The days of the week

It’s not easy to learn the days of the week in English even for native speakers - there are songs and nursery rhymes to help children memorize them and this strategy can help adults too. Perhaps the worst problem is the similarity of the names “Tuesday” and “Thursday”, but the strange spelling of “Wednesday” is a problem too, as it’s pronounced “wensday”. And of course it’s not “venerdì” as it might sound but “mercoledì”. A song like The Cure’s “Friday I’m in Love” could be a nice substitute for the classic “days of the week” songs for kids.

Interview with Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox talks about her book Retrospective, looking back on her career with Eurhythmics and how it was shaped by the times she was living in. She comments on how her androgynous look grew naturally out of wearing second-hand clothes in the era of punk and exploring and challenging feminine stereotypes. She explains how the duo’s most famous song Sweet Dreams was composed in a time of crisis when they had no money and it seemed that nothing would ever happen. It was the song that turned their fortunes around and created success out of their feelings of failure.

Using photography to slow down

Ruth Davey talks about how her passion for photography helped her to see the world in a different way and to improve her mental health. With her foundation she now uses what she learned to help others to slow down, to live in the moment and to create an attitude of curiosity and trust to implement mindfulness in everyday life.

The story behind Strawberry Fields Forever

David Hartley talks about the meaning behind this song of the Beatles, and how the life of its composers is an integral part of the creative process.

How to pronounce TH, voiced and unvoiced

The TH sound is one of the most difficult sounds to pronounce, not only for Italians but also for some native speakers - to make it you have to put the tip of the tongue between your front teeth. It can be pronounced with no voice, as in the words “think” and “truth” or with voice, as in “mother” and “than”. Laura from Smashing English shows us how to do it.

Searching for dangerous animals in Australia

Miller Wilson takes us on a tour of the northern Australian bush, and shows us some of the animals that live in this wild area of rainforest and swamps, including crocodiles, cassowaries and the one he’s set out to find: the green tree python.

What comes first - first name or surname?

In Italian the surname often comes before the name, but in English it hardly ever does. In this entertaining interview of Elton John, Rowan Atkinson forgets all about the music - all he’s interested in is the question of the name. Why is it inverted? If John is generally a first name and Elton a surname, shouldn’t it be John Elton?

How to make crusty English bread

John Kirkwood is a retired professional cook who specializes in baking. His channel features recipes for classic English comfort food, including many bread recipes. In this video he shows how to make traditional Old English Bloomer bread, from the mixing and kneading to the proofing and baking.

How do you pronounce “water”?

It depends on where you’re from! English actress Emily Blunt shows us how even in a family of native English speakers words can be pronounced very differently, with her daughter choosing between the pronunciation of her English mother and her American father.

The discovery of infrared light

Astrophysicist and science communicator Neil De Grasse Tyson gives us one of his “lightning” lessons on how infrared light was discovered by William Herschel, building on the discovery of white light by Isaac Newton.

Pronouncing British place names

Lucy from English with Lucy helps us to understand the eccentric pronunciation of British place names, that are often pronounced very differently from how they’re written.

Forrest Gump’s accent with Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks explains how he learned the accent for Forrest Gump from the actor who played the character as a child, Michael Connor Humphreys. It’s interesting that one of the characteristics of the boy’s accent is something that Italians tend to do - the hard G at the end of words ending in “ing”.

“Would” isn’t always conditional

In this famous scene from “Pretty Woman” Julia Roberts’ character Vivian uses the modal verbs “would” and “will” not as conditional and future, but in their meaning connected with “will” as “volontà”. When she says “Nobody will help me” she isn’t talking about the future, she means “nobody wants to help me”. And when she returns to the shop the next day she uses the past form of “will” in this meaning, when she accuses the snobbish shop assistant: “You wouldn’t wait on me”. In this scene we can find the conditional “would” too, used by the shop assistant when she says to Vivian “I don’t think this would fit you”.

The creative process of Wish you were here

David Gilmour reveals the story behind the writing of one of Pink Floyd’s most iconic songs, in which his initial riff sparked off the creative process of Roger Waters and resulted in a song that seemed to exist in its own right just waiting to be discovered.

The art of chocolate

In this TED talk, master chocolatier and pastry chef Amaury Guichon talks about his craft and how he arrived where he is today. He gives a hands-on demonstration in front of the audience and shows the truth of his own belief that chocolate art is not only for beauty but must taste good too.

How to create change talking about why, not what

Simon Sinek talks about how to create change in a world which resists change. He talks about innovators, early adopters, the majority, and laggers, and explains why early adopters are the target group for implementing change successfully in companies.