#3 COVID : One year on

1. Link to the podcast :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/features/6-minute-english/ep-210225

2. Keywords mentioned on the handout :

(1) Pandemic

Once the virus becomes a pandemic influenza, your trouble will only begin.

(2) Wimpy

I was too wimpy to be a boxer so I decided to be a musician.

(3) Take hold

the reforms of the late nineteenth century had taken hold.

(4) Kick in

It takes half an hour for the medicine to kick in.

(5) Sheer

Statistics show that police are struggling to tackle the problem due to the sheer number of cases.

(6) Genome

The Human Genome Project was the international research effort to determine the DNA sequence of the entire human genome.

3. Other vocabularies :

(1) Take stock

After two years spent teaching overseas, she returned home for a month to take stock of her life.

(2) Go for

The public goes for his ideas.

(3) Lockdown

The school has been placed on lockdown this morning while authorities investigate a bomb threat.

(4) Feeble

Opposition to the plan was rather feeble.

(5) death toll

The death toll of Nepal earthquake keeps climbing.

(6) Recap

Finally, the teacher recapped the main points of the lesson.

 

#2 Podcast Recommendation - If you are a billiards lover

Recently, I've been hooked on playing pool, so I searched for podcasts related to billiards. But surprisingly, I couldn't find one with scripts on Player FM or other websites, so it's YouTube I choose to visit eventually. That's when I discovered this channel.

Name of the podcast : 

Pool Player Podcast

Link to the podcast :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUX3SfAh7ppSF3VpS6Y5yqQ

What is the podcast about?

The Pool Player Podcast is the place you can find interviews of those top professionals and billiards industry professionals from all over the world. By hearing from pool players, we can learn more about their life, and stories of their road and tournament adventures.

 

Why you recommend this podcast?

reason 1 :  an area we don't usually know much about.

Most people enjoy watching NBA or MLB. Only a few of us would pay attention to those pool players, so it'd be a great chance to learn more about billiards.

reason 2 : visual stimulation.

Interview clips can be eye-catching. Scientists said that people could be more focused on watching images than reading text in a long string.

reason 3 : accents from different country(or states).

It's hosted by Joey Ryan whose from Arizona. Though he's from southern America, he uses the standard American accent while speaking. Apart from the host, there are players from all over the world, so you might also hear British English or EU English.

reason 4 : scripts available.

Given it's on YouTube, you don't have to download an app on your smartphone. Plus, you can listen to it at any time.

Moreover, it's easy to reach its scripts. One outstanding fact about YouTube is that it has a function of subtitling.

 

I would recommend visiting this podcast when you're taking a load off. It's not only an approach for you to learn more about snooker or enhance your language abilities but also a relaxation method.