PODCAST · education
TALC Chats Podcast
by Latonya Bailey and Diana Higgins.
Supported by Tacoma Area Literacy Council Volunteers. This podcast supports American-English language learners by strengthening listening and comprehension skills. In addition, this podcast focuses on pronunciation challenges, idioms, and expressions in the American- English language. Contact info: https://tacomaliteracy.org/ ph. 253-272-2471
Episodes
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# 76 - Join us for a trip to the Galapagos Islands!
Send us Fan Mail Latonya and Diana have a special guest. Janet, a TALC tutor, recently traveled to the Galapagos islands with her husband. She shares the highlights of her trip with us. The Galapagos Islands are volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are located on the Equator and are a...
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#75 - Let's have a picnic in the park!
Send us Fan Mail It’s August! The last full month of the summer. Imagine with me: It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon in August. OK! That’s easy. It’s warm – about 75 degrees but not too hot. I’m with you. Instead of having lunch at home inside, let’s bring some food from home and go to the park. Great...
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#74 - Would you mind if I sat here? 🪑 Practicing a very polite way to ask for something
Send us Fan Mail Would you mind if I asked you a personal question, Latonya? No, I wouldn’t mind if you asked me a personal question but remember I don’t have to answer it. That’s a perfect answer, Latonya! You wouldn’t mind if I asked you a personal question, but you may choose not to answer it....
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#73 - From English Learner to English Tutor! How did Violetta do it?
Send us Fan Mail Latonya and Diana talk with Violetta, a new tutor with the Tacoma Area Literacy Council (TALC), the organization that sponsors this podcast. Violetta is a new tutor from Ukraine who began learning English 3 years ago when she arrived in the U.S. Violetta shares how she went from...
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#72 How to have a healthy brain 🧠
Send us Fan Mail Do you ever think about what you can do to keep your brain healthy? I listened to an interesting radio program last week about how to keep our brains healthy and I’d like to share what they said with our listeners. What was the name of the program? It is one of my favorite...
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#71 - Lots of ways to say "Hello!" 👋
Send us Fan Mail Hey! How are ya, Latonya? Pretty good! And you? I’m okeydokey! That’s one way that we exchange greetings in English. How many ways do you think people say “hello” in English? According to Berlitz – a language learning organization: 107 ! Today let’s talk about some of the common...
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#70 - How many books 📚 do you have? How much time 🕟 do you spend reading each day? "how much?" & "how many?"
Send us Fan Mail How many books did you read last year? How much time do you spend reading every day? When do we use “how much” and when do we use “how many?? If we’re asking about something that we can count, we use “how many”. How many eggs are in your fridge? How many sisters do you have?…
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# 52 - The Mystery of Bigfoot 👣 (Sasquatch)
Send us Fan Mail Have you ever seen those drive though coffee kiosks called “Bigfoot Java”? Yeah, they have a big brown footprint on their signs. First, what’s java? Right! Java is a word we use for coffee. Why java? Because it is a part of Indonesia where coffee is grown. We should devote an...
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#69 - I met you four years ago. 📅 Practice with for, ago and since
Send us Fan Mail L: How long have you known me? D: I have known you for four years. L: When did you meet me? D: I met you in 2022. L: You met me 4 years ago. D: That’s right. I have known you since 2022. We used for, since and ago in our conversation. We use each of these prepositions to talk…
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#68 - "My Grandma had a heart of gold" ... idioms from the heart❣️
Send us Fan Mail Do you know any songs by heart? Interesting question. Let’s make sure our listeners know what “by heart” means. “By heart” means that a person can recite, say, sing or play something on a musical instrument from their memory. They don’t have to read the words or music. So, back…
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# 67 - Valentine's Day ❤️ 🍫 🌹
Send us Fan Mail Have you noticed all the red hearts in the stores? Absolutely! Soon it will be February 14th - St. Valentine’s Day! Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day? That’s a long story! It started as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine hundreds of years ago – in the 3rd...
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#66 - How happy are you? 🙂😃😁 Qualifiers and Intensifiers
Send us Fan Mail How are you this morning? I’m happy. How is the weather today? It’s warm. I want to know how happy you are and how warm it is. OK! I can use qualifiers and intensifiers to tell you how happy I am or how warm it is. We use them to express more precisely or exactly what we want to...
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#65- Aaah - Autumn! 🍁
Send us Fan Mail I have to say one thing this morning. What’s that? Aaaaah ! Autumn! Yes, it’s officially autumn, isn’t it? The first day of autumn began on the 22nd of September. It was also the fall equinox in the northern hemisphere. On that day the number of hours of daylight and darkness are...
