Assassination Attempts, Taylor Swift's Tour & Buying Time
Improve your English, naturally.
Good morning & welcome to the second Breakfast Newsletter of July. If you subscribe, you will receive the newsletter in your inbox, but don’t forget to look at the website where I’ve been adding dozens of new resources each week to help you improve your English.
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks around the world, so here’s a round up of what’s been going on*.
*Going on is a great phrasal verb to use instead of ‘happening' or ‘occuring’.
Politics Across The Pond -
We often use the phrase ‘across the pond’, to describe things happening in the USA… And things are certainly happening over there at the moment.
This is one of my favourite podcasts about global politics & news. In this podcast feed, you’ll find a good mixture of British & American accents.
The regular The Rest Is Politics show is hosted by two British men with very clear accents, but they’ve also added a weekly American edition, hosted by a British woman & an American man. It’s a great way to practise listening to different accents, while learning about what is going on in the world.
I also really like this podcast, because in one of the first episodes, they recommended by debut book, which is all about the criminal justice system in the UK. If you want to read lots of slang, dialogue & technical language about crime & punishment, this is my book, Criminal.
Taylor Takes Over Europe
With the Taylor Tour taking over Europe, look what you made me do!
I’ve created a few articles using song lyrics to explain important English grammar points.
Learn English with Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift in on her European Eras Tour. So, today, let’s look at some key phrases from her songs, to help us learn English. The words in songs are called ‘lyrics’. Let’s study some of her most iconic lyrics now.
Queen Bey, Coldplay & Tay Tay all feature on the website.
But is there another band or singer you’d love to see an article about?
Let me know, and I’ll prepare one for the next newsletter.
Buying Time - How to Speak English When Your Mind Goes Blank
I get asked a lot about how to survive a business meeting, presentation, or interview when your mind goes blank.
So, I’ve created the ultimate phrase bank to help.
If you have no idea what to say, but don’t want to sit in a meeting silently & feel like an idiot, these phrases will help.
Advanced Phrases to Buy Time
In both personal and professional conversations, there are times when you need a moment to think before responding. Using holding phrases and time-buying expressions can help you gather your thoughts and ensure you respond appropriately. Here are some useful phrases to help you when your mind goes blank.
Learn a few of them, write them on a post it, and use them when your English-speaking colleague asks you a really complicated question.
And if you forget them all in the middle of a Teams meeting and start to panic, here’s my ultimate top tip -
Pretend you had technical problems & say ‘I’m sorry, there seems to be a technical problem & you froze for second. Please can you repeat that?’
Remember, the Newsletter isn’t just for students learning English with me.
You can share it with your friends, colleagues & family for free, too.
See you next time,
Angie