Hi, everyone. Welcome to Hard Topics - Easy English, a weekly podcast for English learners where we talk about the important news, stories, and ideas that are changing our world. I’m your host, Lynne Welton, an English teacher with a Master’s Degree in Political Economics.
You might be wondering why I’m making this podcast. Well, I’ve been teaching English since 2005 and I’ve noticed something: there isn’t much out there for people learning English who are in those in-between, intermediate levels. You know, pop songs sound silly now that you understand them, books in simple English are just too childish. But anything made for thinking, curious adults is still too hard. Maybe you’ve tried watching movies or the news like CNN or BBC, but it’s still too fast and has too many unknown words, or the worst … it’s full of idioms like, “It’s a piece of cake”… What does that mean???
That’s why I’m making this podcast, as a bridge from elementary to advanced levels. Well, that and because as an English teacher, the books we use in class are sometimes boring. They have discussion questions about topics in the book, but those topics aren’t usually interesting enough to start a meaningful discussion. And we know that speaking practice is what most students need. And we NEED to talk about what’s happening in the world around us, especially as our world gets smaller and more connected. That’s why I’ll post the discussion questions for each episode, and the tape script, and even some online vocabulary cards that you can study on your own, using a site called Quizlet.com.
So, what’s the podcast about? Well, I watch a lot of news, TED talks, and documentaries. And I listen to a lot of other podcasts about politics, economics, history, social problems, and even science (I love science!). So, I’ll try to put all of that information together and use it to discuss topics that are important to you, but topics that are hard to find in course books, or even other English learning blogs, youtube channels, and podcasts.
I hope every week this podcast will tell you something you didn’t already know, make you think about the world in a new way, start conversations about important topics, and of course, give you a little extra listening practice with natural English, just spoken in little bit slower and more simply.
This podcast will be great for people in those in-between levels: pre-intermediate, intermediate, and upper-intermediate. Even if your level is more advanced, you can still listen in a more relaxed way, maybe while going to work, walking, or exercising. And if your level is lower, you can study the vocabulary cards and read the tape script first before listening. I also hope other English teachers or speaking club organizers will find this podcast useful to start meaningful conversations, and as extra listening practice, either in class or as homework.
I hope you’re as excited about this podcast as I am. And soon, you’ll be able to find episodes on my website (hardtopicseasyenglish.wordpress.com), and on iTunes and Google Play. You can download podcast apps like Stitcher on to your phone, and then download the episodes, so you can listen wherever you go. And don’t forget to subscribe so you can see when new episodes are out. The first episode should be out on Tuesday, July 25.
And feel free to leave comments on the website, tell me what you like or what things I can improve so the podcast can get better and better, and tell me any topics you’d like to hear more about in the future episodes. 
Thanks for listening and talk to you soon! Bye!

Hard Topics Easy English

000 Hard Topics, Easy English - Trailer 1

Lynne and Tricia talk about Michael Phelps not quite racing a shark, the new female Dr. Who actress debate, Air BnB pays Barcelona, and Trump's first 6 months as President: all the good and bad, and also Don Jr. meeting with a Russian lawyer and why the adoption topic is more interesting than you think.

Hard Topics, Easy English

001 Trump - the good the bad and the Russian

What do Russia and North Korea have in common? Sanctions. This week, Andrey and I talk about the Magnitsky Act and adoption, whether Donald Trump Jr. is telling the truth about his meeting with the Russian lawyer and lobbyist last year, and the North Korean missile test that landed in the Sea of Japan, near where we live!

002 What do Russia and North Korean have in common

My name is Lynne Welton and I’m an English teacher who left the United States (California) in 2005 after George W. Bush was reelected. I had just finished my Bachelor’s degree in Social Science and was ready for an adventure. I moved to Hamburg, Germany, got my CELTA* and started teaching English in private language schools. But I got bored after 3 years and decided to go back to university, to the Hamburg University’s Institute of Peace Research and Security Policy where I studied Political Economics and Nuclear Arms** Control.

I was going to save the world! But actually I realized that teaching English is important, maybe I was just teaching people who already had lots of good English teachers. So I went to Kosovo for 2 years, then Palestine for a summer, then Ukraine for another 2 years, where I met my husband and got married. We decided to go to Japan for a while. I thought maybe I could learn more about Japan’s nuclear tragedies past and present while also getting some much needed R&R***.

And that’s where I am now, making this podcast because I have some free time now, and I still want to do my part to make the world a little bit better.

* CELTA – The Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

** “arms” in this case means “weapons”

*** military slang for ‘rest and relaxation’ when they can leave the battle field for a while