A Diet Changed My Life | Episode 21
Listen to a story about how a diet changed my life!
You’ll also learn how to hear the words WHAT WAS in natural spoken English.
Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!
Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell you a story about something that happened in my daily life in Canada. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.
You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. (It sounds a bit funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower.) After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.
Learn more about the podcast & how to listen to the podcast here.
THE STORY
I’ve been sick for a long time. I was diagnosed with a chronic illness in 2009, but I’d been sick for many years before that. Over the years, I tried a lot of different things to improve my health, but nothing helped me fully recover. By the end of 2014, I was desperate. I decided to investigate if a radical change in my diet would improve my health.
I heard about a medical laboratory that does a blood test that checks for food intolerances. I decided to have the test done, even though there is no agreement among doctors that this test measures anything. My results showed that I had 32 intolerances to everything under the sun: milk, wheat, soy, … you name it! This was good news if not eating these foods could improve my health, but what was I supposed to eat?
Related: Wait. Did I say foods? Isn’t food an uncountable noun? Learn more about when it’s OK to use foods.
I made an appointment with a dietician who specializes in food intolerances. I wanted to know what she thought about the results and if she thought a new diet could help me get better. She asked me to keep a diet diary. I had to write down everything I ate, how much I ate, what time I ate at, how hungry I felt, and any symptoms I experienced afterward. When I returned to the dietician, she knew right away what my problem was: sugar, specifically natural sugars in certain foods like milk, wheat, beans, and some fruits and vegetables. These sugars are poorly absorbed in the small intestine. For some people, this causes digestive problems and other problems throughout the body.
My next task was to stop eating all these foods. From the minute I started this diet, my life turned around. Most of my symptoms have disappeared. I have more energy, I sleep better, and I get more work done during the day. This is the best thing that has happened to me in years. This diet is not easy at all. I have to cook everything from scratch and eating out is difficult, but I couldn’t be happier.
PRONUNCIATION TIP
In natural spoken English, you are not going to hear every word pronounced clearly. Some words are stressed, while others are reduced and said very quickly.
Let’s talk about the sound /’wə wəz/
Do you know what words I’m saying?
/’wə wəz/
It sounds strange. It doesn’t sound like an English word or words.
Now, listen to this question from the story:
“… but what was I supposed to eat?”
Do you recognize the sound /’wə wəz/ ?
I’m actually saying WHAT WAS.
Both words have the schwa vowel sound /ə/, and I didn’t say the T at the end of WHAT. It just came out as /wə/.
There’s no rule or reason why the T is dropped. That’s just the way native speakers say WHAT when it is followed by WAS.
It’s important to know this so you can understand what native speakers are saying. However, this doesn’t mean that the T is never pronounced at the end of WHAT. I’m talking specifically about WHAT and WAS together in a question or sentence.
Listen to some more examples
What was his name?
What was I supposed to say?
Nobody knew what was going on.
Did you hear the T in what at all in those sentences?
QUESTIONS
Do you have any food allergies?
Are you on a special diet?
Are there any foods that you can’t eat because they make you sick?
Leave me a comment below!
A Trip Downtown | Episode 20
Listen to a story about my trip downtown Toronto to meet my friend!
You’ll also learn how to say names of places and streets in a city.
Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!
Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell you a story about something that happened in my daily life in Canada. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.
You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. (It sounds a bit funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower.) After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.
Learn more about the podcast & how to listen to the podcast here.
THE STORY
People think that Canada is cold all the time, but we have beautiful weather in the summer and it’s a great time to see the country. One of my friends from Australia was traveling through Canada this summer and she stopped in Toronto for a couple days. I hadn’t seen her in a few years, so I was excited to spend time with her and show her around Toronto.
