x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

TALC Chats Podcast

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

education language learning

All Episodes

10:14

#62 - "I'm on the mend, but I'm not on the ball!" -...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/10/18

Send us a text 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 often. An idiom is a group of words- that together have a meaning that you can’t translate word by word. Idioms are colorful expressions. Let's look at “on the mend” What does mend mean? “M...

en-us

21:21

#61 - The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens 🌋

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/10/08

Send us a text 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 Mt. St. Helens in podcast # 38 - “Mt Rainier and the Cascade Mountain Range”. Mt. St. Helens, like Mt. Rainier, is one of the mountains in the “Cascade Volcanic Arc." The Cascade Volcan...

en-us

12:37

#60 - Do I know you? - Practice with Know & Meet...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/10/03

Send us a text 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. We’ve been using meet and know – two words that can be challenging for English learners. Let’s focus on meet and know today. Let’s start with meet. “m – e – e -t” not “ m-e-a-t” ...

en-us

1:48

The Case of the Missing Ring- Series 1: Introduction...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/09/12

Send us a text Tacomaliteracy.org

en-us

11:55

#59 - Can I borrow $10? 💵

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/08/14

Send us a text 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 the beginning of this podcast Diana asked Latonya if she could borrow $10 from her. When I ask if I can borrow $10 - or anything else – from you, the understanding is that I will...

en-us

12:36

#58 - Yikes! Aw! Yuck! Wow! ... and other...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/06/27

Send us a text 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 emotion. It isn’t grammatically part of the sentence. Right! In fact, you can just use an interjection alone – without a sentence. We said that interjections express e...

en-us

8:33

What's the matter? Is everything OK?

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/06/10

Send us a text 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 matter?” That is one expression we can use when we notice that another person seems to have a problem or difficulty, and we want to show that we are concerned. Yes. “What’s the matter? Is an in...

en-us

12:19

# 56 Did you use to walk to school? 🏫

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/05/21

Send us a text 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 “to use” (the infinitive form) and “use” (the base form) means to put something into action to achieve a goal or purpose. For example: “I use my cellphone to find out the weather forec...

en-us

10:54

#55 - I just have $5 in my wallet. 💵 Practice with...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/05/05

Send us a text 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 the verb finished. You could also say “I have just finished breakfast.” (present perfect tense) Yes! Both statements mean that in the very recent past I finished breakfast. Just is one of those little wor...

en-us

7:23

#54 - I wonder if it will rain tomorrow. ☔ Practice...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/04/03

Send us a text 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 know about something, you are curious. I see a new car in front of my neighbor John’s house. I am curious. I wonder if John bought a new car. I wonder if he has a visitor. When we are curious a...

en-us

12:09

#53 - Their cat is now our cat 😺! - Practice with...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/03/20

Send us a text 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 adjectives to describe something that belongs to a person or people . Remind us please, what is an adjective? An adjective is a word that describes a noun (and a noun is a person, place or thing). So,...

en-us

10:08

# 52 - The Mystery of Bigfoot 👣 (Sasquatch)

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/03/12

Send us a text 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 entire podcast to coffee. We should! But today let’s talk about Bigfoot. Great idea! What is Bigfoot? Bigfoot is a big hairy creature that according to the legend, lives in the deep forests of the Pac...

en-us

8:31

#51 - I need to feed Rosie. 🐶 Practice using want,...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/02/15

Send us a text 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” “want” and “like” and “love” in English. What do you mean? Well, I said "I need to feed Rosie." And “She needs to eat her breakfast.” But then I said “She wants tuna fish.” Rig...

en-us

16:30

#50 - Brrrr! It's cold🥶! Winter Weather

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/02/06

Send us a text 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 was below freezing. What do you mean :”below freezing”?The temperature at which water freezes is 32 degrees Fahrenheit.… or 0 degrees Celsius. If I say it’s below freezing, I mean the tempe...

en-us

13:43

# 49 - A conversation with Jaime, a TALC learner.

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/02/02

Send us a text 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 English. What does he do to improve his English skills? Jaime leaves us with some advice for other English language learners: "Don't give up!" "You've got this!" Tacomaliteracy.org

en-us

10:16

#48 - Is that his phone or her phone? 📱 - Practice...

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/01/26

Send us a text 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 or ownership. An apostrophe is a little mark. It looks like a comma, but it is higher, not down on the line like a comma. Look in the written summary of this podcast to see an example of an apost...

en-us

14:47

#47 - The Orcas of Puget Sound

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2025/01/11

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 of Washington state’s population live on Puget Sound. Today we’re going to talk about the orcas who live in the waters of Puget Sound for several months every year. O...

en-us

10:26

#46 - Everyday English - Slow and Easy

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2024/12/29

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?; What’s...

en-us

12:12

# - 45 Did your lights go out during the windstorm? 💡

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2024/12/18

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 lot of wind. They were affected by the storm. The storm hit those places hard. What were some of the areas that were hit hard – had a lot of wind?Well, Issaquah, Renton, Bellevue and Sh...

en-us

12:39

# - 44 Happy Holidays!

TALC Chats Podcast ·

2024/12/11

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 word was used for days that were special religious days, holy days. People had religious festivals, and they did not work; they had the day “off”. Now “holiday” is used for days that we celebrate. Some holiday...

en-us

63 results

Similar Podcasts

Science Talk

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

五分钟心理学

柠檬心理

Daily Facts

Amalia Dupray and Montgomery Jones.

Les dents et dodo

BFMTV

Veterinary Clinical Podcasts

The Royal Veterinary College