love about science fiction books is that they very often bring social issues into the story, you know, even science fiction TV shows and movies, if you're seen the Star Trek. You know, any Star Trek film or TV show from a long time ago. They deal with a lot of social issues and how those issues have evolved in, you know, 500 years in the future or something like that. Jack: Yes, Kevin, And so, I quite like sci-fi science fiction books because of that. It's like the same social issues that you like to deal with, but from a different lens. Jack: I'm with you too. I like realistic science fiction, um, where it is not necessarily realistic. Kevin:It's like 10,000 years in the future. Jack: That's true, I mean it's more of, like uh, world creating, you know, like he Frank Herbert's imagination is just um, amazing, like how do you come up with the world that seems so, uh, plausible yet, so fantastical that's right. Kevin: It's very not realistic in terms of what science they have. Jack: Um, but a book that I actually, I lied on the podcast today. I just remembered that I read a fiction book, uh. Well, I haven't finished it. Again, I started, you said sapiens, I started that book., didn't finish it. Kevin: Um, actually, yeah, I'm most of the way done, but noy all the way. It's fascinating. It's, I mean it's a good book. Un, another book is called the Mark series and the name of the authors escapes me. I apologize, I can't remember, but there's Red Mars, Blue Mars, and Green Mars, so it's a Trilogy and basically it talks about terraforming Mars, like the people go to Mars and how we begin to colonize that planet and then eventually change the atmosphere, so that it's a livable planet for human being. So it's all based in, like real science, but it's Way Beyond what we're capable of doing right now. Kevin: Did you read or see movie the Martian a few years ago? Jack: Yes. Kevin: Which one book or movie? Jack: Um, I saw the movie, um I know, that it's based on a book that was written on Reddit, I think. Kevin: I'm not sure 100 on that. Anyway, I haven't seen the film, but actually I did read the book and that book was amazing because it was partially written online and he did an amazing amount of research for it. So while it is a fiction story someone who gets stuck on Mars. It's based on completely real physics and what actual astronanuts would be able to do or not able to do or the things that they actually have with them and things like that. So it's as close to realistic science fiction as you can get I think and it was also just a great book. It was just a really fun read. Jack: I mean again, a guy that can explain really difficult concepts in ways that normal people can understand. And you mentioned Neil DeGrasse Tyson. He likes to watch science fiction movies and then kind analyze the physics whether, you know, how possible accurate the physics are in certain science movie. And I've be curious to read what he said about, uh, the Martian because, like you said he did so research before writing, while writing that. And I think I'm going online and asking professors and things like that. Please tell me what the science is behind this and then he put it into his fictional story, yeah that's really cool. Kevin: yeah yeah it's quite interesting. It's a fun book. Definitely, I do recommend it. So how many books now, what's your goal for this year? What's your realistic goal now? Jack: I’ve got to pick a realistic goal, um, I would say I think, like 10 books a year is actually really good. That's, like a little bit less than once one a month, but I think, you know, if you read ten books a year, you're pretty well informed. You're exercising your brain. Kevin: I would agree, I mean if I could read more than 10 a year, that's fantastic, but even 10 a year, I think, is a pretty good number. If I can get through, like almost a book a month for normal busy people. That's a decent amount of reading. That's what you're sitting down to do. And that's great, but as always any reading is better than no reading. Jack: Well, and also I do a lot of reading online, so it's, you know, I also think sometimes we are hard on ourselves because we don't read books, but you know, I'm reading articles and things like that. So yeah, I also listen to a lot of podcasts and, so I try. That's another way to get information, but there is something special about reading. I think reading a book and really doing a deep dive into a topic. Kevin: Something I think, although we'd have to save it for another time, but I'm curious to hear what you'd have to say about audiobooks as well. Maybe our, actually audiences can tell us about what they think about audiobooks because I've never gone to audiobooks. My brother loves them. Yeah, he loves listening to books as opposed to sitting down and reading. And I think that there's, yeah it can have some similar benefits as well. For anyone listening, come and tell us what you think?We've got a Whatsapp group and our Facebook where you can come and link. Also, go to our webpage where you can check out PDF files and see some vocabulary and additional discussion questions there. So Jack, I'll see you next time. Jack: Alright, see you next time. