Tag: LEARN ENGLISH

Neil McTaggart’s Crossing (9): A Story of 1920s Scottish Emigration to Canada (Podcast 1125)

Episode 9: The Town

The frost had lifted a little by the time Robert said,
“You’d best come with me to town today, lad.”

Neil was glad to go. The farm had begun to feel heavy with silence.
They loaded the cart with eggs, a sack of oats, and a few jars of honey that Robert traded each month. The horse stamped in the cold, eager to move.

The road wound along the river, then climbed through a line of dark spruce. The air smelled of woodsmoke and frozen earth. Neil’s breath came out in small clouds. For a long time, neither of them spoke, the only sounds the creak of the wheels and the soft jangle of the harness.

“You’ll see a fair bit of the world in town,” Robert said at last. “Don’t stare too much. Folk don’t like that.”

“I won’t,” Neil said. But his eyes were already full of curiosity.

They reached the edge of town just before noon. The place seemed to grow out of the snow itself , rows of wooden buildings with wide porches, a few tall chimneys, and a church steeple rising like a finger against the sky.

To Neil, it felt both strange and familiar.
It had the bustle of Kilbirnie, but not its roar. Here the air was clean, though heavy with the smell of horses, leather, and coffee.

Robert pulled the cart to a stop outside the general store. “I’ll see to the grain,” he said. “You take the eggs to Mrs Brant. She runs the café two doors down. She’ll know what to pay.”

Neil lifted the crate carefully and crossed the street. His boots sank into the thawing mud, and he could feel the chill seeping through the soles.

The café was warm inside. Steam fogged the windows, and the smell of soup and bread wrapped around him like a blanket. Behind the counter stood a woman with her hair pulled tight and pinned high, a few silver strands escaping near her temples. She wore a dark dress buttoned to the throat, an apron starched so stiff it almost shone.

There was something of the old country about her , upright, exact, not unkind but certain of herself. Her face had that firm, set look Neil remembered from his grandmother, who had kept the Sabbath as if it were a wall around the week. He could almost hear her voice again: “Keep your back straight, boy, and your words few.”

“You must be Robert’s nephew,” the woman said. Her voice carried no softness, yet it wasn’t harsh either , just clear, like clean glass. “The one from Scotland.”

Neil nodded. “Yes, ma’am. From Kilbirnie.”

“Well, set those eggs down before your fingers freeze.” She came forward and lifted the crate with quick, practiced hands, counting each egg under her breath. When she finished, she handed him a few coins. “Fair trade,” she said. “Tell your uncle I’ll take another dozen next week.”

Neil stood there, awkward, not sure if he should go.
She studied him a moment, then nodded toward a stool near the stove. “Sit a bit. I can see the cold’s bitten you.”

He obeyed. The warmth crept slowly into his hands. She poured coffee into a tin mug and slid it across the counter.

“There,” she said. “That’ll set you right.”

The drink was bitter but strong. Neil swallowed carefully. “Thank you.”

“You miss home?” she asked, turning back to her work.

Neil thought about it. “Aye. But it’s different here. Quieter. Back home, the air was thick , you could hardly breathe it. The mills never stopped. You’d wake to the whistle and go to sleep to it. Everything clattered and shouted. Even the rain sounded tired.”

Mrs Brant gave a small smile. “You’ll get used to the quiet. It’s not emptiness , it’s space. Most folk don’t know what to do with it when they first come.”

Neil looked around. Two loggers were sitting near the stove, their coats steaming. They were laughing over something small, the kind of easy laughter he hadn’t heard since leaving Scotland. A man at the corner table was reading aloud from a newspaper to another who couldn’t, the words rolling like slow waves. He recognised one of them as the person who offered him a sandwich on the train when he first arrived, but no sooner had he seen him and he was gone. Neil remembered that, that act of kindness of sharing food lived on, long after he had ever met the person concerned.

