Master the soft, unstressed “A” in English! This episode focuses on the schwa /ə/, the most common vowel in unstressed syllables. Through guided practice, you’ll learn to hear and produce the middle, initial, and final A schwa in words like banana, alone, and sofa. Contrast stressed vs. unstressed A, refine your ear, and practice naturally flowing English pronunciation with simple, repeat-after-me exercises.
Transcript: 
Middle Schwa: Banana, Family, Animal, Company, Chocolate, elephant , celebrate, personal, president, different, support, cinema.  
Initial Schwa: about - again - ago - around - awake - allow - alone - adapt - ahead - across - attend - attempt - amount - agree - apart - assist - achieve 
 Apple (/æ/) – about (/ə/)
 Agent (/eɪ/) – alone (/ə/)
 Army (/ɑː/) – again (/ə/)
 Actor (/æ/) – around (/ə/)
 Able (/eɪ/) – ago (/ə/)    
Final Schwa: sofa - comma -pizza - idea - agenda - extra - drama - algebra - camera - tuna - banana - umbrella - formula - opera


British Pronunciation Tips 

British Vowel Sound Masterclass: Lesson 5 - A as a Schwa - Practice

An urban design firm is hoping to create the "world's greenest highway" by covering a major road in Dubai with gardens, trees, walkways and solar panels.

The proposed 64-kilometer-long road, called the "Dubai Green Spine," would see the Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, one of Dubai's main highways, enhanced with over 1 million trees and enough solar panels to power 130,000 homes.

Dubai-based design firm URB says its road concept would help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 1 million metric tons per year, and help the city manage the needs of a population that's expected to grow from over 3 million today to nearly 8 million by 2040.

URB's design aims to reduce city heat and improve air quality while offering a safe, attractive and accessible route for commuting and leisure. Green spaces would be combined with walking and cycling paths, and electric tram lines would have solar panels built directly into the tracks.

Bus shelters and elevators would have rooftop solar panels, while garden-covered paths over the highway would make a walk from one side to the other easy and enjoyable.

URB CEO Baharash Bagherian says the concept is about "proving that our streets can do more than facilitate car traffic; they can significantly enhance quality of life."

He says the design takes a "human-centric approach" that prioritizes people and green spaces over cars.

However, it takes a lot of water to grow plants in Dubai. CNN notes that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) already consumes around 550 liters of water per person every day, compared to an average of 310 liters in the US and 144 liters in the European Union.

And most of the UAE's water isn't used for drinking — it's just needed to keep parts of the desert country green.

With this in mind, URB's design includes drought-resistant plants and special soil that helps retain water.

URB has also proposed designs for a 93-kilometer indoor cycling and walking "highway" called 

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Dubai Firm Hopes to Make 'World's Greenest Highway'

There is an old saying, "that birds of the same feather flock together." The law of association will tell you that you attract who you are. Why is the law of association important?

FLO TALKS 

LAW OF ASSOCIATION

为中文学习者朗读标准的单词读音，可以练习听力与跟读
Read out the standard pronunciation of words for Chinese language learners, which can help them practice listening and following.

秧秧老师的中文课堂

（of an obscure person) amaze the world with a single brilliant feat/set the world on fire


成语故事-Stories of Ancient Chinese Idioms

一鸣惊人

🥚🐇🐰Научете как празнуваме Великден в България в този епизод! 

Bulgarian Today

Великден в България

Nissan has begun testing its new self-driving car on the streets of Yokohama.

The Japanese carmaker has been testing a Nissan LEAF prototype that uses its own self-driving technology.

During testing, the vehicle traveled on the busy roads of Japan's second largest city, close to the company's offices.

Nissan said the vehicle was able to predict the behavior of pedestrians, change lanes, and decide when it was safe to enter an intersection.

The prototype has 14 cameras, 10 radars and six sensors, and there was a safety driver in the driver's seat during testing.

