AEE 2351: Backstage with Lindsay and Michelle
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This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2351. Backstage with Lindsay and Michelle. Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American hosts, Lindsay

McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA. To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven-day free trial at allearsenglish.com forward slash app.

Today, we answer a listener question about what goes into an episode of All Ears English, learn all the ins and outs of how we produce this podcast, and learn how to connect with others about their job or hobby in order to build connection.

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That's allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. Hey, Lindsay, how are you? Hey there, Michelle. I'm doing fantastic. How are you?

I'm good. I'm good. Lindsay, how much work or how much time would you say goes into an episode of All Ears of English, do you think? Well, that's a good question, Michelle. I mean, we have to consider the planning and then we do the recording. We do the preparation. We do the editing after. Our wonderful editor, Gaspar, does the editing. Yes. Shout out to Gaspar and Jandy. Thank you. Shout out to Jandy. We love our team members here. So I'd

I'd say a fair amount of work goes into it, Michelle. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot, I would say. So today we're actually going to answer a listener question about All Ears English and what goes into making this podcast. So this is from Sophia. Lindsay, would you read the email for

All right, here we go. Here's a question from Sophia. So hi, All Hears English. I'm Sophia. I just wanted to say how much I love your podcast. It's the first thing I listen to every morning and it always makes learning English fun. I'm so impressed with how smooth and clear the podcasts are. Oh, thank you, Sophia. That's a wonderful compliment. We love those messages from our listeners, don't we, Michelle? Oh, we love it. Thank you.

I was wondering if you'd be willing to share a bit about how you create the podcast, like how you choose topics, prepare and record. I'd love a peek behind the scenes of my favorite podcast. Thanks so much. And I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Best, Sophia. Wonderful question. Thank you.

Thank you so much. That is a great, great question. And we are so excited to talk about it here today and teach you guys how to connect with others over their jobs. Huge connection topic, right? Yeah. Yeah. I would say over their jobs or over everything.

any process that they do yeah you know it might be their hobby maybe you have a friend that's into playing classical piano what goes into preparing for a classical piano concert right there's so many uh ways this question could apply so today we're going to get vocabulary for that skill of asking about a process preparation or producing something a work of art

Right. How do we do that? And you're going to learn a little bit about the back, you know, the scenes behind the scenes of All Ears English. Behind the scenes. That's right. Yeah. I think we did episode 300. We did behind the scenes of All Ears English. So I think it's time for an update. Yeah. Maybe the scenes have changed too a little bit. Who knows? Right. We'll see. Yeah.

Yes. And before we get into it, Lindsay, we wanted to give a big thank you to our reviewers. Is that right? Oh, yes. 100%. Today, I want to call out some reviewers for our Android app. So the Android app is another place where you can consume All Ears English for free, the full podcast, but you can go deeper and become a premium listener if you want. But today, I want to call out Fereshteh.

from, I'm not sure where Fereshteh is from, but thank you to Fereshteh, a five-star review. Thank you to JHJHC, another five-star review. MD Shohei Rana, five-star review. And thank you to Edison Isaac, also an amazing review. Michelle, we love when our listeners take the time to go and review the show. Absolutely. Thank you guys so much. We're so appreciative. We do this for you.

Absolutely. So go over and leave a review, whether you listen in Apple, Spotify or the app, leave a review for the podcast. All right. All right. So let's get into it. So first, we're going to talk a little bit about the process for all years of English, and then we're going to get into teaching you guys how to talk about how to connect with somebody about their own process.

Yes. So, okay. So Lindsay, how do we choose topics? What are some ways? Well, the main way is it comes down to listener questions. That's why we're always asking you guys to send us listener questions into support at allersenglish.com. We have a humongous document of questions that

And obviously we choose the best questions. So the more specific your question is the better, but that's, that's the best way. That is the main way that we choose content. Other ways we do it is we also listen in to our live events that we do with our students, open conversation club, fluency party. What are some themes that we're hearing in terms of things we could work on as a group, as a community? We look in our community, uh,

pages where we connect on the internet over there just for our students. That's another place we find ideas.

Definitely. Yeah. Right. So, but we, I think our favorite episodes are the ones where we get listener questions because it's just directly what you guys want. Um, but we also got ideas from our real lives. So these are also fun because we recognize that we, we, we can hear something and then say, wait a second, this is important. So sometimes it's important. It might be

Something that couldn't be a listener question because it's something that you observed about somebody else. So, for example, Lindsay and I, we just did an episode about the difference between A and N and one. And this came from

Lindsay's interaction with somebody who was making this mistake. Yes. Yeah. I was seeing this mistake over and over for a year in every email I got from this person. And I said, nope, we have to address this on the podcast and solve this problem. Right. So I think that's a great way. So Michelle, you and I have antennae out when we're out in the world and we pay attention. We observe language, right? We observe language. Well, first of all, because it's

Right? Yeah. Right. Well, yeah. And then, I mean, on my end, definitely, I will, I mean, even just the other day, I was with a friend and she said two things. And then I said, wait a second, I need to stop and write this down. And I made a note in my email. I said, thank you. You just gave me two ideas for all these English episodes.

