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This is the Let's Master English podcast and I'm your host, Coach J.
Hello, everybody. It's time for a brand -new podcast, Let's Master English number 119, publishing date May 5, 2025.
How are you doing? Coach Shane here.
I'm really excited to be here as always.
We've got great stories.
We've got great news.
Great music. If you are not a member, what's your problem?
It's not difficult.
Send an email. C -O -N -T -A -C -T.
Contact. At letsmasterenglish .com.
Can't be any easier.
And by the way, you can try a free lesson.
And I would love for you to try an actual free lesson with me.
That would be so great.
Just send - just actually go to the webpage.
Let'sMasterEnglish .com.
There's a button. You can just put your email address and your name.
That's all we want and I will send you a free lesson.
So please get that, it's really cool.
Uh, yeah, we got some good stuff coming up.
Notorious is going to kick us off.
Duran? Duran. On April 29th, a kangaroo named Sheila escaped from a local petting zoo in Alabama and was spotted hopping down a busy road, causing traffic delays.
Local police, with help from the zoo, safely captured the marsupial and returned her to her enclosure, no injuries just surprise and some amazing TikToks.
In Rockport Massachusetts several residents have reported a rogue woodpecker repeatedly attacking their car mirrors.
Experts say the bird likely sees its reflection and believes it's fighting a rival.
Some locals have started putting socks over their mirrors to avoid further pecking damage.
And finally, British Paralympian Sam Ruddock was found safe and healthy on April 28th after going missing in Las Vegas for nearly two weeks.
He had traveled to attend Wrestlemania, but disappeared from contact with friends.
Authorities confirmed he was unharmed, no foul play suspected.
Ooh, that last story, kinda weird, huh?
First story, first two stories not too bad.
So Sheila, Sheila, Sheila is down under, in Australia.
I like me some icy -dicy.
Down under the girls are called the Sheila.
What are the guys called?
If you go to a, do you guys know Outback Restaurant?
In America there's a restaurant called Outback Restaurant.
And I'm typing as I check this out.
Outback Restaurant, its famous for steaks And the blooming onions.
Very delicious. But they have...is it Sheila's and John's?
Blokes blokes blokes.
Yeah blokes. That's what the guys bath.
So if you go to the restaurant, the women's bathroom says Sheila's.
And the guy's bathroom says blokes.
So anyway, it's a perfect name.
In America, we think Sheila simply means woman or girl.
On April 29th, a kangaroo...boing, boing, boing, boing...
named Sheila, of course, escaped from a local petting zoo in Alabama.
That's not good. Alabama is one of America's 50 states.
It's in the South, kind of the South Central area.
A petting zoo, P -e -t -t -i -n -g, a petting zoo, is a zoo where you can go and actually touch the animals and feed the animals.
There's interaction.
So, especially for children, but for adults too, a petting zoo is great.
Well, I guess Sheila wasn't happy about that, so I guess she jumped out and she was spotted, she was seen hopping down, jumping down a busy road.
Oh, she needs to be careful.
Of course, causing traffic delays.
Can you imagine? I mean, if you're in Australia, and you see a kangaroo, maybe it's like, whatever, it's a kangaroo, but if you're in America, or if you're in Germany, or if you're in Shanghai, China, and you see a kangaroo hopping down the road, you're gonna stop.
You're gonna be like, what?
Where's my phone? Where's my phone?
Where's my phone? right?
Take a picture of that.
Anyway, of course it caused delays.
Local police, with help from the zoo, safely captured the marsupial.
That's great. Kangaroos, you know, we got fish, amphibians, mammals, reptiles.
Well kangaroos are marsupials and I am NOT a scientist. A marsupial spelling?
M A R S S -U -P -I -A -L I believe the definition of a marsupial is the mother has a little pocket Where the babies are born, and they can go in and out and in and out right like a baby Kangaroo.
Do you know what a baby kangaroo is called?
It's called a Joey J -o -e -y.
Joey just like Joey and Friends oh isn't that cute so anyway they they safely captured the marsupial the kangaroo and returned her to her enclosure to where she's supposed to live yes no injuries that's good just surprise of course and some amazing tik -toks some really funny videos i'm sure not only tik -tok probably on instagram and facebook and twitter and everything else too anyway it's a good it's A happy ending for Sheila.
I guess Sheila didn't like being petted and she probably wants to be in Australia.
What do you think about zoos?
Personally, I understand when people are upset about having animals in for our enjoyment.
I do understand that.
But at the same time, I have two little boys and to see their faces and excitement when they see these animals is so amazing.
