A detective story; the past tense

A detective story; the past tense

27, July, 2026

Episode 222: The case of the missing earrings

In this podcast, you’ll hear how the past tense is used in the context of a detective story. You’ll hear questions, negatives and affirmative statements.

Podcast: The case of the missing earrings

by English Podcasts | Podcasts in English

Welcome back to English-Podcasts In this episode we dive into grammar and in particular the past tense. Listen out as “the detective” asks Sue questions about the missing earrings. Prick up your ears for the negatives and the affirmatives phrases.

Notes

Some learners find the Past Tense quite tricky to learn but in reality it’s just a question of practice, and learning in context is the best way. So just sit back, relax and enjoy our detective story where the detective asks Sue some uncomfortable questions.

Listen out for the pronunciation of the regular verbs ending in “ed”. These appear easy on paper but can be challenging in spoken English because the verb ending is not always clearly heard.

What are the best ways to become comfortable with the past tense ? Well, reading stories, or preferably listening to stories, is a great way. You could also practice writing a daily journal which would naturally use the past tense.

If you don’t like reading, try a quiz…… we have many, many quizzes on our site which talk about history…. and the past tense.

Try the quiz below. Enjoy !

Recap & Takeaways

This episode not only provides a humorous and engaging story but also allows listeners to practice various ways of expressing the past in English in many different ways. The mix of comedy and thought-provoking elements makes it both entertaining and educational. Look out for the questions at the end to test what you have learned

https://english-podcasts.com/paris-olympic-games-then-and-now/

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Working remotely, a nightmare?

Working remotely, a nightmare?

27, July, 2026

Episode 254: working from home; a dream or a nightmare?

In this podcast, Sue speaks to 5 people about their experience of workingh from home; some people love it, others find that it’s not very efficient. What’s your view?

Help my workplace is stressing me out

Working from home; a dream or a nightmare?

by English Podcasts

Welcome back to English-Podcasts In this episode we talk about working from home. This podcast was recorded during the Covid pandemic, and since then we’ve become more used to working from home. What do you think? What’s your experience?

Notes

Since the Covid pandemic and the lockdown, working from home has now become the new normal. It’s not only office based jobs that have had to adapt to home working but also jobs which are traditionally more “people” based. It seems that almost overnight there has been a major attitude shift as a huge quantity of work tasks have been transferred on-line. But how easy is it to re-organise the working day to these new conditions? Is working from home a dream or a nightmare for you ?

Listen to these 5 people talk about the ups and downs of home/remote working.

Stephen has had to adapt his car showroom to new Covid-19 guidelines. What does he say about the new regulations regarding test driving a prestige car ?

Anne is a lawyer, who is conducting her legal work on-line. What does she say about assessing the body language of witnesses in a trial?

Philippe as a doctor is doing consultations on the phone. What does he say about his patients’ attitude to remote consultations?

Victoria as a primary school teacher is having to find creative ways to engage her young students. What does she mean when she says her experience has been a “mixed bag”?

Cyann as a high school student is not a huge fan of on-line lessons. What reasons does she give ?

Recap & Takeaways

Before you listen take a look at some of these points that several business studies have identified as the biggest struggle people have with remote working. What is your experience?

Unplugging after work

Loneliness

Communication with colleagues

Distractions at home

Being in a different timezone to colleagues

Staying motivated

Finding reliable wi-fi

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Star Wars

Star Wars

27, July, 2026

Episode 190: Star Wars; the Force Awakens

In this podcast, Chris who has never (ever) seen a Star Wars film, interviews movie goers as they leave the cinema after watching Star Wars – The Force Awakens, just to see what all the fuss is about. It’s a great way to hear people express their opinions too.

Star Wars; the Force Awakens

by English Podcasts formally known as the EFL PodBlog

Welcome back to English-Podcasts In this episode we go to the cinema, or more precisely Chris stands outside a cineam to ask movie goers their first impressions of the long awaited Star Wars film with the return of Luke Sky Walker.

Notes

Star Wars is a space opera set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” the film centers on Luke Skywalker—played by a then relatively unknown Mark Hamill—a young man who finds himself embroiled in an interplanetary war between an authoritarian empire and rebel forces. Skywalker meets two mechanical “droids” that set him on a quest to find Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), whom he knows as a desert hermit and mystic.

The film The Force Awakens finds Luke SkyWalker again, and all the old favourite characters. It seems that Star Wars fans can rest easy; director J.J. Abrams (Star Trek) clearly knows how to stay faithful to sci-fi classics. He focuses not just on fantastic action sequences, but on the heart of these stories: the characters, both new and old.

Have you seen the film? Are you a fan ? Or are you like Chris who has never seen a Star Wars film? If so, it seems that you aren’t the only one, there is even a BBC Radio 4 program called “I’ve never seen Star Wars.”. Check it out.

