Streetwise English Podcast features high quality recordings of italki American English teacher Carl.

Streetwise English

What's wrong with young people?
Some older people complain they have a fear of going out at night because of increasing violence and the number of young people who are drunk. But is it right for them to be frightened?
It's true that the number of reported violent crimes has increased, but also true that the police have become more expert at recording crime. Their enquiries are more successful because victims seem more willing to report crime. This may account for the increase.
There is also a growing trend for young people to consume less alcohol now than ten or fifteen years ago. Why? It's probably a combination of factors. Alcohol is expensive, it makes you lose control, and there seems to be a cultural move away from heavy drinking of alcohol.

English Mini Lessons

Social issues

Productivity gains won’t necessarily translate into the embrace of free time — especially in America. While the impact of generative AI on office jobs grabs the majority of our attention, autonomous robots may have bigger effects elsewhere.

Short & Sweet Daily Business English News

Are we about to enter an age of leisure? Don’t bet on it

Today's word is scan. This is a verb that means to quickly read or look at something, usually to find a specific piece of information. Maybe you're scanning a form to find the date that it was written or scanning a page from a book to find out where the story takes place.  

DAILY Business English VOCABULARY builder

Could you scan this for me please?

What do you do if you see an object in a plastic bag lying around at a bus stop?

Most people would say: "Don't touch it!"

That's very good advice — most of the time.

But an object that was once found in a plastic shopping bag at a bus stop has just sold for $22.3 million at auction.

It was a painting by a great artist from Venice known as Titian. It's called The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, and it has a long and interesting history.

Although it's thought of as a masterpiece, it's one of the artist's smaller paintings. In fact, it's only 46 centimeters high and 63 centimeters wide.

Titian painted it early in the 16th century, when he was 20.

The painting, which depicts Jesus, Mary and Joseph from the Bible, has been owned by a number of rich and famous Europeans, including Austrian emperors.

It was taken from Vienna in 1809 by French soldiers, although it was later returned to the Austrian capital.

Later, it was bought by a British collector, but it was stolen in 1995.

And for seven years it was lost. After a reward of almost $130,000 was offered to anyone who could find the painting, it turned up at a London bus stop.

It had no frame when it was found by a well known art detective, but it was in quite good condition.

It had been expected to make between $19 million and $32 million at auction in London. The final amount was a new record for a Titian painting.

But that still might not be a good enough reason to go looking in plastic bags at bus stops!

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Painting Once Found at Bus Stop Sells for $23 Million

Esta expresión existe en inglés y, probablemente en otras lenguas, así que quizás al escucharla encuentres el equivalente en tu lengua ;)

Expresiones en español

En casa del herrero cuchara/cucharón de palo

En el episodio de hoy de Your Spanish Journey, charlamos con Frank Roche: escritor, periodista y actual estudiante de español en italki, que se animó a escribir su primer cuento enteramente en esta segunda lengua. Frank nos cuenta sobre su proceso y también nos da algunos consejos útiles para comenzar a practicar esta habilidad.

Your Spanish Journey

Charlas que motivan. HOY: La magia de ESCRIBIR en español- Frank Roche (escritor y estudiante)

Pequeña historia acerca de un poliglota que tenia la curiosidad sobre algunos idiomas antiguos.

Clan de Autodidactas

El Poliglota - Español

I talk about Freemont Street street performers in Las Vegas.  This episode is half in Chinese and Half in English. Let me know if this is useful in the comments. Crank up your volume, I didn't edit the audio on this episode to save time. Let me know if this is fine raw and uncut. My italki teacher profile: https://italki.com/teacher/1947582 Thanks for listening! Visit my website for more of my full-length podcasts . https://www.streetwisenglish.com