S1/E1 - The Introduction

Summary

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The British English Podcast

Episode: S1/E1 – The Introduction
Host: Charlie Baxter
Guest: Harry Giles
Date: September 24, 2020

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Episode Overview

This introductory episode welcomes listeners to The British English Podcast, a show designed to immerse English learners in authentic British language, culture, history, and current affairs. Host Charlie Baxter is joined by his long-time friend and co-host from YouTube, Harry Giles. Together, they trace their journey from university friends to online English educators and discuss their motivations, teaching experiences, and the creation of their learning resources. The episode is rich with natural conversational English, British humour, and explanations of everyday phrases and idioms.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of the Podcast & Hosts' Friendship [00:05–04:48]

• Format and Purpose: Charlie explains the podcast will feature solo and guest episodes, focusing on real-life British English and culture.
• Meet Cute at University: Charlie and Harry reminisce about how they met at Nottingham Trent University, both attending a psychology course.
  • Memorable moment: Harry turned up late and asked Charlie for a pen (the “meet cue”) [02:38].
  • Bonded over a shared love of British humour, particularly "The Office," communicating mostly in quotes from the show.
• Language focus: Natural conversation around everyday objects ("bit of paper," spare pens) and university life transitions to a discussion about modern lectures (laptops vs. pen and paper).

2. Career Journeys After University [04:48–10:14]

• Non-traditional Pathways: Both drifted from psychology into unrelated jobs: Harry into TV programming hoping to be a comedy writer, Charlie into marketing and sales.
• Workplace Realities: Amusing anecdotes about being an “office runner” (delivering endless coffees) and "climbing the career ladder."
• Language lesson: They explain idioms like "climb the career ladder" and colloquialisms such as “pop off to the shop” [07:15].

“To climb the career ladder, meaning to progress in a company or in a particular career.” — Charlie [05:39]

“Pop off… a nice colloquial, natural way to say go somewhere, like normally, something quite quickly. Right, I'm going to pop off to the shop.” — Charlie [07:15]

3. Transition Into English Teaching Abroad [10:14–15:09]

• Travel and Teaching: Charlie recounts moving to Santiago de Chile for a teaching job, prompting Harry to travel and try teaching in Southeast Asia.
• Early Online Collaboration: Charlie started online teaching and invited Harry to join his efforts, which resulted in early (sometimes patronizing!) business schemes.
• Language explanations: Expressions like “before I knew it,” “packed in [a job],” and defining “metrosexual” with playful British banter.
• Cultural Nuance: Discussion of personal grooming (eyebrow threading) in British and multicultural contexts.

4. Teaching Experiences & The Realities of British Weather [15:09–21:22]

• First Teaching Jobs: Harry describes voluntary teaching in Cambodia, then moving to Spain's Basque Country to work in a language academy.
  • Commentary on both England’s and the Basque Country’s notoriously rainy weather.
  • Phrases like “on the move” and idioms such as “all walks of life” explained with real-life examples [21:22].
• Different Students: Contrast between teaching motivated online students and less eager corporate clients.

“You get to meet all walks of life in this job, meaning all different types of people, from financial brokers to volunteers… to unemployed students.” — Charlie [21:22]

5. The Birth of Their Collaborative Content [21:22–27:59]

• From Spain & Chile to England & America: Both end up teaching online; Charlie moves to the US, Harry returns to the UK.
• YouTube Channel & Podcasting: Their initial idea was a podcast, but they shifted to video, launching "Real English with Real Teachers."
  • Notable segment on “street interviews” and how their teaching and content creation gave rise to minor fame [24:16].
• Focus on ‘Real’ English: Their content arose from a desire to showcase true native usage, as opposed to outdated textbook idioms like “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

6. Language Explanations & Examples [27:59–34:42]

• Bias and Neutrality: Deep-dive into the words "biased" and "unbiased," illustrated with football analogies and British culture [26:12–27:59].
  • Example: “If I said… we have the best football league in the world, that would be a biased thing to say because I'm from England.” — Harry [26:52]
• Confidence-Building for Learners: Description of their residential course in Brighton designed to build students’ confidence and fluency.
  • “We would go to a busy area… and release the students into the wild… to interact with people.” — Harry [29:09]
• Colloquial Expressions: Explaining “bugger off” as a softer British swear, along with its usage and real-life examples [32:07].

7. On Swearing and First Impressions [32:33–34:42]

• Swearing in Language: The hosts debate whether to include swearing in the podcast, agreeing on a moderate, realistic approach for learners.
  • “I think we should. I think it's real English.” — Charlie [32:42]
• Idioms: “Get off on the right foot” and “come across (well/badly)” explained and contextualized in everyday British English.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Meeting Story:
  “That's our meet cue.” — Charlie, on how borrowing a pen started their friendship [02:45]

• On Comedy Quoting:
  “Our friendship was built upon quotes from the series [The Office]. And a quote is like a phrase or a line that was said in a show.” — Harry [04:30]

• Teaching Aspirations:
  “I remember Charlie saying to me, I'm going traveling. I'm done with this office rubbish. I'm going traveling and I'm going to work as an English teacher. And I was thinking, wow, you are gutsy.” — Harry [09:20]

• Language Lesson:
  “None of your business. ... Just ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies. I'm going to shag your mum.” — Harry [08:17]
  (Lead-in to a discussion about British proverbs and cheeky British banter.)

• On British Weather:
  “It's very grey, isn't it, in England? But in the Basque Country of Spain, it's so wet.” — Harry [19:02]

• On Building Confidence:
  “It was all about building confidence and fluency when speaking in English.” — Harry [29:09]

• Street Interview Fame:
  “...people recognize me and it was from these street interview videos, and if you haven't seen them guys, check them out. It’s a great way to learn naturally spoken English.” — Harry [25:00]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction to Podcast & Hosts: [00:05–01:48]
• How Charlie & Harry Met: [01:52–04:48]
• First Jobs After University: [04:48–10:14]
• Starting as English Teachers Abroad: [10:14–15:09]
• Early Online Classes & Business Attempts: [11:23–12:15]
• Teaching in Spain & Weather Chat: [15:09–19:50]
• Types of Students ("All walks of life"): [21:22]
• Becoming Online Creators: [21:59–24:40]
• Bias and Neutrality Explained: [26:12–27:59]
• Confidence-Building English Course: [29:09–31:45]
• “Bugger off” and British Swearing: [32:07–32:46]
• First Impressions and 'Come Across': [33:13–34:42]

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Language, Tone, and Takeaways

Charlie and Harry are casual, humorous, and candid—sharing real-life stories, bantering, and laughing throughout the episode. Their rapport makes the episode approachable, especially for advanced learners seeking genuine, up-to-date British English.

The episode is packed with idioms, phrasal verbs, and colloquial expressions, which are highlighted and explained as they naturally emerge in conversation. The focus remains firmly on the realities of English teaching abroad, the process of becoming online educators, and their commitment to helping learners access “real” British English—not just outdated textbook phrases.

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For more resources and details, visit: thebritishenglishpodcast.com

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the British English Podcast, a show that helps English learners around the world discover British culture along with useful language that natives are actually using day to day. With me, your host, Charlie Baxter. I'll be recording a variety of episodes in this podcast. Some will be a one man show focusing on a specific bit of British culture or British English language, whilst others will be conversational with guests on the podcast. If you are a fan of my YouTube channel called Real English with Real Teachers that I have been running with my good friend Harry Giles, then you'll be pleased to know that he will be a guest on this podcast multiple times. And if you've never heard of my YouTube channel, then I highly recommend watching it, especially if you are an intermediate to advanced English learner but wanting some light hearted education. So in this introductory episode I sit down with Harry, who is also a British English teacher and we discuss our journey to becoming online content creators for English learners. Now, I've chosen this as episode one as I think it will be a good way for you to learn a little bit about me and my friend Harry, who will be a frequent guest in future recordings. This episode, like pretty much every future episode, is filled with incredibly useful language for you to learn in order to sound more natural when communicating in English. Let's get into the conversation I had with Harry. Going down memory lane.

[B]

So let's get into it. Where should we go back to, Harry?