Recap & Takeaways

Get ready for a few jokes in this podcast, as Chris who has never seen Star Wars confuses it with some othe si-fi stories. Can you recognise them?

Listen out to what the movie goers say.

Who likes it?

Who doesn’t like it ?

Who’s indifferent?

What did they like?

May the Force Be With You!

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The Future tense

The Future tense

27, July, 2026

Episode 223: How to make predictions using the future tenses

In this podcast, we dive into grammar with a special focus on the future tenses. Listen out as we make predictions, and you can test yourself with questions at the end.

The future tenses in English

by English Podcasts

Welcome back to English-Podcasts In this episode we dive into the future tenses. How many of them are there? Listen up as we use them to make predictions.

Notes

We all have future plans, whether it’s organizing the week ahead, planning a holiday, or considering a career change. Fortunately, English has all the tools you need to express your intentions clearly! However, when learning English, it can be challenging to know which structure fits best. In this podcast, we break down the different future tenses and provide helpful examples to guide you.

Why not check out this quiz about future expressions. The quiz was created just before the 2018 Winter Olympics, which is now many years ago, but you can adapt it to any future sporting event. Open you mind and get creative, you’ll learn so much.

https://english-podcasts.com/?s=future

Recap & Takeaways

Listen out for these future tenses in the podcast.

Simple Future: Formed with “will” + base verb (e.g., I will go). This form is often used for predictions, decisions made at the moment, and promises.
Be Going To: Formed with “am/is/are going to” + base verb (e.g., I am going to travel). This is often used for planned actions or predictions based on present evidence.
Present Continuous for Future: Uses the present continuous form (am/is/are + verb-ing) to describe future arrangements (e.g., I am meeting him tomorrow).
Future Continuous: Formed with “will be” + verb-ing (e.g., I will be studying). This form is used for actions that will be ongoing at a specific time in the future.
Future Perfect: Formed with “will have” + past participle (e.g., I will have finished). This tense shows an action that will be completed before a specific future time.
Future Perfect Continuous: Formed with “will have been” + verb-ing (e.g., I will have been working). It emphasizes the duration of an action that will be ongoing up until a future point.

Each form adds subtlety to how we discuss plans, predictions, and actions related to the future in English.

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Vanlife

Vanlife

27, July, 2026

Episode 195: Vanlife

In this podcast, Chris outlines his plans to buy a van, renovate it and then travel around Europe.

Full time Vanlife

Vanlife

by English Podcasts

Welcome back to English-Podcasts In this episode Chris tells Sue about his plans to travel around Europe in a Van. You can also see a video interview of a fellow Van traveller.

Notes

What is Van Life? Or as it is known now, Vanlife in one word.

Is it the life of a Hippy, a Nomad or a Caravan fan?

Well, Vanlifers have formed a community of people who travel in a well renovated van in search of off the beaten track adventures and freedom. It’s a cool lifestyle compared to the traditional canavan driver.

Vanlife is big on social media with the hashtag #vanlife, showing pictures of exotic settings and inspiring a great sense of freedom away from the routine of everyday life.

Many photos illustrate idyllic natural scenery, sometimes framed by the open back doors of the van, or with the van prominently visible in the landscape often in Australia, and the USA. Others depict feature spotless, stylized interior views of the living space.

Recap & Takeaways

In this podcast Chris details his plans to renovate his van and all the countries he plans to visit whilst writing his travel blog.

Have you ever thought of doing this? Think about it carefully and write 10 pros and cons of this life style.

After listening to the podcast, take the time to watch a video with a full-time VanLifer who Chris met on one of his trips.

https://english-podcasts.com/?s=vanlife

Katharina is from Germany and she has given everything up to get on the road with her little car and her vintage caravan.

Chris met her near Saint Jean de Luz just as she was planning to head off to Spain and Portugal and she has already encountered some problems, like her fridge breaking down and the walls of her caravan falling apart and leaking water into the inside of the caravan, although she remains upbeat and motivated for her adventure.

She talks about the ups & downs of Vanlife, where she has come from, where she is going and how she intends to earn some money to maintain her lifestyle whilst on the road.

What do you think about her lifestyle?

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Meet up with a full-time Van Lifer

Meet up with a full-time Van Lifer

Meeting up with a full-time #vanlifer who is doing #vanlife where we met on a small farm campsite in the #paysbasque in south west #france.

Katharina is from Germany and she has given everything up to get on the road with her little car and her vintage caravan.

Chris met her near Saint Jean de Luz just as she was planning to head off to Spain and Portugal and she has already encountered some problems, like her fridge breaking down and the walls of her caravan falling apart and leaking water into the inside of the caravan, although she remains upbeat and motivated for her adventure.

She talks about the ups & downs of Vanlife, where she has come from, where she is going and how she intends to earn some money to maintain her lifestyle whilst on the road.

Click below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgDrcx165pQ

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