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#64 - Yesterday that young man was yelling! - Practice with the beginning "y" sound (slow English)
Send us Fan Mail Yesterday that young man was yelling!” - practice with the beginning “y” sound D: Did you hear about that young man in Yelm, Latonya? L: Yes, yesterday that young man was in his yard yelling something. D: What was he yelling? L: He was yelling that he couldn’t sleep because his...
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#63 - Apples!! 🍎🍏
Send us Fan Mail I have a riddle for you. Shoot! "Shoot” is an expression we use when we want someone to tell us something! So, “shoot”! Tell me! ! OK! Here’s the riddle; I’m red or green, a tasty delight, a fruit to munch, morning, noon or night.” What am I? (Munch is one of those wonderful…
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#62 - "I'm on the mend, but I'm not on the ball!" - practice with "on the" idioms
Send us Fan Mail D: How are you? L: Well, I haven’t felt well the past few days, but today I feel better. I think I’m on the mend. D: I’m glad to hear that. I heard you use an interesting idiom: “on the mend”. L: You “have an ear” for idioms! “on the mend” is an idiom that we English speakers use...
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#60 - Do I know you? - Practice with Know & Meet (Slow English)
Send us Fan Mail L: Do you know me? D: Yes, of course I know you ,Latonya. L: When did we meet? D: We met about 3 years ago. L: That’s right. 5 years ago, I didn’t know you, and you didn’t know me. We didn’t know each other. D: Do you know my son?L: No, I’ve never met your son. I don’t know him....
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#61 - The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens 🌋
Send us Fan Mail May 18th of this year was the 45th anniversary of a big event in southwestern Washington state. This huge geological event happened on May 18th 1980. It reshaped a mountain and the area surrounding that mountain. We are talking about the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. We mentioned…
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#59 - Can I borrow $10? 💵
Send us Fan Mail D: Can I borrow $10 from you? L: Sure, I can lend you $10. D: Thanks million! I’ll pay you back next week. “Borrow” and “lend” are two verbs that English learners often find challenging. Let’s practice those verbs today. Shall we start with “borrow”? In our short conversation at...
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#58 - Yikes! Aw! Yuck! Wow! ... and other Interjections!
Send us Fan Mail Gosh! It’s sure a beautiful morning! It is! You just said “Gosh!” We have learned that sentences have subjects, verbs and objects. What part of a sentence is “Gosh”? “Gosh” is an interjection. An Interjection? What’s an interjection? An interjection is a word that expresses an...
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#57 - What's the matter? Is everything OK?
Send us Fan Mail You look like you don’t feel well this morning. What’s the matter? Oh, thanks for asking. I didn’t sleep very well, and I have a headache. You were concerned about me because I looked like I didn’t feel well. You wanted to know if I had a problem, and you asked me “What’s the...
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# 56 Did you use to walk to school? 🏫 Practice with "use to"
Send us Fan Mail L: Did you use to walk to school when you were a kid? D: Yes, I used to walk to school when I was a kid, Latonya. Did you? L: No, I didn’t use to walk to school. I took the school bus. Those are interesting verbal expressions “use to” and “used to”. When do we use them? The verb...
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#55 - I just have $5 in my wallet. 💵 Practice with the little word "just"
Send us Fan Mail How are you this morning? I’m fine, thanks! I just finished breakfast! You said you just finished breakfast. What does that mean? It means that I very recently finished breakfast - not hours ago, but in the very recent past. Notice that I used just with the simple past form of…
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#54 - I wonder if it will rain tomorrow. ☔ Practice with "wonder"
Send us Fan Mail I wonder if it will rain tomorrow. We want to go for a hike. Right! And I wonder if it will bed dry enough to walk on the trails. We use “wonder if” in those sentences... what do we mean to say? We are curious about what the weather will be tomorrow. Curious? When you want to…
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#53 - Their cat is now our cat 😺! - Practice with their and our
Send us Fan Mail A correction! In our conversation Diana said that words that sound the same, but are spelled differently are homonyms. That isn't correct. Those words are homophones. Remember that in podcast # 48 we practiced using the possessive adjectives his and her? Right! We use possessive...
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#51 - I need to feed Rosie. 🐶 Practice using want, need, like & love
Send us Fan Mail I need to feed my dog, Rosie. What does she want to eat? She wants to eat tuna fish. Does she like tuna fish? Yes! She loves tuna fish, but she doesn’t need to eat tuna fish for breakfast. That little conversation we just had about Rosie’s breakfast is a good example using “need”...