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this special episode of A to Z English, Kevin and Jack interview professional voice actor John Lee. John has been working as a professional voice actor for more than ten years. He has done commercial voice acting for television, radio, and YouTube. He has also done work on a popular children's show as one of the characters on the program. Here at A to Z English, we would like to express our gratitude to John for sitting down and talking about his unique profession with us for an hour.If you would like to discuss this episode with us and other listeners of the podcast, join our WhatsApp group here:https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would really appreciate it. You can find the survey here:https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters:https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of the podcast, Kevin and Jack read a dialogue about boyfriends, girlfriends, and significant others. They then unpack vocabulary words and expressions from the dialogue. And finally, they discuss several questions related to the topic.If you would like to join along, you can download a PDF version of the homework guide. You can find the link to the PDF file here:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/do-you-have-a-girlfriend/If you would like to discuss this episode and share your answers to the discussion questions with the hosts and other listeners of the podcast, join out WhatsApp group here:https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here:https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters:https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of the podcast, Kevin and Jack read a dialogue about cars. They then unpack vocabulary words and expressions from the dialogue. And finally, they discuss several questions related to the topic.If you would like to join along, you can download a PDF version of the homework guide. You can find the link to the PDF file here:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/do-you-own-a-car/If you would like to discuss this episode and share your answers to the discussion questions with the hosts and other listeners of the podcast, join out WhatsApp group here:https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here:https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters:https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, Kevin and Jack teach a lesson related to where they live. They begin the episode with a practice dialogue. Next, they unpack vocabulary related to the dialogue. Finally, the answer the discussion questions on the homework guide. You can download a copy of the homework guide for episode four here.https://atozenglishpodcast.com/where-do-you-live/Click the WhatsApp link here to chat with your hosts and other listeners: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here:https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Transcript: Quick Tips 2: Where do you live? You're listening to the A to Z English Podcast. Welcome to the A to Z English Podcast. We are here to help you with anything English A to Z. I'm Kevin. And I'm Jack. Kevin: And today we're going to talk about where you live. We're going to start with a dialogue that Jack and I will read, then we'll look to unpack some of the vocabulary that we used in the dialogue. And finally, we'll have a short discussion about the topic. Remember you can follow along with the PDF that will be linked in our show notes. And that you can join our WhatsApp group to ask questions or join the discussion yourself. So let's go ahead and start with our dialogue. Jack: Where do you live? Kevin: I live in Seoul. Jack: Where is Seoul? Kevin: It's in South Korea. Jack: Is Seoul a big city? Kevin: It's incredibly big. Jack: How big is incredibly big? Kevin: It has about 10 million people. Jack: Wow, that's huge. Kevin: And where do you live? Jack: I live in Los Angeles California. Kevin: How big is Los Angeles? Jack: It has about 4 million people. It's tiny compared to Seoul.  Kevin: Cool, so now Jack let's look at some of the vocabulary here from here. The first word we've got here is incredibly incredible. And, and what does that mean? We said that it's incredibly big. So what is incredible? Jack: Yeah, incredibly and maybe we should first, uh say what part of speech that is. So, incredibly is uh again that's a kind of, uh a kind of word and it's called an adverb. Yeah right, but when you see l-y words that have l y in them are often called adverbs and they're right verbs. Kevin: Yeah it's changing the verb right?Jack: exactly and so incredibly means too a large degree so you know, too a large amount, or too a large degree, something is a very uh strongly, incredibly, um can you think of some other words that might be similar to incredibly?Kevin: Amazingly, amazingly, Jack: Yes fantastically Jack: fantastically. Kevin: Really, any of those words just adding the l y, and amazing fantastic. Jack: It's a very incredible word, yeah right yeah. Kevin: And about number two about, if something is about something else what is what does that mean in this context? Jack: Yeah so so about has different meanings in different context, but in the context of our dialogue about means more or less. So if I say about 10 million does that mean exactly 10 million Kevin? Kevin: No, of course not it's more or less than. It's near 10 million, about 10 million. Jack: Exactly, so it could be 9 million, 950,000 would be about 10 million. Kevin: Right. Jack: Or if I borrow ten dollars from Kevin and I give him nine that's about ten dollars right Kevin? Kevin: It's about ten dollars, but I want my extra dollars. Give me my money back down. Jack: Fair enough, fair enough, Yeah, that's a good point okay. Kevin: It's not a it's not a huge difference, but that one dollar does make some difference. And number three then what