[C]

Well, I guess it would make sense to go back to where we started as teachers, wouldn't it? Like how we ended up teaching our own language because it's not a typical job, but it might be interesting for people to know that and then, you know, to understand how we ended up here recording a podcast for English learners.

[D]

Okay, okay, yeah, let's, let's also include where we met. Where did we meet?

[C]

That's a good idea, Charlie. Yeah, that's true. So we met at university. We met at Nottingham Trent University. Charlie and I were on a psychology course together and I think we met on the first day, didn't we? On the first day of our course? I think I was sitting like behind you.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[D]

Harry turned up late for the first lecture and I think, didn't you ask for a pen from me?

[B]

That's our meet cue.

[C]

Yeah, I think so.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I think that's what you always say when we tell this story. It sounds like we're a couple, doesn't it? You tell the story, you tell the story. But yeah, normally that's what we say. I think I asked For a pen. Because Charlie is the kind of guy that brings lots of spare pens, whereas I'm the kind of guy that, you know, might forget to bring a pen altogether. And a bit of paper. I think I sometimes used to ask for a bit of paper as well.

[D]

Oh, wow.

[B]

Bit of paper.

[D]

That's the one thing that you're expected to bring.

[C]

Yeah, definitely some paper. Yeah. Because it's easy to get a pen. But it's embarrassing asking for a bit of paper, isn't it?

[D]

Oh, sorry, have you got a spare laptop? It wouldn't really work nowadays. Maybe it'd be an Apple pencil. It's all very forward thinking, high tech.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Can I borrow your Apple pencil, please?

[B]

Yeah, sorry, it's not charged.

[E]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

I wonder, like, how many people now, like the percentage of people that have pen and paper versus those that have a laptop. In lectures, like in the lecture theater, which is the place where you have your. Your classes, your lectures at university. I want. I bet there's loads of laptops now. I bet it looks completely different. So we became close friends quickly. We both had the same kind of taste in comedy and there was a particular comedy that we used to love, which is the Office. And our friendship was built upon quotes from the series. And a quote is like a phrase or a line that was said in a show. So we used to say quotes that one of the characters said on the show. And that was basically how our conversations were. We used to just talk in quotes, didn't we?

[D]

Yeah, we did. We used to share phrases left, right and center and just accompany each other to the lectures. Quoting back and forth.

[C]

Exactly. But we didn't really. So we didn't study languages because we studied psychology. And then we went into careers that weren't. Weren't really related to psychology at first, were they? What did you do after uni?

[D]

That's true, Yeah. I went into television programming. It was a really ridiculous job, but it was.

[B]

It was the start of something that I thought would lead me to writing comedy scripts. That was actually what I. Yeah, that.

[D]

Was what I hoped because I sat down with the. The comedy writer in the programming office and he was telling me what to do, but I just didn't follow up because I hated the office politics and having to climb the career ladder in that industry was quite tiring.

[C]

Nice language there. To climb the career ladder, meaning to progress in a company or in a particular career. So what would be the progression in a. To become the next Ricky Gervais, to become like a successful comedian? What ladder would you have to climb?

[D]

So you start off as an office runner, which is also known as the office bitch.

[B]

And you, you give coffees to the boss every single.

[D]

I couldn't believe how many coffees this, this boss had. He would honestly have eight coffees a day and it was all the. The instant coffee, the rubbish, rubbish Nescafe.

[C]

He just like, not a fan. You suffer, didn't he? He just like watching you run off.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Would you like another coffee?

[D]

Sour.

[C]

Is he still alive?

[B]

I don't know.

[D]

No, I think he is because that company still, still going. So that company actually did Peep show, which was another huge sitcom that Harry and I quoted throughout our university years and. And the writers of Peepshow were going to that office and I would have to prepare the meals and everything and get ready, get that room ready for it.

[C]

You had to prepare meals? What kind of meals?

[B]

I had to pop off to Marks and Spencer's and get some, you know, two for one sandwiches.

[D]

They didn't have a limit.

[B]

It wasn't two for one, that was just for my lunch. I would happily accept a two for one sandwich situation right now.

[C]

I'd be fine. I'd be absolutely fine with that. But it's a bit late for me. It's nearly 9pm I've just had tuna pasta. I'm not hungry. Before we go into our dietary habits, just want to say, pop off. I really like that you said I had to pop off to the shop to get sandwiches. So a nice colloquial, natural way to say go somewhere, like normally, something quite quickly. Right, I'm going to pop. Going to pop off to the shop.

[D]

Yeah. And you can set without the off, can't you? You can say, I'm going to pop to the shop. Going to pop off and get something.

[C]

Yeah. Or and if you're outside the shop, you could say, I'm going to pop in and get some chewing gum.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

If you need chewing gum, pop in.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And you can invite someone to your house. I'll pop in and have a cup of tea.

[C]

Yeah. Next time you're in town, pop in, say hello. Yeah. Also, if you live with someone, you could say, I'm just gonna pop out. I'm just gonna pop out. Oh, where are you going? Don't worry, I'm just popping out for a minute. I'll be back in a sec. Chill out.

[B]

None of your business.

[D]

Yeah, I'm popping out. Just ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. I'm going to shag Your mum.

[C]

Well, well, well, Good language here. I mean, not shag your mum bit, but we might as well explain it. Ask no questions and I'll tell you no lies. That's like a little proverb in a way, isn't it?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And it means if you're dishonest and you don't want to be dishonest, then.

[D]

You could say this proverb to hint to the person, you know, just stop asking me stuff.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, stop it. Yeah. Because I don't want to lie to you.

[D]

So, yes, we met in England at university 10 years ago, and. And we've been around the world since then. But we'll get to that, perhaps. So we finished our degrees, we were done with psychology, we moved on to other careers. And then a year later, or maybe a few more years later, we realized that it wasn't for us. Something isn't for you, it means that you don't like it. It's not quite right for you. It wasn't for us, was it, Harry?

[C]

It wasn't for us. No. I was trying marketing and sales, trying to sell something I did not understand. And it was terrible. I hated it. And then I remember Charlie saying to me, I'm going traveling. I'm done with this office rubbish. I'm going traveling and I'm going to work as an English teacher. And I was thinking, wow, you are gutsy. You are gutsy, meaning very courageous, very brave. And I thought, to have guts.

[D]

Yes, to have guts. He's got guts.

[C]

He's got real guts. And. And that's where it all started for Charlie. So you went off to Chile, didn't you, Charlie?

[D]

That's right. Yeah. I got a job in Santiago de Chile.

[B]

And I was there.

[E]

I'll never get tired of you saying that.

[B]

No, I don't think you will. And I'll never get tired of saying it, Harry. So, yeah, I was there for about nine months.

[D]

I traveled a bit around South America and learned how to teach English as a foreign language, which is really different for us because if you've not come from that background, if you've not learned the language as another language, then it's a really weird concept to try and teach it. But yeah, I was trying to understand it. And before I knew it, I was setting up my own online classes and set up a little website. And then I invited you on there, didn't I?

[C]

You did, actually, yeah. Yeah. I like the way you said, before I knew it as well. Before I knew it, meaning something was unexpected. Right. So like, you Were in Chile. Then before you knew it, you had your own classes online.

[D]

Yeah. Suggesting, like, things happened quickly and suddenly it's all there.

[C]

Yeah, that's it. Yeah. That's a good synonym. And suddenly I was doing this. Yeah. So quick. Yeah. And, yeah. You invited me to be on your website. I remember there's. There was a little.

[E]

It was. I found it.

[C]

I. I actually. I quite liked it, but at the same time, it was a little bit patronizing.

[D]

Oh, massively.

[B]

Yeah. It was like, I'm your boss. You're my best mate, but I'm your boss.

[C]

Yeah. You can be on my website. I'll find you students and you have to give me $5 US every time you get a student.

[B]

Yeah, that was the plan. But it didn't go accordingly. Accordingly meaning it didn't go as I.

[D]

Expected or according to plan?

[C]

Didn't go according to plan.

[D]

Very good. Yeah. But we've skipped a little bit. So why did I invite you on? Were you still marketing at that point?

[C]

No. So I packed in. Marketing packed in, meaning quit. I packed it in and I went off to Southeast Asia. So I went to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. And when I was in Cambodia, I did some voluntary work as an English teacher. And since Charlie told me he was doing that, I had always been, you know, quite curious to give it a try. I thought, well, maybe this is something I could be good at. Both of my parents are teachers. And I thought, well, I'm going to give that a try. And I remember. So we were chatting occasionally when I was in Asia, you were still in Santiago de Chile. And we. I remember once we had a chat for quite a long time on Skype or maybe WhatsApp. It was a video call, and I was in this horrible apartment that I was paying, like $10 a night for in Vietnam. Just this horrible little room on this incredibly busy street. And Charlie, you were living with a single gay man.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah, in Chile. And you had a.

[B]

He wasn't single, actually.

[D]

He had a husband.

[B]

They were living together.

[E]

Oh, I see.

[C]

Okay. Right.

[E]

Why not? Yeah, it's a. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

So cosmopolitan of me.

[E]

Very cosmopolitan.

[C]

Yeah. You're a very modern, metrosexual man. And they had a swimming pool. And you showed me.

[B]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You can't just say that word and move on. Metro. Metrosexual, did you say?

[C]

Well, you're very metrosexual. I feel like you should define this.

[B]

Okay, so a heterosexual man, a homosexual man, and then in the middle of that is a metrosexual.

[D]

Man.

[B]

A man that is.

[E]

Well, it's not a sexual man.

[B]

No, no, no, no, no, no. But it's the behavior of feeling in touch with their feminine side. You're very comfortable with, you know, maybe plucking your eyebrows. I don't do that anymore. I used to do that. I used to do that a little bit. Yeah, I used to do that, but I've let that go. I've let that go. To pluck your eyebrows, to pull hair from your eyebrows. But, yeah, just general maintenance of the.

[D]

Body might lead you to be called a metrosexual person. Metrosexual man. Normally, you wouldn't flip this round with a female, would you?

[C]

No, it's always about guys. It's always about guys. Yeah. But, yeah, you're a very metrosexual man.

[E]

I love it that even after 10.

[C]

Years of knowing you, I'm still finding out new stuff about you. I did it. I did it once or twice or I got it done. So I had my eyebrows plucked, or I think I had them threaded. That's when they use, like, string, like a thread to. Yeah, to pluck your eyebrows.

[D]

Isn't that a bit of an Asian technique? It is.

[B]

It's definitely westernized now.

[C]

It is, yeah. Yeah. We have a large Asian community in Bedford, my hometown, so I. It's not hard to get your eyebrows threaded if you want it.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

It's not hard to get your hands on a threader.

[C]

Exactly. To get your hands on something, Charlie. What's that?

[D]

To obtain something or to nice, have it?

[C]

Yeah, that's it. To obtain. That's really nice. Really, really nice. At uni, we were both rubbish at stats. That was something we had to do. Like the numerical part of psychology, you have to calculate your results and find out if the research you have done actually means anything. We liked doing the experiments, but then when it came to the stats and. And the numbers, we hated it. And that. That has haunted us our whole, like, career until now, isn't it spss?

[B]

That was the software that we had.

[D]

To use that we hated, that we dreaded to dread. To really fear to hate it. To hate the idea of using it or doing it. Yeah. I remember there was a particular experiment that we enjoyed, and it was the attractiveness of accents. This was our first linguistic challenge, perhaps, wasn't it? We managed to get a northerner, an Irish, a southern English accent, and maybe even a Brummie, someone from Birmingham. And we tested how attractive these accents were to other people. And the Irish one was a very Pretty girl that we liked called Rachel.

[C]

Yeah. You especially liked her, didn't you?

[B]

I think we both liked her, but I managed, I managed to get her and you were like, oh, what?

[E]

Yeah, no, if anything, I liked her more, but I had no success with her, so I just had to watch.

[C]

Her and Charlie from a distance.

[B]

Oh. So we got to.

[C]

I worked as a volunteer. Oh, yeah, Volunteer teacher in Cambodia.

[D]

You were in a horrible situation, like, accommodation wise. And we were having a phone, a WhatsApp video call.

