Hear You Go

The How & Why of Noticing Language with English with Bistra | Intermediate English Conversations

What do you notice when you listen to an English podcast or when you read a book in English?
Do you actively notice language, and what do you do once you notice something?
 
In this episode, I talk with my friend and colleague, Bistra of English with Bistra, about the importance of noticing if we want to become an advanced English speaker and writer.
We'll define some terms, then explain how people notice or can notice, and finally, what to do next so that you remember what it is that's caught your attention.
 
Plus, you'll hear Bistra quiz me a couple of times, and learn about why The Beatles were so important in Bistra's language development in English. Music is a great way to practice your English listening skills. 
 
This episode will help both English language students and English language teachers learn how to notice better, and grow your English.
 
Be curious! You'll hear Bistra share this quote: "If you don’t want to learn, no one can make you, but if you want to learn, no one can stop you.”
Don't let anything stop you!
 
You can find Bistra on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/english_with_bistra/
You can also learn about her courses on her webpage:
https://www.englishwithbistra.net/
To register for her webinar on noticing, on September 26th, click on the link.
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Never miss my news! Sign up for my newsletter here.
Follow me on Instagram.
And as always, special thanks to Amos the Transparent for the theme music.
 

Taking some time to really listen | English Listening Practice

Hello lovely listeners!
In a world where everything seems to happen quickly, we often measure our progress by how many "things" we do. We're busy, busy, busy.
 
What if we slowed down and measured our progress by how deeply we understood what we read and listened to instead?
 
In Episode 27 of Hear You Go, I'd like to encourage you to take some time listening to English podcasts, Hear You Go specifically and all the other ones that you love. I'll share a 5-step process that will ask you to slow down, listen a few times, and listen for more than just the main ideas or new vocabulary.
 
Think of the podcast like a puzzle that you build or solve, piece by piece. And at the end, you have a beautiful, full picture, and a better understanding of how the pieces fit together. 
 
I'd like you to feel better about your listening in English. I'd like you to feel more confident listening to the sounds of spoken English. Spoken language is very different from the words on the page.
 
Like any new skill, this will take some time...
 
Today, I'll walk you through the 5 main steps I recommend you use when listening to English podcasts, and if you'd like to dig deeper and explore these 5 steps with me, you can join me for The Podcast Puzzle workshop on Saturday, September 16th at 9 a.m. EST (Toronto/New York time).
 
Click here to register: The Podcast Puzzle.
 
Thank you for listening! 
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You can follow me on Instagram and see my webpage to receive my newsletter.
Thanks to Amos the Transparent for our theme music.
 
 
 

Why We Swim | Book Talk

Why do we swim?
I swim to exercise and to practice my French, lol! 
Do you practice your English speaking when you do a sport or activity?
I know why I swim, but I wanted to learn more about why so many people swim, and I did what I often do: I read a book titled "Why We Swim", by Bonnie Tsui.
I learned a lot from this book, and in today's episode, anchored in the middle of August with summer coming to a close far too soon, we'll explore a few of the reasons people swim: well-being, flow, and awe. 
You don't have to be a swimmer to connect with this English listening summer episode.
Perhaps you can reflect on what gives you well-being, puts you in a flow, and leaves you in awe. It might be swimming or something else.
Dive in and explore the topic
Listen for idioms in English connected to water and swimming
Listen carefully for messy English: for how consonants connect to vowels, which is an important feature of connected speech
Have fun and enjoy
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Hear You Go podcast returns to its regular schedule of every two weeks on September 5th, and I have lots of new stuff for you, including more intermediate English conversations.
Are you interested in learning about a 5-step strategy for listening to podcasts? 
Do you want more listening resources and a chance to meet once a month to talk about the podcast?
If you said YES to either of these questions, sign up for my newsletter and get all the news about a listening workshop on September 16th, and a new community for Hear You Go listeners that will include monthly meetings and so much more!
Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for a new episode coming to you on September 5th. 
Happy listening, Catherine xoxo 
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Special thanks, as always, to Amos the Transparent for permission to use their song, Change My Mind, as my theme music. 
 

Games - They Help You Learn | English Listening Practice

"It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is something adults often say to children as a warning to be careful, but in my family, we prefer to say: "It's just all fun and games... but I want to win!"
 
Do you play games? Do you enjoy playing games?
Would you believe that playing games can help us learn English, and become better people? 
Human beings have been playing games for thousands of years. In today's episode (the first of two that will be released this summer), we'll look at the history of games, then the benefits of playing games, and finally, I'll share some of the games I've been playing (and losing!) recently. But, it's just all fun and games, and that's where the joy lies in summertime.
 
Games are a universal, shared, human pastime. 
 
If you enjoy Hear You Go, subscribe and share it with your friends. Leave a review so more listeners can find the podcast. 
 
As always, thank you for listening, and stay tuned for another summer episode in mid-August. 
Sign-up for my newsletter here to get all my news about this community and my new courses too.
Follow me on Instagram for more news and language tips.
 
Thank you to Amos the Transparent for being such cool guys and allowing me to use their song in my podcast. 
 

The lessons I’ve learned this year | English Listening Practice

I'd no idea when I released Episode 1 of Hear You Go that I'd release another 23 episodes!
Thank you to each one of you who has practiced your English listening with me. 
I'm going to be taking some time off this summer and will release two summer English listening episodes instead of four, so as we come to the end of Season One (OMG!), I thought I'd share some of the lessons I've learned. 
 
You’ll hear about:
taking action and being consistent
the feedback I got
my love-hate relationship with Instagram, and
some surprising developments that I didn’t anticipate or predict would happen.
Perhaps you'll be able to relate to some of these lessons to your own English learning practices and takeaways. I hope so.
 
I'll wrap up the episode by telling you about my plans for season two. More intermediate English conversations and listening practice episodes to come! 
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You can find all episodes on my website.
To get the transcript, you need to sign up for my newsletter.
Follow me on Instagram for more pronunciation and listening tips.
For some great music, follow and listen to Amos the Transparent, the genius band that provides my theme music.
Thank you for your continued support of Hear You Go! Can you do me a favour? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. It really helps to promote the podcast so that more people can listen. You can do this on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.
Thanks for listening!

What in the World are Grandmates and Mommunes? | English Listening Practice

Today's listening practice episode explores the different ways people are choosing to live, and by that I mean where they live and who they live with. In a sense, it's also about the communities we build.
At a time when the cost of buying or renting a home is very expensive, and when many people are suffering from loneliness, should we consider other living arrangements?
Let's explore some new trends and alternative ways that people are choosing to live together. We'll also explore lots of advanced English in the vocabulary and expressions used to discuss this topic.
You’ll hear about grandparents and their adult grandchildren living together and the benefits this offers to both generations. You’ll also hear about mothers living with other mothers to share costs and support each other as they work and raise families. I’ll also explain a concept called co-housing that sounds like a wonderful re-imagining of community to me. 
We often accept that life is supposed to happen in one way, in one direction, and living independently is one of those traditional ideas in North American society. I'm wondering now if we need to re-think this idea. 
We also need to re-think the idea that the only way to learn English is to learn grammar. Grammar is important, but so too listening. That's what Hear You Go is here to help you with: listening to the messiness of spoken English.
 
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You can find all episodes and transcripts on my website.
Follow me on Instagram for more pronunciation and listening tips.
For some great music, follow and listen to Amos the Transparent, the genius band that provides my theme music.
Thank you for your continued support of Hear You Go! Can you do me a favour? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. It really helps to promote the podcast so that more people can listen. You can do this on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.
Thanks for listening!

Put a little AWE in your life | English Listening Practice

Hear You Go podcasts are AWESOME, aren't they?
 
We use the adjective "awesome" a lot these days, maybe too much. It comes from the noun awe. 
 
What is awe, and why should we try to put more awe in our lives?
Should we wait for awe, or can we go out and find it? 
 
We'll explore these questions in today's English Listening episode, and learn more about the topic of awe. The study of awe is new, but the more we learn about it, the more scientists and psychologists are discovering that awe has many benefits. It has benefits for our health, and for our communities and societies.
 
And if you want to learn more about awe after you listen to this episode and all the advanced English I use to talk about it, sign up for my newsletter to receive links to extra materials and resources.
 
Here is the link to Dacher Keltner's book: AWE: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. 
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Thanks for listening! 
You can find all episodes and transcripts on my website. Sign up for the newsletter to get all my news and practice your English reading skills too.
Follow me on Instagram too.
 
For some great music, follow and listen to Amos the Transparent, the great band that provides my theme music.

What’s wrong with empathy? | English Listening Practice

Who doesn’t want to be empathetic? Isn't it a good thing to be kind and generous? Don't we all aspire to be more empathetic?
Imagine my surprise when I came across a video that argued against empathy! 
One of the teachers in my Pronunciation for Teachers Course had a similar reaction to mine: she too was surprised by the argument that empathy might not always be a good thing.
So let’s explore this argument in today's English Listening episode, an argument that is actually quite persuasive.
Here's the link if you want to watch it yourself:https://bigthink.com/the-well/why-empathy-is-bad/.
 
I can only touch the surface of this topic in the next 15 minutes, so please sign up for my newsletter where you'll get links to more articles, videos and audios about empathy, and some of the English language I use in this episode. You can also get a link to the transcript.
 
Practice your English listening and reading skills when you follow me on Instagram. 
Thank you for your continued support of Hear You Go! Can you do me a favour? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. It really helps to promote the podcast so that more people can listen. You can do this on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. My listeners are the BEST! 
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And as always, please enjoy the music of Amos the Transparent, who provide the theme music to the podcast.
 

A Passion for Flowers with Simegn Mengesha | Intermediate English Conversations

You know I love winter, but it was a very long and snowy one this year, and I've been waiting and waiting to see spring flowers. Today, I talk to a flower farmer!
 
Simegn Mengesha, the owner of King's Creek Blossoms, joins me in this intermediate English conversation. We talk about her journey to become a flower farmer, as well as the challenges she confronts in order to offer her beautiful flowers to customers in the Ottawa area. You don't have to live here to admire her work. Please follow her on Instagram at King's Creek Blossoms.
And if you are local to Ottawa, please stop by and say hello to Simegn at the Parkdale Farmer's Market from May to October, on Wednesday evenings and every Saturday.
You can also order her flowers at the Ottawa Flower Market, and the Open Food Network.
 
As you listen today, please appreciate that English is not Simegn's first language. She was nervous to speak English with me on the podcast. She was afraid of making mistakes. She was concerned you wouldn't understand her.
Speaking in English is hard.
I think she was amazing!
So, think about your passions, and about how the act of growing plants is similar to growing your English skills. What challenges do you face when listening in English, when speaking English, when writing in English? How do you confront these challenges and keep growing? 
 
As always, thanks for listening!
Catherine 
Sign up to receive all my news in my weekly newsletter.
Follow me on Instagram too.
P.S. The weather is always a challenge for farmers. What can ya do? We can listen to another song by Amos the Transparent, the band that provides my theme music. Here's one more of their songs, Sure as the Weather. Enjoy!
 

World Book Day | Book Talk

Books: They might be my favourite things to talk about.
Is there really a day to celebrate books?
Yes, there is, and it's coming up on April 23rd. In order to celebrate this day, I thought we'd talk about reading, why it's important in general, but specifially for learning English and boosting our advanced English through vocabulary and other expressions. I'll also ask if it matters whether we read paper books or digital books. 
So if you like books, if you read in English and if they help you improve your English, stay with me for the next 15 minutes, and then I'd love to hear from YOU about why reading matters to you.
Why do you read?
What kind of books do you read?
Do you read fiction or non-fiction?
Do you read e-books or physical books, or both? 
How does reading help you improve your English?
What was the last book you read that had an impact on you?
What will YOU do to celebrate World Book Day?
Sign up for my newsletter to receive more information about the research noted in this episode, and to get notified about when the transcript is available. Also check out the video on my website, made in 2021, about World Book Day in Georgia.
Thanks for listening! 
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If you continue to listen to and love Hear You Go, I would appreciate it if you would subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. It really helps to promote the podcast so that more people can listen. You can do this on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts -- thank you!
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Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram.
And as always, please enjoy the music of Amos the Transparent, who provide the theme music to the podcast.