As you may remember from a previous story, I live in a suburb of Toronto, about an hour north of the city. I took the bus downtown because I don’t like driving in Toronto. There are too many cars, the roads are narrow, you have to share the roads with cyclists and buses and streetcars, and parking is expensive. Besides, it’s easy to get around downtown Toronto without a car. The city has a good public transportation system, and places are close together so it doesn’t take long to walk to them.
Every major city in North America has an area called downtown. Downtown Toronto is the busiest part of the city. It’s where the financial district is located, as well as the local government buildings. There are also sports and entertainment venues, tourist attractions, shopping areas, and different neighborhoods, like Chinatown.
I met my friend at Union Station, which is the main transportation hub in downtown Toronto. From there, I took her on a short walking tour. We stopped for a bite to eat at a restaurant on Front St., and then we walked through part of the underground shopping center that connects all the office buildings downtown. There was a free concert in the public square in front of City Hall, so we stopped to watch it for a little while. We had a fun time. I wish she could have stayed in Toronto for a few more days.
PRONUNCIATION TIP
How to say names of places and streets in a city
In the story, I mentioned the name of a street in Toronto, as well the names of two places.
I don’t recommend memorizing rules, but there are pronunciation guidelines that you can follow.
Official place names are proper nouns, and usually the last word is stressed in a proper noun.
[Remember: Stress = say the word louder & longer than the other word.]
Listen carefully:
Union Station
City Hall
I don’t recommend memorizing rules, because there’s always an exception.
In the story, I also mentioned the name of a street in downtown Toronto. Street names are proper nouns, too.
However, when a street name includes the word street, stress the first word, or the word before street. Don’t stress the word street.
Listen carefully:
FRONT Street, not Front STREET
Here are some more street names in Toronto:
Yonge Street
King Street
Queen Street
Here are some famous street names in the United States:
Main Street (every U.S. town & city)
Bourbon Steet (New Orleans)
Canal Street (NYC & New Orleans)
Lombard Street (San Francisco)
Beacon Street (Boston)
QUESTIONS
Do you live near a big city?
When your family and friends come to visit you, where do you take them? Do you take them to see any major tourist attractions?
Leave me a comment below!
My Car Died | Episode 19
Listen to a story about how my car died!
You’ll also learn how to pronounce the vowel combination AU
Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!
Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell you a story about something that happened in my daily life in Canada. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.
You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. (It sounds a bit funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower.) After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.
Learn more about the podcast & how to listen to the podcast here.
THE STORY
My car died last October. I was sad, but I wasn’t surprised. I knew my car was on its last legs. It happened on a Wednesday while I was driving around doing some errands. As I was driving, I noticed that the steering wheel was slowly moving to the left on its own, even though I was driving in a straight line and the wheels weren’t turning. I could also hear something rattling underneath the car. I finished my errands and got home safely, but I knew it was the last time I would ever drive my car.
It’s hard to explain what went wrong with my car, because I don’t know a lot about cars. Here’s what my dad explained to me. There are small rods underneath the car that are part of the steering system. These rods are important, because they connect the front wheels to the steering mechanism. The rods underneath my car had rusted and part of one had broken off, which meant that I couldn’t completely control the front wheels with the steering wheel. There was no point in getting it fixed because the repairs would have cost more than the car was worth.
I sold the car to the scrapyard. Nowadays scrapyards are called auto recycling companies, or auto recyclers. They pay cash for scrap cars, which are broken-down cars that can no longer be driven. The rest of the car was still in great condition, especially the interior, so the scrapyard will take the car apart and sell the parts to other customers.
It was a sad day when my car was towed away to the scrapyard. I loved my car. I bought it brand new in 2001 and I drove it everywhere. It was the only car I’ve ever owned. I haven’t bought another car yet. I work from home, so a car isn’t a necessity. I’m thinking about buying a one- or two-year-old used car. That’s more affordable than buying a brand new car.
PRONUNCIATION TIP
How to pronounce the vowel combination AU
In the story, I used the word auto. This is a great opportunity to look at how to pronounce the vowel combination AU.
Many of my students try to say the sound /aʊ/ when they see this vowel combination. They say things like August /ˈaʊgəst/ instead of August /ˈɑɡəst/.
Here are a couple of things to remember:
- The letters AU are almost never pronounced /aʊ/, so if you’ve been pronouncing it that way, you’ll need to relearn a few words!
- When you see two vowels next to each other within a syllable, they make one sound [most of the time]. Together, the vowels make the sound of the first letter, while the second vowel is silent.
The vowel combination AU is pronounced /ɑ/.
This is a very easy sound to make. Your mouth opens from your jaw, as if you were yawning. Your lips are relaxed & not rounded. Your tongue is flat on the bottom of your mouth. /ɑ/
Here are some words with the AU vowel combination at the beginning of a word:
August
audience
author
autumn
automatic
audition
auto [automobile]
Here are some words with the AU vowel combination in the middle of a word:
laundry
daughter
caught [past tense of catch]
taught [past tense of teach]
haunt
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule in English. There are some words where the AU vowel combination is not pronounced /ɑ/, for example, the words laugh & laughter, and dinosaur. However, these are exceptions and most of the time, the vowel combination AU is pronounced /ɑ/.
QUESTIONS
Do you have a car?
Have you ever had a problem with your car?
Leave me a comment below!
Garage Sales | English Listening Lesson 18
Story: This is what happens at a garage sale!
Pronunciation Lesson: How to hear the difference between can and can’t
This podcast is for intermediate to advanced English learners. I use core vocabulary to tell you a story about something that happened in my daily life in Canada. Each podcast also includes a pronunciation lesson that explains something I said in the story. You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. After the pronunciation lesson, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed. I speak naturally and with a standard American accent.
TRANSCRIPT
How do you get rid of things you don’t want anymore? You can sell them on the internet, you can give them to family or friends, you can donate them to charity, or you can have a garage sale. A garage sale is an event held in the driveway of a home, usually on a Saturday morning, where people sell things that they don’t need anymore. This kind of shopping is a popular hobby. Some people look for specific things, like baby clothes or electronics. Other people just like to browse. You never know what you’re going to find at a garage sale!
I held my first garage sale in the summer of 2011. It was somewhat of a success. I made good money, but I got so annoyed with people. I didn’t have a problem with people trying to bargain and get a good deal. That’s what people do at garage sales! Here’s what annoyed me: I priced an item at $5. A woman offered me $4 for it & I accepted her offer. Then she gave me a $5 bill & I had to give her change. If she had a $5 bill, why didn’t she just pay $5 for the item? It was a small thing, but it really bothered me.
I decided to have another garage sale in September 2013. This time, I priced things at odd amounts, like $7, so that a buyer could give me a $5 bill and still feel like he got a good deal. It was raining the day of the garage sale, not pouring rain, but enough that I had to keep everything in the garage. I wanted to put signs up around the neighborhood advertising our garage sale, but the rain would have destroyed them. I had put an ad in the local paper, so people still came even though it was raining! I made more money at this garage sale than at the one I had in 2011!
Garage sales are fun. They usually happen from late spring to early fall in Canada. The weather is beautiful during that time, so it’s a nice way to spend a Saturday morning. I enjoy talking to all the different people who come to garage sales. You don’t become rich from a garage sale, but it’s a nice way to earn some pocket money. Anything that doesn’t sell, I donate to charity.
NOTES
– Sometimes a garage sale is also called a yard sale.
– Canadian money includes: 5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, $1 & $2 coins, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 bills
PRONUNCIATION
Listen carefully to these two sentences. Can you hear the difference?
You can give them away.
You can’t give them away.
Can you hear the difference between can and can’t in natural spoken English? It’s not the T at the end of can’t that’s the difference, it’s the way that can is pronounced.
The modal verb can is a function word, so it’s not stressed in a sentence. It’s not fully pronounced. It’s said very quickly, and the vowel is reduced to the schwa sound /ə/. Can is pronounced /kən/ in natural spoken English.