[C]

That's it. We had a WhatsApp video call and Charlie said, wow, you really should, like, become a teacher and teach online. And I thought, yeah, that's really cool. I've done a bit of face to face teaching in a classroom. I liked that. And after that trip, so I had this advice from Charlie. I had some experience in the classroom and I thought, yeah, teaching is for me. So I did my TESOL course teaching English as a foreign language and I absolutely loved it. And I didn't start teaching online straight away. I moved to Spain and I worked in a. In a language academy. So teaching in the mornings and evenings to kids and adults.

[D]

That's right. And you were in the north of Spain, in the Basque country, weren't you?

[C]

It was, yeah, the Basque region, yeah.

[D]

And I felt like it was a bit of a strange location to go to because it. It almost mimics the UK's weather, didn't it?

[C]

It did, yeah. Mimic. To copy, to imitate. Yes, it was. It was really wet, which is what every student says to me about England. They say, is it really as wet as people say it is? And I normally say, no, but it is quite miserable. It's very grey, isn't it, in England? But in the Basque country of Spain, it's so wet.

[D]

I remember a student told me a little bit about the sort of mountains that are near it and the coastal breeze, it kind of traps the weather there. So it's a bit of a unique situation for Spain.

[C]

Yeah, the Pyrenees mountains.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they. They create a bit of a cloud of rain constantly.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[D]

So you were there and you were enjoying your teaching?

[C]

I was enjoying it, yeah. I liked it. And I got a taste for online teaching because some of my students were. I had to teach them online. I teach them on Skype. So they were on their lunch hour. These, these students, they. They're working in businesses. I was teaching accountants people. Yeah, People in financial jobs, salesmen, all kinds of different occupations. And on their lunch hour they had to talk to me and Learn English. And they did. It wasn't out of choice for them, it wasn't their choice. So they. Some of them were happy because we had a good relationship, but most of them didn't want to learn English. It wasn't right, it wasn't fun. But while I was doing that, you were teaching people that wanted it. And whenever I spoke to you, you were saying, like, God, why don't you just start your own thing? Because it's fun. The students want to learn. You can choose your hours. I mean, I was working until like 10pm sometimes and starting at 7am, so it was absolutely. It's the worst schedule I've had. So.

[D]

Yeah, and you had a lot of time going to different places. You were constantly on the move.

[C]

Yeah, on the move, exactly, yeah. Moving from place to place. Good expression.

[D]

But, yeah, you're right. I think it is lovely that you get to meet different people. You could say all walks of life, couldn't you? Like, you get to meet all walks of life in this job, meaning all different types of people, from financial brokers to advertisers, to volunteers of very good projects in the world, to unemployed students.

[C]

Yeah. I haven't had many unemployed students, actually, because normally they're funding their own lessons. Have you had many unemployed students?

[D]

I've had quite a few, yeah.

[B]

Actually, it's a running trend, really.

[E]

I wonder why.

[C]

Do you think maybe they choose you because you're quite smart and you seem professional, so they feel like if they take job, take a lesson with you, they might get a job?

[B]

I don't think that's their logic. I don't know. Don't know. I could ask them, why are you choosing me?

[C]

What are you thinking?

[D]

So, yeah, Harry was in Spain, I was in Chile, and then I moved to America to be with my one and only girlfriend that I've been with for a long time now it's coming up to seven years.

[C]

Wow.

[D]

So I moved to America and you came back from the Basque country after a year and you went to the UK and that was where you started your own thing. You went on to a website that we've used and we had online lessons and then we thought about doing something together, didn't we?

[C]

We did, yeah. And we actually originally wanted to start a podcast. We recorded an episode talking about silly topics like what would you do if you ran over a cat, for example? That was. That was one of the scenarios. Do you remember any of the other ones from that episode?

[B]

That one is the most obvious one to me.

[C]

It's the highlight.

[B]

It was a good one though. I liked it.

[D]

We had a lot of cackles coming out of that one.

[C]

We did cackles. LAUGHTER. It's also a verb to cackle. I was cackling.

[D]

Yeah, I think it's more common as a verb.

