Nick discusses the positives and negatives of running your own business. This questions could be part of the IELTS test - Speaking Part 3 or Writing Part 2.

IELTS with Nick - World Knowledge 

Why do some people like to run their own business?

ANGELICA: Doesn’t the bride look beautiful in that wedding dress?
MARIA: Yes. She looks amazing. And the groom is so romantic. 
I just heard the story of how they got engaged! He 
proposed to her during a candlelight dinner in London. 
Did you know that was where they went to school?
ANGELICA: Oh? Wonderful. And the honeymoon! What a great 
idea! Most people just go to the beach for a week 
after they tie the knot. But they plan on heading to 
California and cruising the coast on their motorcycle.
MARIA: Really! What a fantastic idea. This is by far the best 
wedding I’ve ever been to



LANGUAGE NOTES
• Doesn’t …? When you have a negative question, the expected answer is “yes.” As 
such, it expresses the exact opposite of what is being conveyed (i.e., the bride DOES 
look absolutely beautiful).
• Listen to the stress on honeymoon. There are three syllables in “honeymoon,” with the 
stress on the first syllable [HO-ney-moon]. This content word is culturally important, so 
it’s emphasized: It means a trip or vacation taken by a newly married couple.
• Tie the knot is an informal way of saying “get married.”
• Can you find and explain the two usages of just in this dialogue? “Just” is an adverb 
that can be used in two different ways:
 a) To indicate a very recent past (I just heard the story). When used to convey 
time, “just” is commonly used with a simple past verb because the action is 
complete. Sometimes it can also be used with the present perfect (He’s just 
finished writing a book).
 b) To indicate contrast or emphasis (Most people just go to the beach). In that 
case, “just” can be replaced by “simply” and emphasize the word it relates to 
(a verb, adjective or other adverb) by denoting contrast. Compare the following 
sentences: “They just got married yesterday” (adverb of time). “The wedding 
reception was just wonderful” (adverb of emphasis).

English Conversation practice (30-day challenge)

Day 29: Weddings

🎙️ Introducing “The Voice You Forgot You Had”
By Anatoly Glazkov – Identity Architect for High-Stakes Professionals

Most learners think their struggle is with English.
In reality, it’s with identity.

After years of study, many high-achieving women still feel a quiet dissatisfaction every time they speak — as if their English is fine, but they aren’t.
Their voice sounds smaller than who they really are.

This podcast is about that hidden moment — when confidence collapses not because of grammar, but because of who’s behind the words.

I’m Anatoly, an identity architect for high-stakes professionals.
Over 20,000 sessions taught me one truth:
you don’t need more English; you need to recalibrate the person who uses it.

Each short episode is a cinematic exploration of what happens when you step out of the English performance box and start speaking as your real self.
It’s not language training — it’s psychological tuning.

You’ll hear reflections, guided moments, and stories from people who learned to stop asking “How do I sound?” and start asking “Who is speaking?”

Episode 0 — “The Architect of the Voice”
The story behind my method, Identity Recalibration:
how I help professionals transform anxiety into presence and performance into authenticity.

Listen when you need to reconnect with the part of you that already knows how to speak.

⭐ The Voice Unlock Method™ –  The Inner Game of Speaking English with Calm, Clarity & Presence 

“The Voice You Forgot You Had”

Short story 「手ぶくろを買いに《 Buying Mittens》ep2」
This story is written by Nankichi Nīmi.
He is a Japanese author of children's literature.
Although his life was only 29 years, he left us with many stories to tell.
（※About Nankichi Nīmi【Wikipedia】：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nankichi_Niimi）

This episode is JLPT-N3 level.

I created a quiz on this episode.
After listening, please take the quiz!

Please use this audio for listening and shadowing practices.

☆Buying Mittens ep1
#21 Short story /  Buying Mittens ep1 / storytelling // N3 Level

☆words for this episode
They are listed in the overview section of the channel.

☆Quiz for this episode
https://www.italki.com/quiz/set/6383?utm_source=copylink_share&utm_medium=share_content&utm_campaign=share_quiz

Simple Japanese Listening with Meg（めぐ）Smile

#24 Short story /  Buying Mittens ep2 / storytelling // N3 Level

Привет! J'utilise la méthode TPRS, qui permet d'apprendre à bien comprendre et à utiliser activement le vocabulaire et la grammaire de niveau A1. Écoutez, répétez, répondez aux questions et vérifiez. Bonne chance! 