Mrs Brant moved among them without fuss. She spoke little but saw everything, who needed a refill, who was short of coins, who’d had too much to drink the night before. There was discipline in her kindness, a puritan shape to it. Neil admired that; it reminded him of the women who had kept his family alive through winters when the men’s wages ran out.

When Robert came in later, he found Neil still sitting by the stove.
“Done your trade?”

“Aye,” Neil said. “She paid fair.”

Mrs Brant looked up from wiping a table. “He’s a polite one, your nephew. Doesn’t say more than he needs to.”

Robert smiled faintly. “That’ll do him no harm.”

As they left, she nodded once, the same brisk motion as before. “You tell your uncle those eggs are a blessing. Hard to find hens that lay so well this time of year.”

Neil touched the brim of his cap. “Aye, ma’am.”

Outside, the sun was already low. They loaded the supplies into the cart, and Neil climbed up beside Robert. As they left the town behind, he looked back once. The café’s windows glowed faintly, steam still misting the glass.

“Does it ever feel lonely here?” he asked.

Robert flicked the reins. “Sometimes. But not as much as you’d think. The land’s quiet, aye, but it listens. You’ll see.”

They rode on. The snow began to fall again, slow, round flakes that softened everything they touched. Neil pulled his collar up and watched the trees pass. He thought of Kilbirnie’s black roofs, the hiss of steam, and his grandmother’s voice calling him to wash his hands before supper.

Here, the only sound was the creak of the wagon and the steady rhythm of the horse’s hooves.

When they reached home, Thomas was waiting by the stove. “You bring tea?” he asked.

Robert nodded and set down the parcel. “And a bit of talk from town.”

“Anything worth hearing?” Thomas asked.

“Not much,” Robert said. “Just folk working, eating, and getting older.”

Neil smiled faintly. It sounded peaceful, and for now, that was enough.

That night, lying in bed, he thought again of Mrs Brant, the tight hair, the upright posture, the eyes that missed nothing. She had reminded him of strength that didn’t need noise, the kind that held families together when everything else failed.

And for the first time since leaving home, he felt not a stranger, but someone beginning to belong.

1121 Peel Tower, Lochwinnoch, Scotland (with transcript)

Hi everyone, welcome again to another Teacher Joseph podcast.

 Today I’m in a Scottish village called Lochwinnoch and you can see here around me there’s a beautiful lake with some birds and some mountains. It’s very tranquil.

Tranquil is a great word to describe this and the lake extends to behind me. Yes, it’s a lovely area. And right here to my left is Peel Castle and these are the remains of an ancient castle that stood here.

Now, when I was a boy, my parents lived here. I spent the first few years of my life in this village and this castle was rumoured…… It was spoken about…… but no one could get to it because the lake, the loch as it’s called, was much higher and this thing was completely submerged in the water.

 These days, they’ve built a nature park around here. And they’ve made access to this castle. Now, you can’t go in it because it’s quite dangerous, of course. You have to stand on the board here but you can see it’s an ancient castle and when I was a little boy growing up, there were a lot of rumours about this castle. You couldn’t get to it unless you had a boat. And even then, You couldn’t get anywhere near it because it was completely submerged and overgrown. Just the top parts used to stick out from the water and the rumours were about the man who lived here. They said that he was a warlock, a male witch.

 I’m not sure where that came from, probably because he lived here during the great witch trials of Scotland. His name was Lord Ringan Semple. I think his actual name was David. I’ll need to check on that and his family owned this whole estate, the great Lord Semple. It was one of his descendants that lived here.

 The family used this place as a defence during some of the wars they had, and latterly they say it’s was occupied by Ringan Semple. There’s still a lot of references to him around this village of Lochwinnoch. I’ll put it in the notes so you can see it. I know that there’s gates to the estate way up at the top there, referred to as the Warlock Gates. They’re still called that today and there’s other references as well around the village to the family.

In fact, this lake, known locally as a loch in the Scottish dialect, is known as the Castle Semple Loch. And of course, the word Lochwinnoch is the lake of Winnoch. who supposedly was the saint who founded this town. So it’s beautiful to finally see this. When I was a boy, I remember my parents talking a lot about this place, but there was no way you could get to it. It was submerged. So it’s amazing being here today, of course, covered in health and safety notices, telling you not to go anywhere near it.

 And let’s have a look and see what we can learn about the Peel Tower. Well, it says here, let’s see, What can you see and what is it? The Peel of Lochwinnoch is a ruin with a bloody history dating back to the 16th century, when the Peel landscape….. while the Peel landscape has changed over the years, the tower has remained a stoic fortress overlooking Castle Semple and Aird Meadow Lochs. Yes, because there’s two of them. There’s another one further down. Today, the tower is a ruin echoing the foundations of an impressive fortress built by a man with a controversial legacy, Lord Robert Semple.

Yeah, so he was the first one. And there’s gun holes….. window ornaments….. The building plan, a carved wall, lots of things here. And it says, as I recall, For years, the Peel Tower of Lochwinnoch was hidden and difficult to interpret in its ruined, overgrown state. Work was undertaken in 2022 to clear and consolidate the tower. Some original features of the tower were highlighted, becoming visible to visitors and revealing its splendor.

 There’s a timeline there, lots of additional information if you’re interested and behind me, you’ll probably hear the railway. Well, that wasn’t there, certainly, when the semples were here. And the one that was the warlock, rRngan sample, I’ll need to have a look through my history books to find out more about him again. I think he was known as Ringan. I’m sure his name was David. I’ll have to check on that. And there we are, a beautiful old fortress from the 16th century.

 Well, that’s it from me. See you all…. Bye.

Neil McTaggart’s Crossing (8): A Story of 1920s Scottish Emigration to Canada (Podcast 1117)

Episode 8: The Deer at the Door

The morning began with a strange sound.
It was not the stove, or the wind, or birds.
It was something heavy, bumping against the front door.

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Neil McTaggart’s Crossing (6): A Story of 1920s Scottish Emigration to Canada (Podcast 1110 )

Neil McTaggart’s Crossing – Part 6: The Gaelic Church

Sunday broke with a sharper cold than the day before, a frost that glittered over every fence post and pine bough. Neil woke to the sound of voices moving quietly in the kitchen, the muted clatter of crockery, and Agnes’s low tones urging the children into their best clothes. By the time he came down, the house was alive with the preparations of Sabbath.

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1107 Notting Hill Carnival 2025 | Easy English News Story for Students

Join me as I read a short news story about the Notting Hill Carnival 2025 in London. This is one of the UK’s biggest street festivals, celebrating Caribbean culture, music, dance, and food. This video is designed for English learners and students. You can practice listening, comprehension, and vocabulary while learning more about London’s famous summer event.

1103 At the Supermarket (Transcript)

Hi everyone and welcome again to another Teacher Joseph podcast.

Well, today I’m in the supermarket as you can probably hear from the background music.

I’m here because I want to buy some ingredients to make a delicious recipe for yoghurt chicken.

It’s a Lebanese recipe. I’m sure they call it something else, but basically it’s a chicken with yoghurt, cumin, herbs and spices and you leave the chicken in that mixture for a few hours or even a day before you cook it.

 So I’m here to get Greek yoghurt. If you’re very interested in that recipe I’m actually going to record it online and make a clip when I’m cooking it, so you’ll get to see it.

And right now I’m just heading for the….the area of the supermarket which sells the yoghurt.

Oh, delicious. What’s this? Oh yeah, I need some of that…. this is extra virgin olive oil. Yeah, that doesn’t go wrong. Especially not in Arab and Mediterranean recipes. Very nice, very nice. Delicious, absolutely delicious. And I think I have everything else I need.

So olive oil and the yoghurt are the 2 main things which I’m searching for today and I’m just on my…..

..oh, delicious. What’s this? Oh, yeah. I need some of this…. that’s…that’s a particular brand of coffee I like. Yeah. Maybe I’ll come back and get that because I don’t want to carry too much, you know, whenever I come to the supermarket, I’m…….

