Teacher Joseph's Podcast

A News Story from 1938

Learn the 100 most common irregular verbs in the past tense, and how to use the verb "did"

English Syndicate

The past tense - Irregular verbs, the verb "did"

Te explico una expresión que decimos en determinadas circunstancias, concretamente en momento felices.

Expresiones en español

Pasárselo pipa

In this story, a piece of toast named Buttersy has an uncomfortable bus ride to work. How will she deal with the terrible smell? This is Part 3 of 5. 

The bus kept going as the morning sun rose higher and higher. The candy passengers begun to seem uncomfortable. They wiped sweat off their foreheads and fanned themselves using their wrappers. The temperature was rising. 

Buttersy had a painful look on her face as she sniffed. “What’s that smell?” 

She scanned the bus and found the offender. 

In the middle of the bus was a middle-aged piece of cheesecake. He sat at the window and almost took up two seats because of his size. He was sweating, breathing heavily and groaning. The passenger next to him left her seat and decided to stand at the front. 

“Ugh, it’s disgusting,” said Buttersy, now holding her nose, not worried about what others will think. “How can he be so inconsiderate? A thing like that shouldn’t leave the house without a wrapper!” 

Choco laughed, knowing that Buttersy wasn’t serious, but only expressing her frustration. He said, “This is public life. Just keep breathing through your mouth; we’re not far from our stop.” 

Buttersy held her nose, getting angrier and angrier. She noticed the bus was equipped with a huge air conditioning system, but it was only blowing a tiny breeze. 

“What’s going on!? Are these candies all crazy?” she said, noticing how the others just tolerated the sour smell that filled the bus. “I’d prefer to have a bird peck out my eyes than this.” 

As the journey continued, the smell only got worse and worse. 


Being a Cloud

Buttersy the Piece of Toast

Have you ever said something to somebody that maybe you shouldn't have said and now you have to try to back out of it?

English with Uncle Billy

English with Uncle Billy having a Discussion. Oops.

¿Leer en español te parece difícil o aburrido? En este episodio descubrirás cómo usar la lectura como una herramienta poderosa para multiplicar tu vocabulario y mejorar tu fluidez. Aprenderás técnicas como la lectura por interés, la creación de un “banco de palabras” y la combinación de lectura + audio.

👉 Recuerda: “Don’t translate, absorb.”

Cada palabra nueva es una victoria en tu camino hacia la fluidez.


Español No Excuses: Level-Up Your Mind, Speak Out Loud

Lectura inteligente: cómo potenciar tu vocabulario y fluidez en español

Recycled Human Hair Is Cleaning Belgian Water
Imagine if the hair caught in your drain could actually help to clean it.

That's what's happening in Belgium, where human hair is being recycled to help clean the country's water.

Around the country, hairdressers are taking the hair they cut from their customers' heads and putting it into bags. These bags of hair are then collected by a non-profit organization that runs a project called "Hair Recycle."

The hair collected by Hair Recycle is put through a machine and made into 60-centimeter-wide square mats. These mats can then be put into a drain to absorb oil and other pollution before it gets into a river or stream.

According to the Hair Recycle website, 1 kilogram of hair can absorb up to 8 liters of oil.

To take part in the project, hair salons have to pay a small fee. They then receive bags to collect the hair, and a sticker for their window, so they can show their customers that they are helping the environment.

Salons in Luxembourg and the Netherlands are also taking part in the Hair Recycle project.

Belgium's Hair Recycle is not the only hair recycling project, however. In the UK and Ireland, a company called Green Salon Collective is recycling hair and other waste from salons, including metal, paper, plastic and chemicals.

And a similar company called Green Circle Salons is recycling hair and other salon waste in the US and Canada.

So maybe hair in the drain can be a good thing?

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Recycled Human Hair Is Cleaning Belgian Water

En este episodio te explico desde un punto de vista gramatical la estructura gramatical: llevar + gerundio, llevar + infinitivo y hace + presente. No se trata de una expresión, realmente es una perífrasis. 