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#50 - Brrrr! It's cold🥶! Winter Weather
Send us Fan Mail A correction: Diana said, "The boiling point on the Fahrenheit scale is 112 degrees." The boiling point on the Fahrenheit scale is 212 degrees. What’s the weather like this morning? It’s cold, frosty and sunny this morning! Yes!! BRRRR! It is cold! Was it cold last night? Yes, it...
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# 49 - A conversation with Jaime, a TALC learner.
Send us Fan Mail We talk with Jaime, who has been studying English with a TALC tutor for about four years. We learn that English is not his second, but his third language. He also speaks Japanese! Listen to our conversation and learn what Jaime finds the hardest and easiest about learning…
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# 38 - Mt. Rainier and the Cascade Mountain Range 🌄
Send us Fan Mail In podcast # 35 we talked about the Puget Sound, a body of water that starts north of us in the Straits of Juan de Fuca and extends to Olympia south of us. We live in the area of Washington State called The Puget Sound. From our homes in the Puget Sound we see a lot of mountains....
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#48 - Is that his phone or her phone? 📱 - Practice with possessive adjectives
Send us Fan Mail If that phone belongs to Mary, I can say “That is Mary’s phone.” If that phone belongs to John, I can say, “That book is John’s phone.” When we are talking about someone owning or possessing something, we can use the person’s name, add an apostrophe plus an ‘s’ to show possession...
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#47 - The Orcas of Puget Sound
Send us Fan Mail In podcast #35 we talked about the Puget Sound - a body of salt water that is connected to the Pacific Ocean at the Straits of Juan de Fuca north of Seattle and extends 95 miles south to Olympia. Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Bellevue and Everett are cities on Puget Sound. About 2/3…
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#46 - Everyday English - Slow and Easy
Send us Fan Mail Today how about practicing some English phrases that are useful for everyday life situations? That sounds good! Where shall we start? Let’s start with greetings: To greet someone: Formal: Good morning/afternoon/ evening; How are you? It’s nice to see you! Informal: What’s new?;...
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# 45 - We had a windstorm! Did your lights go out? 💡
Send us Fan Mail On November 20th there was a big windstorm in western Washington. Did you have a lot of wind at your house? Some places escaped the high winds, but many areas in northwestern Washington were hit hard! What do you mean by that? “some places were hit hard.” I mean some places had a...
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#44 - Happy Holidays
Send us Fan Mail Happy holidays to you! And happy holidays to you, too! We’re right in the middle of the time of the year we call “the holidays”. What is a “holiday?” It comes from an old English word that meant “holy day”. The word was first used a long time ago - before the 12th century. The…
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# 43 - Can you hear me? Are you listening to me? 👂 - What is the difference?
Send us Fan Mail Can you hear me? Are you listening to me? In Podcast #39 we talked about the difference between “see” “look” and “watch”. We use “see” when we are talking about our sense of sight. We “see” things without trying. I can see Mt. Rainier today.” We use “look” + “at” when we are...
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#42 - "What do you mean?" Practice with that little word, "mean"
Send us Fan Mail "You know, I can do without Halloween. " "What do you mean?" "I mean that I don’t like Halloween. It’s just too creepy …scary…for me." When you asked me “What do mean?” what did you want to find out? I wasn't sure what you wanted (intended) to say. That little word mean is like a...
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#41 - The "ought" Word Family
Send us Fan Mail You know, I don’t think we have ever devoted an entire podcast to pronunciation of words that are hard for English learners to pronounce and spell, am I correct? You’re right! So maybe we ought to do that today. I agree that we ought to do that! In fact, ought is one of those…
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#40 - Back to school! 🏫
Send us Fan Mail Podcast – Back to school! It’s the end of September already! Can you believe it! Time flies! Many languages have a similar expression because wherever you live in the world time goes so fast that it seems like it is flying away. What does the month of September make you think...
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# 39 - "I see a bear."🐻 " I'm looking at a bear."🐻 "I'm watching a bear." 🐻 What's the difference?
Send us Fan Mail Can you see me? Are you looking at me? Are you watching me? “see”, “look” and “watch". We use those three little words a lot in English. Each word means to do something – an action with our eyes. But…do they all mean the same thing? No, they don’t! And it’s easy to confuse them....