Oh lovely. What’s this? Oh this is the Mediterranean section. Oh a bit pricey. A little bit pricey, but still very nice. What’s this halloumi slices. Yeah. Yeah. Well. That’s cheaper than buying the actual Halloumi cheese, because the halloumi cheese here is very expensive.

What’s this? Oh, this is obviously Greek, but I don’t know what it is.(name). You see, the thing is, for a British person like me, who really knows nothing about food, I can’t even recognise these different kinds of things when I when I see them, you know? So I’m just trying to see what I want.

 But anyway, I’ve stumbled across the yoghurt section. There’s the Greek yoghurt. Delicious. So let me just take that. So… so far I have two things. I have the Greek yoghurt and I have the olive oil. And they’re …they’re selling tofu in here now. Oh, well, that’s nice. I always have to go to the Chinese supermarket for that. So it’s good to know that I can now get it here. Because I don’t have to walk all the way to the….

Oh!  breadsticks with sunflower seeds. Oh that sounds nice, doesn’t it? Again, I’m back in the foreign section. I shouldn’t really call it that, should I? It sounds a little bit colonial or nationalistic, but anyway, the food looks delicious. What’s this? They don’t have English names on these things. I’m sure this is sweet, isn’t it? (name). Yeah. I’ll need to Google that, but it looks delicious. I think it’s some kind of black sweets. Let me see if I can find on Google what that is.

Oh Oh  delicious puff pastry biscuits with cocoa glaze. Oh, I might come back for those. I’m tempted to buy a packet of biscuits when I’m here. You know I shouldn’t. Yeah, I shouldn’t eat the sweet things, but I always do.

What’s this? Greek extra virgin olive oil. Oh, well that’s really nice that it’s Greek, but does that change anything?  How much is it? It looks… it’s  in a can. It looks like a can for carrying oil for the car. It’s one of these, like… tall looking cans. It’s not a bottle or a jar. It says here Greek extra virgin olive oil, Kalamata PDO. 500 millilitres. £6.49 well, that’s £1.49 more than what I’m paying for the other oil, but I’m sure it really is good. But yeah, I mean £6  over £6  for a bottle of olive oil. Yeah.

Oh  Delicious. What’s this? Chewy twist? Delicious and long lasting. Oh, that looks nice, doesn’t it? It. It looks like meat of some kind. Oh, it’s for the dog. OK, well, I thought it was for humans. No, on the back, it has a big picture of a dog, but I wouldn’t have noticed that if I if I hadn’t looked closely.

Sushi mayonnaise. How would that be different from other mayonnaise, I wonder? Sushi mayonnaise. Water, sugar, soybean oil, vinegar. Thickeners, 1, 2, 3 ….. 3 E numbers, which means it’s probably very dangerous. E numbers are the additives, aren’t they? Well, lovely….

Oh delicious, raisin and nuts  milk chocolate. That that sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Oh, rum raisin and nuts. Oh, well, yeah. They love their alcohol here, don’t they?

What else am I looking at? Ohh, that’s the alcohol section. Oh, that’s completely empty, of course, because in this part of the UK you can’t buy alcohol before. I think it’s 11 AM here. It is either 10 or 11? I’m not sure.. and oh the frozen section. Oh well, we all love the frozen section…. Apples strudel… delicious and strawberry gateau.

 Oh, that’s lovely, isn’t it? I love the strawberry gateau, but you know, that gateau is the Spanish word for cat. So whenever I see the French word, gateau for cake. I always have a little moment of yeeuuuwwwww.

Lemon meringue pie. I don’t know if if I want that….

Oh delicious wild pink salmon fillet. That’s where they should be right next to the cheesecake, *sarcastic comment – of course they should not be there) and that doesn’t make sense, does it? Yeah. You know, we really don’t care much about food.

