“English is a window to the world”. Isn’t that beautiful and so absolutely true? That’s a metaphor. In fact, a powerful one I’ve used several times in this podcast to invite you to open up yours too.

Metaphors add colour and meaning to our lives and help us make sense of the world.

In this episode, we’re going to look into these figures of speech – and their close relation, the simile – to show you how to unleash their power and spice up your conversation in English.

You will see that, as we, humans, think in images, they’re everywhere in our daily lives, translating abstract concepts into ideas we can understand.

The book mentioned in this episode is “Metaphors We Live By”, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson.

If you want to read the poem by Emily Dickinson, you can find it here: https://poets.org/poem/hope-thing-feathers-254

Do you like our podcast? Plase share it and leave us a review. You can follow me on Instagram and TikTok: @beatriz_alessi @bia.alessi

Mixing and sound design by @sandrodourado

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Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have all the luck in the world and it seems to come easy to them? Perhaps it’s more than just “luck”. It might be serendipity.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, serendipity is the fact of something interesting or pleasant happening by chance.

That’s more common than you might think. It happened to me one day, in the summer of 1993, in New York. Out of the blue, I ran into the one person who could lead me to no other than Luciano Pavarotti, the opera legend.

Yes, that was serendipitous! And you will also hear a version of the fairy tale that inspired the word, as we know it today.

With every episode of this podcast, I want you to travel in your imagination and improve your English listening comprehension.

The book mentioned in this episode is The Serendipity Mindset:The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck, by Christian Busch.

Do you like our podcast? Plase share it and leave us a review. You can follow me on Instagram and TikTok: @beatriz_alessi @bia.alessi

Mixing and sound design by @sandrodourado

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If you think the word English doesn’t have a plural, think again! There are so many Englishes spoken around the world that it’s no exaggeration to say there is no such thing as a “proper”native speaker.

That is a myth, according to David Crystal, a British linguist considered a legend in the study of the English language.

In this episode of The English Adventure, we explore this multitude of Englishes to make better sense of the world out there and feel more comfortable in our own accents. And you will also hear about my experience working for the BBC World Service, my first dive into global English.

With this podcast, I want to help you sharpen your ear and improve your English listening skills.

If you want to learn more about the 70-year history of Bush House as the headquarters of the BBC World Service, you can find it here: https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/buildings/bush-house

And if you’d like to see it from the inside, here’s a touching farewell video:

https://vimeo.com/37666928

Do you like our podcast? Plase share it and leave us a review. You can follow me on Instagram and TikTok: @beatriz_alessi @bia.alessi

Mixing and sound design by @sandrodourado

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Is Great Britain still the nation of “the stiff upper lip”? Well, yes and no!

This notion of a land of a “reserved and unemotional people” still holds to some extent, but was challenged by the way the Brits reacted to Princess Diana’s death, in 1997. The whole country “dissolved into tears” in the days leading up to her funeral.

The fact is that the Brits did like a good cry in the old days, as you’re going to find out in this episode of The English Adventure.

So prick up your ears and dive in! By telling you fascinating stories, I want you to train your ear and improve your English listening skills.

The book mentioned in this episode is “Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears”, by Thomas Dixon.

You can watch the documentary about Diana’s death here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drQKFO3Sv5Q

And the series on British tears here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGavE1vP3_E

Do you like our podcast? Plase share it and leave us a review. You can follow me on Instagram and TikTok: @beatriz_alessi @bia.alessi

Mixing and sound design by @sandrodourado

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Are we alone in the vast universe? We, humans, will never cease to ask that question. In Episode 2 of Season 2 of The English Adventure, I tell you a story that says a lot about the human spirit: that of the Golden Record, a compilation of images and sounds of life on Earth, which Nasa placed aboard Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, in 1977. It’s a kind of love letter from us, humans, to aliens in space, should they ever find it!

Dive into this "symphony" of our planet, while improving your English listening skills. In all episodes of Season 2, I want to stir your imagination so you can train your ear and get more and more confident in English.

You can browse the images encoded on the Golden Record here:https://tinyurl.com/m9m7bz5v

And listen to the sounds of Earth here: https://tinyurl.com/4hd7t4df

And the greetings in 55 languages, as well: https://tinyurl.com/mwz4rmy9

Do you like our podcast? Plase share it and leave us a review. You can follow me on Instagram and TikTok: @beatriz_alessi @bia.alessi

Mixing and sound design by @sandrodourado

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The day I went live on American television was one of the most memorable of my life. It was the day Brazil and Italy faced each other in the “1994 Fifa World Cup Final”, a nerve-wracking match until the very last minute!

In the first episode of Season 2, I talk about how our memories change every time we revisit them in our minds. It’s fascinating!

In all episodes of Season 2, I want to inspire you, so you can improve your listening skills and your confidence in English.

The book mentioned in this episode is “Why We Remember: The Science of Memory and How It Shapes Us”, by Charan Ranganath.

You can watch the full penalty shootout here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kWv6RNzWmE

Do you like our podcast? Plase share it and leave us a review. Let’s build a community of English lovers: @beatriz_alessi

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Hi, English lover! I’m Bia Alessi and I'm thrilled to be back with Season 2 of The English Adventure, a podcast for you, non-native English speaker, willing to get inspired while improving your listening skills.

In all the episodes of this season, I want to stir your imagination so you can train your ear and get more and more confident in your English.

So hold your breath! Season 2 is coming up soon! 😊

In the final episode of this season – it’s been quite a journey, hasn’t it? – we talk about states of mind that feed our imagination: awe and wonder. Whereas “wonder” is more associated with curiosity in trying to understand the world, “awe” is more related to grasping it in a more existential way. And there’s no shortage of either in learning a foreign language, is there?

They both make us feel more humble, more in tune with the universe, and should be cherished dearly.

The books mentioned in this episode are “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life”, by Dacher Keltner, and “Orbital”, by Samantha Harvey.

The T. S. Eliot quote is from a poem called “Little Gidding”.

Do you like our podcast? Please share it and leave us a review. Let’s make our English adventure all the more adventurous.

You can follow me on Instagram and TikTok: @beatriz_alessi @bia.alessi

Mixing and sound design by @sandrodourado

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