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# 37 - Let's Take A Little Vacation! 🧳
Send us Fan Mail Do you want to take a short trip? A little vacation? In episode # 33 ‘That Summertime Feeling”, we talked about activities that people do in the summer. Something that a lot of people do in the summer is take a vacation or “go on vacation” or “take a trip”. Do you go on vacation...
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# 36 - More practice using "to get" as a phrasal verb - "I got rid of my old car 🚗 last month."
Send us Fan Mail In episode # 34 we talked about using that chameleon verb “get” as a phrasal verb A phrase is two or more words used together, so a phrasal verb is combining a verb with other words. Together they have a different meaning – a meaning that is not a direct translation of each of…
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# 35 - Bodies of Water - The Puget Sound 🌊
Send us Fan Mail We are lucky to live in a place where there are so many bodies of water. We usually use body to mean the physical structure of a living creature, but we also use "body" to talk about a significant accumulation (gathering) of water on the surface of the earth – or other planet....
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#34 - My dog 🐕 and cat 🐈 get along! Practice using "get" as a phrasal verb
Send us Fan Mail We use that little verb “to get” a lot! We use it in more than 50 ways. That’s we called it the “chameleon verb” in Podcast 30. In that Podcast, we practiced 4 common ways we use the verb “to get” when we use it alone – as a single word. 1. We use “to get” to mean “to arrive”. I...
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# 33 - That Summertime Feeling ☀️ 🏖️ 🐝
Send us Fan Mail June 20th was the first day of summer on the calendar. When does summer begin for you? What gives you that summertime feeling? .... Maybe the long days? Or the warm sunshine? What is that summertime feeling? What do you want to do in the summer? Do you want to relax? Here are…
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#32 - The 4th of July 🎇
Send us Fan Mail Today is July 3rd and tomorrow we will have a big holiday in the USA - the 4th of July! Let’s have a little 4th of July Trivia Quiz! The dictionary definition of trivia is "unimportant information or facts". It is very popular now to have trivia quizzes – games in which people…
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#31 - Let's take a tour of the kitchen!
Send us Fan Mail We spend a lot of time in our kitchens. We prepare food, cook and clean up in the kitchen. When when we have "get togethers" (when friends and family come to share a meal) people often gather in the the kitchen to help with food preparation, or just to "chew the fat" ( talk) or...
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#30 - Practice with the chameleon 🦎 verb "to get" in slow(ish) English.
Send us Fan Mail A chameleon is a lizard that is famous for changing its color to match its surroundings. The verb "to get" is like a chameleon because it changes its meaning like a chameleon changes colors. In this episode we will practice some of the most common ways we use "to get". Here are…
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# 29 - Achoo! 🤧 Do you have seasonal allergies?
Send us Fan Mail Are you having allergy symptoms right now, dear listener? A lot of people are! Allergies are an over-reaction of our immune system to something in our environment - something that usually isn't really dangerous, but our immune system reacts like it is dangerous. Our immune…
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# 28 - The Verb "to be" Past Tense in Slow English; Were you busy yesterday?
Send us Fan Mail In episode #16 we practiced using the verb "to be" in present tense. Today we are practicing using "to be" in the past. Here is a quick review of the forms of "to be" in the present: I am (I'm- contraction) you are (you're they are (they're) we are (we're) she is (she's) he is...
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#27 - Happy Birthday to You! 🎂🎈🎉
Send us Fan Mail Here is a riddle(a question that needs careful thought to figure out the answer) for you: What goes up but never comes down? Your age! Our age goes up (increases) all the time, but we count the increase in years on our birthday. Not everyone celebrates their birthday. Some people...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Supported by Tacoma Area Literacy Council Volunteers.
This podcast supports American-English language learners by strengthening listening and comprehension skills. In addition, this podcast focuses on pronunciation challenges, idioms, and expressions in the American- English language.
Contact info: https://tacomaliteracy.org/ ph. 253-272-2471
HOSTED BY
Latonya Bailey and Diana Higgins.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does TALC Chats Podcast have?
TALC Chats Podcast currently has 76 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is TALC Chats Podcast about?
Supported by Tacoma Area Literacy Council Volunteers. This podcast supports American-English language learners by strengthening listening and comprehension skills. In addition, this podcast focuses on pronunciation challenges, idioms, and expressions in the American- English language. Contact info:...
How often does TALC Chats Podcast release new episodes?
TALC Chats Podcast has 76 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to TALC Chats Podcast?
You can listen to TALC Chats Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts TALC Chats Podcast?
TALC Chats Podcast is created and hosted by Latonya Bailey and Diana Higgins..
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