This vehicle has more of this equipment than previous versions, according to Nissan, and has a number of sensors on the roof.

The company wants to release self-driving cars in 2027 and plans to do more tests this year in other busy parts of Yokohama.

It said that self-driving vehicles could help to make it easier for older people to get around towns and cities.

Japan is getting ready to have self-driving technology on its roads. The government changed its traffic laws last April to make this possible.

And according to a Kyodo News survey from the start of 2024, 36 of the country's 47 prefectures are thinking about using self-driving technology on their buses.

Many of the country's bus companies have had problems finding drivers and they have had to reduce bus services because of this.

Self-driving buses would help with this problem, but people are still worried about the safety of the new technology.

A self-driving bus service began in Fukui prefecture in 2023 but this was stopped after one of the buses collided with a bicycle.




Nissan Tests Self-Driving Car on Yokohama's Roads

関西の人は関東の人より、会話の中でオノマトペをよく使うと言われています。関西人の私がふだんどんなオノマトペを使っているかを話します。
It is said that people in Kansai use onomatope in their conversation more often than people in Kanto. I tell you what onomatopoeic words I usually use as a Kansai person.

(全文）
友人とドライブをしていたときのことです。
途中で、とても見晴らしのいいところに来ました。そこで、私は「うわ～、すうっと向こうまで、めちゃくちゃよう見えるわ～」と友だちに言いました。
すると、友だちは笑いながら、「関西人はほんまに、オノマトペが多いなあ」と言いました。「この道を　まっすぐシュっと行ったらいい」とか「そこの角をきゅっと曲がって」とか言うやんと言うのです。
たしかに・・・。私もよくオノマトペを使っています。さっきの「すうっと向こうまで、めちゃくちゃよう見えるわ～」は、「何も遮るものがない、じゃまするものがないので、遠くまでよく見えますね。」という意味です。
はやくしてほしいときは、「さっさとして」　走るのが遅い車がいたら「前の車、のろのろ遅いなあ」、よくしゃべる人がいれば「ぺちゃくちゃ、ようしゃべるなあ」、友だちが大きな声で笑っていれば「なにゲラゲラ笑ってるの～？」などなど。あげればきりがありません。
私が教えている生徒さんたちも、オノマトペが出てくると、たいてい「それはどういう意味ですか」と聞きます。
外国の方にはわかりずらいオノマトペですが、私たちにとっては、なくてはならないコミュニケーションツールです。　オノマトペを使って話すと、どんな様子かよくわかるし、会話のリズムやテンポがよくなっているように思います。
たとえば、
「車、きれいになりましたね。」より、「車、ピカピカですね。」と言われたほうが、車が光るくらいきれいな感じがします。
「この布団、やわらかくて気持ちいいね」より、「この布団、ふかふかで気持ちいいね！」のほうが布団のやわらかさがよく感じられます。
こんなふうに使われているオノマトペですが、関東より関西に住んでいる人がよく使うそうです。関東とは茨城県、栃木県、群馬県、埼玉県、千葉県、東京都、神奈川県の1都6、関西は県大阪府・京都府・兵庫県・滋賀県・奈良県・和歌山県の2府4県のことです。ちょっと聞いたところでは、江戸時代から関西は関東の武士文化つまり侍の文化に対して、商人文化、商売をする人たちの文化が栄えていたためとか。オノマトペが会話を豊かにし、商売がうまくいくのに役立ったそうです。
だから、今でも関西に住む人たちは、オノマトペをたくさん使って話しをするんですね。
だぶだぶ、ブカブカ、キツキツ、ぴったり、ゆったり・・・これは何の話をするときに使っていると思いますか？ぜひ、調べてみてくださいね。


やさしい日本語（にほんご）

関西人（かんさいじん）のしゃべり～オノマトペ～　Speaking style of kansai people～onomatope～

In this lesson, you will learn the Chinese sentence order: subject, verb, object. And how to negate the sentence.