Join me for a fun, conversational deep dive into one of America’s most playful holidays — Halloween!
In this episode, Keifer shares the history of Halloween, how families across the U.S. celebrate with costumes, candy, and community, and even a funny personal story about his homemade SpongeBob costume.

You’ll learn about trick-or-treating, pumpkins, haunted houses, and hayrides — plus a few spooky English idioms and vocabulary along the way.
Perfect for intermediate English learners who want to improve listening skills while exploring American culture in a fun, relaxed way.

Also you can find me on Spotify under English Umbrella if you'd like to watch there!

The English Umbrella

How Americans Celebrate Halloween

Sleep plays an important role in how well our memory works, making it essential for learning. But as everyone who's ever stayed up late studying for an exam knows, you don't always get as much sleep as you need!

The good news is that a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that exercise can give your memory some protection when you haven't slept.

Researchers worked with 53 participants aged 18 to 35 who came to a lab where they were kept awake for 30 hours non-stop.

Then they were each put in one of three groups. One group did a 20-minute workout on exercise bikes, while a second group took a 90-minute nap. The remaining participants — the control group — did neither.

Then all participants viewed 150 images while having the electrical activity in their brains recorded. They weren't told they'd be tested on the images, but three days later, they were brought back to the lab to do exactly that.

The participants were shown a mix of new images and images they'd seen before, and asked which ones they remembered.

Unsurprisingly, the participants who took a nap before first seeing the images did 23% better than the control group. But the exercise group did nearly as well, scoring 21% better on their memory test than the participants who didn't get to sleep or exercise.

Interestingly, the brain activity recordings revealed that while naps and exercise help memory to a similar degree, they work in different ways. Napping seemed to help the brain recharge, making it easier to take in new information. Exercise, however, appeared to help the brain use its remaining resources more efficiently.

The researchers said that exercise can't replace sleep. But these results suggest that it can help people at least function better when they haven't had enough rest.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Didn't Sleep Enough? Exercise May Protect Your Memory

It's much easier to come into work every day when you like the people you work with. In fact, research has found that when employees have close friends at work, they are often more engaged and productive, and likely to stay with their company longer.

And a new study published in Social Networks suggests that women often build stronger workplace friendships than men do, creating close-knit groups that play an important stabilizing role in organizations.

The researchers used data from a US community development organization that places 18-to-24-year-olds in different jobs, most of which are in schools.

One of the organization's main goals is for the workers to learn to work — and form friendships — with different groups of people.

Across their first 10 months with the organization, around 140 participants answered four surveys about their workplace friendships.

Fifty-five percent of the participants were women, while 45% were men. The surveys were spread evenly across the beginning, middle and end of the 10 months.

The researchers found that men were more likely to form one-on-one friendships with other men — and these were more common when the friendship was seen as supporting personal or professional goals.

Women, meanwhile, were more likely to prioritize friendship for its own sake. This resulted in stronger friendship groups, and more interconnected social networks within workplaces.

The researchers said the friendship networks that women built were also found to contribute more to organizational stability.

However, the different friendship patterns found in the study could also play a role in inequality and pay gaps between men and women.

The researchers said that women's friendship networks, while offering a positive contribution to the workplace, may offer fewer opportunities to help their careers when compared with the more strategic relationships men are likely to develop.

Women Build Stronger Workplace Friendships, Study Says

Around the world, many countries are experiencing heat like they've never experienced it before — hotter temperatures, more heat waves and longer periods of warm weather.

And this trend isn't likely to slow down any time soon.

But scientists say there could be a simple way for people to prepare themselves for more hot weather in the future: going to the sauna.

Saunas have already been linked to several possible health benefits. Research suggests regular sauna use may support heart health, improve relaxation and reduce stress.

Going to a sauna might sound like the worst thing you could do on a hot day — but that's not what scientists are recommending!

The idea is that people use saunas in cooler weather to get ready for hot summers. It's thought that regular sauna use could improve your body's ability to regulate temperature, making it easier to cope in very hot weather.

This isn't new information — athletes often use saunas to improve their heat tolerance before going to compete in hotter environments.

Experts say this kind of heat training is usually done as part of a routine — for example, having 40 to 60 minutes of heat exposure a day, four to six days a week.

Regular heat exposure can also change how people behave in hot weather.

"People who are accustomed to heat pace themselves more sensibly, hydrate more consistently and recognise their own warning signs earlier," physiologist Jessica Mee told The Guardian.

But the benefits may not be the same for everyone — and people with health conditions or illnesses should be careful, and should speak to their doctor first.

Experts also say there's a difference between adapting to the heat and being protected from the heat. So even if people regularly use saunas, they still need to be careful to avoid heat-related illnesses.

Saunas are not a replacement for staying cool, hydrated and avoiding strenuous activities during hot weather.

Regular Saunas Could Help Us Cope with Heat Waves

These days, planning a trip is easier than it's ever been. You can watch videos online, look at photos and learn almost anything about your destination before you even leave home.

But while having so much information can be helpful, could it also be taking away one of the best parts of traveling — the joy of surprise?

According to a survey by wellness platform Hint, many travelers say that's exactly what's happening.

The survey asked over 10,000 adults around the world about their travel habits.

Seventy-four percent of people said they research their travel destinations so much that few surprises remain when they arrive.

Meanwhile, nearly 70% said a destination they had never been to felt familiar to them because they'd already seen so much of it online.

And more than half said a travel experience had felt less exciting because it was so similar to one they'd seen online.

But some travelers are trying to keep some surprises — 46% said they deliberately avoid researching a place, restaurant or event before going.

And there are plenty of other ways to make room for unexpected discoveries.

One way to make sure you have some surprises when you travel is to use a guidebook instead of relying only on social media. Because of limited space, guidebooks usually can't show pictures of every attraction a destination has to offer, so the first time you actually see them will be in person!

You can also ask people for recommendations after reaching your destination. Hotel staff, tourist information centers, locals and even other travelers may suggest interesting places that don't appear in posts or videos online.

Finally, put your phone away and just explore! Going for a walk without following social media recommendations may lead you to a hidden gem.

Of course, planning ahead can make trips easier, and social media can be a big help. But sometimes, the best travel experience is the one you discover unexpectedly!

Is Social Media Ruining the Joy of Travel?


Solo travel has become increasingly popular in the last few years, with more people enjoying spending their vacations alone — or at least without their friends and family!

And walking tour platform GuruWalk has released its list of the top 50 cities for solo travelers to explore. It looked at booking data for tours in 150 cities to see what percentage were made for just one person.

At the top of the list was Toronto, Canada, with 50.5% of all tour bookings being made for a single person.

GuruWalk noted that Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with many very different neighborhoods. From Chinatown to the Distillery District, there's a lot for people to see.

In second place was Santa Ana, El Salvador, where exactly half of all walking tour bookings were made for one person.

One of the most popular areas to explore is Santa Ana's historic center. Here, visitors can see one of Central America's nicest neo-Gothic cathedrals and enjoy a quiet, uncrowded atmosphere in El Salvador's second-largest city.

For both São Paulo, Brazil, and Taipei, Taiwan, 49.5% of bookings were for solo travelers. While these two cities are in very different parts of the world, they have some things in common.

For example, both are known for great food, drinks and nightlife. Taipei also offers unique temples and cool, creative neighborhoods.

The next most popular city for solo travelers was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where 49% of bookings were made for one person. Like the other cities, Malaysia's capital offers diverse neighborhoods and great food.

GuruWalk also says that Kuala Lumpur has a strong backpacker community and great tourism infrastructure, making it a relatively easy place to explore solo.