So as long as they're taking care of the animals as best they can, I really don't have a huge problem.
I understand though.
You probably... many of you I'm sure will absolutely disagree with me.
And I know what you mean.
I do know what you mean.
I don't need to see the animals, but having children and watching my children see the animals is...
it's actually very amazing and I cannot afford to take them to Australia or Africa or wherever these amazing beautiful gifts of Mother Nature come from the second story a woodpecker You know the bird the woodpecker is a bird that actually tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick pecks at trees, it like hits the tree with its beak, B E A K, and it like makes a hole in the tree to get like worms or whatever it is in the tree.
Does it live in the hole?
I don't even know. But there's a woodpecker in Massachusetts, Massachusetts is actually very close to me.
I live in Vermont and I will be in Massachusetts at the end of May.
One of my coaches, my right hand man, the guy who's been with me the longest, coach Miguel, from Spain is coming to the US at the end of May and I'll be picking him up in Boston at the very end of the month, so this is really an exciting time for us, at least for me.
In Rockport, Maine ...
Rockport is just a city, where is it?
I don't know. But it's some ...
not Maine, sorry. Massachusetts.
in Rockport Massachusetts.
Several residents, people who live there, have reported, maybe to the police A woodpecker.
But what kind of woodpecker?
A rogue woodpecker.
R -O -G -U -E. A bad guy woodpecker.
Now normally woodpeckers they are going to peck trees.
But this is a rogue woodpecker.
He's pecking something else.
What is he pecking?
What is this pecker pecking?
Repeatedly attacking their car mirrors.
Oh my God, the mirror on your car.
You know, if you're driving and you wanna see behind you, the outside mirror.
The woodpeckers are attacking the car mirrors.
Experts say, oh, bird scientists, experts say, The bird likely probably sees its reflection Sees itself in the mirror The bird is flying around By chance it looks at a car mirror to do what and it sees itself it sees its reflection but it doesn't know it's a reflection and Believes it is fighting arrival another woodpecker's trying to come over here well I'm gonna fight you I'm gonna take care of you this is my area that's crazy I kind of believe it though so what can you do right I mean how are you gonna shoot the woodpeckers could God know what are you gonna do so some locals some people some residents
have started putting socks, S -O -C -K -S, over their mirrors, yes, to avoid further pecking damage, genius.
Very smart. Very, very, very smart.
Put a sock over the mirror, problem solved.
I love it. Very good, very good Rockport, Massachusetts residents.
I'm impressed. You guys are smart.
Our final story is still a mystery.
The British Paralympian...paralympian.
That means the man — in this case, it's a man — has physical handicaps.
So, he was not a regular Olympian, but a Paralympics Paralympian.
And he went to the Paralympics to compete and he's a famous athlete.
He's a cyclist, actually, with cerebral palsy.
So British Paralympian, I'll spell it.
Well, you know what?
I'm not gonna spell it.
Go to our community.
If you're not a member of the community, email us.
Contact at letsmasterenglish .com, okay?
That's where everything is.
British Paralympian Sam Ruddock, that's his name, was found safe and healthy on April 28th after going missing in Las Vegas for nearly two weeks.
Wow. That's so scary, can you imagine like you're a mom or dad or brother sister friend?
Guy goes to Las Vegas, Las Vegas.
You know kind of a crazy town, but not dangerous, but crazy and Suddenly he's missing for two weeks That's not good.
Las Vegas is in the desert very hot and dry.
Oh god. That's not good But he was found after nearly two weeks.
Why was he in Las Vegas?
Gambling? Was he looking for a woman?
What's going on? He had traveled to attend WrestleMania.
You know WrestleMania?
It's this all -star wrestling.
It's... a lot of people love it.
Very entertaining. Hulk Hogan.
I was never a really big fan but Anyway, WrestleMania, you can look it up.
WrestleMania. So he had traveled to attend WrestleMania, but disappeared from contact with friends.
Authorities confirmed he was unharmed, no foul play suspected, meaning they don't think anybody tried to kidnap him or to hurt him or anything.
But still they don't know what happened.
The guy's not talking.
The mom wants to know.
Things are a little bit weird. So they're still a little bit concerned.
But he is safe, and that's good.
That's good. I'm gonna do the news stories two more times, or one more time, of course.
But I'm gonna introduce the songs right now.
The first song is aligned with the Kangaroo Story.
It's House of Pain – Jump Around.
This song is really cool.
It's, in general, a good song.
