What's the chance of encountering a total stranger 3 times under the same circumstance over the span of decades? It is all meaningless coincidence or does the universe have something to say to us? In this episode I relate the story of Emile Deschamps and one of my own. Please drop a comment down below to let me know if you, my dear friend, have encounter some crazy coincidence as well!

This podcast is aimed at people who have not taken the IELTS or who took it once without preparing and now want to prepare for a second try. I'll describe how the test is organized, what the different types of questions are, how the test is scored (banded) and the issues that are scored.

Well it depends! On so many factors. Native like fluency is a must at least for higher levels but at lower levels, it's incredibly helpful when a teacher speaks your native language.....

So when I was deciding which topic to focus on for our second episode I really only needed to look at what the people I work with are actually asking for. One of the most common topics that I discuss with people is presentations. Presentations can be great opportunities to use those English skills that you work so hard on, but they also have their own stresses and challenges. Today we’re going to look at some vocabulary that you might hear when watching a presentation and some that you might want to use when giving your own. At the end we also have our 'big discussion question' to help you with your speaking practice. You can find the vocabulary from this podcast in the vocabulary sets on my profile. I hope you enjoy today's podcast and I look forward to meeting you on a call very soon!

In todays episode I would like to discuss the importance of sleep, and the reasons you should follow good sleeping patterns.

Sam is a meteor from outer space. After leaving his homeland orbit, Sam was pulled towards the nearest large planet. When entering Earth’s atmosphere, he faced so much resistance. This created extremely high temperatures which burned away layers and layers of his body. As a result, Sam, who used to be giant when floating in space, became so little that he could fit in a fisherman’s hand. The overwhelming amount of pain Sam suffered as a result of his entry caused him to fall into a deep state of unconsciousness. When Sam struck the Earth, he was fast asleep. Waking up and opening his eyes, Sam sees nothing but a vast cloudless blue sky. An enormous wave of peace and serenity washes over him. He is like a newborn baby experiencing the wonder and mystery of life for the first time. For a few moments, this serene blueness the only mental phenomenon swimming around his meteor consciousness. Seconds later, questions appear. Where am I? What happened? What comes next? Due to his traumatic experience, Sam has lost all memory of his life before coming to Earth. He rolls over and looks down the beach. There are some large laughing figures running around, chasing a flying red disk. Further away there are two large ones holding long boards under their arms while walking into the water. Closer to Sam, there are several little figures picking up other rocks and showing each other. “Wow, look at that one!” says one of the little boys. “It looks like emerald. With a little bit of sapphire too!” I wish that those boys will pick me up and take me with them… I want to explore, to see precisely what life on Earth has to offer… “Come quick!” yells one of the boys, eagerly running straight to Sam. “Look at this one! It’s so strange and ugly, but fascinating at the same time!” “Grab it, quick! Before mom sees!” A distant voice calls for the two children to return to the family car. “Boys, we’re going now. Hurry up.”

Etymology is the study of words that give their meaning alongside origin, historical development, and changes within the English language.

In this episode I talk about my recent experience with a hard drive failure. I talk a little about making back ups of data and what I learned from this painful experience.

A black sports car steadily drives down a highway towards a shipping dock somewhere on the coast of Morocco. Inside, five fruits are silent, quietly going over the plan in each of their minds. In the passenger seat is a reddening aged triangle apple named Johannesburg. His hands are stiff, the sign of an experienced carpenter, and his eyes are tired, the sign of “I hope this works,” says the driver, a fresh pear. “It’s our last chance to save grandma.” Johannesburg, who had his attention fixed on the twinkling moonlight, sniffs and rubs his nose. “Trust in the plan, Pear.” “What if the ship is empty and we risk our lives for nothing?” exclaims Pear. A voice from the back seat speaks up. “ I trust my source like I trust my own mother.” “No one doubts you, Grape,” says Johannesburg. “Pear is nervous—that’s all.” It was six months ago when Johannesburg received a call from Japan. It was Pear, his brother-in-law, informing him that their grandmother, a sweet and kind raisin, had contracted an unknown virus. The aged apple tried not to panic, but became haunted by the news. A few weeks later, his worst nightmare came true. Their dear raisin grandmother had been diagnosed with the corona virus and had been reacting severely to it. It was from then on that Johannesburg started experiencing sleep difficulties: waking up screaming, tossing and turning in bed, unable to fall asleep. He also stopped eating, unable to stomach anything but dry, plain oats. Feeling hopeless, Johannesburg had practically given up, surrendering to his sleepless nights, stomach knots and growing depression. Then, late one night, he received a call from Grape, his long-time friend. A trusted source had informed him that a large shipment of gold was scheduled to arrive in one week’s time at Port Morocco. Grape proposed a four-man robbery, saying they could split the gold equally amongst the associates.