[C]

Yeah, I was laughing out loud. Yeah. So we did that and then people enjoyed it. But I thought, well, why don't we show our faces? And then we thought, yeah, then we did the YouTube channel. That went well.

[E]

And now we're back to not showing our faces again.

[C]

Three years later. Well, that was three years ago.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, three years ago. But we've had, we've had quite an experience in those last three years. We've not just been doing videos, although that has actually taken up a huge amount of time and effort. We found a little bit of fame, small, small amount of fame from doing street interviews, didn't we?

[C]

We did, we did. Just really quickly. It has taken up time and effort, it's quite obvious, but it's occupied in our lives.

[D]

Yes, yes. So that was where we got a little bit more success and the likes of English with Lucy helped us as well.

[B]

But street interviews was a unique thing.

[D]

That people recognised us for.

[C]

It's true. Yeah. Yeah, that was nice. Recently I went to a YouTubers conference in Berlin with lots of other language teachers who have YouTube channels and I recognized lots of people there and I didn't expect people to recognize me. I was there on behalf of our channel, Real English with real teachers, because Charlie was in Australia and. And people recognize. Quite a few people recognize me and it was from these street interview videos and if you haven't seen them, guys, check them out. It's a great way to learn naturally spoken English and to really understand native speakers because that's one of the hardest things when you learn a language. And that's what this podcast is about as well, isn't it?

[D]

Definitely, yeah. So we kind of bonded over the experience of teaching English to foreigners and realizing that there's something that they're not quite getting, which was real English and how natives of different pockets of the UK or other English speaking countries are using the language in such different ways that non natives just don't understand and they're not being exposed to because in their textbooks they're still learning the idioms like it's raining cats and dogs, which we don't really use anymore.

[C]

If you'd like to check out our videos, they are great.

[B]

That's an unbiased decision there.

[D]

They are great.

[B]

From the Co founder.

[C]

I can read out at least three comments that have said that as well from our fans. I'm biased. Biased. Unbiased. Good words.

[D]

Yeah, Biased. Encouraged to have a different opinion influenced.

[C]

Yeah. You're one sided.

[D]

So you normally want an unbiased opinion of something before you go forward and.

[C]

Yes.

[D]

And use it or buy it yourself.

[C]

Yeah. So kind of neutral, isn't it?

[D]

Neutral, unbiased. Very good synonym.

[C]

So like as another example, I'm from England. If I said something like, we have the best football league in the world, that would be a biased thing to say because I'm from England. So obviously I'm going to think that and I, Yeah, I have interests in that. I don't really, I don't actually like. Don't actually like football, but if I did, I could say that and that would be biased. You would have to ask a football fan from. From another country, maybe a country that doesn't have a football league, for example.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[D]

Maybe an outsider. Yeah.

[B]

So I think in football, if we're going to continue with that, they often.

[D]

Get a referee from a different country. When it's like the World cup, for example, they never, if it was England versus Argentina, they would never have an Argentinian or English referee. They would always have a neutral based referee.

[C]

Very. Yeah, very good point. Because they don't want to. They can't have a biased referee. That's. Yeah. If you've got an English referee, he might make decisions. Biased decisions.

[D]

Yeah. He might favor the Brits.

[C]

Yeah. Maybe David Beckham wouldn't have been sent off in that game against Argentina.

[B]

Oh God.

[C]

If we, if we'd had an English rep and not that bald man.

[D]

Something.

[B]

Luigi.

[D]

Anyway, so we joined forces, we did the YouTube channel, we did street interviews and we also realised that we should have a course where people come and live with us. Because it wasn't only the fact that people weren't being exposed to native dialects and accents in formal language, but it was also the confidence. We found that our students, the ones that were doing well, were the ones with more confidence and the ones that, you know, weren't able to keep the fluency going were the ones that were shying away from things so they were not as brave as others and they weren't comfortable making mistakes. So we wanted to provide an arena, an area or a week worth content where they could feel comfortable.