But the University of Wisconsin -Madison uses this song at their football games to get everybody excited I'm going to show you the craziness of the University of Wisconsin -Madison And I know some of you have actually attended that university or have been there It is so cool, so I hope you enjoy that.
There's the video of it, you'll enjoy it And then of course the song And after that we got Justin Timberlake with mirrors.
Gotta have some J .T.
But before? Let's listen to the stories one more time.
On April 29th, a kangaroo named Shila escaped from a local petting zoo in Alabama and was spotted hopping down a busy road causing traffic delays.
Local police, with help from the zoo, safely captured the marsupial and returned her to her enclosure.
No injuries, just surprise and some amazing Tik Toks.
In Rockport, Massachusetts several residents have reported a rogue woodpecker repeatedly attacking their car mirrors.
Experts say the bird likely sees its reflection and believes it's fighting a rival.
Some locals have started putting socks over their mirrors to avoid further pecking damage.
British Paralympian Sam Ruddock was found safe and healthy on April 28th after going missing in Las Vegas for nearly 2 weeks.
He had traveled to attend WrestleMania, but disappeared from contact with friends.
Authorities confirmed he was unharmed.
No foul play suspected.
How you doing everybody, this is Country Shane and I am bringing you the facts.
Hey everybody Country Shane here with some facts about Woodpeckers.
Of course I know about Woodpeckers.
You know what, Woodpeckers peck at car mirrors and windows and they are not confused, like the story said, they are defending their territory.
They think it's another guy!
So they're fighting off the other guy.
This happens during breeding season when the boys are looking for the girls so they can have some babies and they see their reflection and boy they get angry.
Well you heard of it!
Angry Birds! Am I right?
That's right! Angry Birds!
Very famous game for your phone my mom used to play Angry Birds.
It's perfect. Perfect.
You know, when I hear Woodpecker, do you guys know the old cartoon, Woody Woodpecker?
Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh!
I can't do it. Can you do it?
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Gosh, I hope so. I hope so.
I can't do that, but I can do a song by The Birds, although the spelling is different, The Birds, B Y R D S.
You know, the season is changing finally where I live.
A couple days ago, we had snow, But today the leaves are really starting to come out the seasons are changing.
Turn, turn, turn by the birds Simple tips for mastering English Yes, the 8 tips for mastering English as an adult are finished.
I'll do them again I will do them again.
Maybe in six months or so, but now we just turn to some simple tips So many people ask me, Coach Shane, how do I do small talk in English?
And it's the same as how you do small talk in your language.
It's the same. Simple for most people we keep it simple and we talk about the weather or the weekend or the movie or the game or the new song, right?
We talk about the situation that everybody kind of knows about.
The weather is the most common. Did you eat lunch?
That's small talk. Keep it light, and keep it going.
However, I will give you some advice and you can practice this.
And of course this is—I want you to practice in English, but you might not have English speaking people around you so you can still practice this in your language.
Start your small talk conversation with a comment and a follow up question immediately.
Make a comment, ask a question.
Now actually in our English camp we talked about giving a compliment and then making a guess, which is another excellent way, but this is, this is easier.
Make a comment and ask a question.
For example, oh wow, that's a cool phone case.
I love it. Where did you get it?
Oh, I love your phone case, that's so cool.
Where did you get it?
Ladies, you could say, oh, I love your hair band.
Where did you get it?
I love your lipstick.
I love your fingernail polish.
Where did you get that done?
Guys, when you say, oh, I love your, dude, you got a new haircut.
Where did you get the haircut?
Bro, I love your suit.
That's a nice suit.
Where did you get it?
Just make a statement and ask a question.
Even easier. Aww man it's hot out today, do you even like the summer?
Aww it's hot out day, do you like the summer?
I'm thinking I like the winter.
What about you? Aww it's so hot today, it's raining and hot, aww man, I miss the winter, do you like the summer?
Yeah! Make a statement, make a comment, and then ask a related question It's easy.
It's easy Obviously, I want you to practice this in English.
I want you to practice every day I want you to prepare something every day, wake up in the morning and prepare, what will I do for today's Small talk.
Prepare something And then practice it Obviously again, I want you to practice in English But, if there are no English -speaking people around you, then practice in your language.
And if there's nobody around you, practice with yourself, alright?
Or, imagine you're practicing with me.
That's cool too. Isn't it beautiful?
Absolutely. This is a request song.
We got so many request songs.
If I don't introduce you, don't be mad.
Benson Boone, beautiful things.
quickly speaking challenge last week the challenge was talk about your favorite food give us three sentences what it is why you love it and when you eat it thank you guys so much for all your recordings lots of people sending them in but listen to me three sentences that's all I want three sentences don't Jibber -jabber.
That's what makes this difficult.
Keep it short, concise, precise, simple, and interesting.
This is not easy. Talking and talking and talking, that's easy, but it's also boring.
Right? It is. Not always.
And it depends, if you're funny, or funny -looking, or really handsome, or beautiful, or really rich. Then people are gonna listen to you.
But if you're a regular guy like me, keep it short.
Keep it short and simple.
Okay? So I have, I'm going to play two actually two people.
I really like their recording.
Where is it? Where is it?
Where is it? Alex Mosolov and Jiyeon.
Alex in Russia, Jiyeon in Korea.
I like their recording.
So we're going to listen to their recordings about their favorite food.
Listen carefully. you guys I'm not gonna explain yet we're gonna go right to today's speaking challenge this week again tell us in three sentences they do not have to be long sentences to be honest if this takes you more than 10 seconds or 15 seconds it's too long yes that's short keep it concise practice the question What animal, oh, the theme.
One animal I would love to have as a pet.
An animal that you would like to have as a pet.
Now if you already have a dog, then don't choose dog.
Think of something else.
A zebra. If you already have a cat, then don't choose cat.
Think of something else.
A tiger, okay? Get crazy.
A spider. I don't care if it's an insect, whatever.
What animal, a weird animal, well not a typical animal anyway, or if you've never had a dog and you want a dog then you can choose a dog!
That's fine. What animal would you choose?
Question number one.
Question number two, why.
Question number three, what would you name it, or, not and, or what would you do with it?
Again the questions.
What animal would you choose why and what would you name it or what would you do with it?
All right, you send in your examples and I'll choose the one, not the best, but I'll choose one or two people.
So my example would be, if I could have any animal as a pet, I would pick a capybara.
Now one of my English coaches, Coach Paul, he's from Brazil, and he's on hiatus right now.
We love that guy. Coach Paul on Instagram a couple days ago put up a video of the capybara animal.
Do you know what it is?
It's so cute. It's really funny.
It looks like a big mouse, rat, dog.
That's what a capybara is.
So again, listen, this is my sentinel.
And I'm gonna... I'm gonna use a clock here and see how long it takes me.
Alright, let's see...
Let's see how long this actually takes me.
Alright, so here we go.
If I could have any animal as a pet, I'd pick capybara.
They're super chill and friendly.
I'd name mine churro What's that ten seconds I?
Have another version Okay, that was if I'd name it, but what would I do with it, so let me try another one here Let me see here you ready here.
We go. I'm watching my clock if I could have any animal as a pet I'd pick a capybara.
They're super chill and friendly I'd build it a little pool in the backyard. I think that one was 15 seconds.
10 seconds, 15 seconds.
You could go 20, don't worry, don't worry about time.
But just three sentences.
Okay? In this case, don't do this.
If I could have any pet animal as a pet, I'd pick a cappy bear up, they're super chill and friendly.
I'd name mine Chiro and I would build it a little pool in the backyard. no, it's and or what would you name it?
Or what would you do with it?
Does that make sense?
And once again, this is a speaking challenge.
Believe it or not people who are confident in English.
They can talk and talk and talk and that's fine.
That's great. But that's not what this challenge is.
I want you to be concise.
So if you think you are good at English then be 15 seconds.
Make it concise and be interesting be clear make sure everybody can understand what you're saying.
That's what makes it tough.
Good luck. Now I want you to record your answer and put it in our community.
Don't forget to choose Let's Master English podcast as the category otherwise I won't see it.
You have to do that if you're not a member of our community.
What's your problem?
Contact at let's master English calm and don't forget.
I want all of you to sign up for my lessons I'll give you speaking lessons Let's master English calm now last week.
It was about food So we of course we have a request on related to that weird owls eat it My favorite dish is boiled eggs.
I love them because it is easy to prepare them and they are tasty.
I have them when there is nothing more left in my fridge.
My favorite dish is spicy octopus seafood stew.
I love the rich and spicy broth and the texture of the octopus.
It's a special dish, my husband cooks for me on my first day.
MUSIC It is May 5th, Monday, 2025.
The 125th day of the year.
It's a good day, by the way.
There are 241 days left in 2025.
What's coming up? Well, today is Cinco de Mayo!
and we celebrate it in America.
But it's actually a Mexican holiday.
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that celebrates when Mexican soldiers beat a really huge French army in a battle on May 5th 1862 it's a big party in Mexico especially in the town of Puebla with music and dancing and food like tacos and burritos and all Mexican food is so good.
In the U .S. we do have parades and festivals to honor the Mexican culture, but many Americans think it's Mexico's independence state.
No, it is not. It is not Mexico's independence state.
It's a day that celebrates the underdog Mexico whooping the big boy French butt in an army battle.
No offense to France.
So that is what Cinco de Mayo is.
May 11th everybody is Mother's Day in the US.
Oh my gosh, yeah my mom unfortunately passed away several years ago.
But what a special day.
So the question is, you know, I'm married and I have two boys and the two boys will take care of their mom on Mother's Day.
Me, the husband, am I supposed to do something for my wife on Mother's Day?
I can just skip it right?
Because my mom, you know, well she passed away.
Do I have to do something for my wife?
She's my wife. She's not my mom.
Do you have any advice for me?
Uh, and of course, uh, May 25th is Memorial day in the US.
This week's, uh, observances.
Of course today, May 5th, Cinco de Mayo tomorrow, May 6th is National Nurses Day.
To all the nurses out there, keep it up.
We love you. May 7th is National Tourism Day, do you have any plans to go anywhere?
Some tourism plan? I hope so.
May 8th is National Coconut Cream Pie Day, I have never eaten a coconut cream pie.
Have you? Is it good?
May 9th is National Lost Sock Day, you know, you have two socks, right?
But you wash them, you dry them, and then you go to put them in your drawer and you're missing one.
Where is it? Where does the sock go?
Maybe it's on your mirror of your car.
Anyway, it's National Lost Sock Memorial Day.
You can feel sad about the socks that you lost. May 10th is National Clean Up Your Room Day.
I need to do that today, my office is a bit messy.
And of course finally May 11th is Mother's Day in the United States when is Mother's Day in your country?
We got to celebrate now.
We do have a Mother's Day song coming up at the end of the podcast But today let's just right now.
I mean, let's just keep it light with celebration by Kool and the gang It's your birthday it's your birthday, is it?
Why didn't you tell me it would be nice if you tell me then I could celebrate your birthday with you at least in this podcast. Today, May 5th is Adele's birthday.
She's 37 years old.
George Clooney celebrates his birthday tomorrow, May 6th.
He'll be 64. You might know him from movies like Oceans 11, Oceans 12, Oceans everything.
May 7th, the very famous YouTuber MrBeast is 27.
May 8th, Enrique Iglesias.
Fantastic singer. He is 50.
I thought he was older than that.
Oh, he's young yet punk May 9th He's super famous guys.
I can't tell you in America.
He's famous but in the Spanish -speaking countries Oh my god, he's really famous Enrique Iglesias may 9th is Billy Joel.
He'll be 76 years old You know Billy Joel the piano man, it's good May 10th Bono, he's 65 the singer of U2.
I used to love U2 up through Joshua tree, great great stuff I loved it and then so many singers and I don't like this.
So many singers and so many politicians they step out of their lane and they get political and I understand Bono that's kind of how he started Sunday Bloody Sunday talking about the revolution or the independence the fighting with the situation in Ireland I get that but keep it to Ireland that's where you're from and so he just bummed me out listening to him but I used to love Bono Joshua tree and before that just excellent music great great music sorry May 11th Lana condor I hope I pronounced her name she's 28 years old she's an X -Men.
Now, we need to celebrate these birthdays.
Coming up, we have a request song.
Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing.
Before that, the one and only, many ladies have compared me to this man, Enrique Iglesias.
Escape. That brings us to the close of another Let's Master English podcast. I hope you enjoyed podcast one of my coaches coach Mila requested Roger Waters and Sinead O 'Connor speaking of Ireland speaking of stepping out of their Lane and and Sinead's rendition of mother that she actually did with Roger Waters and you know I said oh yeah that's great cuz like Mother's Day is coming up so it would be like really appropriate however mother is a great song by Pink Floyd it's a In the line of mother, I do have a song that is not dark at all, it's very bright, it's very beautiful, and it's not necessarily
directed to mothers.
But I think, I hope, and I know it's not true for everybody, but I hope that when you think of your mother, if she's here, please call her, please say hey mom, I love you.
If she's not, then I hope you have good memories.
My mom, you know, my mom, she had her good days and she had her bad days.
Just like me as a son.
I was probably a horrible son.
But at the end of the day, as Stevie Wonder says, you are the sunshine of my life.
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.
It is the number one role, R -O -L -E, in the world.
Thank you so much. I'll be back with another Let's Master English podcast next week, all during the week that we have EQ'd rehashed.
So, together, let's Master English!
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