Active Listening Exercises: facts about British weather
Listening skills are so important if you want be able to easily and confidently talk to other English speakers. In this post, I want to test your listening skills and I’m going to give you some information about the British weather. It’s our favourite topic of...
Active listening exercises: number facts about United Kingdom geography
Do you find listening to real British English challenging? If you do, I’m here to help. In this post you’ll find a video with some geography facts about the United Kingdom. This video is one of many videos and transcripts you’ll find to help your listening skills....
Active Listening Exercises for you to try today: facts about screen time
Listening to real English can be really tough with all the ways we change our pronunciation in real contexts. But don’t worry - I’m here to help! In this video I'm going to give you some facts about screen time in the United Kingdom and I’m going to ask you some...
What are the different ways to pronounce “ei” in British English?
English is well known for its less-than helpful spelling system. There are many different ways to pronounce the same letters depending on the word they’re in. As a learner of English, you need to memorise a lot of pronunciations. In this post I want to help you with...
How to pronounce words with “OO” spelling
English spelling is complex and often the same letters have multiple pronunciations depending on the word they’re in. In modern British English there are five – yes FIVE – ways we pronounce “OO”. There’s no logic behind why some words have one pronunciation while...
What is Galentine’s Day (and how do you pronounce it?!)
Galentine’s Day has only been celebrated for the last 10 years or so. It originated in America but is becoming popular in the UK too. It’s now quite a familiar term with younger people. Galentine’s Day is February 13th – the day before Valentine’s Day. It’s a day...
How to pronounce “holy” and “holly” in a British English accent
This is a pair of words that lots of learners of British English find challenging. In this post, I’m going to explain the difference for you. There is also a video at the bottom of the page so you can hear the difference. HOLY /ˈhəʊ.li/: The vowel is the first...
Accent focus: Liverpool accent with Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher
Liverpool is a city in the north of England with a distinctive accent (the way words are pronounced) and dialect (the actual words that are used). The accent here is completely different from accents spoken even just a few miles away. Watch this video of footballers...
Glottal stops in real English
When I was growing up, I remember being "corrected" and told that the way I spoke was "wrong". The reason? I used glottal stops. The glottal stop is a common sound in British English and often replaces /t/ between vowels like "water" or at the end of words after a...
