If you want to score a band score 7 in your IELTS Speaking exam, remember, you have to use some less common idiomatic expressions.

We all know the idiom ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ because this is a common idiom. But what are some less common idioms?

This podcast will give you 3 idioms for you to learn, which you can use in your IELTS Speaking exam.

IELTS Speaking Practice

3 idioms for your IELTS speaking exam.

¿Ya visitaste Colombia?.... aquí te voy a mostrar algunas razones por la cual Colombia debería ser tu próximo destino en vacaciones

Speaker Maria.E !!!

Colombia, un gran destino turístico

Dear listeners, students, and friends. I am glad to introduce you to the second episode of my Lithuanian podcast for non-native speakers. 

In today's episode, you will learn more about one of my favorite Lithuanian celebrations - Užgavėnės. In 2024, Užgavėnės is going to be celebrated on the 13th of February, so I encourage you to learn a bit more about it's traditions, meaning and significance.

I suggest turning on the subtitles for a more comfortable listening experience. Install Language Reactor to translate the Lithuanian titles into your native language.

Also, if you wish to receive the full transcript of this episode, please head to my Contribee. There you will find all the podcast's transcripts, longer format Lithuanian with Paulius recordings and more.

🐝 Become a Contribee: https://contribee.com/lithuanianwithpaulius

If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to follow and subscribe for future videos! Cheers.

Lithuanian with Paulius

#2 - Užgavėnės: The Most Exciting Lithuanian Winter Festival

Esta semana les voy a platicar del paseo de Montejo, una de las principales avenidas de Mérida, Yucatán mientras usamos los interrogativos ¿Qué? ¿Cómo? ¿Cuándo? ¿Dónde? ¿Por qué? ¿Quién? ¿Cuál? ¿Cuáles?, ¿Cuánto?, ¿Cuántas? Y ¿Para quién?
Palabras clave:
Provincia: Ciudad o poblado que no es la capital del país.
Pasar el rato: Disfrutar un tiempo entre amigos o familia.
Bordeada: Rodear
Calesa: Coche de dos ruedas, tirado por una caballería, con la caja abierta por delante y capota en la parte de atrás.
Yucateco: Persona que nació en Yucatán o tiene muchos años viviendo en Yucatán.
Turibus: autobús que te lleva a recorrer los principales lugares turísticos.
Helados Colon:  Lugar donde venden helados, es muy antiguo y famoso, todos los yucatecos lo han visitado alguna vez.



Yuca-talk

Paseo de Montejo y los interrogativos

En este audio descubriremos qué son los Pueblos Mágicos en México y su importancia. Además te llevaré a conocer 4 de estos pueblos muy conocidos en este país. Acompáñame.

In this audio we will discover what are the Magical Towns in Mexico and their importance. I will also take you to know 4 of these very well known towns in this country. Join me.

¡Qué onda!

Pueblos mágicos

ESSERE lo usiamo per esprimere:
l’esistenza: noi siamo esseri umani
 la qualità: il caffè è freddo
 la condizione di un oggetto : il tavolo è sporco
la condizione di una persona: Lucia è alta
stato d'animo: Antonio è allegro
origine : Lisbona è in Portogallo
professione: Ahmed è un ingegnere.  
-Il verbo essere con la particella CI, allora significa esistere; essere presente; avvenire...
in senso figurato la stessa espressione vuol dire "aver capito".
 Ad esempio:  -Alla conferenza c'era il professor Archibugi (c'era= era presente) 
-Oggi c'è lo sciopero dei metalmeccanici (avviene) 
-È arrivata la risposta dal direttore: finalmente ci siamo! ( siamo arrivati a una conclusione) 
-Il pomodoro è stato introdotto in Europa dagli Spagnoli, Giulio ci sei? ( hai capito?)

STARE : 
per esprimere una condizione fisica e psicologica temporanea, invece del verbo sentirsi: -Ciao Julia, come stai?(come ti senti) 
-Sto un po' male(mi sento un po' male) 
con il significato di restare, rimanere in un luogo: 
-Cosa fate nel fine settimana? Stiamo a casa a vedere una serie tv 
-Il giudice stava riflettendo mentre l'avvocato parlava in difesa del suo cliente. 