is huge? Jack: Yeah, huge well, again that one dollar is not huge, but if I took a million dollars from Kevin that would be a large amount, uh so something large is huge. So we use this you know for all the time I use the word huge to describe like how about an elephant how would you describe an elephant? Kevin: Yeah, they're huge animals. Jack: They're huge animals right. Kevin: Even bigger than the blue whale, the hugest, the biggest animal on the earth. Jack: There you go. Uh yeah, another word is enormous or, yeah huge, enormous,Kevin: Gigantic.Jack: Those are another synonyms of the word huge, yeah. Kevin: Right some countries America is a huge country, rightp, China is a huge country, South Korea is a pretty small country Overall. It's not very big in size. Jack: Or you could say it's tiny. Kevin: You could say that, so tiny is just small, but it's more than small it's not just small it's very small it's tiny something that's tiny. Jack: Could we say it's incredibly small? Incredibly cool? Kevin: I wouldn't say that South Korea is incredibly small, but something that's tiny we could say is incredibly small. So next to that huge elephant what would be a tiny animal? Jack: A mouse. Kevin: Right, you've got a tiny mouse next to that huge elephant. Jack:  And maybe an incredibly tiny, uh animal or not animal, but an insect could be an ant. Kevin: Right. Kevin: There you go, so there we go nice so let's go ahead and talk about some of the discussion questions here about where we actually live? Now, Jack, you know, you and I, we both do live in South Korea of course, so we're in different cities. So where, what's your city? Where are you? Jack:  Well, I live in Pyeongtaek, and Pyeongtaek is, it'll be just outside of Seoul, so I'm maybe 45 minutes away from Seoul. If you take a bus, it takes about 45 minutes to get to Seoul. Kevin: Okay, yeah not too far, but not just a foot outside. Jack: Yeah, uh what about you, Kevin? Kevin: Have 45 minutes, that's a good one. It's not exactly 45 minutes, a lot of times. Jack: Sometimes, 50 minutes. Sometimes, one hour if there is a lot of traffic. Kevin: Right, right. Jack: Yeah if it's, uh, incredibly busy on the freeway, then which one? Kevin: It's Often in Korea. Jack:  Yeah, um Kevin, what about you? Where do you live? Kevin: I'm in Seoul. I'm in Seoul proper. And Seoul is a huge City, so I'm up in the northern part of Seoul, so I'm probably from your house, it's about, almost two hours away just to. Jack: Probably because Seoul is a very wide open City. I mean the land is by land, it's very huge. Kevin: Yeah it's very spread out. Jack: Not just by population, but also by Land, so yeah yeah. Kevin: It was definitely big. Jack: Yeah, so if you're in the north and I'm in the south of the city, it probably is about two hours, probably I'm about two hours away from you, yeah. Kevin: Which is why we meet here on Zoom because so much, so much easier. Jack: For sure. Kevin: So you live down in down in Chunky Duck. I mean that's a little bit different from Seoul, but you know Seoul pretty well of course, and what do you like about Pyeongtaek? What's interesting about that City? Jack: Something I like about Pyeongtaek is that it's a little bit quieter than Seoul. Seoul is a very busy city. There are a lot of people, and there is a lot of traffic, and it's very loud and noisy all the time in Seoul, but in Kangertech there's less traffic, uh there are fewer people and, it is a little bit quieter than Seoul. So I like that. It's a little bit more like the countryside, just a little bit. Just a little bit. Kevin: Right. Jack: Yeah, what about you? What do you like about Seoul? Kevin: Well, so I mean being such a huge City. It has everything, everything. If you want to go shopping or shopping, there's amusement parks, there's movie theater, there's a park, there's a river. And so as far as big cities go is pretty amazing. It's got really everything you want. It's a pretty fun city to live in I think. Uh, there's never you are bored in Seoul. Jack: You've got movie theaters and amusement parks and just everything right? Kevin: Yeah, and I'm from a pretty small town in Arizona when I was in university, so the difference from there to Seoul is huge, the difference as well. And yeah, it's nice to have everything that I want, but to be fair, sometimes, Seoul is a little too big for me. Actually there's a little too many people as we said in the dialogue, it's I think there's more than 10 million people here. It's crazy. Jack: It's a lot of people. Kevin: It's a lot of people and driving on the roads is difficult, riding on the subway, the Subways are great in Seoul, but during rush hour time, there's a lot of people riding on the trains in Seoul, and that's not so fun here. Sometimes, it's a little too big for me. Jack: Do people sometimes push you onto the subway, like so that the train is packed? Kevin: It's super packed. You can't not push on the subway. There's just so many people in the rush hour time that it's really tough. Jack: Yeah,. Kevin: So that's something even though Seoul is a good city I do it's almost too big for me. But what about Pyeongtaek for you? I know you said it's kind of nice, but it's not perfect. Jack: Yeah, well what don't I like about Pyeongtaek? Well, something that I don't like about Pyeongtaek is that there aren't as many choices of places to go in Pyeongtaek. So I think it's the opposite of what you just said, you said there are a lot of movie theaters, and uh you know amusement parks, and things like that in Seoul. Also, there