So because, you know, it's kind of working the other way. So one way is that you guys do the observing and then one way is that we do the observing. And if we know something is going to be specifically really useful for you, we'll say, ah, this is good. Yes. Another thing we do is sometimes if there's articles we read or information we see, so we might get inspiration from New York Times or

right? It could be something like that and then find ways to make it our own and to teach you something from that. For sure. Or cultural topics come up. We want to address holidays around the world as sometimes we get ideas from one episode and that naturally leads into another one. So, but the main way is from you all, from our listeners. So, you know, the takeaway here is just send us your questions. Yeah.

I'm always so happy. I'm always so happy when we go. Yeah. So guys, yeah, there is a big document. So when I go into plan some episodes, I'll first open that document because first I want to get to you. And when I see, and again, again,

we could do a whole episode about how to ask a good question. Hey, there's an idea. Yeah, there you go. And so guys, basically, you know, as specific as you can be, um, that's what it comes down to, but we could always talk about that more another day. Exactly. Love it.

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All right, Michelle. And then once we have our winning question of the day, what do we do after that? Yeah, then we have to prepare. So depends, you know, sometimes it's,

One that comes pretty naturally, pretty easily to plan. But sometimes if it's a real grammar question or a very specific vocabulary that we have to think about, what is the difference? Because sometimes to native speakers, I'm sure you guys realize this with your own language, your own first language, is it can be...

Somebody might ask us a question. We know there's a difference, but we have to think, wait, what is this? Right. It doesn't come naturally as a native speaker. It doesn't always it's something we may have never thought about before. And so we might need to do a little research.

100%. And we try to add a role play to most episodes because we've heard from you all that you love that. You love those role plays. It's a really nice way to summarize the key words that we've learned in that episode and to move into our final thoughts for the episode. We make sure everything's there. And then of course, All Ears English is edutainment. We consider this edutainment. So we need to make sure it is edutaining. Michelle, what is that? That is a combination of two words. What is that?

Okay, so edutainment is education and entertainment, right? So we wouldn't want to come on here and just say, okay, we're going to talk about the difference. Right? We're not going to make it. The whole purpose of the podcast is to make you want to learn, to make you excited about it and to make it fun for you. Otherwise, what are we doing? Right? So we want to make sure that it's edutainment.

and i think a lot of the edutainment piece is spontaneous you know a lot of the times when we break out in laughter or we tease each other or we come up with a side point those aren't planned all right so a good portion of these episodes are unplanned there's a lot of spontaneity in here partly because we have fun doing it and partly because we want you to we want you all to see the spontaneity in english right yes connection is not is not planned

Yes. And I think that's a very good point is so I think people have asked us before, do we script out the whole episode? No. The only thing that might be scripted is an explanation of something, you know, but we'll even that will usually change up or will, you know, if we have a role play, that's of course scripted. But the general discussions, our relationship, how we how we talk to each other, that's not scripted. It

Exactly. I love it. And then it comes to recording day, my favorite day of the week. Michelle, you and I meet, we do a quick overview of the episode of what we'll be doing. So we know what we're going into, but we don't, you know, I think the cool thing about All Ears English is we, and we kind of, we practice what we preach here. We don't get stuck in perfectionism, right? We, we know what we want to teach. We know our goal is to help you all come away feeling confident about being able to connect and,

And so we don't sit there and analyze everything and get nervous before we hit record. We don't have time for that. No, no, no. We got to get going. We got to get going on these episodes. Yeah, we release a lot of episodes for these podcasts. So that's kind of a magic formula for reducing anxiety is just creating a lot of what you're what you're doing. And for our listeners, that means speaking and connecting a lot, because the more times you speak and connect with native speakers, the less nervous you're going to be each time.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then of course, you know, we add in any information we want to highlight or things that our listeners should know if there's something special or maybe we want to thank our reviewers. And then we turn on the video and we make sure that our settings are good, right, Lindsay? Yes, all about the settings.

And our listeners need to know, guys, if you didn't know, we're over on YouTube. You know, this episode, along with all the others, is available on YouTube as a video. So you can go check it out over there as well. Exactly. So that's a little bit of all ears English. But how can this help you with your speaking, with your connection? So as Lindsay said, this is great for asking someone about their job or any sort of process they're into. Maybe they do woodwork, whatever it is. Yes.

So we're going to teach you a couple of ways to talk about. So the first one is this expression day to day. Yeah. Meaning every day. We want the kind of the more mundane things in a way. We want to know that information. How does it look on a day to day basis? Right. On a day to day basis. Or what goes into an X?