Утром Катя пьет кофе. Она предпочитает эспрессо. Катя покупает кофе в маленькой кофейне недалеко от офиса. Она заходит туда по пути на работу. Там очень вкусный кофе. Кофе стоит 300 рублей, это недорого. Для Кати утренний кофе - приятный и важный ритуал. Катя думает, что утро без кофе – это не утро.

кофе - café
кофейня – место, где продают кофе
продавать - vendre
пить -boire
маленькая/большая - petite/grande
недалеко от…/рядом с… - non loin de.../à côté de...
вкусный и недорогой -  délicieux et  bon marché
Сколько стоит кофе? - Combien coûte un café?
дорого/недорого -сher/bon marché
нет, конечно - bien sûr que non
предпочитать - préférer
идти/ходить - aller
заходить - еntrer
Во-первых, во-вторых, в-третьих… - tout d'abord, deuxièmement, troisièmement...

По-русски легко!

Короткие истории. 4. Кофе по утрам

Letter U
Listen and repeat then sing along.

umpire, uncle, umbrella, up
This is an umpire.
This is an uncle.
This is an umbrella.
This is up.

Follow me for more phonics.

Phonics The Alphabet 

Letter U

Escúchanos a Cinthia y a mí hablar de las comidas que se llevan a cabo en Argentina y en México.
¿Normalmente cuántas comidas en el día hay en tu país?

Cinthia:
https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/2032337/spanish

Mucho que decir

Gashetitas Ft. Cinthia Pustilnik

Working from home and avoiding the journey to and from the office is saving many of us at least an hour every day, according to a 2023 study.

But we're not always using that saved time for ourselves — we're actually spending a lot of that time working.

The US-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) did a survey that looked at how workers in 27 countries used their time when working from home.

On average, the daily time saved by working from home was found to be 72 minutes.

Workers in China saved 102 minutes per day, while in Japan it was 100 minutes, and in India it was 99.

But the study also found that, on average, 40% of that saved time was spent working — either on the worker's main job or on an additional one.

Workers in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan said they used more than half of their saved time to work.

So what happened to the rest of that extra time?

According to the study, an average of 34% was used as leisure time — with people in Germany and Austria using almost half of their extra time for leisure.

And 11% — about eight minutes per day — was spent looking after children or other family members.

The NBER said children had gotten a better deal with parents working from home — but that the big winners were employers, who got extra work time from their employees.



Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Work from Home Study: We Save Time but Work More

こんばんは！Atsushiです。
今日の天気は晴れ。
気温は20℃ぐらいです。
北海道はこれからどんどん涼しくなりそうです。

おととい、昨日と大阪へ行っていました。
日本語教師の学校へ行っていました。

この9月で学校は終わりなのでもう少しがんばります！
今月は留学生のみなさんに模擬授業をします。

私は来週に授業をしないといけないので、準備をしています。いろいろ変えようと思っているので大変です。
でも、実際に留学生のみなさんに授業ができるのはとても楽しみです！緊張しますけど。

個人的には、学校の授業のような形よりも、1対1、マンツーマンで話すことが好きです。

私はオンラインでいつもいろんな国の方と日本語で会話をします。お互いの国のことや生活のこと、習慣、文化、言葉のことも話します。個人的な話もたくさんします。これも本当に楽しいです。

みなさんにとって、私と日本語で話すことはとても良いことだと思います。ほとんどの人が、近くに日本人がいなかったり、いるけど日本語を話す機会がなかったり。そんな時はぜひ私と話をしましょう！

私は、いろんな国の人と話すことがとても好きです。
知らないことをたくさん知ることができます。
日本にいると、日本のことしか分からないことが多いです。
でもみなさんと話すと、視野が広がります。
ですので、みなさんとのレッスンの時間はいつも楽しいです。

もし話したいと思った人はぜひ、italkiでレッスンを予約してくださいね！話せることを楽しみにしています。

ということで、今回も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！