What’s this. Two Scottish salmon fillets, or someone put that in the wrong place. I think…. fFsh fingers. Or they look quite cheap? I could be tempted by them. I think just deep fried artificial fish. I think 2 salmon en coute(?). I don’t know what that is, but it looks delicious,

Right… What else do we have here?

Uh. Yeah, lots of things that I probably need but don’t need, you know, this supermarket puts everything all together. Neck support pillow. No, thank you. Highball whiskey glasses. Yeah, well, maybe for people who like whiskey they would buy something like that. Salt and Pepper mill set. Oh, yeah, that’s those large containers. You know that you twist the top and the salt comes from the bottom.

Multifunctional oil spray or that looks just like that Greek olive oil I saw a minute ago. Oh yeah, these are things that I probably wouldn’t….. I probably wouldn’t get…. You know, I’m not very handy with DIY. Speaking of DIY Do-it-Yourself, you know, the the kind of repairs around the house, that’s what we call it… DIY. I need to just work in the garden. I need to lay down some bark or chips to cover an area which has weeds, but I’m not quite sure how to do that yet. But….  before the summer disappears. I’m probably going to eBay and buy something because I’m not sure……

Delicious. What’s this? Oh, lovely. I’m back at the coffee. And it says here Americano instant roast and ground coffee, it’s a shiny tin, which always attracts me, but I’m not sure about the price of this stuff ….it looks a little bit pricey, doesn’t it? Barista instant coffee, it says. What’s this Americano Intense. Oh, intense. Sounds like I should be having a good time intense instant roast and ground coffee. Barista premium. I don’t know if that’s really what I want or not… I’ll have a little look. That one’s double the size. Oh, it’s got the name Nescafe. So it’s more expensive. I think this one is probably fine.

Right. So I’ll take a bit of that. Oh my goodness me. There was one there very large lady there taking everything off all of the shelves. She’s just like, pulling everything in, as I always say, it’s like watching Godzilla attacking the village. Honestly, she’s huge. Well, just keep out different way I think.

Ohh here’s stuff for the. Kids. Peppa Pig, Portable mini cooler. Inflatable fruits. Why would you want an inflatable watermelon?

Do you know I heard something the other day, Speaking of melons. I was talking to a student on Italki and we were talking about fruit and veg and she said that when she goes to the supermarket, she knows if the melons are fresh by sniffing them. Apparently this is a Sicilian way of knowing. If your melons are OK, you can sniff them to see if they’re usable and I thought, oh, that doesn’t sound very British, and apparently in Sicily they all do this. This is the older person’s way of…..

Oh What’s this? Oh, delicious. Iberico chorizo. No, wait. Spanish Iberian pork. Ohh, no, not delicious. Well, it would be for the family. They love that, but not for me. Catalan dried sausage. Why would that be covered in flour, I wonder? I don’t know. Well, I have what I want here. I have my Greek yoghurt, my olive oil and also my American coffee. So. I think that probably….

Tuna oh delicious….

You see, this is the thing when you go shopping, you end up buying all the stuff that you don’t want.

Carrot and coriander soup, but yeah, but I could make that you know, the same with bread. I mean, what’s the point of buying it when you can make it but making it takes time? I think that’s the …that’s the thing, and if I buy the biscuits, I’ll. eat them so it’s better not to take them home. Otherwise, in the evening time I’ll go searching for them. That’s that’s how it is, you know.

But anyway, OK, that’s it for me. So I hope you’ve enjoyed this. And remember to look out for the video clip which has the Arab chicken preparation.

See you. Bye.

Neil McTaggart’s Crossing (2): A Story of 1920s Scottish Emigration to Canada (Podcast 1097)

Neil McTaggart’s Crossing – Part 2: Arrival

by Joseph McTaggart

The ship groaned as it pushed into Halifax Harbour, cutting through a pale morning mist. Neil stood near the rail, coat buttoned high against the cold, his fingers wrapped around a small stone in his pocket. The stone was smooth and grey, polished by sea air and worry — a gift from his mother.

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