Like our listener, Sophia, asked us what goes into an episode? What goes into making an episode? Right. Right. So if your friend is learning to write music, right, maybe they're taking a music theory class or something, you'd say, well, so what goes into writing a song?

Yes. I've always been interested, you know, if you were a restaurant owner, what goes into opening a restaurant for the evening? You know, I find that interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Oh, my gosh. What else, Michelle? What's something else our listeners could ask?

Well, you could say, how much time do you spend on blank? Right. So or or you could even say, how long does it take you to blank? So, I mean, for the restaurant example, you could say, oh, how long does it take you to prepare for the night? Right. Or how much time do you spend on cleaning the place? Or or you could also say you could mix these up. How much time goes into. Yep. Yep. There's a lot of different ways. The important thing is just asking the question and starting that conversation.

And sometimes for our listeners, maybe they're finishing up with college, university and thinking, what industry do I want to be in? This is a really important. These are questions we need to know because certain careers might look really glamorous. But on the day to day, maybe they're not as great. Right. Yeah, I think that happens. Yeah.

Yeah. So, but there's tons of ways to connect. We gave you a few ways today. Lindsay, should we do a role play? Yeah, let's do it. So here we are friends and you are asking me about my new job. All right. Okay. All right. So what's your day to day like? Well, I go in every day and first look at the schedule and make sure I have everything prepared. Oh, neat. And how much time do you spend on gathering all the information together? Just like 20 minutes.

Okay. And so what goes into a call with a client? Well, we just talk over what they expect from us and what the schedule will be. We go over any of their concerns. It's pretty extensive, actually. Hmm. Sounds like a lot. Oh, nice. Okay. Very natural conversation, wouldn't you say? I would say. Yeah.

All right. So Michelle, first you asked me this opening question. So what's your day to day like? And I like this because it's kind of open ended, but you're really being clear that you mean on a daily basis. Don't tell me about the high points, just the

great times when you're in the spotlight. Tell me about the day to day, right? Right. Yes. Yes, exactly. And then I said, and how much time do you spend on gathering all the information together? So getting more details from you. And I said 20 minutes. And you said, okay, and what goes into a call with a client?

And what do you mean what goes into? Exactly. What does this mean? Exactly. What is involved? What happens? Yeah. What happens? Exactly. What's involved? Maybe did you have to prepare for it? There's lots of sub questions that could go under that.

Right. Exactly. But yeah, there's so there's so many places we could take this. You know, this is a huge topic. But I think mainly is be curious. Let that person shine. Your friend has a new job. Let them shine. Your friend talks to you about their new hobby. Let them shine and share it with you. Show that you're interested. Yeah.

I think this is also a really, these are good conversations to have because you know that expression, there's no such thing as an overnight success. Or I don't know, maybe it's a different expression. But the idea is, you know, this person has become successful. Maybe you have a friend who's become a famous actor or actress. And all of a sudden, it looks to someone on the outside like they just made it all of a sudden. But there's been years and years and years of work every day getting up and

working late, working late nights. And so that's another angle on this topic and this question. We could learn the truth behind how hard someone has worked throughout their career, right? - Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Because you're only seeing what's going on on the outside. You don't see all the hard work, you know, all the, you know, you see the surface level.

You don't see the 10,000 hours, right? Malcolm Gladwell's concept, the 10,000 hours to go into mastering a concept or a skill. Yeah, for sure. Love that. That's why it's good to have these conversations. Lindsay, do we have another episode that will help our listeners? Yes.

We do, Michelle. I'm glad you asked. It's episode 2340. Just scroll back a little bit further back, guys. It's called Do You Have the Gift of Gab in English? And that's a kind of a common expression. You're going to learn what it means and we'll go into that topic. All right. OK, awesome. So takeaway for today, I would say be curious, ask questions.

and just always let the other person have a chance to share themselves and that'll help with your connection. Yeah, that'll help for your connection for sure. And if you're looking to get into a certain industry, ask lots of questions like this. Make sure you set up coffee dates, informational interviews, phone calls, build mentorships in that industry so you really know what you're going into. You know, what are you really signing up for? That's so important to make sure we make the right choices in our careers. That's true. Yeah.

You may like the idea of something, but when it comes down to the day-to-day, you learn about it. Maybe you have to work every weekend. Maybe there's something that doesn't work with your lifestyle and what you're looking for. So definitely good to ask about that and find out. Yeah, and special thank you to Sophia for asking this question. And the final takeaway for our listeners, Michelle, is send in your questions. Yes. Good episode. Send your questions to support at allersenglish.com.

All right. Perfect. All right, Lindsay, thanks for talking about this with me today. And thanks for the question. And we'll talk to you guys later. All right. Take care, Michelle. Bye. Bye.

Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.

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