Listen again, and try to imitate the sound I make: /kən/
Can’t is NOT a function word. It’s a stressed word in a sentence, so it’s always fully pronounced.
Listen to another pair of sentences:
Can you hear me?
I can’t hear you.
Can is not reduced at the end of a sentence. If it’s the last word in a thought group or a sentence, it’s fully pronounced, for example:
I don’t think I can
Listen to the story again, so you can get used to hearing the reduced form of can.
REFERENCE VOCABULARY
driveway
A garage sale is an event held in the driveway of a home, usually on Saturday mornings, where people sell things that they don’t need anymore.
= an area of land in front of a house (between the street & a garage) where a car can be parked
pocket money
…but it’s a nice way to earn some pocket money.
= money that will fit in your pocket; a small amount of extra money that you can use to buy inexpensive things
Phrasal Verbs:
put up
I wanted to put signs up around the neighborhood,…
= attach a photo, poster, notice, etc. to a wall or other upright structure
CORE VOCABULARY
(What is core vocabulary?)
3***
charity
event
held
sell
popular
specific
baby
clothes
find
somewhat
success
money
problem
deal [noun]
item
offer [verb]
accept
offer [noun]
bill
change [noun]
decided
another
odd
amount
buyer
pour
signs
neighborhood
destroy
local
paper
happen
weather
beautiful
during
spend
rich
earn
pocket
2**
get/be rid of
anymore
electronics
annoyed
price
bother
garage
advertising
ad
1*
donate
hobby
browse
bargain
COLLOCATIONS
(What are collocations?)
on the internet
on Saturday mornings
kind of
baby clothes
you never know
at a garage sale
in the summer of
(make) good money
annoyed with
have a problem
a problem with
(get) a good deal
this time
feel like
the day of
pouring rain
put signs up
the local paper
a nice way to
LISTEN TO MORE LESSONS HERE!
Vertigo | English Listening Lesson 17
Story: I was sick! Did you wonder where I was & what happened to me during the summer?
Pronunciation Lesson: The reduced form of the conjunction or
This podcast is for intermediate to advanced English learners. I use core vocabulary to tell you a story about something that happened in my daily life in Canada. Each podcast also includes a pronunciation lesson that explains something I said in the story. You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. After the pronunciation lesson, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed. I speak naturally and with a standard American accent.
TRANSCRIPT
At the beginning of June [2013], I experienced a severe episode of vertigo. One morning, out of the blue, I was startled awake. When I opened my eyes, the room was spinning. It was scary because I didn’t know what was going on. I couldn’t walk, stand, or even sit up. All I could do was lie in bed and try to keep my head straight. I didn’t go to the doctor right away because this had happened to me before. I thought the vertigo would go away on its own in a day or two. However, this episode was much worse than any before. I spent a week in bed waiting for the vertigo to go away.
I slowly got better, and I even taught a class, but then I had a relapse exactly one week after the first episode of vertigo. I couldn’t get an appointment with my family doctor, so I went to a walk-in clinic. I was diagnosed with a problem in my inner ear that affected my balance. The doctor said that there was nothing she could do. I just had to wait for it to go away.
Except that it didn’t go away. I was still very unsteady on my feet 2 weeks later. Three weeks after the first episode, I went to see my family doctor. She said it could also be an inner ear infection caused by a virus. She gave me some strong pills that helped me function better, but the pills made me very tired, and I had a hard time concentrating on things.
I still feel a little dizzy sometimes when I move my head. I can’t lie down with my head flat on a pillow. I sleep with my head propped up with pillows. I can work now and I have started driving on my own, but I still sit down in the shower and I still find it difficult to concentrate for very long. I’ve had to wait three months for an appointment with an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist. My appointment is this week. I really hope he can help me.
PRONUNCIATION
Listen carefully to some sentences from the story:
I couldn’t walk, stand, or even sit up.
