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
321 episodes
#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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47:43
#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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41:34
#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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1:00:45
#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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47:06
#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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51:37
#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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37:25
#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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51:29
#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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1:08:53
#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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36:49
#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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35:41
#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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54:04
#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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31:14
#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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35:41
#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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42:47
#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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36:16
#303 English Expressions for Teamwork with Emma
Today I'm joined by Emma (Adventure into English) for a conversation about group vs solo activities. Emma has been helping with the group classes at Level Up English for some time no...
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Season 1
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Episode 303
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51:01
#302 18 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health
Mental Health is something we should all take seriously and I believe there's a lot of crossover between language learning and having a healthy mindset. This was a request from a listener to cover this topic. Although I am of course, no...
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Season 1
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Episode 302
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44:49
#301 Saying 'Sorry' Like a British Person
You may know that British people are famous for using the word 'sorry' all the time.In this episode, I talk about this habit and how much truth is behind it, but I also share the different situations in which we would say 'sorry' in the...
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Season 1
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Episode 301
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49:50
#300 Life Experiences and Present Perfect Tense with Akari (Nihongo For You)
In Episode 300 of the podcast, Akari from the Nihongo For You podcast joins me today for a chat about teaching languages, moving abroad, and learning English.In the second half of the episode,...
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Season 1
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Episode 300
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37:37
#299 Why We Always Want More (Hedonic Adaptation)
In my last episode, I spoke about my cycling trip to Taiwan. While there, I had a lot of time alone to think to myself with no distractions. In this episode today, I'm going to share some of the things I was thinking about.One of these ...
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Season 1
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Episode 299
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35:02
#298 I Cycled 1000km Around Taiwan
I took 2 weeks off in October to ride a bicycle around the whole of Taiwan. It was over 1000km and took about 2 weeks to complete. Along the way, I had both good and bad experiences and there's a lot I'd love to share!I also filmed a lo...
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Season 1
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Episode 298
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1:04:29
#297 Don't Fall for the Comparison Trap
The Comparison Trap is when we get stuck comparing our lives to other people and feeling worse as a result.It's a common problem in language learning, and this is something that I often experience too since I was inspired to make this e...
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Season 1
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Episode 297
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43:40
#296 Be More Curious
Curiosity is an important thing to practice to be better English language learners and enjoy your life more. When we start learning a language, we’re naturally very open and curious to learning new things. It can be an amazing feeling w...
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Season 1
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Episode 296
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44:12
#295 Finding Your Dream Job with Megan Nicholls
Megan is a teacher from Manchester, UK who has been teaching for 10 years and recently made the move to online classes. Megan specialises in Business English for professionals and improving spoken fl...
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Season 1
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Episode 295
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45:38
#294 Are You Using 'Used To' Wrong?
Let's look at 3 ways we can use 'used to' in English. We'll look at the different grammar and way we structure these terms while answering fun and interesting questions on these topics.I encourage you to answer these questions either in...
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Season 1
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Episode 294
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35:33