932. What is so great about Shakespeare? 🎭 (with Mum & Dad)

Luke's ENGLISH Podcast - Learn British English with Luke Thompson

Luke Thompson

Pronunciation, Teaching, Learning, Comedy, Language, London, Grammar, Listening, Learn, Speaker, Podcast, Language Learning, Vocabulary, Uk, Accent, Education, British

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2025

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode I talk to my parents about the topic of William Shakespeare. We discuss the enduring appeal and significance of William Shakespeare's work, biographical details of his life, the key themes in Shakespeare’s plays, and the impact of his language on modern English. We try to explain the qualities that make Shakespeare great, using examples from plays like Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and Macbeth.

We also consider the challenges of understanding Shakespeare and suggest ways for newcomers to engage with his plays, such as watching film adaptations.

Enjoy a conversation about this important figure in English language and culture, with two other important figures - my mum and dad!

PDF available with transcript, vocabulary list and vocabulary quiz. Premium listeners - watch out for a language review of this episode coming soon, in P68 "Learn English with Shakespeare" parts 1 & 2.

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🔗 Episode page on my website 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/04/21/what-is-so-great-about-shakespeare-with-mum-dad/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Luke's English Podcast.
0:06.2	For more information, visit teacher luke.com.com.uk.uk.com.
0:14.3	Hello listeners. Welcome back to Luke's English podcast. How are you doing today?
0:20.0	I hope you're doing fine and that you are ready for some more English listening practice in this episode. This one is all about William Shakespeare. Yes, Shakespeare. It's taken me a long time to finally get to this subject in an episode. Over 930 episodes and 15 years, is it even 16 years of doing this podcast?
0:41.0	And finally, I get to the subject of William Shakespeare. I've been meaning to talk about
0:45.4	this for a long time. How could I do a podcast, a British English podcast without
0:51.7	dealing with Shakespeare in any sort of proper way. Well,
0:56.1	finally, we're doing it here. You know Shakespeare, don't you? William Shakespeare. Yes,
1:00.8	of course you do. He's a great name, one of the great names in art, culture and literature.
1:08.2	His work is famous all around the world. It's been translated into so many different languages. How could you not know Shakespeare? His plays and his poems or sonnets are described in the highest terms because of their complex characters, their compelling storylines, the deep themes,
1:30.1	the insights into the human condition and into society. Shakespeare's work has had a lasting
1:37.3	impact on art, the art of storytelling, theatre, acting, literature and the spoken word. And of course,
1:47.0	Shakespeare has had a lasting influence on the English language that we use today. So many
1:53.4	phrases, idioms, expressions that we commonly use in English these days were first introduced
2:00.1	into the language through the texts
2:02.6	of Shakespeare's plays. And, you know, so Shakespeare is a huge figure in life, culture and language.
2:10.3	And so, finally, it's great to be talking about it. This episode coincides, in fact, with Shakespeare's
2:16.5	birthday, which is the 23rd of April.
2:19.3	He was born on the 23rd of April in 1564. That is 461 years ago. So why not commemorate
2:28.7	461 years since Shakespeare was born with this episode? Now, there are loads of things I could do,
2:36.8	and loads of episodes I would like to do about Shakespeare, different ways that we could focus
2:42.0	on Shakespeare. One of them would be teaching you expressions, phrases, idioms that came from
	...

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