Monthly Archives: March 2008

Tickling Your Funny Bone

It’s been a hectic (busy) few weeks and I needed a good laugh. I came across these sayings that tickled my funny bone. To tickle is to touch someone else lightly to make them laugh. To tickle someone’s funny bone is … Continue reading

Posted in Jokes and Humor | 7 Comments

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers

In today’s Cafe, we talk about how to become a lawyer in the United States. Lawyers do not have the best reputation in many countries (including the U.S.). There are many jokes about lawyers and how greedy (wanting to have … Continue reading

Posted in Discussing the Episodes, Jokes and Humor | 20 Comments

“Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley

One of the most popular TV shows in the U.S. right now is American Idol. It’s a singing competition, where unknown people from all over the country compete to be the best singer. The winner receives a record deal, so … Continue reading

Posted in Karaoke English | 14 Comments

Annotated English: Gun Parties for Women

Here’s another news article with comments and vocabulary using the SharedCopy website. It’s an article from Voice of America about a strange new type of party for women, where they get together to buy guns! Take a look here. The … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 8 Comments

Luck of the Irish

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day, the national day of the country of Ireland. A saint is considered a very holy person in the Christian religion. St. Patrick (notice the abbreviation for “saint” is St.) was a famous priest who worked … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 6 Comments

“Cry Me a River” by Diana Krall

Lucy’s maid: “I clean all day because Lucy is a slob (messy and dirty). ” Lucy’s dog: “Cry me a river! I have to play with her and pretend I like her. Who has the harder job?” … I don’t … Continue reading

Posted in Karaoke English | 16 Comments

An ESLPod Experiment

I just discovered this very cool web service called Shared Copy. It allows you to make notes on web pages and share them with others. I tried using it and I think it may be useful for what we do … Continue reading

Posted in About ESL Podcast, News and Current Events | 36 Comments

Caught With Your Pants Down

A scandal is when someone does something wrong, usually a well-known person such as a politician or a movie star. There can be many different types of scandals, including scandals involving sex. In today’s U.S. papers, the American press is … Continue reading

Posted in News and Current Events | 11 Comments

Daylight Saving Time

Yesterday, Sunday, March 9, at 2:00 a.m. was the beginning of Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Like many other countries, Daylight Saving is used to save energy (electricity, fuel) by adjusting (changing) the hours of the day to better … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 9 Comments

TOEIC to TOEFL to IELTS: Comparing English Test Scores

I got an interesting question recently from a listener, Mauricio, about how the different English proficiency tests compare to one another. Mauricio took the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), and wants to know what his approximate score would … Continue reading

Posted in Language & Terms | 10 Comments