are no mountains in Pyeongtaek. And I like hiking and I can't go hiking in Pyeongtaek. I have to go somewhere else, but even in.. Kevin: a lot of mountains. Jack: Yeah, even in Seoul there are quite a few mountains, so it's easy to go hiking. But in contact we're kind of in a valley, like it's kind of a flat area, so there are no mountains to hike up. And I wish there were some mountains. Kevin: Fair enough, cool well Chung Tech and Seoul are both nice cities, but they leave a little bit to be desired maybe. Kevin: So everybody thanks for listening today. Remember to join our WhatsApp group and come tell us about where do you live? Where  do you live? What's your city like? How big is it? Um, what do you like? What do you not like about the city where you are? Also, you can ask any questions or just feel free to chat with each other. Hope to see you there. Have a good one all. Jack: Right, bye-bye. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of the podcast, Kevin and Jack teach a lesson about music. They begin the podcast with a practice dialogue. Next, they unpack vocabulary and key words from the dialogue and explain the meanings. Finally, they answer discussion questions related to music. Download a homework guide for this episode by clicking the link here:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/what-kind-of-music-do-you-like/Click the WhatsApp link here to chat with your hosts and other listeners:https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here:https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Full Transcript: Quick Tips 001: What kind of music do you like?Welcome to A to Z English Podcast. We're here to help with anything in English A to Z. I'm Kevin. And I'm Jack. Kevin: And today, we're going to talk about the kind of music you like. And today for our lesson, we're going to start with a dialogue that Jack and I will read, then we'll look to unpack some of the specific vocabulary that we used and finally we'll have a short discussion about the topic. You can follow along with the PDF file that will be linked in the show notes and remember that you can join our Whatsapp group to ask questions or join in the discussion together. So let's start with the dialogue. Jack: Hey Kev, what kind of music do you like?Kevin: I like all kinds of music, Jack. Jack: Give me a few examples of genres that you like. Kevin: I like Classic Rock, Hip Hop, and R&B. Jack: Rock and Roll is my favorite genre of music. Kevin: Yeah, you seem like a Rock and Roll kind of person. Jack: I'm so, who is your favorite singer? Kevin: Adele is my favorite singer. She's amazing. Did you know she's from England? Jack: Yes, I did. You know who else from England? Kevin: Who? Jack: The Beatles. They're my all-time favorite band. Kevin: Great. And now that we've done our dialogue. Let's go ahead and look at some of the vocabulary. So our first vocabulary word is kind of or kinds of. And Jack, what is kind of, what is kinds of? Jack: Yeah, so what kind of is singular and kinds of is plural and a kind of would be a type of something, so we use the expression type of, which has the same meaning. A type of car. UKevin, could you give me an example of a kind of car or a type of car?Kevin: Alright, well there's sports cars which would be a kind of car, or a pickup truck would be a kind of car or a van, a sports soccer van would be a kind of car. Jack: A soccer mommy van. Kevin: Exactly, so kind of any part of a big category of things, right, a kind of food would be Thai food or Mexican food. A kind of car, a kind of music. Jack: Right, and so if I asked you, like what kinds of food do you like? If I ask you kinds of with an s. Then you might say I like Mexican food and Thai food, so you can give me two examples of two types or three types or four types. So Kevin: Our next word is genre and why don't you, uh, tell our students what genre means? Kevin: A genre is basically a kind of, but it's a kind art thing. It's used for art topics, like music or movies or TV shows or actual art paintings and things like that as well. So there's many genres of movies for example. Right, so what's your favorite genre of movie, Jack? Jack: My favorite genre of music is probably science fiction. I really enjoy outer space and I like aliens and robots and things like that. So science fiction is my favorite genre. What about you? What's your favorite genre? Kevin: I like science fiction a lot, but also, comedy and action films. I like those are one of my favorite genres of movies. Jack: If we put two genres together like science fiction and comedy, what does that make? Kevin: Means like a sub genre. Jack: Yes exactly, so you have a sub genre. So that's another word you could you add there to your list. A sub genre is when you put two genres together and create another kind of a film or kind of.. Kevin: An under a sub, under a submarine under water or a sub genre. Yes, under the main genre. Jack: Nice.Kevin: So then, let's go back to music which is a type of art of course? So number three Classic rock, Hip-hop, or B rock and Roll. What are those? Jack: Those are different genres of music. So Kev, which genre do you like the best?Kevin: Um, probably listen to a lot of rock and roll. I think. Jack: Me too. Yeah, do you like Hip-hop though? Kevin: Yeah, there's some really good Hip-hop out there. Definitely. Jack: Yeah, I agree. I agree. I feel I'm too old to listen to Hip-hop, but I don't care. I like what I like. Kevin: There's some old Hip-hop as well that you can listen to. Jack: That's true. Kevin: And