Listening practice for people who are just starting the amazing journey of learning Spanish! 

Spanish from zero

Today we're talking about a piece of vocabulary that we can use to talk about simple solutions to complicated problems. I hope you find it useful!

Don't forget that I'm a full time English coach and tutor, right here on iTalki. So if you use English as a second language at work and you'd like to improve your professional communication skills then feel free to book some of my time and let's get to work!

DAILY Business English VOCABULARY builder

This solves everything!

Covered with pins and adornments, Vivianne Robinson is hard to miss in the streets of Paris.

The Olympics superfan has attended seven Summer Games over 40 years. But this trip to Paris came at a cost of $10,000.

Robinson, 66 and from Los Angeles, maxed out her credit cards and worked two jobs to afford the trip and the 38 event tickets she bought. And she has to work two more years to make up the money she spent.

"It was hard to save up and it's a big budget, but it's a thousand times worth it," she says.

Robinson's fascination with the Olympics started when her mother worked as a translator for athletes during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Her mother would come home after work with pins from athletes that she gave to her daughter.

Her hobby of collecting pins led her to Atlanta 1996, where she made rice necklaces for athletes in exchange for their pins.

"I got all the pins and I got to meet all the athletes. And in those days, it wasn't high security like now," she said. "Now you can't even get near the athletes' village."

From there: Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, London 2012 and Rio 2016. She got a visa for Beijing 2008, but couldn't afford the trip. It was similar for Tokyo: she bought tickets, but got refunded as COVID-19 soared and the Games were held without spectators.

Robinson's outfits started simply but have become more complex over time. She spent a year working on her Paris outfit, which has hundreds of adornments. People often stop her in the street, asking for a photo.

As soon as these Olympics end, she will start working on the next Summer Games — which will be in her hometown in Los Angeles.

"I'm going to do it forever," she said. "I'm going to save all my money and just concentrate on Olympics."

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

'Worth It': Olympics Superfan Spent $10,000 to Get to Paris

En este episodio, vamos a hablar sobre el verbo “acabar”. ¿Conoces este verbo? ¿en qué situaciones de la vida  diaria puedes usarlo? Bueno, estás a punto de descubrirlo. Acompáñanos mientras exploramos las múltiples formas en que usamos este verbo en nuestras conversaciones.


Cápsula Fluida

Verbo ACABAR (parte 1)

Después de muchos años, volver a asistir a un concierto se sintió como si hubiera pasado toda una vida.

La magia de la vida

Episodio 19: La emoción de un concierto

This is Part Two of our conversation about life in Florida. We try to answer the following questions:

Are people in Florida friendly?
What's the best beach in Florida?
Are alligators dangerous?
What is a "Florida Man"?

At the end of the episode, I explain the following vocabulary in more detail with examples:

-grow into
-wreak havoc on
-a case in point

Brentoni's English Podcast

018 - Should You Worry About Alligators in Florida? (Part Two)

The difference between the active and passive forms of sentences is explained, with examples.

The English Toolbox

Active vs. Passive in English

こんにちは、Atsushiです。
昨日、おとといは晴れでしたが、今日は雨がずっと降っています。雨が降るとランニングができないので、困りますね。

最近、雨がよく降ります。
それで、世界の国々ではどれぐらい雨が降るのか調べてみました！

グローバルノート、というサイトで、世界の年間降水量 国別ランキング・推移を見てみました。

みなさん、世界で1番雨が降る国はどこかわかりますか？

1位はなんと、コロンビアでした！
2位はサントメ・プリンシペ、という国です、(初めて聞きました)
3位はパプアニューギニアでした。

それぞれとても赤道に近い国ですね。
そして、日本は何位でしょうか？

日本は、48位でした。
182位、1番雨が少ない国はエジプトでした。

中東の地域は雨がとても少ないようですね。
砂漠の地域が多いことからも、わかりますね。

日本は6月ごろに梅雨つゆ、という雨がたくさん降る時期があります。今この8.9月は台風があります。その影響で強い雨がよく降ります。冬は雨というより雪になることも多いです。

雨が多い国ではどうやってすごしているんですかね。
ちょっと気になりました。

もし、雨よく降るよ！という国の方がいましたら、ぜひレッスンで話をしましょう！いや、私の国は全く降らないよ！という方もぜひ！話したいです。


ということで、今回は世界の雨が降る国と日本の雨について話しました。最後まで聞いていただき、ありがとうございます！ではまた！


Atsushi のJapanese podcast (travel/news /文法・漢字・語彙/Osaka/Hokkaido/🇹🇷🇬🇪🇦🇲🇪🇸🇵🇹)

89 雨がひどい、について

Comparing and Contrasting Pictures (no transcript today)