[C]

Yeah, it's true. Yeah, exactly. So we, we invited our students or fans on YouTube to come and stay with us in the UK and we had a residential English course, and like Charlie says, it was all about building confidence and fluency when speaking in English. So we. We would go to a busy area of Brighton, for example, and release the students into. Into the wild, onto like the busy high street, a shopping street, and challenge them to interact with people. And it sounds really scary. I mean, it would be a scary thing to do as a learner, but it benefits you so much.

[D]

It does. But we weren't throwing them in at the deep end early on, were we? No, we were. We were giving them small challenges throughout the week and building their confidence. And then at the end, we kind of gave them that. That big challeng. And we didn't tell them that at the beginning. And I think that was good of us because they would have been petrified.

[E]

No, exactly. No, normally we were good at that about not revealing things early on, but one time.

[C]

So one of my favorite things to do on these courses was a walk along these beautiful cliffs near Brighton.

[B]

And they are spectacular. They're like one of amazing England's best tourist attractions.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. It's called Seven Sisters. And usually it's quite a long walk.

[E]

But you don't need to mention that at the start. But when. So we. We got out the car, had all the students with us and Charlie, Charlie said to everyone, okay, get your coats, guys, because it could be about. We could be walking for about three hours.

[B]

Harry reacted to that very strongly. He was like, what?

[D]

Three hours? Yeah, it often is.

[B]

And he's like, God, that sounds awful. I don't want to do that. I was actually referring to the toilet.

[D]

I was like, if you.

[B]

If you want to go to the toilet. Guys, it's a bit gross over there, but we've got three hours of hiking.

[D]

Coming up, so, yeah, best use the can.

[C]

The can. The can. The toilet. And gross. It's gross over here. So it's disgusting, right? The toilets here are disgusting, is that what you're saying?

[D]

Yeah, yeah, we did it actually seven times. We did this course seven times over the period of like a year and a half. Two years.

[C]

Yeah, maybe a year and a half. Yeah, yeah, because we were doing about. Yeah, four a year. And then we. Yeah, we did three. And then you went to Australia or.

[D]

I buggered off to Australia.

[C]

Buggered off, meaning.

[D]

Not such a harsh swear word, but it is a swear word to bugger off. A phrasal verb. To leave in a rude way.

[C]

Yeah, but you can. Yeah, you can tell someone to leave as well because they bugger off, which means f off. You Know, like the rude F word. Like saying.

[D]

But a more polite.

[C]

But yeah, it is slightly less. Yeah, it is like a more polite way of saying. Yeah, F off. Are we swearing on this podcast? This is the first podcast. Are we going to swear?

[D]

I think we should. I think it's real English.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah, but I don't. I don't want to hurt their ears.

[A]

Hurt.

[D]

You guys. You know, you might not love swearing. It is a part of language, so we should include it and we shouldn't be afraid of using it. But I would say Harry's a bit more of a potty mouth than me. Harry likes to swear a bit more than me. So I'm going to say, yes, let's swear, but not too much.

[C]

Okay. Yeah, I like that. I like that. I think we want to get off the right foot.

[D]

Oh, get off on the right foot. Yeah. To start strong, to begin in the right way with people. Like, have a good first impression.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. To get off on the right foot. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. To have a good first impression.

[D]

And you can say, I think we got off on the wrong foot there. If you've had a bad experience with someone for the first time. Have you ever, Harry?

[C]

Yeah, I think. I think many, many times. I can't. None. None are coming to my mind right now, but absolutely, absolutely. Though I'm. I do normally make a big effort to come across well the first time.

[D]

Yeah, you do. You're a very socially relaxed person, even though you're sometimes anxious internally. Yeah, yeah, you come across. You come across really relaxed. To come across, you appear. That's a really, really common phrase, isn't it?

[C]

To come across. Good phrasal verb. Very good. Yeah, yeah. To give the impression.

[D]

Yeah. Oh, he comes across quite, quite polite, quite nice. He's well put together. He's well put together. He's, like, all organized in a nice character. Like, he's got a nice overall character.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's really good phrasal verb. Really, really good phrasal verb.

[A]

We will leave it there for today's episode. Thank you very much for listening up to this point.

[D]

I hope you enjoyed the show.

[A]

Do grab that free worksheet by clicking the link in the show notes. And my name's Charlie and I will see you next week on the British English podcast.