I thought the vertigo would go away on its own in a day or two.
Did you hear the word or in those sentences?
The conjunction or is a function word. It’s a grammar word. It’s not an important word, but it needs to be in the sentence so that the sentence is grammatically correct. Within a sentence, function words are unstressed, and they are often reduced.
The conjunction or is unstressed and reduced in a sentence. In natural spoken English, it’s pronounced /ɚ/, like the er sound at the end of a word. Or reduced to /ɚ/ becomes an extra syllable at the end of the preceding word.
Listen again:
I didn’t say “I couldn’t walk, stand, OR even sit up.” I said “I couldn’t walk, stand, /ɚ/ even sit up.”
I didn’t say “I thought the vertigo would go away on its own in a day OR two. I said “a day /ɚ/ two.”
Can you hear the difference?
Hear are some more common expressions with or
sooner or later
right or wrong
this one or that one
today or tomorrow
REFERENCE VOCABULARY
vertigo
“At the beginning of June, I experienced a severe episode of vertigo.”
“…but then I had a relapse exactly one week after the first episode of vertigo.
= a feeling of dizziness; a feeling that things around you are spinning or you feel like you’re spinning (moving in circles quickly)
= it often causes a loss of balance, and you feel like you might fall down.
relapse
“…but then I had a relapse exactly one week after the first episode of vertigo.
= the return of an illness; to get sick again (after you have been feeling better)
family doctor
“I couldn’t get an appointment with my family doctor, so I went to a walk-in clinic.”
“Three weeks after the first episode, I went to see my family doctor.”
= a general practitioner [GP]; a doctor who provides general medical advice and treatment; a doctor who works in a private office, not a hospital; a doctor who knows your medical history & your family’s medical history, and you see this doctor often for your medical problems
*In North America, only specialists and surgeons work in hospital.
walk-in clinic [adjective]
“I couldn’t get an appointment with my family doctor, so I went to a walk-in clinic.”
= a doctor’s office where you don’t need an appointment. You can just walk into the office & ask to be seen by a doctor.
unsteady
“I was still very unsteady on my feet 2 weeks later.”
= opposite of steady**
= weak, not balanced
dizzy
“I still feel a little dizzy sometimes when I move my head.
= a feeling that you are spinning (moving in circles) or that things around you are moving in circles and you feel like you are going to fall.
IDIOM
out of the blue
“One morning, out of the blue, I was startled awake.”
= suddenly & unexpectedly, without warning
PHRASAL VERBS
go on
“It was scary because I didn’t know what was going on.”
= happen [“I didn’t know what was happening.“]
sit up
“I couldn’t walk, stand, or even sit up.”
= move from a lying position to a sitting position
go away
“I thought the vertigo would go away on its own in a day or two.”
“I spent a week in bed waiting for the vertigo to go away.”
= to end, to stop happening
lie down
“I can’t lie down with my head flat on a pillow.”
= move from a standing or sitting position to a lying position (a flat position)
prop up
“I sleep with my head propped up with pillows.”
= to stop something from falling or lying flat by putting something under or against it, in this case pillows. I use pillows to support my head from being flat or horizontal while I sleep.
sit down
“…but I still sit down in the shower.”
= move from a standing position to a sitting position
CORE VOCABULARY
(What is core vocabulary?)
3***
experience [verb]
severe
room
walk
stand
lie [verb]
happen
worse
teach
exactly
appointment
inner
affect
balance
doctor
except
cause
virus
strong
hard
time
concentrate
head
flat
sleep
drive
ear
nose
throat
2**
episode
spin [verb]
straight
clinic
infection
function
shower
specialist
1*
startle
awake
scary
diagnose
pill
pillow
COLLOCATIONS
(What are collocations?)
open my eyes
all I could do
lie in bed
keep my head straight
right away
on its own
in a day or two
in bed
inner ear
a hard time
concentrate on
on my own
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