农历 nóng lì：The traditional Chinese calendar; the lunar calendar
元宵节 yuán xiāo jié：The Lantern Festival
正月 zhēng yuè：The first month of the lunar year
月圆 yuè yuán： full moon
五福 wǔ fú ：five blessings (longevity, wealth, health, love of virtue, and natural death)
鸿运 hóng yùn：good luck; great blessing
圆满 yuán mǎn：satisfactory; perfect
连连 lián lián：repeatedly;again and again; one after another
今天是2024年2月4日星期六，农历正月十五。
在中国农历正月是元月，古代称夜为“宵”，所以是一年中第一个月圆之夜。正月十五名为“元宵节”也叫“上元节”。正月十五，祝你五福临门，鸿运当头、事事圆满、好运连连！

“龙”年中国话（“ lóng ” nián zhōng guó huà）

The Lantern Festival 龙年元宵节

Ukrainian has two words for "also. "Are they interchangeable? Let's find out.

All About Ukrainian

теж or також

Letter P
Listen and repeat then try reading them on your own.
panda, pineapple, peach, pen

Follow me for more phonics.


Phonics The Alphabet 

Letter P

In this episode, I explain the difference between the verbs 'to borrow' and 'to lend', as well as talking about hiring and renting. 

English with Nici!

Lend and borrow!

Conversación entre dos amigas hablando de su rutina diaria 

Aprende árabe con Radia 

Rutina diaria

Let's talk today about how to give feedback at work, especially if you use English as a second language in the workplace and are not a native English speaker.

Giving feedback to your colleagues, your staff, and your managers, is an essential part of a great team. However, so few people actually do it! We often think of feedback as a scary thing that is reserved for end of year performance reviews and appraisals. However, the best teams in the world make both negative and positive feedback a key part of their company culture.

Today we’re going to hear some tips and ideas for how to give feedback to your colleagues. We’ll hear some great natural and native sounding vocabulary that we can use to do this, and then we’ll finish off with some challenges for you. Including a speaking challenge and a vocabulary quiz to see what you’ve remembered from today’s podcast. 

Breakout Business English

How to GIVE FEEDBACK to your colleagues at work - Business English lesson

Most people use a lot of technology these days, but is it making less people less sociable - do they interact less with other people? Today, Nick gives you some ideas for this question on the IELTS test. 

IELTS with Nick - World Knowledge 

Is technology making people less sociable?

Borders between countries sometimes change after wars or international agreements, but part of the border between Italy and Switzerland is changing because of melting glaciers.

Large sections of the border are defined by different parts of the glacier, for example the lines of ridges in the ice.

But climate change has caused glaciers across Europe to melt and this has changed the positions of the glaciers' ridges and the natural boundaries between the countries.

The two countries have been talking about the new borders for a number of months. Switzerland signed the new border agreement at the end of September and it's waiting for Italy to do the same.

Part of the border is close to the popular Swiss ski resort of Zermatt. Some of the slopes will be affected by the border change, although skiers shouldn't need to worry about carrying their passports up the mountain!

In fact, both countries are in the Schengen area, so anyone with a visa to visit one of them will usually be able to visit the other without any problems.

The changes have been made so that it is clear which of the two countries is responsible for maintaining certain areas.

But both countries' economic interests were also considered when the new borders were agreed, Bloomberg said.

According to 2023 data, Switzerland's glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, after losing a record 6% of their volume in 2022.

The region has had less snow and warmer summers in recent years.

Some glaciers have no ice left, and the situation will only get worse if nothing is done about climate change, experts say.

According to a 2023 study, up to half of the world's glaciers could disappear by 2100, even if we make progress with targets limiting climate change.