The Level Up English Podcast
🇬🇧 I'm Michael Lavers and this podcast will help you improve your English. I'm an online English teacher for students learning as a second language. In this podcast, I answer your questions about learning and help you achieve your goals in British English. Once a month I talk to a teacher or expert on topics related to language.
Episodes
330 episodes
#327 Fewer or Less? (Confusing English Quantifiers!)
In this episode, I'll be going through pairs of confusing quantifiers (and similar pairs), such as So or Such, Many or Much, Fewer or Less? Some of these are even a struggle for native speakers, so if you can master these, you'll be...
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Season 1
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Episode 327
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38:45
#326 Is Your Screen Time Too High?
I recently reailsed that my own screen time is too high and may be causing a lot of health issues and other problems in my life. With that realisation, I decided to make some changes to fix this problem, and it got me thinking: How many other p...
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Season 1
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Episode 326
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46:19
#325 The Secrets Behind English Word Origins (Gideon - LetThemTalkTV)
Gideon from the popular YouTube channel LetThemTalkTV joins us this week for a casual chat about various topics covered on his channel.Gideon is an English teacher, Y...
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Season 1
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Episode 325
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56:12
#324 How to Learn 2 Languages at the Same Time
With my experience of learning multiple languages at the same time, I revisit my thoughts and advice on this popular question.What are the best ways to approach learning two languages? How do you best manage your time? I do m...
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Season 1
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Episode 324
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47:07
#323 Rose-Tinted Glasses
Do you look at the past through rose-tinted glasses? Do you feel a sense of nostalgia when looking into the past?In this episode, I explore the meaning and use behind this common expression with examples from my own life and a little bit...
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Season 1
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Episode 323
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37:23
#322 How to Get Better at Small Talk
Small Talk is something many of us struggle with, and it's a really important part of socialising and using language.In this episode, I share some of my own awkward experiences with small talk, and then go through time tips on how we can...
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Season 1
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Episode 311
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42:35
#321 Can I Use AI Teachers? (Abigail Fulbrook)
Abigail Fulbrook (weareenglishteachers.com) joins me for a fascinating chat about a few different topics, including moving to Japan from the UK, what we miss about the UK, learning using AI teacher...
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Season 1
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Episode 321
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53:21
#320 Improve Your Brain with Cognitive Biases (Part 2)
We first spoke about this in Episode 281, and now we're returning for a part 2. Cognitive Biases are ways our brains can trick us into certain beliefs and behaviours without realising, and in this episode, I'll cover a few of them s...
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Season 1
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Episode 320
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41:35
#319 Speaking Up or Letting Go?
In today's episode, I share an issue I've been thinking about for a while - finding the balance between speaking up and letting things go.In other words, when things annoy us or seem unjust, should we speak up and say something? Or shoul...
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Season 1
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Episode 319
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28:35
#318 Let's Talk About Trump
This is an episode that I've been meaning to make for a while. Let's talk about 'trump' today.In fact, there are many phrases in English that originate from cards and gambling, so this episode looks at some of the common ones and how you...
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Season 1
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Episode 318
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49:00
#317 British & American Words That Reveal Cultural Differences
There are many differences in vocabulary between British and American English. Some of these are quite well-known and easy to understand (biscuit and cookie, maybe), but others are a bit more complex.In today's episode, I'm not simply li...
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Season 1
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Episode 317
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42:50
#316 Curious Minds Learn Faster with Alastair Budge
Alastair Budge from Leonardo English joined me for a casual chat about a variety of different topics.Alastair has his own podcast called "
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Season 1
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Episode 316
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1:02:02
#315 Separable and Inseparable Phrasal Verbs
We've now done quite a few episodes on Phrasal Verbs, but this is an important one. Today, I'll be looking at the differences between separable and inseparable phrasal verbs. This is a very important part of English if you want to s...
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Season 1
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Episode 315
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48:22
#314 British Driving Culture & Vocabulary
In this episode, I'll be talking about driving culture in the UK. There are a lot of interesting laws and unwritten rules that are reflective of British culture. So whether you will be driving in the UK or not, I think this will be interesting ...
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Season 1
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Episode 314
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52:53
#313 The Grass is Greener on the Other Side
Let's explore the expression "The Grass is Greener on the Other Side".In English, this is used when we view other situations as better than our own. In fact, no matter what we have, we tend to value what we don't have more.I exp...
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Season 1
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Episode 313
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38:42
#312 Moving Across the World with Zdenek
Today I'm doing a rare in-person discussion with Teacher Zdenek. Zdenek has more than 12 years of experience in various settings, primarily teaching English learners of levels B2-C2. He's taug...
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Season 1
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Episode 312
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52:46
#311 Habit Building Masterclass
This is a big habit masterclass episode! We'll be diving into the basics of creating habits, how to keep them going without giving up on your goals, and also how to kick some bad habits that are holding you back.I also give examples of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 311
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1:10:09
#310 The British Attitude Towards Healthcare
The goal of this episode is to share as many useful healthcare vocabulary as I can think of.I first begin by comparing my medical experiences in the UK and in Thailand, and then go through some of my specific medical problems and injuri...
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Season 1
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Episode 310
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38:05
#309 Emphasising with Cleft Sentences
Cleft Sentences are an area of English grammar that is used in daily conversation, but isn't often taught. I don't know many things, but what I am knowledgable about is English! (There's an example!)In this episode, I first expl...
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Season 1
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Episode 309
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36:58
#308 Pass the Cambridge English Exams with Ben Gill
Ben Gill from To The Point English joins us today for a great, detailed overview of the Cambridge English exams. Ben covers all sorts of topics and questions related to these exams on his
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Season 1
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Episode 308
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55:21
#307 Avoid These Common English Mistakes
For the past 6 months, I've been noting down the most common mistakes I see English learners make in preparation for this episode.I go through them one by one and give examples from my own life to give you some context for each one and ...
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Season 1
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Episode 307
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32:31
#306 How to Improve by Tracking Your English Studies
I've been tracking my own language learning for over a year and it's amazing to see my progress and time invested over that period. In this episode, I share with you the lessons from tracking all this data every day for one year, the be...
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Season 1
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Episode 306
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36:57
#305 How to Plan for Success in the New Year
As an annual tradition here on the podcast, let's talk about New Year Resolutions! I'll be talking about how 2024 went for me - looking at work goals, personal goals, and bucket list goals.I then move onto looking ahead to 2025 and plan...
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Season 1
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Episode 305
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44:04
#304 Five Christmas Traditions from Around the World
In this episode, we'll be going around the world to 5 different countries and looking at their different Christmas traditions. While doing this, I'll be sharing one expression with each one that you can use in daily conversations at any time of...
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Season 1
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Episode 304
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37:32