Ten things you can do to master small talk in any language.

The English Toolbox

Small Talk

To express numbers and dates in Chinese, to buy airplane ticket and bargin

Basic communication conversations

第三课 有没有到北京的飞机票？lesson 3 Do you have a ticket to BeiJing?

In today's episode we learn an anecdote about the American tourists who once met the Queen and had no idea who she was. Here's the story. 

Key Vocabulary:
An anecdote   /ˈanɪkdəʊt/   noun  = a short, interesting story about a real incident or person.
To play a prank on someone = To carry out a trick, deception, or practical joke on someone.
To pull someone's leg  =  to deceive someone playfully; tease someone.
Cantankerous	/kanˈtaŋk(ə)rəs/ adjective   = bad-tempered, argumentative, and uncooperative.
To be a fly on the wall =  you would like to hear what will be said or see what will happen while not being noticed

Former Royal Protection Officer, Richard Griffin said he and the Queen met the American hikers one day while they were walking near Balmoral Castle, her holiday home in Scotland.
"The Queen would always stop and say hello," Griffin said. "And it was clear from the moment we first stopped that they hadn't recognized the Queen."
Griffin said one of the Americans asked the Queen where she lived.
"She said, 'Well I live in London, but I've got a holiday home near here,"' Griffin recalled. 
The hiker then asked if she had ever met Queen Elizabeth.
"Well I haven't, but Richard here meets her regularly," the Queen replied.
The hiker then turned to Griffin and asked: "Oh, you've met the Queen? What's she like?"
"I decided to pull her leg, so I said, 'she can be very cantankerous at times, but she's got a lovely sense of humour".
The American then got his camera out, and gave it to the Queen, asking if she could take a picture of him with the royal protection officer. "Then we swapped places and I took a picture of them with the Queen and we waved goodbye". "The Queen said to me, 'I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he shows those photographs to their friends —  hopefully someone tells him who I am.'"

Learn English with Cambridge David

The Queen and the American tourists

If you are interested in the first pages of this novel, you can continue listening to the new part.

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Letter O
Listen and repeat then sing along.
ostrich, octopus, olive, ox

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En unos días es Navidad de nuevo y he pensado que es un buen momento para compartir contigo algunas expresiones españolas con temática navideña. Aunque la mayoría de expresiones que voy a compartir hoy las usamos durante todo el año creo que las tenemos especialmente en cuenta en esta época.

Como siempre, espero que disfrutes el episodio. Después de escucharlo no te olvides de dejar una valoración ni de pasarte por mi Instagram para decirme que te ha parecido y si conocías estas expresiones españolas. Además, me encantaría saber si en tu país tenéis alguna expresión típica de estas fechas.