Seguito da alcuni aggettivi, il verbo stare descrive  comportamento o  stato d’animo di una persona e si usa in frasi  con un ordine o un’esortazione: 
-Luca stai buono per favore e ascolta la lezione come gli altri studenti 
-Stai più calmo! Così non risolverai il problema 
"Starci" lo utilizziamo invece nell'accezione di
 essere d’accordo:  Ex: Domani andiamo al mare? Ci sto
 essere disponibile Ex: Ci stai domani alle sette per un aperitivo?
 entrarci (avere abbastanza spazio) Ex: Venite che ci stiamo tutti per la cena. 

Similitudini tra essere  e stare: 
essere è l’ausiliare sia di se stesso, sia di stare; "stato" è il participio passato sia di essere sia di stare; quindi i tempi composti  sono identici.
-Possiamo usare con entrambi (essere/stare a dieta, essere/stare calmo, essere/stare in silenzio ecc…). 

Italiano espresso

Verbo "essere" o verbo "stare": quale scegliere?

Daily conversations.
P1
- Hai Dang meets his woman lecturer
- Hop meets his man-teacher
- Mrs. Nhung meets Mr. Dung
- Miss Huong meets Mrs Trung
- Viet Anh meets Viet Hai
P2
Meeting people at the new house party
P3
Meetinh people at the offfice

Hieu’s Vietnamese Podcast

Common Conversation in Vietnamese

We live in a world of rules. We see them everywhere when we travel by plane. No liquids! Wait here! Turn off your phones!

But what about those unspoken rules — the ones that aren't written down and no one is exactly sure about.

A travel expert from the US has been explaining her unspoken rules for the airplane journey.

TV host Samantha Brown shared her rules with CNN, including one that makes the middle seat feel a little more comfortable.

According to Brown, if you find yourself in one of the middle seats on a plane, you should get both of the armrests to yourself.

Sitting in the middle isn't always very popular and so Brown says these passengers should get "anything they want."

That means even if the people on the outside begin using those armrests, the person in the middle has the right to "slowly push them off!"

Brown says she likes the aisle seat best because she feels she has more space.

She added that people sitting by the window should have control of the window blind — whether it's up or down. And the others don't have the right to decide!

One thing that can make some passengers angry is people in front putting their seats back.

Brown has a rule for this — if the journey takes less than three hours, she doesn't put her seat back, but she does if it's a longer trip.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Expert Shares the 'Unspoken Rules' of Plane Trips

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YcohEGCWrcoUrAuLOiZcdW2QeddbXoGW0PKv6qOa4bE/edit?usp=sharing

International Tea Day is observed every year on May 21st and it aims to raise awareness of the long history and deep cultural and economic significance of Tea around the world. The idea is to promote and to somehow Implement activities in favour of promoting everything related to tea.

 International Tea Day has been celebrated for quite some time. It started off on December 15th in countries like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia and others across Africa such as Malaysia and Tanzania. The idea is to draw global attention to tea and to the global tea trade.

It has also been  linked to wanting more support to keep the cost of tea down. In 2015, the Indian Government proposed expanding the observance of International Tea today  by having some kind of intergovernmental group to discuss tea. They created something which led to big efforts to support the world's tea economy and in 2015, they had a big meeting in Milan to discuss the idea of an international Tea Day.  It then went to the United Nations. And that's how We managed to get International Tea Day on the 21st of May. Here's some very interesting facts about tea here in the UK:

The average British person drinks 876 cups of tea every single year. So, that's well over two cups a day if my calculations are right.

 And, apparently, for centuries, it was used only as a medicine. 

Tea was first introduced to Britain almost 400 years ago and was described, described as a Chinese drink because it first came from China.

A cup of tea has become native to British culture. It's the number one choice for British people and herbal teas are also very popular these days. 
