Learn English Naturally with 2024's Most Exciting Topics Ep 791
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Hi there and welcome to this podcast from Adept English. If you celebrate Christmas, I hope that you've had a great one with family and friends. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you've had some holiday time perhaps and a midwinter rest.

Today is just a short podcast as it's holiday time, but still plenty of great English language to practice with. So Christmas has happened and now we're looking forward to the new year, 2025. And we've got lots of great things planned for 2025 for Adept English. Don't forget to support us by sharing our podcast.

giving us five-star reviews, or simply by subscribing on YouTube, on Spotify, or whatever platform you listen on. That really helps us. Hello, I'm Hilary and you're listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.

Today, let's just have a look at the topics that the Adept English podcast covered in 2024. We just did a podcast last week.

on well-known Christmas songs, ones that you might hear too. Very good for your English language learning, of course. And while I'm on the topic of podcasts on music, we started 2024 with Podcast 708, looking at the use of idioms in well-known pop songs. What about idioms like heard it through the grapevine? That's Marvin Gaye. Or another one bites the dust.

That's Queen. And if we're talking music related podcasts, in podcast 711, I talked about what song lyrics might be saying about relationships and attachment styles. That was a juicy one.

Thank you.

about how sometimes cycling can still be a dangerous activity. Lots of you showed interest in that, so I assume that cycling is becoming more popular in other countries too. People are preferring to travel to work on their bikes if they can, rather than using public transport in big cities.

Public transport means buses, trains and trams. Also on physical exercise, we made podcast 735. In it, I was talking about all the different benefits of running, of high intensity interval training or HIIT or HIIT running and all the benefits for your physical health, your physical fitness, but also the benefits for your brain and your mind. It

It's amazing what running can do for you. I always say I come back with a different head when I've been for a run. That was a topic that many of you enjoyed. So if you're keen on running and you missed that one, it's still available. I also talked about the scandal in the UK's post office in podcast 709. Do you have scandals in your government organisations? Well,

Well, we do in the UK. Before I go on, don't forget that if you would really like to work hard on your English language, you can subscribe to Adept English and receive paid content. That's eight subscription episodes per month, as well as the one video podcast that we put out every week online. Signing up for our paid subscription service would really bring your English on very quickly and it doesn't cost very much.

The variety of topics I cover in the subscription episodes, well, it's perhaps even greater than what I cover in the regular video podcasts. Back to my review of our year. Of course, as we always do, we covered a lot of different news stories in our podcasts.

Many of you particularly like these news-related podcasts for your English language practice. A particular popular news podcast I made was number 747 back in May when I covered positive news stories. So much of the news across the world this year has been bad, negative, horrible even. So I thought some of you might enjoy positive news instead.

and you did. Positive news can be hard to find sometimes, but there are always some positive news stories, and I plan to do more of these in 2025. And we made many general news podcasts, like number 787 just recently, where I covered stories like the floods in the UK, the unpopularity of the new British government, and how the

car industry in the UK is facing huge problems because of net zero. Adept English is also known for the quirky podcasts we sometimes do. That's quirky, Q-U-I-R-K-Y.

That word means different and interesting. Things that aren't normal mainstream, if you like. That's quirky. So in episode 743, I talked about the names we use for the different generations. Depending upon what age you are, when you were born, you will belong to a certain generation. You might be a millennial or you might belong to Gen Z or you might be a boomer.

Interesting to understand what generation you are, then you know when you're being talked about in the news. Another quirky one-off type podcast that you enjoyed. We made one on the populations of the world and how the number of babies being born in some populations has really come down. While in other populations, the birth rate is high. Our world will change over time as a result of

this. It was a fascinating insight into how demographics will change over time. That was episode 777 if you're interested. And another quirky one, how an accident at sea where a ship

carrying Lego lost its cargo and how this helps scientists learn more about the world's oceans and their currents. If you want to listen to that one, it's episode 775. Also a bit of a one-off, we made a podcast about Greek myths.

and how modern brand names that you'll know, like Nike and Amazon, have their origins in Greek mythology. See how many brands you can name that relate to Greek myths. That one is 776. There's also an eco theme sometimes in our podcast.

So in podcast 771, I talked about how long plastics survive in our environment. And in 772, how keeping the same clothes for many years is a good thing rather than buying new ones. And as you know, I'm keen on health and how we can all help ourselves health-wise, particularly in living longer. So I did a podcast, number 780, on blue zones.

They're the areas of the world where people are reported to live a long time. But actually, in that podcast, I was what we call debunking the myths.

meaning I was looking at how the data on blue zones may not be correct. But actually, what is being discussed in relation to blue zones is still quite good science and you can help yourself to live more healthily and longer. I do like to share insights on health, but I'm not a doctor or a scientist, so I always refer you to other sources.

But I am quite good on psychological matters because that's my job. So this year, I covered quite a few topics in relation to mental health and psychology. One popular topic last year, podcast 778, where we looked at the psychology behind divorcing couples who remarry. Quite a trend at the moment.

But I thought it might be worth having a look at what's perhaps going on there. Slightly crazy. Why would you remarry someone you'd already divorced? And in podcast 777, and I know many of you enjoyed this one, I give you some of my tips on how to relax. That's R-E-L-A-X.

and just how difficult that is in our modern world. All of these podcasts are available to view on Spotify and on YouTube or on our website at adeptenglish.com. If any of those topics grab your interest, you'll be able to find them. On the Adept English website, go to lessons and you can use the search bar at the top to key in the podcast number.

That's really easy. So I hope you enjoyed this mini review of the Adept English Year and that you'll be listening to many more video podcasts and subscription episodes from us in 2025. Happy New Year also, as it will be 2025 before I speak to you again. Have a good one. Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye. Thank you so much for listening.

Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com.