Real English Conversations Podcast by Amy and Curtis, is ideal for intermediate learners seeking to advance their language proficiency. Tune in now to take your English skills to the next level!

Real English Conversations Podcast

The podcast explains the meaning and origin of the term Sabra (צבר), highlighting its key traits and cultural significance in Israel 🌵🇮🇱.

Easy Hebrew

🌵 Understanding the Israeli Sabra Identity

Hello！　I’m Yuko Nadani, Japanese teacher.
Today I'm going to talk about Gacha-Gacha in Japan. Do you know it?　It is fun for children and adults alike!　Adults may be crazy about it rather than children. Actually, I've been hooked before.
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「がちゃがちゃ」
観光地や駅、スーパーでも見かけるガチャガチャ。これは、コインを入れてダイヤルを回すと、おもちゃやキャラクターグッズが入った丸いカプセルが出てくるものです。正式な名前は「カプセルトイ」と言います。
ちょっと大きいスーパーに行くと、必ずといってもいいくらい、このガチャガチャがあります。それも１台や２台ではなく、２０台とか３０台ぐらい！　１台１台、入っているカプセルの中身が違います。人気アニメのキャラクターの人形やキーホルダーが入っているものもあれば、食べ物や動物のミニチュアが入っているものもあります。観光地でよく見かけるのは、その土地の有名な場所や物を描いたピンバッチなどです。
安いものは１００円で高いものは３００円ぐらいです。ガチャガチャの機械に、どんな商品が入っているか写真が貼ってあるんですが、それぞれ数種類（すうしゅるい）混ざっているので、出てくるまでどれが手に入るかはわかりません。それで、欲しいアイテムが出てくるまで、ひたすらダイヤルを回し続ける人もいます。
実は私も「くまモン」のガチャガチャで大人買いをしたことがあります。「くまモン」とは、熊本県の営業部長兼しあわせ部長をしている“ゆるキャラ”です。日本には各県にいろいろなゆるキャラがいますが、くまモンはかなり有名で海外に出張に行くくらい人気があります。くまモンのオフィシャルホームページもあります。あ、今日はくまモンの話ではなくて、ガチャガチャの話でした。
そう、もうずいぶん前になりますが、「くまモン」の２センチほどの大きさのフィギアが入っているガチャガチャが出たことがありました。くまモンの５種類のポーズで、カプセルに一つずつ入っていました。もちろん、全種類欲しかったので、全部揃うまで、コインを入れては回しました。同じものが出てくることもあるので、５種類だからと言って、５回回せば済むというものではありません。同じ物が出てくること覚悟で、小銭を用意して、ガチャガチャをするのです。一ついくらだったかは、覚えていませんが、１０００円以上使ったと思います。こういうまとめ買いすることを「大人買い」と言うのです。子どもの少ないお小遣いでは、なかなかできないことですからね。
そして、そのおかげで、全部揃えることができました。正直なところを言えば、お金の無駄遣いだと思うのですが、「欲しい！」と思う気持ちを抑えることは、なかなか難しいです。特に、大好きなキャラクターグッズとなると！
皆さんの国にも、ガチャガチャはありますか。日本にはいろいろな場所に設置されていますので、好きなデザインやキャラを見つけて１度はやってみてください。結構、はまりますよ。


やさしい日本語（にほんご）

ガチャガチャ　Gacha gacha

A 21-year-old Mario talks about his CLOTHES! Let's hear his story! 😊
Срећно учење! / Srećno učenje!✨
If you like this podcast, please contact me for the transcript.📃
See you in class!👋


SERBIAN TO GO

Маријева одећа – Marijeva odeća – Mario's clothes (Monologue A2 level)

En este podcast hablo de como es regresar a la universidad cuando tienes hijos adultos, utilizo vocabulario sobre educación y la formación, algunos tiempos verbales en el modo indicativo: el presente, algunos tiempos del pasado: pretérito imperfecto, pretérito indefinido; uso de algunas perifrasis verbales.

Viviendo entre dos lenguas 

De vuelta a la universidad

Part 1 of 5. 

Inside a dusty workroom, an old craftsman held up a chess piece to the window. He rotated it in the sunlight and inspected its every detail. 

“Perfection,” said the craftsman. 

He added it to the set he had been building. Sixteen grey pieces sat on his worktable, all handmade and almost ready for sale. 

The craftsman felt very satisfied with his designs. He was ready for the final stage of the process. He picked up one of the pawn pieces and said, “What about you, my little friend? What colour would you like to be?” 

He reached for his paint brush, dunked it into glass of water and then into a container of paint. The grey pawn received a heavy coating of shiny white paint.

Fast-forward several years into the future. After repeated use and abuse, that little pawn’s proud white colour had faded. Areas of his original grey were visible. Because of this, whenever players assembled their chess set, they left this little grey-white pawn to the side. 

“Uhm, is that yours or mine?” said the white player. 

“It doesn’t matter. Put it back in the box and choose from the others,” said the black player. 

This little plastic pawn’s name was Gary. 


Being a Cloud

Gary the Chess Piece

Happy International Artist's Day!👩‍🎨 In my 102 podcast episode, you are about to learn how to compliment an artist! 🌷There are 2 SECTIONS of the podcast episode – 1. for A1-A2 LEVEL and 2. for B1-B2 LEVEL. You will hear 10 compliments in each section.
Срећно учење! / Srećno učenje!👋
If you like this podcast, please contact me for the transcript of this episode.📜
See you in class!👩‍🏫


Kako dati kompliment UMETNIKU? -  How to compliment an artist? (1st part A1-A2; 2nd part B1-B2 level)

Online reviews are everywhere, whether you're looking for a movie to watch, a hotel to stay in or a new air fryer.

Many of us read these reviews carefully, even though we probably know that not all reviews are unbiased — or even real.

Now, researchers have found out something interesting about online reviews: women generally rate things higher than men.

The researchers looked at more than 1 billion online reviews on five different websites, including Amazon, Google and the movie site IMDb.

They found that, on average, women rate things more positively than men, and are more likely to give five-star reviews.

The research team then did two smaller studies to find out why this might be. They said women don't actually like things any more or any less than men, but they still generally leave better reviews.

In one of those smaller studies, more than 1,100 people were asked to rate art made by artificial intelligence software. They were asked to rate the art privately and then publicly.

Privately, there was not much of a difference between male and female ratings.

But when participants were asked to write public reviews, women were less likely to post lower ratings, especially when they really didn't like the art.

The researchers said women may feel more worried than men about the consequences of writing bad reviews.

They added that everyone should be able to write reviews without being worried about the consequences.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Women More Likely to Write Positive Reviews Online

PUNTOS DE INTERES EN LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO.