Hello, and welcome to practising English. This is my first podcast with you. And first of all, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Mike Bilbrough. I'll spell that for you because it is rather an unusual surname. Now, I usually use the pen-name of M.A. Bilbrough. This is the name that I use for my books. What sort of books do I write? Well, my books are for helping students to learn English. At the moment, I have some children's books published on Amazon, and also a new book. And it is a novel for teenagers and adults, which is to help B1 students progress to a B2 level - that is an intermediate level to an upper intermediate level of English.
So the next question, Where am I from? Well, I'm from England. In fact, I used to live in the west of England, in a beautiful area of England called the Cotswolds, and I was born in a very famous city, which is Stratford-upon-Avon. And that is the city where Shakespeare himself, was born. So I'm very fortunate.
Anyway, the podcasts then will be about British English, mostly, as I am British. But I will also talk about American English and I compare British English with American English, because I think that's very important to be able to distinguish between the two.
Where do I live now? Well, I live in Seville, which is in Andalusia, which is in the south of Spain. And how long have I lived here? Well, believe it or not, I have lived in Seville for 25 years. 25 years! That's a long time. And I'm married to my lovely Spanish wife. And we have a little girl. And I hope one day she will be totally bilingual. And you'll hear her on one or two of the podcasts which will follow.
What have I studied? Well, I have a degree in Spanish. And I am a doctor. A doctor? Is there a doctor in the house? Well, no, I'm not a medical doctor. I have a PhD, as we say in English, which is a Doctor of Philosophy in English philology, and methodology studies for learning English. And I studied that at Seville University.
Right? Well, that's enough about me. What about these podcasts? Who are they for? Well, there are really for B1 and B2 students. So that means lower intermediate, intermediate and upper intermediate level students. B1 and B2 are what they call the CEFR levels. And especially in Europe that is understood to be a sort of an intermediate and upper intermediate level.
Now I started these podcasts for my own students. As I am a teacher. I'm a teacher of English. And I thought there seems to be little material out there on the Internet for students who have lower levels, you know, sort of intermediate levels. There are a lot of podcasts for students with higher levels. And I thought that I should help those lower level students with materials, listening materials, so they can improve their English and get up to a more advanced level.
Now, I'm going to offer you free listening podcasts for intermediate level students. So there will be podcasts for B1 level and B2 level as well. I think these podcasts would be useful for the following student profiles. First of all, I think these podcasts are for anybody and everybody who wants to practise and improve their English level, there will be stories to listen to. Now, I believe stories are a wonderful way to practise and learn English. Why? Well, because stories provide a wealth of language. What does that mean, 'a wealth of language'. Well, it means there is a richness of language, there are many words, there are dialogues, there are full sentences, and also language from different contexts, contexts of fantasy of adventure. And that means the student is exposed to language of all different types, and in a full context, in a global context, which is very useful. So I really will be using lots of stories with you.
And I will be also exploring vocabulary, new vocabulary for you to write down as you listen. And I'll be talking about grammar. Yes, grammar, as I think grammar is useful for everybody. We don't perhaps like grammar very much. But it can be very interesting and fascinating even. And I like grammar. So we'll be talking about grammar as well.
And also pronunciation. Pronunciation to make your English clearer and more precise, so that you will be able to talk like the Queen of England or Boris Johnson. Well, I didn't really mean that to be too serious, but at least to make yourself better understood when you are talking English.
Now that's one profile then, which is sort of the general English for everybody from all different nationalities who want to improve and practice their English. And the other profile is for students who are specifically studying for B1 and B2 exams, such as the Cambridge exams [and IELTS students], so I will provide exam help to pass the reading, the writing, speaking and listening papers. I'll also give you exam technique help and tips and advice on how to pass these exams. And also the grammar that you'll need to get through - to pass these B1 and B2 Cambridge exams or similar exams of the same levels [such as IELTS exams].
Now, I hope to publish three episodes a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I suggest you could listen to all three of them. Because even though your level may be a little lower than a B2 podcast, for example, I will be providing transcripts - free transcripts. That is the written word of the podcast on my websites, in particular, PractisingEnglish.com. And also there will be grammar help and exercises to do on EnglishSpanishLink.com. So you can read while or after you listen and even do some exercises and read up on the grammar on my website too.
So that's all from me for now. And I'll be back very shortly - very soon with the first of these podcasts, practising English. Bye for now.
If you are interested in seeing my books for helping learners of English, please visit the M.A. Bilbrough website...
Copyright © 2023 Practising English
All rights reserved