then well, then that's a good transition for number four is all time, right. Your all-time something. Your all-time favorite, so what does that mean? Jack: Yeah, so all-time would be better than all the others, so for example if I said what is your all-time favorite kind of food. Your all-time favorite kind of food. So in your life, of all the different kinds of food that you have tried. Which one is your favorite, the number one all-time favorite? So, Kevin, can I put you in the hot seat right now and ask you, what is your all-time favorite food? Kevin: Right and that's tough because there's a lot of amazing food out there I love Korean food and Mexican food and Thai food. I think my all-time favorite would probably be Thai food. It just has so many different intresting flavors and it's spicy and I love that. It's my number one. My all-time favorite. Other foods are fantastic, but that one's just a little better for me. At least I love Thai food. Jack: Actually, it's that's interesting because that is my answer as well. Uh, I lived in Thailand for a few years and I think they have a wonderful cuisine, Yeah, wonderful kind of food. Kevin:Every country has their own special food, but Thailand just they got something special down there. Jack: They're doing something right over there. All right. Kevin: So let's go ahead and move to our discussion questions and just talk about music here for a bit Jack, so you already said you like rock and roll. Why do you like rock and roll? Jack: I'm not sure. I think maybe it's because rock and roll is what my friends and I used to listen to when we were growing up. I think part of it is that rock and roll was very popular in American culture in the 1980s and the 1990s, especially the early 1900s. And so because of those reasons I think that's why it's my favorite genre of music. It's very much to do with when I was a teenager where I lived and what other people listened to at the same time when I was growing up. What about you, Kevin? What's your favorite genre of music? Kevin: Pretty similar I think. I listen to a lot of rock and roll as well mostly though. I did check out just about everything when I was a kid. I listened to a lot of countries because I like countries in the desert. But these days, I listen to mostly a lot more rock or a lot of Hip-hop. Actually I do like Hip-hop and some electronics. It really depends on my mood for the day. If I'm studying I don't really like rock and roll, I like electronic music for studying, but when I'm riding my bike, then rock and roll is great. Jack: Yeah, these days rock and roll is not as popular as other genres of music. I would say Hip-hop is by far. You know, country music is much popular. Kevin.Kevin: Just pop music and pop music and k-pop. K-pop is big all around the world these days. Jack: Yes, that's right BTS. Kevin: Yep, although I hear they're breaking up actually what.  Jack: Oh I didn't know that okay breaking news. Wow, all right. Um, good, okay. Kevin: Who's your favorite musician do you think? I think I mean you like a lot of rock you said, so maybe you're not a BTS fan so much, but who is your all-time favorite band? Jack: My all-time favorite band is the Beatles for sure, um, you know, if I think this is an interesting question. You know, who is your favorite Beatle? And that tells a little bit about your personality and so.. My favorite Beatles George Harrison. I like the guitar player with mystique. That's my favorite Beatle. What about you, who's your favorite Beatle? Kevin: I think you know me too well. I was probably going to say Ringo, yeah. I don't know the Beatles all that well, I quite like their music, but if I had to pick one that I think would be the most fun I probably would have picked Ringo.Jack: Yeah, anybody who I know, that you like Weird al. And if you like Weird al as much as you do. Then, your favorite Beatle has to be Ringo. I think that makes sense. Kevin: Yeah, I love some of the stranger songs that Ringo wrote. It was great. Jack: And I do like drums a lot as well as actually. I've never learned how to play the drums. I like the beat of it a lot. Jack: Yeah, I'm an amateur guitar player. But I just appreciate the genius of someone like George Harrison. George Harrison wrote, uh, here comes the Sun which is one of the Beatles most beautiful songs in my opinion. And he also wrote something which is a beautiful song. So yeah, of the entire discography of the Beatles I would say George Harrison has written some of my favorite songs in the best albums. Kevin: Very cool. Jack: Yeah, so should we ask our students out there that maybe they should take a minute and see if they can join in on, you know, the discussion by.. How can they participate in the lesson? Kevin: Well, we've got our Whatsapp group linked in the Show notes below, right. They should be able to go. And there's just a like down there if you're on your phone. You can click that and it should open up Whatsapp and automatically join the group. So feel free to come and talk to us and talk to each other about any questions you had from any of the dialogue or the vocabulary or just tell us what your favorite music is or your favorite band. Jack: Just share and we can get to know each other on Whatsapp. It'll be fun. Kevin: Nice, hope to see you in there. All right, well thanks for listening, everybody today. Remember to join our Whatsapp group and we'll see you there. Jack: Alright, bye bye. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-fluent-mind-esl-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy