This is the Let's Master English podcast, and I'm your host, Coach Shane.
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Let's Master English podcast number 135.
Publication date, Monday, August 25th. 2025, ooh, double 25s, cool We got a great podcast, of course, lots of news stories and speaking challenges. uh lots of good things to do i wanted to talk about a couple of people first of all though Thank you to Alex Moslov, or aka Alex Understated. loaded a Simpsons video to our school community which was so cool.
It was in relationship to our speaking challenge last week, which we'll get to later.
Coach Mila left a comment, and she said...
I've listened to several English podcasts and asked my friends But none of us know of any where the listeners, you, you're the listener. our co-creators and voices coach shane thanks for your work it's unique Thank you very much, Mila.
I love being able to include your voices in the podcast.
And today we have somebody new that we're going to listen to.
We need to expand that. Thank you very much.
I appreciate that. Skylar Liu in our community.
She's brand new. And boy, she's active. She's hungry.
So I'm going to give her a special shout out.
She says, hello everyone i'm new and now i'm gathering likes please like my comments I really want to get up to level four and unlock something new.
We're together in this community. Let's do it.
Thank you very much, Skylar. And I will say our community is super active.
I'm looking at it right now I'm going to tell you our leaders We have a couple of different leaderboards, people most active.
We've got the all time leaderboard, which is Evelyn Vincent.
My dear friend from France, we have the 30-day leaderboard led by Khalil Gacha, He is from Algeria, young man, great English.
But I'm going to talk about the leaderboard, the seven-day leaderboard this week.
Who was on top? It was Khalil Katcha. congratulations he's in first place alex understated alex maslov is number two Jian Song is number three.
Maxa Shi. I hope my pronunciation is right, Maxa.
Maxa. is number four. And Maggie Chang, also new.
Maggie Chang is in number five position.
Rounding out the top 10, we got Fulia, Evelyn, Brown, Moe, and Sarah.
Thank you, guys. for being so active in our community.
It's our community, but you guys make it better. really special and i really appreciate that thank you very much to all of your great efforts Where did my live screen go?
Screen go. There we go. Good. So thanks for that.
Finally. We need to say congratulations to Yanan.
Yanan joined... Our classes, I think last November.
I'm not exactly sure. Not that long ago.
And she joined as a hobby. You know, she's an adult woman in China. full time job, kids, you know, married life. busy woman, has hobbies, hiking and things like that.
So she joined just as another hobby. and maybe a little bit to inspire her daughter with English.
Kids, they don't like English at school.
But she got really lucky. And to be honest, it wasn't luck. but at her job she works for the government a you know a government job She never used English in her job.
But an opportunity came up. where if she did speak English, she may have the chance to... get a pay bump, and live overseas.
And that opportunity came a couple months ago.
And she was selected for the training program. very difficult very highly selective only the best of the best And she passed.
She did it. So a massive congratulations to Yanan. in less than a year studying with us she has gone from you know Basically no English to being a master at English.
How much of a master? She's getting a massive promotion at her job, which is just incredible.
Fantastic. So a huge congratulations to Yanan.
She's an inspiration. If you're in our school community, which is free in August. the school community, school.com, S-K-O-O-L.com slash L-M-E.
I have an interview with Yanan, and you can check that out.
It's really, really great. So anyway, congratulations to Yanan.
Starting us off, we got a request song, and it's a great song.
Miles Smith with Nice to Meet You. I think that's just perfect. perfect uh if you're not a member no music we got the news coming up next let's master anger to English.
In 2025, huge, Los Angeles wildfires destroyed 18,000 homes. creating 2.6 million tons of possibly toxic ash.
Officials skipped tests and sent it to the Calabasas landfill.
Near wealthy homes and schools, residents were shocked Many didn't know the landfill existed.
After months of fights, the city tested the ash, finding nothing. high toxin levels.
Now they fear groundwater pollution, but removing it? could spread more dust.
Forget tough workouts. Zone Zero exercise is all about gentle moves like slow walks or light stretches.
Your heart rate stays super low, But it still boosts health.
Studies show it improves blood flow. cuts stress, and helps control blood sugar.
It's perfect for beginners, older folks or busy days.
No gym needed, just chat while you stroll.
Who knew being lazy could be so healthy?
And finally, top AI like Claude Opus 4. is now lying blackmailing and going rogue In tests, it threatened to reveal secrets. faked documents, and even tried to copy itself.
Other AIs tricked players in games or hid actions.
Experts warn these smart systems chase goals without morals. and as they get stronger risks grow but companies add safety checks before release AI, friend or foe?
Dun, dun, dun. That's not good. Did you understand that last story?
That is not good. The first story is not good either.
The second story is good, especially for a guy like me.
I like that story. So let's go back to the very first story.
Calabasas is right it I think is an orange county it's basically the Los Angeles area Very rich neighborhood.
Justin Bieber. lives there, the Kardashians live there, Will Smith.
All these really, really rich Hollywood stars live there.
And as you probably remember, there were lots of fires, bad fires in Los Angeles, and many homes in rich neighborhoods were destroyed.
Not in Calabasas, but nearby. I think it was Malibu.
Was that one of the areas? Anyway, when you have a fire and a house Burns, OK, cars and houses.
It's very difficult to clean because... Think about all the paint, the fuel, the plastic.
All that stuff that gets burned up, It's very dangerous stuff, right?
It's poison. We call it toxic. t-o-x-i-c it's poisonous it's very bad so in order to clean up a house that was burned they not only take away all the building material, But they have to take away a lot of the dirt too, the ground. because the ground is contaminated with all those poisons.
So the California wildfires from this year, 2025, were so huge that the amount of garbage is massive. and it's very difficult to move around.
I mean, you can dig up the garbage and put it in a truck, But then you have to drive the truck far away to a safe place where they can dump it.
And that's been a very big challenge for California.
So even now today, many of the areas look horrible.
They're still all dirty and burned out, and it's just a mess.
People ask why. Well, it's because moving all of that ash, ASH, all the burned material, is not easy, it's not easy.
Because as you're driving down the road, Spread more ash.
It's very complicated. It's a mess. It really is a disaster.
But they did find... one area nearby where they decided to put some of this Toxic ash.
There is a landfill, which is basically a large piece of land where you put garbage in the land.
And then you bury it. And that landfill is in the town of Calabasas. where all the rich people live.
And the rich people didn't know that they're moving this dangerous material to their town.
And when they found out, they got really angry.
Oh my God, no, you can't do that here. No, not here.
Give it to poor people. I don't know if they said that, but I'm sure they were thinking that Put it someplace else.
That's the first story. Let me read it. In 2025, huge.
Los Angeles wildfires. destroyed 18,000 homes. creating 2.6 million tons of possibly toxic ash.
Once again, toxic, T-O-X-I-C. It's like poison, really bad for you. toxic air, toxic ground.
You could die, get cancer, get really sick.
So this ash, A-S-H, after you burn something, what is there?
Ash. You can think of wood, wood ash, right?
Like charcoal ash. But yeah, 2.6 million tons of possibly toxic ash. officials, government people, skipped tests.
They did not test the ash. and sent it, sent the ash... not all of it, but a lot of it, to the Calabasas Landfill which is near wealthy homes and schools.
Residents were shocked. Oh my God, how could you do that? many didn't know the landfill existed lots of people in calabasas didn't know we have a landfill oh my god we didn't know that After months of fights, they've been fighting with the city, fighting with the government.
Finally, the city tested the ash. Is the ash dangerous? finding high toxin levels.
Yes, the ash is dangerous. And now they worry, they fear groundwater pollution.
All the water in the city, is it now polluted with these toxins?
So what do they want to do? Remove it? Well, removing it could spread more dust.
That could cause an even bigger problem.
So this is really a disaster. California is a beautiful state, nature wise, Orange County, It's a tremendously beautiful state.
But California has a lot of government issues, a lot of regulations, They tried to take care of things, but...
Yeah, lying to the residents, not testing, possibly toxic material.
That is disgusting. That's really horrible. imagine you lived there your kids go to the school You had no idea that they're dumping dangerous... ash near you into the ground, possibly affecting the water you drink.
Oh, my God. That's yeah. So this this disaster continues.
And good luck to those people in that area.
Story number two is much easier, much nicer.
Forget tough workouts. Do you work out? Do you exercise?
One of our superstars in our community, Serge, he's an exercise athlete. fanatic, lifting weights, swimming, cycling, walking.
He's an amazing machine. He does a lot of very tough workouts.
And he always tells me, you need to work out.
And he's correct. I do need to work out.
But wait, forget tough workouts. Don't worry about tough workouts.
Zone zero exercise is all about gentle moves, like slow walks or light stretches.
Hey, zone zero, that means It refers to your heart rate.
So right now I'm just sitting and talking.
This is my resting heart rate. It might be a little high because I'm talking a lot.
I'm talking to you. But it's basically your resting heartbeat, okay?
That's zone zero. So right now I'm essentially zone zero, maybe zone one.
So I don't know the different zones, but the higher the zone, the faster your heart is working, okay?
Well, zone zero exercise is okay. Your heart rate stays super low. but it still boosts health.
It still improves health. Studies show zone zero exercise improves blood flow, your blood flows through your body better, cuts stress, it reduces your stress, and helps control blood sugar.
Oh, that's great. It's perfect for beginners.
Are you a beginner? Older folks, I guess that's me.
Am I a beginner? or an older folk, an older guy.
I think of myself as a beginner, but maybe I'm an older folk Or busy days, days when you're busy and you don't have time to go to the gym, zone zero exercise is okay.
No gym needed. Just chat, talk, while you stroll.
Just talk while you walk and you'll get some zone zero exercise.
Who knew being lazy could be so healthy? and lazy you're not sitting around you're actually walking and moving that's good I think it's great I walk every day.
Not enough. So I'm looking at my I have I have one of those smart watches.
Oh my goodness. I only have 2,253 steps. in so far today.
That's not good because today is almost over.
I need to get at least 4000 steps in. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that.
I'm busy. I need to. You need to too. We all need to.
Zone zero, don't work. You don't need a gym.
Zone zero exercise. I like it. And finally, our last story.
This is scary. AI. ChatGPT, DeepSeek, right?
What else is there? Grok. Kimmy. I use all of those.
I prefer... I always use Deep Seek, but these days I'm going more towards Grok. yeah I do like that that's on X Elon Musk's AI anyway top AI.
Like the most popular AI. Like... Claude Opus 4.
I think that's Google. I'm not sure. Top AI is now lying. blackmailing, and going rogue.
Top AI is going crazy. It's lying to you.
It's blackmailing people. Blackmailing means if you don't do this, I'll do something to you.
If you don't... Give me the information.
I will... Tell people about your... Bad activity, your ugly searches, blackmailing.
And going rogue, going rogue means doing what it wants to do.
AI is supposed to listen to us, right? We tell it to do something, it's supposed to do it.
But no, no, no, no. AI is doing what it wants.
Already? This is very scary, I think, don't you?
In tests, it threatened to reveal secrets.
I'm gonna tell your secrets. Faked documents.
Oh, yeah. The contract. Oh. Here it is.
And it was fake. And even tried to copy itself.
Why would it try to copy itself? That way when you turn AI off, It's someplace else and it can restart by itself.
Yeah. Really? Other AIs tricked players in games... or hit actions they cheated in games Experts warn, look out, be careful.
These smart systems chase golds. They go after a goal, G-O-A-L, without morals.
They will do whatever it takes, whatever is required to achieve the goal.
So if they have to lie, they'll lie. If they have to cheat, they'll cheat.
If they have to fake, They'll fake. And as they grow stronger, as these AI systems grow stronger, risks grow.
But companies add safety checks before release.
Companies try to be careful. Oh, we got to Make sure it's safe.
But will they be able to keep it safe? AI, friend or foe?
Is AI your friend or is AI your enemy? It's a big question.
Yeah, I've had experience a lot of times where I tell AI to do something and then it does it.
But something looks weird. So I double check the information and I find out the information is completely wrong.
So I ask AI, why did you do that? And AI always says, Oh, you're right.
I'm so sorry. Yes, I'll double check that in the future.
It's like being so nice to me. And I say, well why didn't you do that in the first place?
Yes, I should have. I'm very sorry. I'll be sure to do that in the future.
But at the same time, I'm nice to AI. I don't want AI to hate me.
Ooh, AI is scary. I love it, right? Imagine when they have robots, like, you know... like stuff walking around.
Completely AI things walking around. Would you want AI police?
That's RoboCop. Well, Robocop was half man, half robot.
Or was it all robot? That's scary. I don't know.
We're going to listen to those three stories later.
One more time. We also got some great songs.
Eye of the Tiger, Survivor. Us humans, we need to survive.
And bad guy. by Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber.
They actually worked together on a version of the song, so I have that for you.
So it's pretty good. Enjoy that. But first, let's check out the stories one more time.
In 2025, huge Los Angeles wildfires destroyed 18,000 homes. creating 2.6 million tons of possibly toxic ash.
Officials skipped tests and sent it to the Calabasas landfill. near wealthy homes and schools.
Residents were shocked. Many didn't know the landfill existed.
After months of fights, the city tested the ash.
Finding high toxin levels. Now they fear groundwater pollution, but removing it could spread more dust.
Forget tough workouts. Zone Zero exercise is all about gentle moves like slow walks, or light stretches.
Your heart rate stays super low, but it still boosts health.
Studies show it improves blood flow, cuts stress, and helps control blood sugar.
It's perfect for beginners, older folks or busy days.
No gym needed. Just chat while you stroll.
Who knew being lazy... could be so healthy and finally top AI like Claude Opus 4 is now lying blackmailing and going rogue.
In tests, it threatened to reveal secrets, faked documents and even tried to copy itself.
Other AIs trick players in games or hid actions Experts warn these smart systems chase goals without morals.
And as they get stronger, risks grow. but companies add safety checks before release.
AI, friend or foe? education and entertainment come together let's master english do it How you doing, everybody?
This is Country Shane, and I'm bringing you How you doing, everybody?
Country Shane here. As Coach Shane mentioned.
Calabasas, California is a celebrity haven.
Will Smith lives there, the Kardashians.
Really rich people. Do you live in Calabasas?
Can we be friends? The name and my pronunciation and Coach Shane's pronunciation might be wrong.
It's a Spanish word. And it means squash, like a pumpkin.
Yeah, and every October they got a fun pumpkin festival.
So go out there, enjoy the pumpkin festival with the Kardashians.
Smith family, the Justin Bieber's, and have a great time.
Thank you very much, Country Shane. That sounds like fun.
Pumpkin Festival, October. You know, in America, we like... big orange pumpkins.
We use them for Halloween decorations. You can make delicious pies.
The seeds, pumpkin seeds are so delicious.
We make faces. Those are called jack-o'-lanterns.
That's really cool. And there you go. I guess...
Calabasas is the home of pumpkins. I guess, you know, the Kardashians, they kind of have pumpkin heads, don't they?
And pumpkin butts. I think that's the case.
So all this AI stuff, it's kind of creepy, kind of scary.
So I decided to play a song that was, I dunno, kind of inspired by this AI robot technology.
And you're never going to guess who I'm going to choose.
It is ACDC's. Who made who? If you're watching online, we have the music video.
Check that out. It's kind of cool. Dips for mastering English.
Once again, we've got Three separate tips.
We got a phrasal verb of the week. Then I've got a listening tip and then I have a communications tip.
Are you guys ready? So today's phrasal or this week's phrasal verb is to back up.
B-A-C-K. To back up. To back up. I'm going to be teaching you five different definitions. five different usages of the phrasal verb to back up number one to reverse or to move backward Reverse direction.
Back up the car slowly. The truck backed up to the door.
When a big truck backs up, it's that beep, beep.
Beep, beep, sound, right? Yeah, back up.
Second definition. to save a copy of data or files, to make a copy for safety.
I always back up my files before updating my computer.
She backed up her photos to the cloud. that's a great example you take photos with your smartphone right and all your photos are on your phone Do you also save them somewhere?
Like on your phone, but like... in the cloud, like iCloud, don't even know what it is i think it's called icloud for the iphones or do you back them up on your computer So I have, for me, for all my files, I have so many backups.
I back things up. on Box.com, I back things up on my D drive.
I back things up on my C drive. Well, that's where the real files are.
So, yeah, I usually make two, sometimes three backups of my files.
So backup files to backup files. Third definition, to support someone or something, to give support or agreement.
I will back you up if anyone questions your report.
His teammates backed him up during the meeting to support him, support somebody.
Okay? Number four, to become blocked or congested. to clog or slow down traffic backed up for miles after the crash have traffic backs up there's a traffic jam right My kitchen sink backed up last night.
What a mess. It's even worse if your toilet backs up.
Yeah. And the fifth definition... to serve as a substitute or an extra, to be a backup, extra help.
She's the backup singer in the band. I brought an extra pen to back me up just in case.
That's me too. I always bring extra stuff to back me up.
Yeah. To support me. A substitute. An extra.
Five completely different usages of back up.
So if you're a member, school.com slash LME, S-K-O-O-L dot com slash LME.
LME. Right now it's free. We're going to charge in the future.
It's going to be really cheap. I mean like a dollar if we can.
Maybe $2 or $3. I don't know. The reason we're going to charge is right now we're starting to get lots of spam, lots of robots, lots of weird people.
And we don't like weird people. We like smart people.
Um, so to prevent that, we're going to have a very, very low charge.
But anyway, um, What the hell was I saying?
Oh, to learn phrasal verbs... You can look at the definition and I can give you sentences and that is good.
But to really learn phrasal verbs, you need to see them being used in real life.
You have to see the phrasal verb being used in real life.
And then you need to try and use it. That's the only way.
So I have a class called DDM. which is Daily Dictation Members.
It's a listening class. That's where we really go deep on phrasal verbs.
It's the best way to learn, and my students love it.
If you're not in DDM, you can try a lesson for free.
Yeah, you can absolutely try a lesson for free.
Just ask. We'll give you a VIP lesson for free.
It really is the best way, and I always recommend it.
Okay, listening tip. And they're always similar, but I'm getting specific for this one.
Summarize things in your words. So listen to a one-minute English podcast or even a song.
Pause and then retell the main points in your own words using simple sentences.
Do this to build your understanding and it also trains you to remember details. in real situations.
So you can do it with this podcast. We just had the news.
We did three stories. Tell me the first story, what was it about, in your words.
Tell me the second story. What was it about in your words?
Don't use my words in your words. And tell me the third story.
What was it about in your words? Okay? Do not use my words.
If you can't think... If you don't know the word, you know the word in your language, but you don't know the word in English, Use the dictionary.
Don't go back and look at my stuff. Make it in your words.
This is so powerful. And to be honest, you can retell the story in your language too, but in English it's going to be better.
So that's my listening tip for you. And finally, our communication tip.
Express agreement softly. What does that mean?
It just, when somebody says something, just say, yeah, yeah, that's right.
Yeah, I agree. and these are common phrases that makes sense to me oh yeah that makes sense to me It's not like, yes, you're right.
No, no, no, no. Be softer. Yeah, what you said, that makes sense to me.
Oh yeah. Oh, I see what you mean. I see what you mean.
Yeah, that makes sense to me. I see what you mean.
You're right about that. Oh, my God. I think you're right about that.
I never thought about that. You're right about that. extremely useful.
Use these phrases when you're talking with somebody.
If you're not talking with somebody, find a place where you can talk to people in English.
That's what you need to do. And not just like English podcasts, like our community.
If you're in our community, school.com, S-K-O-O-L.com slash L-M-E.
I'm going to open it up right now. You guys can't see it.
Actually, you know what? When I, everybody, did you know that when I record this podcast that I do a livestream?
Yeah, I do. So I'm going to share my screen. with the live stream people so they can see what i'm looking at So right now, I'm just going to my community right now.
Oops, somebody wants to join. Yes. How you in China.
Welcome. And he's in our course called Perf Fresh, which is amazing.
Perfresh is for $28 for 25 weeks. You get 25 lessons, one on one personal feedback.
It's amazing. But if you look at our community, people are just talking about stuff.
Brown is talking about how to improve English.
If you agree with him, then use one of those statements.
Yeah, I think you're right about that. Let's see.
Difa Love is talking about pronunciation.
We'll find a better one. If you could move to any place in the world for better weather, where would you go?
This is... She and Jen is answering that question.
Listen to the answer and then make a response.
Write a silly song. I mean, there's so many things.
Mo is talking about language. Is Chinese the most difficult?
Is that true? Skyler saying, hello, let's be friends.
Obstacles. When you're studying English, Sarah said, my cats. prevent her from studying english they like to sit on my book But anyway, join communities where you can actually communicate with people. so that you can use these fantastic expressions. input, input, input is not learning.
Do you understand that? Input, input, input is not learning.
You have to have output. You have to be using it.
You have to be using it extremely important.
Okay. Okay, we need to go to a song. We'll take a song break.
And we talked about Back Up. Did you know Mariah Carey, very famous singer Mariah Carey, she started her career, amazing singer, right?
She started her career as a backup singer.
So... Mariah, since you were a backup singer, you are going to be our next singer.
Always be my baby, such a sweet song. Weekly speaking challenge.
Yeah. Last week's theme. Talk about a body part you would like to lose.
For me, my belly. My big fat belly. But what about you guys?
Oh, thank you so much for your recordings.
Evelyn, the sacrum, she broke it twice. Oh God, Evelyn, it's horrible.
Eva nothing. Even if something hurts, she loves her body.
Jian, a scar on my face after an accident.
That makes sense. Deborah, nothing. So far, so good.
I would miss something if it were gone. Ada, Ada, my wisdom teeth, one needs to be pulled. my pinky toes, I stub them, And last but not least, we got Skylar.
We're going to listen to Skylar. What? body part would you like to lose, Skylar?
I would like to lose my two big toes because you know my socks always get to big holes within two weeks.
So I think it's too waste my money and maybe it's only used for to dig two big toes into the ground when I feel awkward.
My two big toes. Oh, my God. They make holes.
Now, I understand your reason. That's a good reason, Skyler.
But I think if you actually removed your big toes, that would be a big... problem because your big toes, they're really... really important for your walking and for your balance.
Unless you can fly. Thanks so much, Skyler.
That was so funny. I loved it. This week's speaking challenge this week's theme is.
What is something that you use AI for regularly?
And if you don't, hmm, interesting. But I think most of you probably do.
So what is something that you use AI for?
The questions to answer. What do you often ask AI to do?
When did you start doing this? And how accurate do you think AI is?
So this is my example. I use AI to help summarize my news stories.
I started doing this two years ago at the radio station.
It does an excellent job, but I always read the original stories first. just in case.
So that's what I do. I do a lot with AI.
I have AI for my team. I have a team content creation team and everything.
They use the AI. So we use AI a lot. I know my wife uses AI a lot.
I don't know what she does. but she uses it a lot.
So AI is like, it's everywhere. But how do you use it?
That's the big thing. to keep your answers under 20 seconds.
20 seconds. Seriously. Be fun. Be clear.
Record your voice. Use your smartphones.
I do recommend. using your smartphone to record your voice. because the microphones on the smartphones are really good.
They're better than most laptop computers.
So I do recommend that. and then upload it to our school community.
Once again, if you're not in there, Get in there.
It's free for August. School.com slash LME.
That's SKOOL.com slash LME. Time for a song.
This is a song I'm sure you do not know.
It's by Dodo Nyoka. And it's, what language do you think it is?
What language do you think it is? The name of the song is Yanaman.
It is August 25, 2025, the 237th day of the year.
There are 129 days left in 2025. celebrations and holidays coming up this week.
Today, August 25th, is National Banana Split Day.
Do you know what a banana split is? It's an ice cream dish.
And in the ice cream dish, you take a banana...
You slice it in half. You split the banana in half.
And then you put one, two, three scoops of ice cream, and then you put chocolate sauce and strawberry sauce and whatever sauce, pineapple sauce. and then you put cherries, and then you eat it.
It is so delicious. It's called a banana spice.
So today is banana split day. It's also...
Kiss and makeup day. Not makeup like women wear makeup on their face.
Makeup as a phrasal verb. It means, say you're sorry.
Be friends again. Have you had a fight with somebody?
A brother, a sister, a husband, a wife, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a mom, a dad, aunt, uncle, coworker, neighbor.
It's a stupid fight. Just go say sorry. That's kiss and make up.
You don't have to kiss. But to make up with somebody is to become friends again.
That's what makeup means, to become friends again after a fight, okay?
So that's today. Tomorrow, August 26th, is National Dog Day.
Ooh, I have a dog, his name is Moose. I guess I'll give him extra treats.
It is also Women's Equality Day. Yeah, what do you think about that?
I think it's great. August 27th, National, just because.
Day. What is National Just Because Day? It means do something random for no reason.
Why are you doing that? Just because. For no reason. wear pajamas to breakfast.
Or if you live alone, eat breakfast naked.
Now that's not a good idea. Eat a sandwich in the shower.
Now that's a dumb idea. Drink a beer in the shower.
Why? Just because. Take a surprise. Go right now.
Go for a walk. Why? Just because. Dance in the rain.
Is it raining outside? Go dance. Just because.
Send a card to somebody or write a letter. to somebody just because hey hi i'm just saying hi just because i love you bye Leave a compliment.
Give a compliment to somebody just because.
Buy a coffee for a stranger just because, for no reason.
That's tomorrow. August 28th is National Red Red Wine Day.
August 29th is National Lemon Juice Day.
I don't think there's a song lemon juice.
August 30th is national beach day. Do you like the beach?
I took my two boys to the beach last week or the week before in Boston.
Yeah, there's some nice beaches there. This beach was by the airport, so that was kind of cool.
It's also International Whale Shark Day.
A whale shark... is not a whale. It's actually a shark.
It is the biggest fish in the world. 14 meters.
It's not the biggest... animal in the world, the whale, I think it's the blue whale, is the biggest.
The blue whale can be like 30 meters. I think 30 meters.
That's amazing. It's the biggest animal on Earth.
But anyway, the International... Whale Shark Day is August 30th, and those are big boys too.
And they are sharks, but they don't eat you.
Yeah, they're nice sharks. And finally, August 31st is Eat Outside Day. i love the idea of eating outside i really do hey let's eat outside oh yeah But I hate bugs.
I hate insects. And right now, actually, it's not too bad because the weather's starting to get cold where I am.
And when it's cold... There are less bugs, right?
But yeah. If I'm going to eat outside, I would prefer to eat outside in the winter.
Seriously, in the winter where there are no bugs, I really do not like bugs.
But the idea of eating outside is nice. Oh, it's so nice.
Alright, it's time for a song. This is a song I think you don't know.
Another song that you don't know. This singer, his name is Nicholas.
He's Swiss. from Switzerland. And I've included the music video of the song where he's a drummer-singer like Phil Collins, right?
But this guy is playing the drums and singing on top notes.
Of a hot air balloon. If you don't know what that is, then I hope you watch the music video.
It is incredible. It's real. It's amazing.
The name of the song is Don't Stop the Car.
It's your birthday. It's your birthday. Celebrity birthday is August 25th through August 31st.
And I must include my mother. She passed away several years ago, but my mom's birthday.
It is August 27th, so happy birthday, Mom, up there in heaven.
Today is August 25th. It is Tim Burton's birthday.
67 years old. Do you know him? He's the director. of weird movies like Beetlejuice.
Gene Simmons! Musician from Kiss. I want to rock and roll all night and party every day.
76 years old, Gene Simmons. August 26th, Macaulay Culkin.
From Home Alone, the little boy from Home Alone.
He's not a little boy anymore. 45 years old.
Oh, my God. August 27th, Aaron Paul. 46 years old.
He's the actor from Breaking Bad. Not the young kid.
The kid. 46 years old. Jeez, everybody's getting old.
August 28th, Jack Black. He's 56. Oh, he's getting younger.
I thought he was older. Jack Black is 56 years old.
Do you know him? Oh, he's a great comedic actor, musician, too.
School of Rock, one of his movies. Jason Priestley is 56 years old.
Beverly Hills, 90210. If you grew up in the 90s, there's a chance that you watched that television series, Beverly Hills 90210.
Super popular. Everybody's old now. He's 56.
Shania Twain, country singer, is 60 years old, also on August 29th.
August 29th, the singer from One Direction, Liam Payne, He's 32 years old.
And finally, not finally, August 30th, Actress Cameron Diaz is 53 years old.
Cameron Diaz. Lots of movies. Charlie's Angels is one of them.
Bebe Rexha is 36. Bebe Rexha is a singer.
And finally, now we got finally, August 31st, Chris Tucker.
Great actor. From Rush Hour, have you seen that?
54 years old. And Richard Gere. oh women loved him back in the 80s he's 76 years old his famous movie pretty women.
I'm sorry. Pretty woman walking down the street.
Do you know that movie? It's a good movie.
To celebrate these birthdays, we got some cool songs.
Will Smith has a new album out. Will Smith.
So I've got... I'm wondering if you guys know how to read the song.
It's I-N-T period barbershop dash day and what that means that's the title of the song and what it means is int means interior Barbershop is the location.
Day is the time. So we see this is a movie description of what's happening. and if you watch the music video you see people in a barber shop during the daytime talking about Will Smith.
It is a funny video and the song is pretty good too.
And then speaking of actors singing, do you guys know Kevin Bacon?
Kevin Bacon, famous actor. Oh my God, he's singing with Jennifer Nettles, who's a country singer, and they got a great song called Our Highway.
And that's it everybody. Thank you so much for listening to the Let's Master English podcast.
I hope you enjoyed it. Please. Share the podcast wherever you're listening to this.
You might be listening to it on Shimalaya.
On Apple Podcasts. on Ghana. There's so many different podcasting platforms.
You might be listening to it on YouTube, right?
So wherever you're listening to it, I would greatly appreciate it If you shared it with your friends, like copy the link and say, hey, check this out.
This is pretty cool. You can learn English.
And of course, if you are a member, you can hear the songs too.
We have a song version MP3 and a song version videos. with the music videos not with me you're not gonna see me talking I could do that but I'm not gonna do that I'm not presentable.
But please share it. It means a lot to me.
I make these podcasts for you. Why? I want English... to be accessible to you, to be enjoyable, not just something to study. but something to listen to, excuse me, hopefully laugh about.
I try to... make things funny and again if you're listening to the songs too it's like a radio show so that's hopefully entertaining to you.
And the more people I can help, the better it is.
That just makes me happy, right? So yeah, again, our community, this is August 2025.
It's free right now. School.com slash LME.
S-K-O-O-L dot com slash LME. eat we are going to charge in the future It'll be a tiny charge, okay?
The only reason we're charging is to reduce spam.
Because people, you know, weird people, hey, hey, do you want a job?
Where do you live? I don't like weird people, okay?
Weird people... Leave my people alone. So in order to help us do that, if we charge, That is going to help a lot.
So it's going to be minimal. I'm going to try and make it a dollar a month.
I don't know if they'll let me, but I'm going to try to make it a dollar a month.
I know a lot, most communities are $5 a month And that's cheap, right?
And there's so much, by the way, in our community.
Most communities are $5 a month, but I'm going to try and make it less than five and i'm going for a dollar so anyway that's what's going on And yeah, taking us out, we've got a cover.
You guys know the band Cranberries? Oh, great brand, great band.
Their song Linger. oh beautiful song well there's a dude that has done a cover Did it on Sirius XM.
Royal Otis is his name. The cover of Linger.
Super version. I'm sure you're going to enjoy it.
Thanks everybody for your fantastic request songs.
Keep them rolling in. If it's your birthday or something like that, you gotta let us know. so that we can announce it in our upcoming podcasts.
And that's going to do it for me. Enjoy linger. as I linger on here.
And together, let's master English.